Upcoming Elections

Hi all,

This is all good constructive banter but cast your mind back to last year and we were having the same conversations.
I agree that it would be too costly for Scottish members to travel down south to the AGM but can we not have a Skype link, I could open my office in Barrhead and use the board room for this if we could get enough of an uptake from the Scottish members (I must state for the record I have not renewed my membership on the all the grounds above.
this point is open to be discussed.

On the question of the club Magazine, this is so outdated and a hassle for the poor bugger that has to put it together I would stop it forthwith, all the info can be posted on line if people were to contribute more.

It over to you now

Michael

ps is there a spell check on this page ??

*Gets ready to pop up to Michaels office for tea, biccies and skype* :lol:

The re-occuring issues seem to be the magazine, the board and the shop. Rather than just voting for another 'board' could members not be balloted on these matters too?

The problem with asking people to vote is of those who bother many will be happy to vote for a status quo rather than complain. People are more likely to vote or get involved if they feel they have a chance to change things. Look how many people vote on Saturday nights for Simon Cowells latest scam against the amount of people who vote in European elections!

I think, unless it was highlighted the club were open to major changes most of the membership most people wont bother. If I'm presented with a list of candidates and asked to vote who do I vote for? I dont know any of them. I dont know what any of them would bring to the position. I dont know what they are like as people.

Everyone seems happy this thread has started but its all going to end up in the same mess with different people. A page will be taken up telling us how great the AGM was and wishing the new board luck and that will be that. We will all carry on as before with poor attendance at clubs, mystical officers and secretaries (who rarely venture on here!) dragging along an expensive magazine.

I'm a bit short of time tonight, so I won't reply in full. While we all need to up our game to improve the Club (with the help of more volunteers!), a survey we performed last year suggested that the Club is broadly offering what our members want. We got quite a good response rate, so it's probably a reasonable representative view of where we're at.

Of course, a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, but the responses regarding the mag make particularly interesting reading.
Club Survey

Note: the survey is only available to members.

That survey proves nothing. Why cant we have an open online vote for all to see?

For example'~ If Michael Erskine was interested in the Scottish RO position? ~ Me(Charlie) would vote for him.. Simple

Surveys very rarely do prove anything Charlie. However, they do give you a bit more background information to help you make decisions and prevent you making invalid assumptions about what the membership wants. There are two key points of interest for me from the survey. One is that the printed mag is very popular and, while it might be appropriate to give people the choice to have a printed mag or not as part of their membership package, getting rid of the printed mag completely would be a very risky move.

The second point is that, surprisingly, most people were happy with the membership fee, although there was a not insignificant group who thought it was expensive. This group may have grown now that we give more away for free (this forum) and the economic downturn has bitten further. I've proposed to the Secretary a discussion around our membership fee and the services we offer, so we'll see what comes of that at the AGM. Like I said in an earlier post, it's your best chance to get something done if you formally propose a positive suggestion for discussion at the AGM, even if you can't make it in person.

With regard to voting, if we get multiple candidates for a role, we will have a vote and Rob intends to put voting slips in the next mag so that people who can't attend the AGM can have their say. Let's avoid the online route -it disenfranchises those who don't go online and the email vote last year caused havoc! Postal voting is fair to everyone and it's constitutional.

Just to clarify:
Do you have to attend the AGM to apply for and be voted in to a committee post?
Cos if you don't (and I don't think you do have to) then those of you who have put forward good ideas here can volunteer without having to travel.

The sentance in the constitution that covers this is "All current Committee Members are expected to attend as well as all prospective new candidates."

"Expected" is not "must" so I agree you don't have to attend especially as the vote for a contested position will be postal prior to the meeting.

So there you are, chaps, don't just talk about it, DO something, you too can be a committee member without coming to the AGM

I've just heard that Mark Perry and Les Mott are now banned from this club. If that's the case and the way this place operates?, then you can stick this club where the sun don't shine.

You wont be getting any more cash from me and I'm sure others will follow.

There seem to be a few disgruntled people about. All who seem to have a problem with the way the club is run. There seem to be issues coming up again and again. There seem to be topics unanswered by the 2 moderators who bothered to get involved.

Can we get a response from the Chairman?

Are we being taken seriously?

Will we be treated as serious candidates if we dont attend the AGM?

Why are people banned/not eligible to put themselves forward? Who decides this?

Is there a criteria to be on the committee?

What positions are likely to arise? Whats involved in each post? What commitment are you expected to give for each?

Right, I haven't been able to post for a few days as I was out with the Lancia Montecarlo club yesterday and working today. These chaps only have 104 members in their club and the atmosphere did seem a lot different to ours. This club works in the way I have always wanted this one to. It's about cars, cars and cars. That's it. They have a mag, a members only forum, they pay a similar fee to us and the ALL get stuck in. None if this wagging the finger saying I deserve more. If you want more out of the club then put some back in to the pot. What you will find is a lot of hot air on the Internet. People saying I'll do this and that and it rarely comes down to anything. The result of this is a lot of positions (mainly Regional Organisers) being left empty and the people that have done it in the past reluctantly do it for the following year. If you feel strongly that you could contribute, stand up and do something about it like I did last year when Mark stood down from Editor.

Both Mark and Les will vouch (as I am in touch often with them) that I have said they are welcome to rejoin at any point. If this isn't the case then it will be looked into. The club needs people like them who take their cars seriously and are active members.


All of the information about your chance to change the club is here:

www.x1-9ownersclub.org.uk/club/constitution.html

If you require further information then pm Steve Sharpe.
Quite frankly now I'm bored of this subject. Lets get back to cars.

To be fair Rob Warren has told me that I am welcome to come back to the club.

Rob & Steve need positive support to carry on the good work that they have done so far this year. Evidently their is still lots to be done considering the views of good people on here.

Neil you should stick to only maintaining the website.

As far as Chris R, Rob X, Simon G

You should not re stand and be replaced along with a fit for purpose structure that is Relevant Progressive & Appropriate.

Best Regards

Hi my turn now

We don't have a chairman all the crap last year to get Chris elected and we haven't heard anything from him all year. In Scotland we don't have a club ( sorry there is one event and a Christmas lunch ).
All the members that jumped ship to the CC club are good honest members that feel pissed off and let down, I want a proper honest AGM, all open and above board.

As for the mag I like it but it's out dated and people are to nice to say anything, it could be done in a greener way on line as a down load and you could print a copy if you need to do so.

The money issue well £30 is a bit steep for the mag only it makes it the most expensive car mag I buy so see my point above.

So in conclusion I want a club and I am willing to help, can't make the AGM but my offer stands for a Skype meeting but only if I know Mark Perry and Les Mott are back in the club with no reservations or bad feeling.

Bring it on

Michael

Well put Michael. I agree we could look at lowering the cost of the membership by 'web only' membership and for those that want a hard copy, they pay a little more. Whilst I enjoy doing the mag, the pressure is immense when you have such little material to work with. This is why this club needs MORE ACTIVE MEMBERS! If we meet up more, do further things like motorsport (rather than standing in a wet field!!)I will have more to write about!

How many fully paid up members are there in the club?