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In just 5 short months the group planned what was undoubtedly its most ambitious project since its formation 10 years ago. The resulting Drive Day on Sunday 1 October proved once and for all that the Newbury Group of the IAM is more than capable of staging a very professional event.
Almost all the slots for Drive Day assessed drives were pre-booked at the Newbury Show, as were many of the times available for demonstration drives. So, despite the worst the weather could throw at us, in the shape of intermittent heavy rain showers and high winds, our observers were busy from the start.
The deputy Mayor, Chris Kirkby (Newbury IAM Chairman)
and the Leader of the West Berkshire Council open the event.
As well as the drives, we had a range of static displays, demonstrations and a vehicle manoeuvring course.
A volunteer tries his skill at the vehicle manoeuvring test
The help and support we received from West Berkshire Council and the Road Safety Team, the Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service, The Ambulance Service, DSA, Marshalls Peugeot and, of course, the IAM was immense. Without it we simply could not have run the day, and our sincere thanks go to every one of them. My personal thanks also go to all the volunteers that gave up their time on the day – I think it is safe to say that at the end of the day we had there were a lot of very tired but very proud people.
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| The rescue demonstration - fire and ambulance personnel working together | |
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'We'll soon have you out' |
'Your car will be ready on Thursday Madam' |
So what did the day achieve? Well, to begin with, it has given confidence to outside bodies such as West Berkshire Council and the Fire Service that we as a group can put on a professional display and reinforce their message of improving road safety. It also raised our profile as a group to the public, and I have no doubt that we will see new members coming through to join the group as a result of our efforts. Importantly, it saw members of the Newbury group really gel together and work as a team, which must bode well for the future of the group.
What of the future? It has already been suggested in the wash-up meetings that we hold a similar event next year, having learnt a huge amount from this one. Well, that’s a decision that we need the committee to consider in due course, in conjunction with the Road Safety Team and the other bodies who took part.
