Report from the Centre’s Annual General Meeting
The Northern Centre’s Annual General Meeting was held on November 9 at the Gilpin Hotel, Levens which was well attended with more 30 riders and club officials present, where the Chairman Angus Jenkinson opened the meeting and in his speech he praised the resigning President Keith Quinn, saying:
“Whilst I have now gained some experience in this position, it will be many years before I could ever hope to achieve the standing that our President has managed as he announces that he is stepping down as the President of the Centre.”
“Keith Quinn has been a club and centre official for as long as I can remember, but in danger of getting the number of years wrong, let me just say that his commitment has been outstanding and whilst what I say may be inadequate, what I can say is that his commitment and dedication has been enormous and all members of the Centre, both past and present should be in awe of the time he has spent at events as an observer, event secretary and ACU official at all events from World Championship trials down to club level. Neither I nor the Centre as a whole can thank him enough and whilst I know that Keith is even now reluctant to hand in his notice, the time has come and we wish him and Lyndis all the very best for the future.”
The meeting continued in the expected manner with all the centre officials re-elected en-bloc, followed by the treasurer Sheila Murphy giving a brief statement of the Centre’s finances which again has shown a considerable loss, primarily due to there being no appreciable income into the Centre and also due to the Centre funding the trials team into the Inter Centre Team Trial.
A vote was held following a proposal to increase the Centre Trials Levy to £1 per person which was passed.
A proposal to change the Centre’s ruling regarding flags used for section marking, with the view that the current colour of flags used is out of line with the ACU’s recommendations and indeed the rest of the world, was rejected.
With Keith Quinn resigning his position as President after 24 years in the post, the Board elected Chris Murphy as his replacement and welcomed him into the position.
At the conclusion of the meeting Mike Rapley, the Centre’s delegate to the National Council meeting held at Rugby the previous day, was invited to give a report and he said:
“There was a full National Council attendance with every centre represented as well as other individual organisations which was the the first time since 2019.
After going round the room for introductions, Tim Lightfoot chaired the meeting, covering Matters Arising from the last NC in May which the Northern Centre didn’t attend as it was the same day as the last day of the SSDT.
Briefly, the ACU is working well with Natural Resources Wales covering the use of forestry land nationally but principally in Wales where most enduros use the forests, with relationships strong, exampled by the Enduro GP round in August which was very successful and is due to take place again in 2026.
Through the year the ACU has had a stand at various events, the Sheffield arena trial, Motorcycle Live, Telford Bike Show and at the Adventure Bike Festival and will continue again but likely to be with the World Trial GP at Anglesey rather than the ABF.
Relationships with Dougie Lampkin and Jake Miller have been resolved and Trial GP which they will be running, will be a major bike festival this coming year with MX, track experience, youth events as well as the trial itself expected to bring in larger crowds. The 10 sections on the coast should be viewed from above the two bays that will be used, 2 further sections being made for spectators to view at the start area. The point was made that the Anglesey race circuit has all the facilities required for a Trial GP, with hard standing, and permanent buildings for general use during the event.
The FIM have granted the 2027 ISDE to be held in Wales, which will be the first time in the UK since 1983, with an expected attendance of 10,000 people directly involved with the event plus general spectators.
Much discussion was centred around the gold stamps on approved helmets, there’s many forgeries on sale and from mid 2026 a new holographic design will come into effect. 5000 forgeries have been withdrawn from the illegal market but some suppliers have refused to withdraw their product despite threats of legal action and insurance issues should a forged helmet stamp be discovered on a helmet following a major accident. Trials helmets are not stamped and are not affected. ACU stamps are only used on helmets approved for speed events.
A separate session with representatives from Sport 80 is envisaged and clubs who use it are asked to send details to the ACU concerns they may have about it.
The Way Forward document. The board have the right to implement their planned changes without a vote, though some boundary reviews, slightly different to those shown on the original document are yet to be implemented, Centres will be amalgamated into Regions from 2027.
The Centre’s National Council delegate asked what were the benefits to the ACU and the centres. The reply was not intentionally evasive, but difficult to translate into reality. The Chairman said that the ACU needs to be seen nationally and internationally to be more inclusive; the Business Model has to evolve, the company has to be seen that it is moving forward. A regional model is essential to facilitate ease of communication from Rugby and for Rugby to engage with clubs, organisations and riders currently outside of the ACU organisation. Ideally the long-term aim is to have all 11 permit issuing authorities under the ACU umbrella and running events, whatever they may be, using the ACU rulings which are approved by insurers and government. The given impression is that all motorcycling should be with the ACU from road riders belonging to local or national clubs, to all forms of sport, for that would give the discipline of motorcycling generally much greater acceptance in all respects
ACU hope clubs not currently in the ACU will see the benefits and will then join the ACU and it will enable the ACU to engage with other clubs and riders in other organisations.
Current centres are free to continue to operate as they do currently but will not have a say in whether they can or cannot be in the Region allocated. Most centres are desperately short of persons, particularly young persons to be involved in all aspects of the sport, particularly trials and motocross, with enduros and road racing apparently less affected as most are run by commercial organisations.
Permits will continue to be issued via Rugby, with no plans for local authorisation due to insurance demands. In 2026 some monies will be paid back to clubs and/or Centres and from 2027 the ACU said they will set up bank accounts for each region and it is the region that will receive funds in future. Presumably Centres can then decide themselves how to use it.
Commission Elections were announced – Elaine Connor to trials, Malcolm Bates and Mick Seward to enduros.
A balance sheet was shown, indicating that the ACU continues to be a profitable organisation.
Insurance. Previous insurer Allianz wanted a10% increase. The ACU Board sourced quotes from 11 companies, all came in within £30,000; Berkshire Hathaway were selected who are a world wide, highly respected company who only handle premium clients. Their quote after deep investigation into the ACU, how the sport is run, how administration is handled and after visiting numerous events came up with a premium figure to insure the organisation and sport which showed a saving of 15% (25% if the Allianz increased is taken into account) over other quotes. Berkshire Hathaway are an American owned multi-national company with an excess of 374,000 employees and operating earnings of 47,400 million US dollars
The benefits included personal accident benefit to all competitors following 72 hrs hospitalised. (14 days previously ), with other benefits from past insurers maintained at £40million. (If this insurer had been used this year, 97 trials riders would have received benefit because of the reduced hospitalising requirement). The hospital benefit is capped at £2000, and paid out dependent on the number of nights in hospital.
Licence fees have been increased and clarified. A competition licence is £98 for all disciplines except trials which is now £35 and £50 but only for riders in Trial GB events. The increase of £12 includes the new personal accident insurance benefit, effectively meaning that for just £1 per month, riders are getting accident benefit that was not available to them previously . Licence fees for trials youths have yet to be decided but likely to be £15 for C and D youths and £25 for A and B youths.
As a result of the new insurer, clubs now pay £4.80 per rider (saving of £1.30 per rider) with the ACU levy and legal fund levy remaining the same. There is now only one insurance package which is Premier, the Basic used by some mx clubs, is withdrawn.
Pippa Laverty gave a long but detailed report on social media use and also women in sport.
Peter Gregory gave a short presentation on sustainability.
There are future plans to establish an Elite Academy, talks are already taking place with Loughborough University.
Sport 80 will be dealt with separately at a meeting in the future when their representatives are available to attend at Rugby..