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@FrancisSedgemore
The organisation of the return coaches for Dunwich Dynamo 2014 threatens to turn into a complete clusterfuck, with longstanding coordinator, transport logistics expert and notorious troublemaker Bill Owen cast into the wilderness by Southwark Cyclists. SC will claim that Bill resigned, but the reality is that he was pushed.
The latest spat follows a series of characteristically arsey public comments from Bill regarding the activities (or lack thereof) of LCC and Southwark Cyclists, and a complaint from LCC to SC which resulted in Bill being removed from the SC email list. It then degenerated further, with Bill being defenestrated by SC, and the organisation of the Dynamo return transport taken over by SC coordinator Andy Cawdell.
I regard Bermondsey Bill Owen as (a) a pain-in-the-arse, and (b) a friend. What that says about me I don’t know, but at least I frequently, both privately and online, take Bill to task for his excesses, including repeated ad-hominem attacks on another dear friend: one who is well known by and highly regarded within the LFGSS community.
The thing about Bill is that, when it comes to the Dunwich Dynamo, he knows what he’s doing. I do not see anyone else who has to date contributed to the return transport effort able to lead with the same level of competence and efficiency or better. For the past few years I have assisted Bill on the Dunwich beach, and was until the latest row broke out prepared to do so again. However, I do not have confidence in the ability of Southwark Cyclists sans Bill to carry out the job properly, and to those of you thinking of using the service this year I advise caution.
When it comes to the future of the Dynamo return transport, what is needed is for the organisational responsibility to be removed from Southwark Cyclists (and LCC, following endless procrastination at Newhams Row regarding VAT accounting), and put into the hands of a non-profit company set up specifically for the purpose. LCC members in neighbouring borough cycling groups and others who have in the past assisted with the Dynamo return transport recently discussed with Bill the possibility of establishing such a company. It seems that the plan has now been scuppered.
The organisation of the Dunwich Dynamo return transport is too big an effort for a borough cycling group best suited to arguing the details of road infrastructure with council officials, and collating lists of cycling-related “asks” as part of a London-wide local election campaign that currently consumes every available joule of LCC’s collective energy.
Francis