Is this club getting too old?

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

In the Northern Ireland branch we have a few younger members, I include myself in that!!! Stevey has recently joined the committee as webmaster and hes only 23. Ive mentioned this before, but I think regular change at committe level is to be encouraged as it always brings new ideas and looking at things from a different point of view. This does not mean however, that long serving, experienced members arent also required. A balance of old and young is good.

Last night I attended the Assocation of Old Vehicles Club Annual Dinner Dance, not really my thing but the grub was great!! We had 37 members representing our club and I would say about 1/2 of them were 40ish, likewise at our club events we have very varied ages.

I think the future of the Minor is pretty safe still, the more its in the public eye the more people want them and remember them. This site has many younger members, I would encourage everyone to try there local branch and support the activities as they will meet some amazing characters and make great friends as well. I have learned many skills from older members and driven the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland going to all sorts of shows.

Ive never owned any other type of car and plan to continue driving!!them!

[Judge]

, but I think regular change at committe level is to be encouraged as it always brings new ideas and looking at things from a different point of view.

I totally agree David, and as I believe I have already mentioned before, some clubs limit the time that committee members can hold certain posts, and also hold postal ballots for new committee members, to achieve this.

[Arnie]

[quote="Judge"]You're right Arnie that this has been covered before, hence I will not repeat what has been said already on many occassions. To get some idea of this, here is a more recent link,


Thanks for that very helpful link. I think that has me brought back up to speed now.

[alainmoran]

Somehow I don't think you're a younger member!

Yes, I'm a bit wrinkly round the edges

[toginthemog]

alain dont forget youv,e only one leg should give you a better discount

[youngun]

A student discount would be nice!!

I think this club is far more "young person friendly" than a large number of clubs. with the exception of the Peugeot 306 owners club, but that is just made up of students with sod all money!!
I had the misfortune of going to the Jowett car club annual south west club meeting, even my Dad felt young and in his words " I'm 58 and they referred to me as a lad!!"

YG

[minor_hickup]

Is it me or has this been raised many times before? Almost always by older members! There's a lot of talk of attracting new members to the club, but with little real thought as to why its not packed with younger members.

To me it seems there aren't a HUGE (yes there a quite a few) amount of young people driving minors. Compared to say the VW scene. But that's because young people are generally fickle (aren't we all) and its a cooler scene. Also young people don't have a lot of money and want to do a lot of things. Going to lots of shows and meetings is generally way down on the list. Its not a dig at the club or my age group but more how I see it.

However we should not worry because young people are steadily getting involved in these cars. They are relatively cheap to run so it will always attract a certain amount of people. IMHO the minor has a great body shape and people will always like it for that reason. Also the spares situation (although most people would probably disagree) is second only to a handful of other marques so its not difficult to keep the cars on the road.

However the few car meets I personally attend are general retro shows usually. Very accepting from concourse 1930's cars to 1980's lowriders. Mainly because I like old cars generally, also because its nice to have a change. Maybe just representing the car at these events would be a start. Maybe holding some different types of meets. I believe Jonathon organised a track day! Brilliant! We need more of this and when my car is done I would love to attend.

Of course there will always be the few who are gravely upset when I tell them I'm period modifying a 1953 split screen. Horses for courses and I'm glad there are still people who care about the cars in a pure form.

[Judge]

As you say, this has been raised many times before, including a number of the suggestions you have made.

PS 'Older members'? Have you considered that in fact if it were not for these, there might not be a club at all. As you say, younger members are involved in a variety of activities, would they have time to run a club. However it seems to me that whoever does run it, young or old, they need to be actively involved, have new ideas, and not be stuck in the past with a fear of change.

End of rant, sorry.

[Kevin]

The biggest advantage for the VW's is that they were made in a greater variety and produced over a longer period with about 5 times as many cars as ours if I remember correctly and with better global sales and the surf scene link they will always have a head start unfortunately.

Of course there will always be the few who are gravely upset when I tell them I'm period modifying a 1953 split screen.

I think period mods are great and require more effort to get correct/similar, than a standard car any chance of a pm as to what you are undertaking.

[Judge]

Said before Kevin

[StephenMorris]

The intention is to continue to reduce the differential in membership fees. Shame your mag editor is a wrinkly 50-something who likes unmolested cars! But I have a brief article from a younger member to go in the issue after next (got to me just too late to get into the next one). I want to avoid ghetto-ising sectors of the mag (hence my first action was to rename 'From a Woman's Angle': ooh, radical!), but it would be great to get some more material from younger members, and without upsetting the balance of the mag I'd like to get more material on modified cars too.
From my experience it is difficult to involve younger members in all sorts of clubs: I'm active in a number of fields and find myself at the lower end of the age spectrum in many of them. We could spend many happy hours discussing whether us oldies don't know how to make things more attractive to 'yoof' or whether it's just a cultural/generational thing. Maybe people who ramble on at great length and use big words are the cause of all our problems...!

Stephen Morris

[Judge]

Well said Stephen. My only concern is,

The intention is to continue to reduce the differential in membership fees.

Might this simply upset the long serving members of the club? These are the people that have supported the MMOC for years, and now find that whilst membership fees for new members are frozen, theirs will increase year on year. Perhaps there are better ways of cutting costs? Just a thought.

[mike.perry]

Just a thought.
By my reckoning some of the original club members will have paid something like £450 in membership fees, plus other contributions.
How about a life membership fee as is an option in other organisations?

[Arnie]

Well said Stephen. My only concern is,

The intention is to continue to reduce the differential in membership fees.

Might this simply upset the long serving members of the club? These are the people that have supported the MMOC for years, and now find that whilst membership fees for new members are frozen, theirs will increase year on year. Perhaps there are better ways of cutting costs? Just a thought.

You are bound to tell me this has been covered before but here goes. What is the idea of closing the difference in membership fees, in most paying situations you get reduced rates for the young and old (when you are young it's a help and as you get older its something to look foward to) apart from car insurance.
What is the idea of a pitch towards modded cars to attract youngsters, I was showing a Minor to a young lady and mentioned that the headlining had been replaced and the sunvisor was the actual colour at which point she decided that was a part that must be preserved. Just sell the Minor in all it's forms and let them decide where they want to sit. Do other clubs have registers for each variant or state of modification? I have owned an Ital drivetrained 1293cc 5 speed car which i think fitted into the modified register class but to me it was still a morris minor. Its a one make club why do we need registers, whats wrong with a single inclusive club?

[mike.perry]

If I may quote from the Series MM Register-
The Series MM Register exists to encourage the ownership, maintainance and use of the Series MM, to represent the interests of the Series MM within the Morris Minor Owners Club, and to raise the profile of the model, thereby encouraging suppliers to stock spares unique to the Series MM.
In addition, the register offers advice to owners and tries to assist in the tracing of spare parts. and where viable will try to arrange the manufacture of obsolete items.
The register also maintains a record of all known Series MMs world wide.
I believe that the register fulfills its purpose although there is always room for improvement.

[Arnie]

If I may quote from the Series MM Register-
The Series MM Register exists to encourage the ownership, maintainance and use of the Series MM, to represent the interests of the Series MM within the Morris Minor Owners Club, and to raise the profile of the model, thereby encouraging suppliers to stock spares unique to the Series MM.
In addition, the register offers advice to owners and tries to assist in the tracing of spare parts. and where viable will try to arrange the manufacture of obsolete items.
The register also maintains a record of all known Series MMs world wide.
I believe that the register fulfills its purpose although there is always room for improvement.

Point taken, the MM is a unique car (the purest form of the Morris Minor) when compared with BMC parts based later models. Just chucking ideas up in the air as to how to make the club more inclusive than exclusive.

[alainmoran]

alain dont forget youv,e only one leg should give you a better discount

I'm not sure I understand that ... could someone explain it to me, I'm a bit slow at times.

[Judge]

What is the idea of closing the difference in membership fees, in most paying situations you get reduced rates for the young and old (when you are young it's a help and as you get older its something to look foward to) apart from car insurance.

To address the fact that membership is falling slightly and the proportion of members qualifying for a concessionary rate is increasing.

[COMMERCIALMAN]

I think the club should be looking at ways to attract new members whatever age they are. Its unlikely that more younger members will join just for the fact the gap between the concessionary is decreasing. On a personal view i do not think the club offers good value for money. I do think the magazine is very good but i think the national rally should be free entry to club members and there should be no local fee for club branches. In a time that everyone is looking after their pennies club membership might be the first thing people might decide not to renew so the club needs to change their direction slightly and offer more.
Jason

[Judge]

Dare I say it's been said before