Chairman

C

chrisyork

Active Member
Hi chaps

Well I'm afraid I've generated a moderator failure today. I tried to move the "Chairman" topic from the original section to here as I was anticipating a lot of traffic (!). In the process I managed to delete it and Richard and I have failed to recover it. Sorry!

To summarise: there were posts from around four people with Dave Herns expressing dismay and Harvey P6 challenging him to put himself forward to serve on the committee himself.

I then added a response which I've replicated below as I had kept the text.

Chris
 
I'd like to echo Harvey's and Brian's constructive comment above.

The item in P6 News I find deeply unsatisfatory. Even a minimal explanation of the reasons behind a resignation are a real responsibility for any organisation and senior postholder. In the City an announcement such as this would lead to a run on the shares. We don't have any shares, but we do have an equivalent, and that is our confidence.

I therefore ask the committee to post a more detailed explanation here on this forum AT ONCE. The committee have mnissed the chance to do the same for non IT literate members until the next P6 News. At that point it needs to be accompanied by an apology for the dreadful quality of the announcement in this issue.

I have been privately assured that there is nothing sinister or personal behind any of the individuals resignations. That needs to be shared widely.

Taking that on trust, it is therefore time to move on to what happens next.

Harvey is quite right. Any voluntary organisation depends on its members to step forward and commit time and energy to "The Cause". The quality of posts on this forum and the large number of people making them, confirms that there is a large resource of intelligent and sensible people interested in the car.

Now it is time for some of US to step forward to offer our services to the committee.

It might be perceived that previous executive experience, or high level administrative experience, or age are required. I suggest from experience that is not the case. Common sense IS a requirement. But above all what is needed is energy! For the role to be successful, long hours are needed on the phone, so the enthusiaism for the subject, the people involved and a job that doesn't leave you flaked after a day in harness are the prime requirements. That also implies it may well be a young person!

How do I know this? Well I have been on serious volunteer committees before (Great Western Society Ltd) and have had serious executive roles in industry. So why aren't I volunteering? Well I'm old and knackered and too ill to bring what is required to the table. I'm afraid I'm now consigned to older statesman role to lend an ear and freindly advice to whoever does take up the reins! My role here as moderator I chose deliberately as being about the most I could usefully contribute.

So come on everybody! Pilkie? Brian? Richard? Dave? Time to consider what you could contribute!

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So what do we need? Let's gloss over Chairman for a moment.

No1 requirement has got to be Membership Secretary. If no one is managing that we are in deep trouble. This needs a quiet methodical person able to devote a guaranteed (say) 3 hours to the subject reliably every week. Ideal for active retired? But there should be a hump of activity around renewal time and another around reminder time. No need for flamboyance or headline seeking, just quiet reliability.

Then we need a regalia person. Attending shows a must. Ideal for a committed car booter. (Pilkie?) Must have a feel for what people would like to buy. Must enjoy a good haggle. Would enjoy getting new things onto the sales list.

Then I suggest we need security to know the national rally is in safe hands, and perhaps also a wider range of social activity. Perhaps Brian, Richard or Quattro that's up your street?


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Whoever does join the committee does need to have some ideas as to how they would like to see the club develop. I suggest there are a number of key issues:

The Overiding one is what to do about " The Other Club". I'm a member there too and I would expect most of us on here are as well. I happen to think that having two P6 clubs is lunatic and devalues the voice of both to the detriment of support for the car. So we must have a broad consultation with the membership as to whether to merge, combine, give in to, stand fast, expand aggreesively at the expense of etc etc.

What to do about spares etc. We are now at the point where spares are becoming difficult and people are getting reproductions made of either critical or easy items or both. Does the club want to enter this field? Or encourage this field eg by endeavouring to co-ordinate who reproduces what so none of our suppliers go bust by expensively duplicating each other? Or running a quality mark scheme for reproductions to assure we don't get to buy duds (TwinPlenum - just up your street?)? Perhaps we ought to be commissioning workshop manuals and spares manuals on CD?

What to do about social contacts. This forum is obviously one but the success of the personal phot's post suggets we might all appreciate more get togethers? The rallies have been a bit lacklustre. Can we have some more FUN with our cars? Treasure hunts? Technical talks and or demonstrations? Picnics? Competions? Circuit days? Hillclimbs? Weekend rallies with a hotel or campsite stay? Spares days?

These are the sort of areas where the Chairman needs to lead us. And I DON'T mean impose his (or her) personal agenda. Several recent chairmen have done that for good and necessary reasons at the time. I think what we need now is someone to draw out of the membership what The Membership want to happen next and then find ways and people to make it happen.



OK chaps

Over to you


Chris
 
chrisyork said:
To summarise: there were posts from around four people with Dave herns expressing dismay and HArvey P6 challenging him to put himself forward to serve on the committee himself.

Chris
Click to expand...

I think the word "challenging" is a bit off the mark Chris. Dave wondered whether he should apply for some sort of position, and I said that he should do so if he wished.
 
Sorry, didn't mean to offend - where I come from it means much the same - perhaps I've had to cope with too much management speak!

Chris
 
Thanks for your efforts Chris and Richard. What is needed now is more of an idea of what is involved for each role.

Chris you've also raised some interesting points but I'd add to that suggesting that the club is quite disjointed in that there's seemingly no interaction between the local sections or the forum or the magazine. I would look to new persons on the commitee to bring these areas together.

As a quick starter for 10 to liven up the national rally instead of parking up ramdomly as we arrive how about getting people to park in ther local section groups and then there could be an inter section competition aswell as the usual Series 1 2000, Series 2 V8 etc.
 
I'll try to give an overview of the membership secretary and regalia roles to start with.

Membership :
Send out membership forms based on request either over the phone, or via email through the club website. Prospective members can download a form from the website, but many prefer to have a paper form posted to them for completion.

Receipt of membership forms and taking of payment, mostly via cheque, these are forwarded to the treasurer. Once a form is received, assuming it is a new member then their details need to be entered onto our club membership database, and a welcome pack sent out.

Dealing with membership renewals, this is probably the most time consuming aspect, especially around the christmas / new-year as all the membership renewals come in, again checking against the club database and arranging payment.

I would suggest that a computer, internet access and a telephone are essential to the role. It may suprise the forum users but many of our members have no computer or internet access, and many have no interest in having one either ! You would also need a certain amount of storage space available for entry forms / packs etc... This role also requires a good deal of contact with the members, so probably suits the more "chatty" among us.

Regalia:
Taking orders for club regalia, either by telephone, email or mainly via the club regalia form published in the P6News and available to download from the website.

Payments are forwarded to the treasurer, then the good need to be packed and shipped to the member.

Again a computer / internet access and telephone are fairly key here, as is some space to store at least a working "float" of regalia stock. However there are not a high number of orders for regalia, so this is a much less time-consuming role than the membership secretary.
 
So where do we go from here ? If interested , attend the AGM to put ourselves forward ? Where and when ?

For a starter I'd suggest new memberships could run for 12months of the joining date so as to avoid a once a year peak of activity
What about a questionaire in the next mag seeking reader's views? How many have no computer access ? How many would accept their magazine by e-mail to save postage and paper?

I always believed there was ill-feeling between the 2 clubs . Have the people concerned moved on , in which case a merger would seem most sensible.

I think this forum is an excellent source of information etc . I doubt I would have rejoined the club had it not been a requirement of my insurance as I find the magazine to be of little interest

Am I too old at 56 to take an active role in the Club ?
Am I in the wrong area ( Surrey ) to attend the meetings etc ?
 
Thanks for the feedback Dave, age is of little relevance to be honest, but certainly at 56 many would consider you too young ! :LOL:

We try to hold the meetings in a central location, hence until recently they were held at the Gaydon musuem close to Warwick / Stratford, and more recently at a Golf Club just off the M1 at Lutterworth (near the junction with the M6), however I'm not sure if this will continue to be the venue.

In the first instance I would have said contact the Chairman, but this is obviously out of the question, so I would say you should contact Mike Beetham as our most senior member of committee, see the P6 News or the officials page of the website for contact details.
 
I'm waiting to see if I get any reaction to my views . No point in volunteering for anything if everybody else disagrees. I don't need that much hassle

Maybe the other club wouldn't want to merge with us ?
 
Go for it Dave, I'd vote for anyone with some ideas rather than someone who just wanted to cruise along as before.

I think the age thing is irrelavant as long as you have the energy and desire to do the job - look at the Pope!

Anyway, is there a way of finding out if the other club wants to merge and what benefit would that gain us? I also value this forum more highly than P6 News and as my membership fee saves me about the the same off the insurance it's worthwhile being a member just for that but I'm not in the 'other' club so I don't know anything about them.
 
Each of the 2 clubs has,in the past,had its own differing idea's about P6 ownership.
BUT!!!
In the long run, its all about what we, as P6 owners and P6 drivers want out of our cars,be it a concourse car or a bit of a shed but it just keeps on going,total originality, modification, daily driver,only comes out for shows,never in the rain etc!!
We are all " I would hope???" big enough to respect each others views and the ideals of all owners,without having to resort to club snobbery between the members,as I have experienced in the past!
Let alone any internal bitching,power play,which is no good for ANY club!!!
The P6 Drivers club forum, for me, is a bit of a mess,and is difficult to use,and would benefit from using our well established user freindly format!!!
Their mag is a lot better though!
Both clubs have their good and bad points,and I honestly think that a merger of the 2 is for the survival of both clubs,the only real way to go!!
The 2 clubs merging into one "THE ROVER P6 CLUB" will be a stronger organisation overall,benefiting from expertise of all the members!!
The TR Register and TSSC "Triumph Sports Six Club" cater for all variants of a specific marque,and all its derivative forms,racing,rally,etc.
Technical,and physical help is on hand to anyone who needs it from a wide variety of sources worldwide,no matter what your problem!!
Re-manufacture of parts etc!
It would need both sides to freely enter into talks to discuss the best way forward,and which bits to use from both clubs in the new club!
Who would be best to represent the club on the committe,and its relevant positions etc!!
The Drivers club mag is better than the owners club mag,the P6 owners forum,better than the P6 Drivers one!! ETC!!!
Maybe this is the right time to start a poll of the membership to get a feel for their feelings on the matter of a merger!!!
UNFORTUNATELY!!!!
Due to the previous goings on,and the forums suspension, " I wont comment",,, I have not renewed my P6ROC membership,and due to the user-unfreindly forum of the P6Drivers club,I have not renewed with them either,feeling that neither club gives me what I want.
A merger would however regain my support,and I would be one of the first to join up!

Dave
 
Go On Dave, you'll get my vote!

I agree with your comments. I've been giving it alot of thought too, but my job has some ridiculous hours sometimes and would be afraid to make commitments I couldn't keep, however, I'd probably be willing to be a 'general' committee member and do as much general stuff for the club as I can.

I've a few ideas of my own too that I would like to share, but I don't think all of them should be on a public forum. I'll be popping a note over to Richard Webmaster shortly so that it ends up in the committee - I'll PM you too Dave ready for when you're our next Leader! (no pressure then :wink: )

Anyone know when the AGM is? Last year it was at the National Rally, but I didn't notice any mention in the Twycross advert??

Just a thought, but as merging two clubs is actually going to be a very tricky affair (constitution issues). Why don't we propose joining forces on a combined magazine?? We could double quality of the content and halve the production costs. Now that would have to be a win-win for all parties :)

Cheers,
Brian.
 
Brian, a date for the AGM has not been agreed yet, unfortunately there are no facilities at Twycross for us to hold the AGM, so we agreed to hold it on another date, with the very recent committee changes we will need to re-conviene to arrange a date.

Obviously it will be advertised as soon as we know !

As a member of the committee I don't want to make comments / suggestions etc on major changes directly on the forum, but I am open to all suggestions from members and encourage you all to submit any ideas you may have, I will do my best to bring them to the committee for discussion and provide feedback.

Times are tough in the car-club world, and we need to pull together to keep the club(s) going !
 
I agree completely with Pilkie view of the two clubs. I am a lapsed member of P6ROC. Lapsed in despair at events leading to the loss of forum and joined P6DC. I continue to be a member only because of Insurance 'club discount' and am a regular reader of the forum. Pilkies comarisons are spot on. I meet at the Black Dog Chester where P4,P5 and P6 to find a very helpful band of enthusiasts like the P6ROC. It should be said that P6DC also has problems maintaining specific interest in a single marque and I believe it would make a lot of sense to forget differences and merge to get the benefits from each. Each club has a lot of purists and technical ability. People such as myself are not technically or Rover trained and value , particularly, the forum for its technical assistance and members renovations
 
I think the age thing is irrelavant as long as you have the energy and desire to do the job - look at the Pope!
Click to expand...

A man well in tune with the issues facing the world - I don't think

Better not go there

I agree with Pilkie and others - we have the best forum , I've not seen their mag for a while but recall it as functional

Their mag , our forum , no rivalry or squabbling - what more can you want ?
 
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