Morris Minor Owners Club

How do all.

Whenever I see people posting reg numbers to look for cars, it gets me thinking that there must be a better way of doing this, as someone is only going to reply if they happen to see your post, and to save trawling through the forums.

Anyway, I was thinking about building a small web database for this stuff (I build websites for a living, so it would be secure) that people could search/find cars for? example, I would enter the registration number, then it would look in the db for a matching car, and return the email address for all registered owners of the car.

People could post the details of their car/past cars to say the reg, when they bought it, when they sold it etc, and if they were interested in receiving contact from previous owners of the car.

For safety reasons, it could contain the minimum information necessary - reg number, owned from, owned until, contact email (no postal addresses - the decision of the current owner if they want to respond to initial contact)

What do people think? And is this something that would be allowed within the law (creating a store of registration numbers)?

not a bad idea. i found this one something similar to what your talking about http://www.drivearchive.co.uk/

Sounds interesting - I was wondering if MMOC had a list of all known Minors anywhere ? If not - why not ?

and a list of members by area. Do the branches get informed when a new member joins in their area? So that they can welcome them locally, as it were?

I'm pretty sure they don't.
How would the branch approach the new member?
Not everybody wants to get involved with a branch.

well.. a phone call to say "hi, welcome to the club" might be a nice way to start. That's how other clubs do it, I think. How would the club contact its members otherwise? Just through a magazine mailing?

As the MMOC enrolement and renewal forms request car details then in theory the Derby office should have a record of all members cars. This information may have been extracted onto a computer list which would make searching easier. Remember however that the info is data protected. You will have to enquire at MMOC head office.
I maintain a record of all Series MMs which can be found on the Series MM website
Branches do not get notified of new members, however new members should get an info pack telling them where their nearest branch is.

I'd have to check if there were details of the Oxon/Berks branch in the welcome pack, though I don't remember it. The forum is very friendly as was the branch meeting, but I don't have a great sense of the club itself. Maybe that's because I joined at the end of the season and eveything is settling down for winter.

The list of vehicles on the MM Register site is the sort of thing that the original poster was asking about - why are there data protection concerns for the MMOC membership and not for the MM Register?

I think it's perhaps a missed opportunity to not inform the branches of new members. There are often requests for "anyone nearby to help out" in these forums and couldn't it be a role for the branches to reach out to the new membership and provide the sort of local help that we all need from time to time.

right, steps firmly off soapbox.. sorry

Simon

why are there data protection concerns for the MMOC membership and not for the MM Register?

Mike will correct me if I'm wrong but I suspect that those wishing to record their details on the MM Register have contacted Mike to volunteer the information rather than Mike obtaining their details via the club and publishing without the owners permission. I doubt that every single member of the MMOC would agree to having the details of their vehicle listed on a database accessible to all to see and in any event it would mean the club having to contact every member with a Minor (around 13,000 people I think) to ask their permission first.

I think it's perhaps a missed opportunity to not inform the branches of new members. There are often requests for "anyone nearby to help out" in these forums and couldn't it be a role for the branches to reach out to the new membership and provide the sort of local help that we all need from time to time.

Anyone joining the club will receive a copy of Minor Matters with details of their local branch in it. In addition the branch details are published on this site and anyone asking "anyone nearby to help out" is directed to contact their local branch although don't forget that not everyone posting here is a club member. Branches do their bit to attract local members by holding and attending local events and would no doubt be very welcoming and help out new members. As has already been pointed out though, not everyone is interested in joining a branch so might not appreciate a call or letter asking them to join.

Not knocking your suggestions but people do sometimes forget that the club, the local branches and this site are run by volunteers in their spare time and all this would take time and money.

but people do sometimes forget that the club, the local branches and this site are run by volunteers in their spare time and all this would take time and money.

Well I haven't forgotten that. In the brief time I've been on the forum it's been obvious that you personally spend a huge amount of time helping and guiding people on this forum alone, quite apart from other club activities.

But if there are 13,000 members and 9 areas and what, 8 branches per area - then that's around 150-200 members per branch, not the 30 or so that are members in my local branch. That's counting actual members and not all the visitors to these forums that aren't members.

Since my local branch doesn't charge for membership, then I could have implicitly become a 'member' of the local branch just by joining MMOC. Since the branches receive a stipend for every new member in their area, the incentive is there for the branches to promote MMOC in their area and with a larger pool of members to approach, they would have the chance to be more effective at local events.

Don't misunderstand this as criticism. The forum is great, everyone has been really helpful and friendly. I was just responding with my impressions of the club as a new joiner and wondering what would help my local branch.

Simon

The 13,000 members are worldwide not all Uk based. Each branch seems to attract upwards of 40 members - although this does vary wildly across the country. Some members simply do not want/cannot spare the time to attend branch meetings. Some just go to the odd rally, some just enjoy driving their cars and use the membership to get parts. We can only keep track of cars at the Derby HQ if a) the new member fills in the details and, b) if when a member sells the vehicle they remember to inform MMOC of the change (or addition).

We have sent out questionnaires, and it would seem members "like to do their own thing"

so does this mean the club dont have an existing database for all types of minors?

As I said the Club only has the info that memers feed it. So yes, on this basis the Club has a database of who owns what and where they are. A new owner can contact the Club requesting details of previous owners, but if that person does not wish to be contacted by future owners we have to respect their wishes. As this information contains names and address details it cannot be posted on an open forum.