Very disappointing

[TaviaRS]

Well, last night I went along to my first RoADA meeting as I have joined the South Yorkshire group in a vain attempt to improve my barely adequate driving skills.

It was an interesting meeting with a talk on fuels and combustion (as opposed to the billed talk by a Police driving examiner). This was followed by the AGM for the group. Although I have just joined I was made to feel very welcome and was told I could stay if I wanted, so I did.

So, what was disappointing? Well, given the size of the area the number of members was very low. When you look at the catchment area for the group you would expect them to have loads of members but no, they have a grand total of about 40 members

I struggled to work out why that number is so low, especially as the cost to join is now exactly exhorbitant. I paid a grand total of £5 joining fee and an annual sub of £10. For this I get about 6 newsletters per year, 10 monthly meetings (with free coffee) and as much free "instruction" as I require to improve my driving to a reasonable level. They also do driving assessments / drives on the first Sunday of each month. OK, if I do the test I have to pay about £45.

So, why am I posting this? Well, we have about the same number of members in the area as they do. I reckon that it is a good value way to improve driving standards and although you are all probably driving gods, you should give it a go. It's not a lot of money, it's not a massive time commitment (meet for about 2hrs per month, possibly 1-2 hours driving once or twice per fortnight) and you get some improvement in your driving skills.

For info, next month's meet is on the last thursday of June in Sheffield and has a talk by the Rotherham Life Support Paramedics.

Anyone intersted in joining up should e-mail colintroise@tesco.net for a joining pack.

Jon