You are dead right on this one,

Back in the early days of the ARA if you wanted to race you got your bottom in gear and helped to prepare the course and there was a rota so all riders pitched in.Of course the club had a committee to see to the admin but overall things were run on a proper 'clubman' basis.I can remember one occassion when the pop ran out and one of the racing members rushed off to Downwards to get more supplies in the lunch break,would it happen now ?

That was perhaps 30 years ago but the point is that several of the present organisers are still the same guys !!!!!. Where, if anywhere , is the new blood.?

I must say thats a very sensible well written piece.
Unfortunatly what you say is demonstrated throughout our society these days and many things which were done previously by voluntary unpaid members of the community ie local goverment,health and hospital boards ect now pay a salary or honorarium to get the job done.
Is this the only way forward for motorcycle events and the TT and Manx races in the future?

Mr Phillips for example?

We all know of the old guy who is a bit overweight but his white coat is starched and clean.
He stands with his clipboard in all weathers. He is a little bit officious but he loves every minute of what he does.
He has a gammy leg and rarely speaks about his youthful exploits when he was a competitor.
He is so much part of the furniture that nobody really notices him - until he is gone!
What make him do it?
It is just a simple love, unspoken, for the sport that we also love, that gives and also takes away.
These people are gems, unappreciated, and they are in ever club and at every meeting, be it trial, mud scramble or road race.
If ever there should be a memorial built it should be for them, for without them there would be no racing at all.

"Dedicate some of your life to others. Your dedication will not be a sacrifice. It will be an exhilarating experience because it is an intense effort applied toward a meaningful end."
Dr. Thomas Dooley

Elsewhere on here, Rosie informs us that John Kermeen will be standing down from his post with the Manx Grand Prix Supporters Club, where he has been the most stalwart servant for many years. John never expected any thanks, and was meticulous in his dealings on behalf of the MGPSC. Without this organisation, founded by, among others, his cousin, the late Gwen Crellin, there would have been no practice week helicopter at the Manx.
John hasn't been in the best of health this year, so I hope he will take a well earned rest, and be there to enjoy the racing with us next year.

I don't post very often, and I'm probably going to be shot down for this, but I think one of the problems is the attitude of some of the older generation towards those who might take up these roles.
When someone gets a new job, paid or voluntary, they take to it their own ideas. They are of their time and inevitably make changes.
The way that all change is slagged off, sometimes by people who do nothing for the sport and don't even go to the TT, must discourage younger people full off bright ideas to make it better.
They might get it wrong sometimes, but not everything that has been around a long time is good. Maybe it could be better.
However, if the afore mentioned critics don't like the change, they don't give it or the person a chance, and they don't look at the bigger picture to see if other people liked it. The TT is for riders of today and spectators of today. That should include older fans who have come for years and new ones who are looking for a different experience.
At what date should all progress stop? Do we want a 30s or 60s or 90s TT, fixed in time, repeated every year? Do we want the people of the Isle of Man to live with steadily deteriorating roads so the sacrosanct course remains the same? Do we want 1960s machines, or are we going to run new machinery on roads that don't keep up with their technological advance?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against tradition, but it wasn't tradituion when it started. Everything you now revere was once new and threatening to the luddites of the day.
Encourage younger volunteers by giving them the opportunity to put in their ideas. If you want it done as it always has been, you'll always have to do it yourself, and when you die, so will it.
Young Phillips has been demonised, and that's unfair. He's doing the best he can in the time and place he's in. The Centenary TT was brilliant, and if he can keep the momentum up, 2008 and onwards will also be great.
If people keep decrying all his efforts and never recognising his successes, how will other younger people feel about putting themselves forward.
Bring on the next generation, and help them understand how it was before, so they respect the past, and please give them some respect too. Some of the stuff said recently has not been respectful, and that reflects on you. Respect is only earned by giving respect where it is due.
Oh, and bring back twostrokes, because I am of that generation!

I agree with all twostroker has wrote. Also very sorry to hear that John Kermeen is to stand down from the MGP Supporters Club.