John":e2j4w3v0 said:Some great ideas here chaps, need to sit down and read through it all
If people want to continue to organise rides and meets via the forum than that is of course cool. Good to see so many people meeting up and riding via the website
Already had vaguely similar thoughts about making things like this 'official' - basically the way to go the club route. Anyhow more to follow from all and sundry and I'm sure, including me.
Good morning all
Glad that John has spoken on this idea as I was starting to think it wasn't going to go down well at the top and I was just stiring up bother for them. :?
Just a few thoughts on going the club route... A internet based forum where people get together is one thing, a club opens up a whole new barrel of monkeys. There are many things to consider.
The most rediculous phrase in the english language comes into play..'Health and Safety'. As I say, a forum is fine, a 'couple of dozen guys who frequent a web forum' get together and have a ride out- no probs.
A club on the other hand organises a meet in say Chicksands- now picture this.. PidgeonBoy56 falls and breaks his arm, unlucky for sure. But then questions are asked. Did Retrobike do a H&S risk assesment prior to the event? Did Retrobike have a plan in place to deal with such thing. Did Retrobike have permission to have a club group use those facilities? Does Retrobike have insurance? PidgeonBoy56 then uses the first No Win No Fee Vulture he sees on TV and sues our collective asses.
There is a minefield of things to consider- I'm not 100% sure but I think even non-profit organised clubs have to have audited accounts every year and publicly publish them- more hassle and cost.
Another one I know of is an absolute cracker... Our local Motor Club has just had to Train and fund a 'Dedicated Child Protection Officer'. The chap who put his hand up for this has not been the same since- not a nice thing to go through, and all because we have 3-4 under 14 members that we have to ensure are not getting fiddled with on night rallies... utter madness! Each region would have to have one of these.
There are probably hundreds of bits of legislation that would have to be studied and implimented. There were over 800 new peices of legislation that affected small business last year alone!
I'm not saying making this place a club is a bad idea, its just we need to go into it with eyes open. Personally I think it works great as it is, brilliant site, good Craik and some wonderfull people without the egos you find elsewhere. My proposal was just to add a few extra pages to the forum and let a structure develop naturally around this to increase the amount of ' a couple of dozen guys who frequent a web forum get together and have a ride out' type events.
Simple, without cost and the potential pitfalls of an official club.
I do hope this doesn't put you off, I think this will be a great opportunity for all.
Cheers
Si
