BX Club - should it become a proper club?

[Dollywobbler]

I've been having a think about whether it's time the BX Club took itself more seriously. This is just my thoughts. I don't represent BX Club and I fully accept that a lot of folks have been around a lot longer than me!

However, we've all seen that interest in the BX is rising. Furthermore, members of the club are now starting to organise events.

Do we need to give thought to making BX Club a formal club? I point out straight away that I don't mean incorporating the company or anything like that. I see this as only necessary for much larger clubs. Sadly I can't see that BX Club will ever have thousands of members!

What I mean is that should we start charging for membership rather than just asking for ad-hoc donations when anything needs funding? The club does not need to charge the sort of money requested by CCC or 2CVGB (£25 upwards). I'm a member of a superb 4x4 forum which charges £10 for annual membership for example. This includes access to an excellent technical downloads section and the technical part of the forum and classifieds (not sure about that one - free classifieds can attract new members, and people with cars for sale who aren't going to join a club just to flog a car!). Anyone can sign up for basic access, but anyone asking technical queries is told to sign up. Very often people do, because it's well worth it!

If the club holds central funds, that means it can pay a little towards its hosting costs - small as they might be at the moment (I've no idea to be honest - Xac?). It also means that it could take out Public Liability Insurance - necessary for some events, nice-to-have for others. The club might be able, in time, to stump up the readies for merchandise, so people don't have to risk their own money (which reminds me, I still need to send a cheque for the T-shirt! Oops!). Who knows. There might even be funds for a small newsletter or something.

I'd be interested to know your thoughts. Maybe 'the way we are' is entirely sufficient.

[Defender110]

Not yet IMHO, it ain't broke so doesn't need fixing, slippery sloap etc. etc!

[citsncycles]

I think the 1st question we need to ask is how many people on here are in the CCC, followed by how many who aren't would be willing to pay to stay here, and how much.

If a lot of people here are CCC members, while the rest wouldn't want to pay membership for BX Club, then there's no point changing anything.

If the opposite is true for either of the above, and enough decide to go ahead and set up a proper club, then we need enough volunteers to run the financial side of things, plus at least as many again who would be happy to take jobs over in the future. I recon the absolute minimum needed is a Treasurer (to look after the finances), a Secretary (to record decisions make etc.) and a Chairman (to preside over any official meetings and provide a casting vote when necessary).

Personally I'd leave things as they are for now, although if the CCC don't do it, then at some point in the future it may be worth trying to set up a spare parts scheme, either to stockpile BX specific parts for future use, or to get items remanufactured, rather like the 2CVGB SPOG scheme.

[Tim Leech]

We are a proper club in my opinion, I dont mind paying membership subs, having a card etc but I know not everyone will so I think lets leave it as is, and carry on having our rallies at CCC ones and maybe the odd informal day out.

[Paul296]

I'm undecided: perhaps it's early days as yet, but there'd be very real benefits in terms of organising events, merchandise and a decent website. The first thing to do is canvas support (as Ian has) and take it from there.

Personally, I think that as the BX becomes recognised as a bonafide 'classic' a membership funded club with some kind of centralised organisation would be very beneficial. It's certainly something worth giving serious thought to.

I still need to send a cheque for the T-shirt!

A couple of my 'lads' will be paying you a 'visit' in a day or two. Just hand over the money and I'm sure we can avoid any 'unpleasantness'

[saintjamesy89]

Personally I'd leave things as they are for now, although if the CCC don't do it, then at some point in the future it may be worth trying to set up a spare parts scheme, either to stockpile BX specific parts for future use, or to get items remanufactured, rather like the 2CVGB SPOG scheme.

This is bang on my view at the moment, after reading the passage by Mr.Chevronics in the ICCCR program it downed on me that is really is getting difficult to get hold of some bits, especially MK1 stuff.

As a comparison, the Astra MK2 forum is very much similar to this one in function. There are more members, and more regular events, but much fewer little informal events, and most of the time it's quite GTE orintated, chavvy and very hetero! Although there are some really fab advice and tech solving bits on there that only members can see, and I do really like the 'garage section', where you can put photo's of your car/s, any work you've done, mods, lap/.25 mile times and other figures like power etc. IIRC they charge £10 a year which is a reduced rate from £25.

[kiwi]

As one of the forums furthest members making it an official club with a membership fee would be a great blow to me. The wealth of information I have gained compared to the official clubs in New Zealand is awesome.

[Dollywobbler]

Furry nuff. Sounds like 'leave it as is' is the way to go for now. It is something we need to consider going forward. The danger is that by the time we form something official, there won't be any bits left to stockpile. It's glory days at the moment, but we're already finding some parts are unavailable.

Kiwi - I would hate the thought that overseas members wouldn't be able to access the club. There's no reason why those abroad couldn't be a part of it. There are members of the Nissan forum I'm a member of all over the world. I admit that it's a bit of a pain getting to events though!

[Tim Leech]

Quite agree about stock piling parts, Mk1 trim parts are getting very hard to locate now. I have some storage I can make use of.

[Philip Chidlow]

Leave it as is, IMHO. If parts gathering a group buying/storage is something members would like to see, then maybe let someone (or a number of members) make a BX Club Parts section to the forum. Those within the club who use this buy the parts, plus an administration fee which would help the BX Parts member(s) procure more bits.

Sounds fraught with issues though, to be honset (trading, registration, storage and accounts... etc.). Best keep it simple I guess.

[Caffiend]

I'm a member of a superb 4x4 forum which charges £10 for annual membership for example.

Is that 4x4 response Ian? If so, I work with one of the committee (he's Treasurer I think, I lose track)!

The advantage of club status is that you can register as a charity as well, but there is a certain amount of bureaucracy around being formally constituted. I think that the membership base may need to be larger and there definitely needs to be a perception of some value to being a club member which is worth paying for - at the moment, I suspect it would only be the already committed* rather than the casual visitors. 1259 people have forum accounts, and as usual with internet forums, only a small percentage of those are active posters. Is the BXC reaching those who don't really socialise online but would be interested in the RL events though? - with more events being organised, it could do, but it's how to 'market' that offline.

Like others, I think it's a good idea in principle, just "not yet". Possibly fairly close to the tipping point though? - be interesting to see how many people sign up/join in after ICCCR.

*or those who should be ....

[Dollywobbler]

It isn't 4x4 response - it's the Nissan 4x4 Owners Club. Don't think they've really got anything formal going on and I've no idea where the money goes (but I guess some is used to keep the website going) but it shows that people are often willing to pay for good technical advice.

Of course, they have the advantage that there are no other clubs out there for the cars in question, whereas there are actually quite a few valid forums for BX owners - with one just for valvers! That might knacker up the business model a bit...

I'm just very aware that we're somewhere near critical point for the BX. Number are fast dwindling (you really do get a lot of the 'don't see many of these any more' comments when you speak to folk) and enthusiasm is rising.

[Defender110]

This is THE best forum I personally have ever been involved with and the thought of it being changed forever like so many others fills me with dread! Lets keep it going in it's curremt simple guise as long as we can. Those who want change come and go IMHO whereas the core remain staedfast.

[mat_fenwick]

I've been reading this with interest, as it was something that crossed my mind too a few days prior to this thread. After thinking about it, It too had me worried that the act of formalising membership would take away something that is the essence of the club as it stands. However, I'd be happy to go with the majority if and when such a change is felt necessary.

The issue of Public Liability insurance for organised events - I'm not sure on the legal aspects of it but common sense would suggest to me that an event organised by members of an informal internet forum, funded by optional donations is not the same as one organised by a formal, paying members only club. I would consider the former as being similar to a group of friends organising a day out via the 'phone - can you put responsibility on the method of communication? As that's all the forum is acting as in this case. An event organised by a club with membership fees perhaps implies more of a duty of care.

[Dollywobbler]

Not sure the law differentiates on that technicality Mat. The fact that we're called BX Club wouldn't help our case!

I don't think it's a massive issue though. Not like we're organising events to which the public are invited or that involve hooning around on private land. Our own road insurance covers us if we're on a scenic drive (which is the legally preferred definition of a convoy!).

Anyway, I'll go with the majority and cease my pondering for now. I'm very wary of upsetting the pleasant balance of this place.