Morris Minor Owners Club

dunketh wrote:maybe having a section called 'Everyday Minors'

There always used to be a "Rally Entrant" Class for people who didn't wish to be judged to park in. I personally like to see all of 1 particular class parked together especially the rarer classes - you can still choose not to be judged.

Over the years I have seen very few folk sneering at so called tatty cars - most are pleased to see as many as possible especially well used vehicles.

Rog

OK personal soapbox time and my opinions are based on my area and they shouldnt be much different elsewhere but may be.

"I appreciate that the mandate says that All minors are catered for, but that's not how it comes across. I know as I've been on the fringe for years! There is a certain amount of distain held towards the modifiers and the rough uns."

Well our Branch welcomes all types and conditions of cars and even owners who dont own a car but have an interest in Moggies so no distain in our Branch that I am aware off unless some view legpulling in that catagory as plenty of that goes on.


"as a newbie I think I would be a bit dubious of taking my ebay minor to a national, the word concorse just isnt what Thingy is,"

I am completely puzzled at this preconception as anyone will tell you there are rarely more than 10 Concours cars at a Rally and remember there is nothing better as a reference point if you need to know how something should look books dont tell the whole story.


"We don't care what condition your car is in; we want to see you and your Minor so we can celebrate that we all love these cars."

Please tell me if you belong to a Branch that doesnt have this outlook as I havent come across one yet.


"The Interbranch challenge sounds like my kind of thing. Can the website members compete as a branch?"

Well they did enter a team at Breamore house a couple of years ago

"Why didn't you know about it - because you hadn't been told. Interbranch could be so much more, if only people were aware of it, encouraged to compete with other branches"

Thats actually quite easy to answer as most members of the club dont belong to branches, reasons vary from its too far away, doesnt fit with working hours, they dont undertake many activities ect.
Most non members overlook the help and advice available from branches and being kept up to date on forthcoming events and activities which is where the newsletters come into their own right, I am not saying the branches are perfect but they are a very good starting point to meeting other enthusiasts.


"Are there people here that are prepared to try and sort this out and organise some things to do with your car for next year? I'm up for it."

Now this is going to sound really negative but the amount of members who use the website is a tiny amount of the total membership.
Look how difficult it has been to organise the website Rallies and the numbers attending tend to be small and the number of people offering to organise one and all the hassle that goes with it are hardly falling over themselves to come forward and organise something that will draw an attendance for what is basically a one day event.

And even more negative.
I agree that certain points need to improve facility wise and more entertainment.
What I find very frustrating (and I expect to get shot down in flames) is that most of the complainers (many who do actually have valid points) never get involved in any way to try and help thing improve things and help things to move forward they dont get involved (for whatever reasons) with local branches or even a local classic car club if its more convienient or the national club, personally I am heavily involved with my local branch and we often find that when we get critics about things we have run and we ask for suggestion on ways of improving things and new ideas (which are always welcome) the complainers always seem to evaporate at the thought of having to do something, if this seems a bit harsh to some there are even people like this within the branches.
Please dont think I am having a go at anybody in particular its just that we seem to get members who think its their right to complain (which it is as far as I am concerned) but then do nothing about it, the last AGM springs to mind as all the moaners didnt attend and yet still complained about the outcome of certain points without giving any input.

Climbs down off soap box and gets back under his stone in a cool dark place.

Well said that man - I agree with you 100 %

Rog

Me too
a

Yep, thats fair comment. Its all well and good complaining but you have to be prepared to muck in and do something about it too. I'm luckier than some in that my work is home-based so I do have time to dedicate to assisting with things, but I appreciate that not everyone has that spare time available. That said, I think everyones point of view is equally valid, whether they have the time/inclination to help out or not

Would you like me to send you some of my pills Kevin

Are they blue diamond-shaped ones? I could do with some of those...

well one reason i have not attended the agm is distance for me.
i would get involved in a national if it were closer to home, so its okay for you midland boys who live close to these venues.
its not a question of not doing as a question of pure distance to me, and many others i wopuld expext.

so where in the country does the committee mebers live, midlands area i wonder mostly
certainly not south of the M25

so before jumping to conclusions about attendabces at agm`s and organising, find out the reasons first

The first Nationl Rally I attended was at the Earl of Bradford's pile at Weston-under-Lizard. It was really busy and was the year that Chris Street launched his updated Convertable. The last one I attended was Breamore House but, as was said earlier, not a lot to do after you'd seen the cars and chatted to traders but it was interesting meeting the website members!

There has been a lot of positive critisim of last week's National. It would, nevertheless, be very useful if one of the organisers could post explaining things from their point of view because, I anticipate they faced many problems that we just didn't realise existed and at the same time working hard to keep the show on the road.

If there is a post from one of the National organisers it would be good to see positive feedback from posters

aupickup wrote:i would get involved in a national if it were closer to home, so its okay for you midland boys who live close to these venues.
its not a question of not doing as a question of pure distance to me, and many others i wopuld expext.

Please dont take this personaly Dennis but a lot of tasks do not need local people - they are always short of marshalls for example - 1 hour on Sun morning perhaps. They were also short of Judges for the Condition Classes - you are knowledgable on LCVs so could judge this class.

Rog

Would you like me to send you some of my pills Kevin

Not yet Bill a beer is fine.

so before jumping to conclusions about attendabces at agm`s and organising, find out the reasons first

Sorry to disagree Dennis but at no point did my posting jump to any conclusions, as I said there are differing reasons for owners not being part of a branch including distances involved as I said in my post.
I also think Rog`s reply also gives some very valid points that are often overlooked and if you cant get to the AGM you can of course write your proposals to be read out at the AGM.

Kevin wrote:there are differing reasons for owners not being part of a branch including distances involved

My closest branch is 25 miles away, meetings start at 7:30pm and I work until 8pm! by the time I'd get there there'd be no tea left so no real point me going I'd love a closer branch but ce la vie

well i did not know i culd be a marshall, maybe next time.
lcv judge well that as well

Sorry, I wasnt having a go I was trying to be positive, from a newbie point of view. To get a strong national we need a strong venue with good facilities to attract people, then on top we do MMOC things to add to it.

My personal oppinion of car classification is call it what it is... to drive an ebay minor you need a sence of humour (bottom end ebay) so call it restoration projects and wrecks or similar we wont mind we know that how many Minors change hands on ebay every year ? get all the people who have bought them to the national put the cars that make it in a restoration project section. maybe with someone who knows what they are looking at pointing out faults to the owners and people who are looking to buy and how it can be repaired properly and the possibilities... restoraton, updating or modification..., if you get 5 cars it would cover most of the faults to look for, and I know from reading here a lot of you old hands would love this job... well if you had a supply of tea and cake


from a newbies point of view I think thats what newbies would like

chad

Just a small word of caution. I have found that some people have taken offence at winning the "Wreck of the Rally" category, despite it being just a bit of fun, and it may result in them not attending another rally

Simple answer guys like us at teh LCV Register, no judging, no wreck just line them up and have a chat.

What still amazes me is that the organisers or teh MMOC themselves have not made a missive to the board saying that we appoligize for teh lack of toilets, or the the no show of the showers. That could have even be been done on the day!! That was a PA system in place!!

lastly I also agree with austinpick-up point I was not aware that there was a shortage of personell and really I can not believe that that was the case.


I know it is easy for some who do nowt to moan & groan but I have organised events and I know YOU MUST GET the basics right and if it fails you need to tell the gathering on the day what has happened and if it is beyond your control they will undersatnd but to say nothing, I am afraid it just goes on, So as Millerman says the organisers should come back to us had it happened on teh day we all would have known and accepted it!!

teh MMOC themselves have not made a missive to the board

The members using the message board are a very small minority - and also the MMOC officials using the message board are also a minority. I for one would not support bullying anyone into coming onto a messageboard if they don't have the time or the inclination - and maybe don't even have an internet computer! I would guess that most people don't have the time required to be a club official - so if you turn that round, the 'spare time' left over for the much maligned MMOC officials is very precious.

The club beleives in fairness and therefore has communication channels that are open to all - hence the publication of contact details in Minor Matters. Speaking from personal experience I can say that using the correct channels does give a response. Putting pen to paper may seem odd to many of us, however as the majority of club members are in their twighlight years, the majority may think emailing is a very odd thing to do.

twighlight years

hi ray
im no spring chicken,how old do i have to be to qulaify for twighlight

rayofleamington wrote: I for one would not support bullying anyone into coming onto a messageboard <snip> The club beleives in fairness and therefore has communication channels that are open to all

I should like to courteously disagree with the implications in your post, ray

Wouldn't it be nice if one of the committee had it as part of (or all of) their job description to be a conduit of communication between the twilight years committee members and the members of the messageboard (serious suggestion, someone please remind me to send it to an AGM)

In the mean time I think we have all heard the complaints about the loos and about the showers, and it seems that otherwise everyone had a pretty good time doing whatever they did.

I like the other threadin this section which was started as a way of thinking positively about how we could change things for the better, it's already got bags of great ideas on it although it does get bogged down now and then in discussion of what went wrong this year (ie loos and showers) er no pun intended, sorry

In my experience Ray, going through the established route to obtain either information or clarification of an issue is a lengthy process. My last request has taken almost 6 months to receive a written reply, even then this was the briefest of E mails which only went part way to covering the issue as a whole, I'm still waiting for the minutes of the last few committee meetings at which my issues were raised.
I fully appreciate that MMOC members work hard for the club and I do not belittle their hard work. Its just that this message board probably misleads us all into thinking that everyone is receptive to it and the speed at which some issues or questions can be resolved.
The club is still a 'dinosaur' when asking for info as its chief officers might not even visit the messageboard or have the desire to take part. So if you are wanting a reply re the National I think unless someone from the MMOC committee actually makes the effort to reply via this forum,then we are in for a long wait. Maybe the next Minor Matters.
My feeling about this years rally echoes most of what has already been stated. I can firmly see the need for this and other aspects of the club being taken over by 'professionals'. This does not mean I think the folk who volunteer do not have the best intentions or do not put in the effort. I feel that many professional event companies could provide the basics for a show, ie potential visitors = so many toilets/showers/food outlets etc etc, even becoming involved in non Minor entertainment. This would leave the MMOC only Minor related work, much of which can be transposed from one year to the other.
Maybe its time to relieve very hard pressed volunteers and realise that in some areas the membership would be better served by professional services. If we carry on as we are then I feel that the National will no longer be seen as the pinnacle event of the year, and a showcase for both members an potential new members.