International President’s Report 2021
The last year has been one of constant change and uncertainty. I should be making my final plans to attend our International Rally in Grolloo but without knowing which countries will be open for travellers, I can only make tentative travel plans. I therefore marvel at the WIMA Netherlands organising team who are putting plans in place for 170+ members whilst I struggle with just organising myself to get there. Let us not forget WIMA Germany who went through the same process themselves last year, only to be thwarted at the last minute by this Covid infection. Regardless of the Netherlands Government’s final decision about whether our rally can go ahead, thank you, Sandra, Susi and your respective teams.
I am feeling increasingly confident that I will manage to get to Grolloo, fortunately it may mean staying at Caroline Lunnon’s, Isolation Rally. Thank you, Caroline.
Having had 2 years of disruption, I am the opinion that it is important that, if at all possible, WIMA starts getting back to what we do best, sharing experiences, supporting each other, riding out and meeting up as small groups and big organised rallies, supporting women through our shared interest in motorcycling. A big part of that is the 2021 International Rally even if so many members from our divisions are prevented from attending and will be sorely missed – I have not been to a rally for many years that did not have representatives from Australia and Japan to brighten up everyone’s days.
Our Facebook pages keep us all in touch with each other but many posts lately are about past memories rather than plans for the future. One bright star is the fact that we now have divisions offering to host international rallies right up to 2027, so start saving now as we have one in Australia and one in USA. Final details will be confirmed at the National Presidents’ meeting in Grolloo and will be announced soon after.
This past year, the international officer team have worked well, sometimes under challenging circumstances when members have had to either take time out for personal reasons or decided not to take up the post for which they were elected. I personally thank the whole team for their hard work and dedication. We now have nominations for most of the officer posts so 2021-22 is looking to be a much better year.
I hope that we will all be able to look back in one year’s time and say that our WIMA lives are getting better.
Zara Strange