VVCC 2025 Committee
Elections for the club committee take place at the AGM in February each year. So you can put faces to names, below are your VVCC committee members for 2025/6. The club’s constitution also allows for the committee to co-opt other members to perform other specific roles to help administer the club’s business. If you think you have a skill or area of expertise that would help the club then please get in touch with Amanda, the Club Secretary.
dyll davies - chair
Dyll got into cycling after organising a charity bike ride to raise funds for Leukaemia Research. Before long he had left the world of IT recruitment and set up Viva Velo Cycle Tours with the motto ‘where you are always a name and never a number!’. After 8 years of running VVCT Dyll decided he would like to take things a bit more easily and closed the company and opened up membership to VVCC to his most loyal clients and their friends. So much for his desire for an easy life!
john berry - vice chair
John is a keen, cyclist who’s travelled far and wide in search of peddling adventures. He first came across Viva Velo on a trip soon after Covid restrictions began to be lifted which allowed VVCT to offer UK based trips - in John’s case to the Elan Valley in Wales. He then followed that with a trip to Mallorca. When Dyll set up VVCC he volunteered to join the committee and stood for the position of Vice-Chair.
amanda foley - club secretary
Amanda got into cycling in her late 40s after taking on the challenge of completing a half iron man. She found that, whilst she never really felt like going for a run or a swim, she was always happy to jump on my bike! So she joined a local club and was soon on a trip abroad with VVCT. She enjoys being Club Secretary as I am very much a part of making decisions about where we go on trips. It's great to get members’ suggestions and see the trips come to life.
david lewis - treasurer
David came on his first Viva Velo trip to Mallorca in October 2017 through Dirty Weekend CC and has been back most years since. He also completed the Tour of Flanders sportive through VVCT. When he’s not on his turbo trainer, he is the finance director of a listed real estate company and helped quickly get the bank accounts up and running for us to make the move to a club structure. He’ll manage the club budget and double check Dyll’s trip cost spreadsheets to ensure everything our finances are under control.
Derek Paterson - British Cycling Liaison officer
Derek first joined a VVCT trip to Mallorca back in 2017 but it was not long before his talents as a potential ride leader were spotted and he has since ridden as a guide on trips to places as varied as Tuscany, Croatia and Bosnia. He quickly became known for his ability to tow clients into block headwinds at astounding speeds! Derek is a retired senior police officer who lives in Inverness. His attention to detail makes him an ideal committee member. A man of few words but usually wise ones!
charles packshaw - lay member
Charles retired from the City after over 35 years with Lazard and HSBC and now chairs two charities. This experience makes him an ideal ‘lay member’ on the VVCC committee and his sage advice has very much helped the fledgling club find its feet. His first Viva Velo trip was across the Pyrenees to Girona in 2017 and since then he says Dyll has towed him up the Stelvio, through two Tour de France Alpine stages as well as to Sicily, Tuscany and Mallorca (many times). Dyll says, “You pushed the pedals Charles not me!”
Simon Allen - club kit officer
Simon, who served a full career in the British Army and thereafter as a security consultant, took up cycling in 2019, just before COVID hit, in order to conduct a fundraising ride in memory of one of his friends. After 6 days of howling wind, lashing rain and general threats to life, Simon wondered if he’d made the right choice. Then came the opportunity to ride with Viva Velo from St Paul’s Cathedral in London to St Peter’s in Rome over 25 days in June 2022 and he was hooked. Inspired by the often unconventional way in which Viva Velo worked he then joined VVCC and has volunteered to help organise the provisioning of kit for the club.
peter mastenko - social media officer
Peter is a keen club cyclist who was a CTC/Cycling UK Tour Leader for many years. He has also ridden many audaxes after the age of 50, including the Italian Miglia1001 miles, in 5 days 5 hours. He met Dyll on a trip to watch the Tour de France in the Pyrenees, organised by Dyll’s long-time friend, Dean Thompson of PyrActif. He then joined a group cycling trip based in Dyll’s home town of Céret in France. Peter has recently volunteered to help look after the club’s social media platforms.