[Si Coe]

Obviously a club that doesn't get new members soon dies out. The problem is some people genuinely believe that 'new' means already experienced but just moving to your club.

I really hope people find that at Bury Metro we have tried to create a family friendly club - but it certainly hasn't been easy at times. Nobody wanted to marshal the kids racing, nobody wanted to be in the heat the kids marshal. There was a point that on the one hand I was busy encouraging new drivers, and on the other hand trying to calm existing members who were furious that the 8 year old was too slow putting their car back on its wheels.

Whilst having new blood is essential to the hobbies survival I can kind of see where some club officials might come down on the side of 'kids are more hassle than its worth'. Its wrong, but I can see why they think like that.

Incidentally as for the people not helping part: My experience suggests kids aren't the problem here. They normally want to help, they are just a bit useless at it! The worst culprits tend to be moderately experienced adults - the same people who moan about the kids marshaling them come to think of it!