Hi everyone, some good points made here.
I believe that the club has the future to be an excellent facility for us all AND grow significantly in numbers. Yes it’s a bit smaller than we would like, but lets turn this fact into a positive and become known for having a highly technical twisty track (which is sheltered from rain!). With the popularity of WORM, caldicot & now YRCCC it seems that the South west and Bristol area are becoming a bit of a hub for RC racing and they can all offer something a bit different whilst focusing on the 1/10th which seems to attract the masses.
I believe that there is currently enough of a critical mass of people who are willing to pay extra that would be able to support the club finances.
I also believe that dan is 100% correct, we need to attract new blood to the support for the club to have a long term future.
Therefore I would suggest the following:
1.We introduce club membership fees at around the following rates:
•Annual membership £90 or paid quarterly at £27 (2 options to help those with cash flow issues)
•No fee for new comers for 2 months (the costs of setting up with RC stuff is high)
•£20 a year for under 18’s.
2.We continue to charge race fees. £5/ night for members and for your first 3 times at the track. £12 for non members.
3. To address the 'new members' and 'track changes' issues that have been raised, we setup a small committee. From what I can see, this would consist of the following areas that would help the us take the club to the next level:
a. A New recruitment officer/s. somebody responsible for recruiting new members or as a minimum coming up with a plan/calendar of how this could be done and be responsible for moving it forward. E.g. signs in schools, race days in public places such as school car parks, getting the sign out on the road etc etc etc.
b. Someone to own track improvements, this becomes their job and reduces bad feeling when the same old are always looked to to do the work when they already do EVERYTHING. ( I know I have never helped in this btw, so guilty here!)
Therefore my question to everyone is, how many would be willing to pay this sort of money? if it meant the difference between the club staying and going.
I would imagine the long term strategy would probably be to reduce these fees but it could buy us a year to work on getting the member numbers up and therefore revenues.
Sorry Alan/Rob/Martin, I don’t know exact cash you need to generate but I think the response here might determine how much we could look to raise. Hope I haven’t overstepped the mark suggesting this. Its just what I would do if it was completely down to me.
PS really appreciate all the hard work you’ve all put in to get here, thanks guys.