Rhian Davies, former Lead for Community Transport
Rhian has been volunteering as Secretary for Cycling Dumfries for the past four years.
What motivated you to volunteer? I have volunteered as Secretary for Cycling Dumfries for the last four years. At our recent AGM, we identified governance as an area we need to review. As a new staff member at Third Sector Dumfries and Galloway, I had governance training which I was ready to put into action! Having support on hand from the Locality Development Officers also motivated me to tackle what can feel like a daunting topic.
What was your role and contribution as a volunteer? I reviewed our governing document, our constitution, and made suggestions for improvements. I also took the time to review what policies we have in place and which, if any, we are advised to have by Cycling UK, the body we are affiliated to. I’ll take my recommendations and suggestions to our next committee meeting to decide any changes. Off the back of this work, it also highlighted that a Cycling Dumfries handbook may be of use, especially as a way of gaining new members and encouraging our existing membership to engage more actively. My next step is to write this with input from the committee.
Although it took some time to assess the different policies and guidance from Cycling UK, it wasn’t a complicated process. We also had most of it in place already, so it perhaps wasn’t as daunting a task as I feared! Volunteering for Cycling Dumfries helps me feel like I’m making an immediate and positive difference where I live. This is important to me, especially at a time when it feels there are a lot of negative things going on in the world that are out of my control. A lot of the volunteering I do with Cycling Dumfries is in the background, and I’m able to use skills and knowledge from my work to help. Many organisations would benefit from people with the motivation to tackle the less glitzy behind-the-scenes roles! And for those who want to help but don’t have the skills, Third Sector Dumfries and Galloway offers specific training to help, and it’s all free.
Can you share any feedback or quotes from the organisation regarding your contribution? Policy and governance have been on the agenda for Cycling Dumfries for a while now, and were raised as a priority at our last AGM. Having some dedicated time for Rhian to review this was very welcome. It was reassuring to have a review done and for the outcome to be some small improvements to take to the committee. This process also highlighted how a handbook may be useful to help increase engagement with new and existing members to Cycling Dumfries.
Photo caption: What it’s all for! Good governance means we can take part and help organise events such as the Dumfries town ride out for Guid Nychburrris 2024. Secretary Rhian ensures participants take the correct route round the roundabout.