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The Maestro & Montego Owners Club is a small club run by a small committee the majority of who work and have limited time to devote to the club. This presents several challenges when trying to keep the club active and vibrant and being able to offer members everything that they would like. I know that a some other British Leyland/Austin Rover Group clubs are in a similar position and that there are advantages (and I'm sure disadvantages) to us working more closely together/joining forces. I guess this could be anything from an informal relationship with some clubs (which to some degree we already have) to a much more formal umbrella arrangement or possible merger with one or more clubs and every possibility in between. From what I know, there is already the Joint Rover Clubs (http://www.jointroverclubs.org.uk/) available to Rover clubs and the Morris Vehicles Associations (can't find a website) for Morris clubs. There was also the Austin and Longbridge Federation (http://www.austinlongbridgefederation.co.uk/) although that is now dormant. My understanding is that the JRC do a bit more together than the MVA, although I know little about either.
My personal take on this which is likely to change as more pros and cons of working together more closely come to light would be to look for a structure not dissimilar to the MG Car Club (http://www.mgcc.co.uk/). Their structure is a main council which then has the various registers reporting into to. There is one monthly magazine which covers the entire club and has an entry from each register but each register is free to do their own newsletter. Each register also holds their own banks accounts, have a committee and most importantly their own identity. They attend events with their own identity or join with other registers. The club has one insurance policy which covers all the registers. In this scenario, each BL/ARG club would be a equivalent to a MGCC register. Obviously, our clubs would retain their name and identity but fall under the main umbrella organisation.
I guess my aim is to keep our identity (well, all BL/ARG clubs identities) while being able to reduce costs, be able to share policies etc, so saving volunteer man hours and where possible and gain better coverage for the cars. What I am most concerned about with clubs like ours is their sustainability and resilience and improving that.
Regardless of which way (if any) we go with joining with other BL/ARG clubs which clubs do you think we should look to work with?
How to do see us working with other club? What should that relationship look like?
What do you think the pros and cons of closer working are?
What other comments do you have about this/what points have I not put down?
I am planning a meeting either straight before or straight after the AGM in November for everyone to discuss this matter. I would be looking to this meeting, comments on this thread and comments from members who have contacted the committee directly about this matter to inform the committee's view on this matter.
I look forward to your views and ideas on the matter.
My personal take on this which is likely to change as more pros and cons of working together more closely come to light would be to look for a structure not dissimilar to the MG Car Club (http://www.mgcc.co.uk/). Their structure is a main council which then has the various registers reporting into to. There is one monthly magazine which covers the entire club and has an entry from each register but each register is free to do their own newsletter. Each register also holds their own banks accounts, have a committee and most importantly their own identity. They attend events with their own identity or join with other registers. The club has one insurance policy which covers all the registers. In this scenario, each BL/ARG club would be a equivalent to a MGCC register. Obviously, our clubs would retain their name and identity but fall under the main umbrella organisation.
I guess my aim is to keep our identity (well, all BL/ARG clubs identities) while being able to reduce costs, be able to share policies etc, so saving volunteer man hours and where possible and gain better coverage for the cars. What I am most concerned about with clubs like ours is their sustainability and resilience and improving that.
Regardless of which way (if any) we go with joining with other BL/ARG clubs which clubs do you think we should look to work with?
How to do see us working with other club? What should that relationship look like?
What do you think the pros and cons of closer working are?
What other comments do you have about this/what points have I not put down?
I am planning a meeting either straight before or straight after the AGM in November for everyone to discuss this matter. I would be looking to this meeting, comments on this thread and comments from members who have contacted the committee directly about this matter to inform the committee's view on this matter.
I look forward to your views and ideas on the matter.
, but I did hear from a few members at BL day last year it had gone down hill .
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