Thanks!
D

Joseph,

I don't know your group aims but here are my thoughts on what I would do in your situation.

Organise something that you enjoy doing, that way if nobody else turns up it won't matter, you will still have a good time.

Don't be afraid to think out of the box - replicating something that isn't working just now is unlikely to work in the future.

When I set up regular meets for my local Club for the first time we met small in a pub and tried to do 'car stuff' - it resulted in a small group of men sitting around glasses of lemonade in a dark room. I tried quizzes and even an auction (that was well attended the first year), tried drives and even technical stuff. It still resulted in a small group of men sitting around a table drinking lemon... you get the picture!

What eventually worked and resulted in a big group of mixed group of ages and gender was meal at a country pub. Not everyone drove their Austins there but it was popular and something the whole family could join in with. We often had in excess of 30 people attending, it became something people really looked forward to. It turned from old-car chat to a group of really good friends meeting up and enjoying each others company.

About a week before I would send out an e-mail to whole club telling them that my family and I were going to the pub and would be eating there, anyone who would like to join us would be welcome. This worked very well to remind people who may have other things on their mind.

So, next month find a place to eat. I don't know if you have a partner but if you do, ask them (or a friend) to come along (in the Ulster?). Email everyone you know in the group to tell them that is what you are doing and that you hope see them there for a chat. Give it a whirl, be patient (it takes a few months for people to find out that it is a good thing to come to) and see what happens. If it doesn't work you've had a couple of nice dinners out at the pub!

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Thanks for that yes will try and organise something and like you say see if we get any interest with cars and people etc but they must be Austin's no good having a pwa7c midshires group where no one is driving an austin! What with moving house and a baby on the way myself in August it's been hard going atm but I'll get together and organise something and like you said if it fails then we have tried to do something, I just think the times are moving on and looking at autokarna yesterday I think we was down on lots of 7s I remember that rally when we used to fill the bank with 7s seems less and less every year now, I think we need to gain interest with the younger generation but don't know how to go about that one, I'll do my best for the group and see how it goes thanks regards Joe

Location: Lutterworth

hi R,

thanks for the input, i know how well the scottish club done in your hands amongst others.

if i see a downer for midshires, its the same thing all area clubs are having.

its not so much the lack of younger members, which i always think of as 20 to 30s. this age group rarely have the spare money for a hobby car.

its more that people coming into 7s are usually 40+ and have a different attitude to clubs and the cars they are buying to the old days.

ive always put local car owners that come to me for parts either onto the nearest club, or the meeting point at the wight horse.

for the suggestion of there local club, 90% of people give the reply "im not a club type of person" only my opinion, but i think most people find clubs to be very old fashioned and out of date.

many have tried the wight horse, but very quickly give up. to the feeling of a clicky meeting of people talking about rileys.

i dont know how it would be done, but if you had the phone numbers for all local owners, club or not. and invited them to join up and use there cars. there would be a good responce.

and everyone would have the same car in common.

tony

Location: huncote

We had a similar situation here in Pembrokeshire when the chairman and mainstay of the local astronomy group passed away. He owned a caravan site with a club house and an observatory, after his death the meetings in the clubhouse turned into a chat and drinking session until people lost interest and the group folded, leaving only the groups virtually unused website and forum.
Being new to astronomy at the time and looking for a local club I and a couple of others left messages on the forum, we decided to meet up and form a new group, we hired a local village hall and had six people turn up, from this we started the Preseli Astronomy Group, we started by discussing what we wanted from the group and used the old forum to inform interested parties of the new group our next meeting we had about 12 people mainly from the old group and we then sorted ourselves out formed a committee and chipped in a few quid each to buy a projector and screen and got the ball rolling with our own forum and a Facebook page, we now have over a 100 followers on Facebook over 50 registered members in the group and regularly get 30 people turn up at our monthly meetings.
In our case we chose not to use a pub for the meetings to avoid people forming their own little social groups in the corners, our meetings consist of basically a cup of tea/coffee and a social chit/chat followed by a talk on what can be seen in this months sky followed by a tea break chit/chat and then another lecture and if conditions allow a short observation session in the car park.
We have been going now for over 5 years and in that time we have managed to secure a £2500 lottery grant to buy telescopes and equipment and have been bought a storage container and extra telescopes to hire out to members all this from the donations we receive from our members. This year we will be introducing a membership fee of £15 a year to even things out as some members donate more than others and we are getting in a lot more money than we actually need to run the group.
I realize that astronomy has many more aspects than an Austin Seven but if I as thinking of starting or reorganizing a group I would seriously consider doing what we have done, Start with short chat about local/ national club news and events,even things said on this forum, with a lap top, projector and screen give monthly maintenance lectures, simply copying a Pitmans or Woodrow manual would give quite a few lectures and once done these could be stored and rerun in the future,just show the pictures and read the words as simple as that, ask members to talk about their own cars history, problems or events they attended,also have a few back ups for when things go wrong like U tube videos Pathe news articles and Austin publicity films etc,will keep the masses amused for hours.
This has worked well for us, we currently have only five people running the group and two/three who prepare and give most of the lectures.

Location: Pembrokeshire.

I would like to thank all those who have taken the time to offer suggestions and encouragement through this Forum, personal emails and 'phone calls.

We are definitely going ahead with various ideas and strategies to keep Midshires going.

Thanks again.

Chris Garner
Chairman. PWA7C Limited

Pleased to report of a good meet last night Thurs 15th at the white horse Broughton Ashley was good to see Dave Phil in their cars and also my dad's mate bob In his 7 I really need to get the Ulster rep out now! Was good to feel like a proper group again hope things are going forward now and hope that we get to see a few new faces and Austin's regards Joe

Location: Lutterworth

Thanks Joe and all those who took the time to attend.
I am sure we can keep the momentum going and build the Group back up.

Chris. PWA7C Limited

Village Midsummer Fair - Monks Kirby - Sunday 25th June - 11am-5pm

This is a village midsummer fair for charity which takes place at an old country estate in Monks Kirby (near Rugby, CV23 0RX) which is home to the Earl and Countess of Denbigh. They have lots of great things going on this year: live music, a licensed bar with local real ales, English civil war re-enactment, farmers' market, live folk music on their unique 1954 commer stage and the ever famous chicken racing to name just a few. The grounds are a treat to walk around including the lakes where the model boaters will be.

They are always looking for car clubs to display their cars and of course this is all free. They run a turn up and display style system to save time on paperwork for their team and also the car clubs.

Similarly Bearley Village Hall Fete on 22July always welcomes interesting vehicles. Come along 12.00 to 4.00.
Contact robertjbrowett@gmail.com (he has a rear wheel braked (1923?) Triumph tourer.
Bearley is just off the A3400 on the Henley in Arden to Stratford road
David