009 Society AGM & Narrow Gauge Show Saturday 30th March 2019.

[MickT]

Not as far as I recall, although I was crammed in at the back and didn't hear clearly everything that was said. Suggest you contact Hon Secretary directly to clarify, unless someone with better hearing and recall than me can answer your question.

[Hobby]

Ah well, another waste of paper for the coming year then...

[Malcolm]

Blair
My only recollection of mention of electronic copy was during Treasurers report on membership fees for overseas members, nothing about electronic copy for UK members.  No luck on pushing for new website either.
Malcolm

[Hobby]

Thanks folks.

[clayliner]

While I do still sometimes write 'proper' letters - usually when their contents are important and I want them read and taken notice of! - the simple fact is that these days the preferred/default means of communication is electronic. Whatever its drawbacks it is undeniably reliable, cheap and instant. Why the Society is apparently reluctant to use it is something of a mystery (to me, anyway) - though the Sales Team do send their occasional listings that way (not least because putting lists of items in the News would be quite impractical, given the unavoidable lead times before any item appears there, by which time half the items would have already been sold).

I doubt, in all seriousness, Julien, that more than 5% of the membership (and that's probably putting it generously) do not have access to email/internet these days. Why the Management seem to actually prefer not to use our own Society Forum to communicate with members (note also the recent protests over the Society Challenge!) baffles me. No-one is suggesting that this Forum should be used instead of the News - both channels of communication are perfectly reasonable. Why not use both?

As regards Minutes of meetings, I presume they are typed up in digital form anyway so the extra work involved in posting them here is minimal - and members will be able to read them weeks before they appear in the News if they want to.

David.

[Stan Williams]

I would just like to mention something that happened on Saturday lunch time at the Rainford Show.

I was summoned to the front desk and a couple (man & woman)they looked around the late 60s/70 age group wanted to know, why the show  was not advertised on the 009 website ?
They had come up from Bournemouth on the Friday and where staying with friends near Southport.

I asked them what website, to which they announced the 009 website, I said do you mean Facebook, once again they said the 009 website.

I then explained that the show has been advertised in the 009 News,  009 Soc, Forum,  NGRM forum,  RMWeb, Model shops & exhibitions site and
the Railway Modeller along with fliers distributed at model rly shows.

The answer came back,  we can not find it on the website ?
What else can you do.

Stan.

[Tom Haythornthwaite]

I am keen to know if a motion I proposed for the AGM was discussed.  I proposed that "the society will not permit itself to be represented at any event that does not declare in its announcements and publicity the particulars of accessibility for disabled visitors and participants".  I have asked for a set of minutes when it is convenient.  (I fully understand that these things take time.)

[rander]

I can see the advantage of using email or our forum for communicating with members. If a deadline for the News is missed, it can be up to four weeks before the members can be informed. Usually any notification deadline for AGM business is then passed. Had we had greater coverage of members, much of the problems with missing notification deadlines might have been avoided this year.
However what coverage would be deemed acceptable to satisfy our articles of association, if that's what they are? Would 95% be acceptable, that is if we assume that only 5% do not have an email account? I think that figure may be optimistic, just because someone has access to the internet doesn't mean they have an email address, or use it. Would 90% be satisfactory, 85% ......? And how would we achieve that percentage?
I, for one, would welcome using electronic means to contact members, although personally not for the 009 News itself. No more having to put inserts into the News.

[MickT]

...............................I then explained that the show has been advertised in the 009 News,  009 Soc, Forum,  NGRM forum,  RMWeb, Model shops & exhibitions site and
the Railway Modeller along with fliers distributed at model rly shows.

The answer came back,  we can not find it on the website ?
What else can you do.

Stan.

You haven't mentioned the 009 Society Website in your list of where it had been advertised, which has the show diary in it - perhaps when they referred to the "009 website" it was the official Society website that they were referring to? I would imagine it would have been there as John Jacobs who maintains the diary had it listed in 009 News, which I believe is a duplicate of what is put on the website diary. Did anyone check that this had happened I wonder?

[MickT]

As regards Minutes of meetings, I presume they are typed up in digital form anyway so the extra work involved in posting them here is minimal - and members will be able to read them weeks before they appear in the News if they want to.

David.

But the minutes of meetings do not appear in the News David! There are two ways of obtaining the minutes under the current arrangements - contact Hon Secretary directly and request a copy (you can write a letter if you really want to and are prepared to pay 12 shillings in proper money for a stamp nowadays) or you can send an email. This is what I do and although it occasionally requires a chaser email, I have always managed to get both AGM and Committee meeting minutes by requesting them. Alternatively you can take the trouble to attend the AGM and get a copy of the last meeting minutes 5 minutes before the meeting starts when they are dished out, leaving just about nil time to read and digest them, so in order to maintain the will to live somebody proposes that the minutes are accepted, somebody else seconds it and the assembled members vote it in unanimously, and the committee get on with the rest of the meeting safe in the knowledge that everyone is absolutely content with everything. (Please excuse this slight tinge of cynicism)

Maybe the new committee structure when our new Chairman has settled in and re-organised the management tree will decide to act as other societies and associations do and actually communicate with the members, but we mustn't be too impatient or optimistic.................

[rander]

Off topic I know, but I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who depresses themselves by converting prices to real money.

[cp.409067]

.....

Maybe the new committee structure when our new Chairman has settled in and re-organised the management tree will decide to act as other societies and associations do and actually communicate with the members, but we mustn't be too impatient or optimistic.................

To achieve the objective - communication - maybe that final phrase has it the wrong way round. We must have faith and the expectation that things will improve sooner rather than later. Thus -

"we musn't be too patient or pessimistic".


CP

[Graeme Dunbar]

...............................I then explained that the show has been advertised in the 009 News,  009 Soc, Forum,  NGRM forum,  RMWeb, Model shops & exhibitions site and
the Railway Modeller along with fliers distributed at model rly shows.

The answer came back,  we can not find it on the website ?
What else can you do.

Stan.

You haven't mentioned the 009 Society Website in your list of where it had been advertised, which has the show diary in it - perhaps when they referred to the "009 website" it was the official Society website that they were referring to? I would imagine it would have been there as John Jacobs who maintains the diary had it listed in 009 News, which I believe is a duplicate of what is put on the website diary. Did anyone check that this had happened I wonder?

I do hope it was an oversight. Social media may be popular and convenient for those who use it, but in addition to what Mick says, when it comes to searching online for information, search engines seem to favour traditional web sites. For anyone who is an occasional modeller and not in with the "in crowd", that is liable to be how they find their information.

[Hobby]

If you do a search "009 society agm" it still tells you where it was this year and one of the links (the top one) directs you to the "Diary" so I expect it was. They were probably thinking it should have had it's own separate page rather than just the Diary... Not a bad suggestion actually!

I'd like to know if Tom's proposal was discussed as well...

[Stan Williams]

The Society AGM had been listed in the diary system since July of last year, Chris then transfered the details to the 009 News and then also

published a map of the village with the hall and carparks available.

Comment,
You can take a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink !!

Stan.