New Committtee

[doss]

I feel these are fair comments well placed. Ex club memebers are no longer members. As a fairly new member to the club I feel unqualified to comment on most of the points raised in recent forum discussions, but a commitee is always good for the broader opinion. And the points made and ensuing relpies from members is in the main after all mostly good open and honest and surely will only push the key members of the club into making the steps to move forward. Which is in the end good for All members and the cars in the longer term. Lets not forget as Auotman has stated in his offer to a fellow member in need "its the pepole who keep the cars running" ! Even if the club is for cars and their current owners.

HC436

[Edd_V6]

That’s fine by me, but if you don't talk to ex members then you will never know their true reasons for leaving and if you don’t address these reason in an AGM then how would you ever know you have got the balance right.

If you look at some of the replies to the request for Committee members to come forward they say they have applied in the past but with no reply from the club official, so its no surprise really that a new club is going to emerge with a committee from the start and a sole interest in cars.

Some people have obviously got fed up with waiting for something to happen. We don't get any younger only wiser.

Edd

[dann01]

Something wrong here, I feel the need to respond - Again

In the wise words of someone here, yes, actions do speak much louder than words, which is one of the reasons I put myself forward for the committee.

But before we go waving the flags and blowing whistles for exmembers to rejoin, lets fix the wheels on our wagon first.

Regards
Danny HC175

[Clara]

I think perhaps, and this is purely a personal reason and not intended to cause offence to anyone, that we should start by sorting out the problems of members who have choosen to stay with the club, it is their club afterall and we have to put them first.

Only when their problems have been sorted and the committee is settled into their new roles should we be speaking to people: asking them why they left, what things they'd like to see change.

If you push the club into doing too much too soon you'll put even more strain on it than it has now and no one will be happy.

We're not trying to ignore ex members or think them as insignificant but the club has a duty to look after its members - they've paid their fees they should be seeing the benefits first.

[shamm]

I spoke to Adrian about the Membership task before he went
on holiday and will be going up to see him once he returns.
I see no reason (other than terror at the task) why I would not be taking this on.
I see no reason why I should be paid for this, and no reason why anyone in the club commitee should be paid a wage, including Adrian.

I have also read through most of the Yahoo posts and some of them here and tend to agree that change is required.
I would say that AGM's should be for members but prehaps we could call for input from ex-members first. Then present any relevant views though a single member at the AGM.
A formal club policy and direction statement would alsoo be welcome.

I also agree with Paul (welcome back by the way) that the forum should be polite and constrcutive. The Yahoo forum seems worse than this one but we are all adults and should try to talk and think like it!

[Sid]

> and no reason why anyone in the club commitee should be paid a wage, including Adrian.

But surely if nobody is to be paid a wage, then the only justification for the membership fee is publication and distribution of the
newsletter, in which case that could be published on the net (or emailed) and the membership fee could *eventually* be scrapped
altogether (as is the case in quite a few other car clubs nowadays).

Certainly there's a lot to be said for the idea of free "electronic" membership from a point of getting *all* Viva owners together.
The fee creates an Elite and surely must deter a lot of owners.
Some members will argue that £21 is pittance, but try telling that to an OAP, a teenage enthusiast, or someone who's out of work, or
someone who's in *several* clubs already for that matter.

Credit must go to Paul for providing the first steps towards the ultimate ideal of free membership in the form of the excellent
website and forums, which are currently open to all and should remain so.

Sid
(club member)

[shamm]

I understand that club stand insurance for events also comes out of the membership fees. This would still need to be paid.
I am sure there are probably other things which get paid with it as well.

I see no problem with having a fee and prefer having a paper magazine. Not everybody has a PC remember.

It is true that the fee could maybe be reduced if there are less draws on club funds. Or maybe we should find another was to spend surpless monies to forwards the clubs interests?

Steve (HC183)

[pbottomley]

But surely if nobody is to be paid a wage, then the only justification for the membership fee is publication and distribution of the newsletter,

********

What about the show fees, what about club insurance? All these hidden items cost money, how is it to be paid for?

********

In which case that could be published on the net (or emailed) and the membership fee could *eventually* be scrapped altogether (as is the case in quite a few other car clubs nowadays).

********

Can you name me more than three such national clubs that are 100% wholly online only? (Not just talking about a local club, such as mine (the Heart of England classic car club) we are talking a national club, such as the VVOC) I bet you only find one or two, out of 100's of clubs? It's a Way of a club to move forward, but a lot would argue its a backwards step. Its segregations, as only an Elite membership that has a PC would be able to interact!

Also you would reduce the club to nothing more than a Spam email once in a blue moon, not exactly forward thinking is it?

********

Some members will argue that £21 is pittance, but try telling that to an OAP, a teenage enthusiast, or someone who's out of work, or someone who's in *several* clubs already for that matter.

********

I guess its a personal choice about joining more than one (several) club(s), I don’t think its got any mileage in terms of getting a discount here. But I do agree that there is room to consider different types of membership, for different types of people or situations, but the list has to be equitable to the club and the member.

********

Credit must go to Paul for providing the first steps towards the ultimate ideal of free membership in the form of the excellent website and forums, which are currently open to all and should remain so.

********

Sorry Sid the aim of the site is not to create a free club, the website is an online presence for a real world classic car club for the Vauxhall Viva. No more no less, please don’t view it as anymore or less than that.

Also the only reason this forum is open to all is that until the club membership database is tied into the forum database it cannot be managed, in terms of who is and who isn’t a fee paying member. Once that is sorted things COULD (doesn’t mean will) change: club fee paying members could get certain features non fee paying members would not.

Ohhh and by the way every thought that the website might actually cost money to host? (That’s not my time and labour, its the cost of server rental) who is going to pay for that if we became a free club?

I always have and will always believe "you get what you pay for". Pay nothing, get nothing!!!

[kellyharding]

Forgetting Sid that there are more than just the magazine to be paid for strikes me as a bit naive really.

The club has to have public liability insurance, otherwise it cannot attend and display itself off at a public event.

There are likely countless other things that have to be paid for to ensure the running of the club.

Kelly

[Sid]

> What about the show fees, what about club insurance?

I've entered plenty of shows both privately and as a member of *free* clubs, and never come across this "club insurance" thing, so
how come the VVOC has to pay this?
As for show fees, we pay those individually don't we? Again, I've been in plenty of shows where I wasn't affiliated to a club and I
only paid the same fee as I would normally on a club stand.


> Can you name me more than three such national clubs that are 100% wholly online only?

In short yes, easily. There are dozens maybe hundreds, mostly devoted to *modern* cars, but they're car clubs nevertheless. There a
four online clubs devoted to different "marks" of Toyota Supra alone!...and being a member gets discounts from *loads* of major
parts suppliers. I even get 10% off Haynes manuals!
HOWEVER, I take your point that it would be wrong to alienate non-PC-owners and that the "electronic" membership idea would need to
be phased in gradually. It still makes sense to give discounts to people who don't need the paper correspondance.


> Ohhh and by the way every thought that the website might actually cost money to host?

Again, I take your point, but some online clubs do seem to manage to fund this somehow without resorting to annual membership fees.


> Sorry Sid the aim of the site is not to create a free club

Then sorry I gave you any credit for it
I'll take it all myself as it's a great idea!


Sid




This post was made via email to the Vauxhall Viva Owners Club
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