Spooky Mulder

I have been to several Subaru meetings recently and have heard a lot of discussion about what people want from a car club, both SIDC members and not. I am sure that the SIDC committee work very hard on SIDC and for that we must owe them our thanks.

These comments are posted because it may be that they are not hearing these messages first hand, and so hopefully will find the feedback useful.

For others I think it is an opportunity to air your views as to what you want from a Car Club such as SIDC.

1) Track Days - a lot of people love track days and want a fair chance to attend them. Has the system changed, as many of members relate the fact that they have not recieved notification, by mail or by email of impending track events and then they are too late as they are fully booked.

As a supplementary point, it has already been debated on here about non-Subaru attendance, and the days being strictly SIDC. This is clearly not the case as there is at least one individual, whilst very welcome, has never been an SIDC member.

2) Track Day Support - everyone who goes to Donington appreciates the hard work and excellent quality of support provided by Northampton Tyres. However many attendees question the virtue that all attendees have to pay a 'surcharge' of £5 to have Northampton provide what is ultimately a commercial service.

There is no question that Northampton offer a good and valuable service, however as a club shouldn't this have gone out to tender - I am sure that someone would have done it for free. Or, perhaps attendees have the option to say whether they want to use them or not. Maybe all this has changed now.

3) Meets - a very great many SIDC members and non-members have never been to an SIDC event. The majority of events are organised locally and are self-generating. Many others are not aware of local SIDC activities. Many other clubs, even clubs much smaller than this have regular, 'Club' events organised by region.

4) Annual Jamboree - many other car clubs have a big annual event, like the VW event where they take over Santa Pod for a weekend. Or the RSOC annual bash. Didn't SIDC used to have one - will there ever be another.

5) Finance - the SIDC must have a stack of cash now - what is the process of spending this cash, and what are the criteria for qualifying for this cash for events/track days, driver training, whatever? An example of this was paying for the BBQ at Bedford - at all other Bedford events the BBQ was part of the track day charge.

6) What is the SIDC? - sorry to sound blunt, but Scoobynet has become the de facto heart of the Subaru community. What is the ratio of Scoobynet v. SIDC members on board in this bulletin board. What does the SIDC subscription provide that Scoobynet does not?

Sorry to sound like this is having a go, however these seem to be very common themes at the Subaru meets - it must be a pain in the **** for the committee members to hear this - they work very hard on our behalf - but if the SIDC or any Subaru Car Club is to be successful then it is reasonable to share the views of the membership.

The times they are a changin' - Scooby drivers, what are your views?

Spooky Mulder

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

& you are???

Spooky Mulder

Why....who are you?

SM

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Just curious 'cos you ask a lot of "interesting" questions for a "newbie" - not that I would advocate you were stiring or anything

Are you an SIDC member? How long for? Track attendee? Are you known on this bbs as another persona? Why would you want to keep it quiet? Are you setting up an alternate impreza club? Have you already done so? Whom have you spoken to? Are they SIDC members? If you are a member, have you posted these questions on the SIDC bbs? To whom are you refering in your point about being a non-SIDC attendee at track events? Were you at the last AGM (if SIDC member)? Should not the majority of your questions be aired at an AGM amongst other club members, as they are the ones that have the right to vote & dictate the agenda?

A few questions for you

As for me, I am known in the "scooby community" as Puff. Take it how you like, but I don't hide behind a mysterious persona - all my thoughts & deeds are spread throughout this bbs

As I said - just curious...

gregh

Interesting, who are all these members who are complaining about not getting notification and paying for TN?

I have received notification of all events either via True Grip or other means.

I gladly pay TM £5, and have seen them get people out of the deep and smelly many times.

Greg

DrEvil

I've never got an email about any track day despite asking for email notification.

It would be nice to have more SIDC social events organised in the south-east, just a thought.

[This message has been edited by DrEvil (edited 11 June 2001).]

Bad Bads

I am confused,not hard I know,but it seems that a lot of people talk about doing thing's but quite often do not.
I have just become Hants SIDC rep and the two events I am organising don't appear to be causing much action.
I may be proved wrong,and I hope so,and both event's prove to be a great success.
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.
As far as I am concerned the SIDC do a great job,it is very hard to please you all but the club is trying.
Cheers Paul.

DrEvil

Bad Bads - when did that happen? I've not checked southern until this weekend, hence Bentley.. I didn't know Hants had an organiser.. I'll check southern now..

DrEvil

Bad Bads - are found it now..

R19KET

Puff,

Does it really matter WHO SM is, maybe he knows the reaction he will get from some quarters, and doesn't want to be alienated.

Maybe we should be asking ourselves if there is any substance in his questions ????

That's of far more interest to me, than who's asking ......

Mark.

bob

I think Spooky is right, these questions are also asked in the SW section. We never get to use the SIDC track days, so we all use the Easytrack days. We are just starting to use Edd Moore's track days at Motorsport Events Limited.
Sorry looking at the latest True Grip we seem to no longer have a SW section. We are now somewhere between Somerset and Glos.

Markus

Pete,
thanks for the nice comments about Bentley. Makes me feel all warm an squishy.

I was also hoping (dreaming?) for 100 cars, but 48 is good enough, I think that the weather might have put off some as it was a showery day, and no matter how much I try I cannot change the weather.

Hopefully Bentley 2002 will get the 100 cars, you never know! (and YES there IS a Bentley 2002 thread already )

I'm twiddling my thumbs here as this is the perfect thread for me to talk about something, and Pete knows what I mean, and some other committe members should know by now as well. But I'm going to hold off until a few things take place. I don't want to rock the boat or upset anyone.

DavidLewis

Can someone confirm that there was (or wasn't) a surcharge on the Bedford track-day for TN attendance as Mark charged for the pleasure. Now I'm not being critical, since they provide a first class service and a few of my track-days would have been non-starters if it wasn't for them, but I don't like being taken for a mug. ****, I gave him a £10 tip as well, I must have more money than sence

Ian Griffiths

I think SM is valid in his points. We (Corsa drivers ) have a similar situation - a paid for club called run by Performance Car Clubs Ltd and a web site which is completely free and run by um... me

I'm a little bias obviously but I see better value for money in a self supporting web-type community than a postal, subscription club who are not as 'in touch' by their very methods of delivering information. I'm not alone in the view as I know a lot of people are unsatisfied with the Performance Corsa Group and the lack of consultation with the members and lack of local regional organisation - mainly due to the small size of the club.

Probably not a good idea to compare the PCG to a club with which I'm unfamiliar but the same rules apply. Traditional 'postal' clubs will always be constrained by an awful method of communicating with members. People paying for a service will always voice their concerns about value for money.

Time will tell if the clubs become bigger and more distributed and thus in a better place to please members on a local level. We'll also get to see if the web sites outgrow their self-sufficient status and become unable to fund events like a big club can.

My money is on the web

Paul Wilson

Even though not a member I shall leap to the defense of the SIDC in at least one respect.

The BBQ at Bedford was actually subsidised by the SIDC, to the tune of £10 a person. Bedford charges £25 a head for the BBQ, wheras those eating paid £15.

Now yes, normally that is included in the price of Bedford days, but then the cost is £25 a head more. 6 of one 1/2 a dozen of the other. Personally I think that was a better way to do it, if you didn't want a (IMHO) overpriced barbie, you didn't have to.


Re:- Tyres Northampton, it is my understanding that they took a fair old risk in the early days of track day support and actually lost money. £5.00 is not a great deal to pay for a.) swapping over of track tyres onto a set of wheels and back again (going rate at local tyre place £5.00 a wheel) b.) peace of mind (blow a tyre/ wear them out and someone is there to replace them)

say you've got 100 cars TNH get £500 for turning up, sounds a lot , until you realize they brought 3 people to Bedford who were there until 10.30 - 11.00pm, got there around 3-4 ish, thats around 7 hours per person at sunday rates. Don't know what they pay for Sundays, but I work in retail on a Sunday, and get £13.50 an hour. that would be £300 just for staff costs.


Don't wish to belittle all of your comments, many are valid, as someone who was on Scoobynet before I knew about the SIDC, I can't really comment on communication. Perhaps a way to do it would be to notify all members by their prefered means (post email etc) allowing a full week before bookings will be taken. Then say someone sits at home between 7pm and 10pm to take bookings. Then everyone gets the same chance as everyone else.

just doing some on the fly thinking, maybe the club should buy a pay as go mobile as a booking line, that way Stef/ whoever else in the future gets the job, won't be plagued by calls after non existing places, when they have all gone. Also handy as a "club" line on track days/meetings.

Lee

No doubt other SIDC committee members will post also, these are my comments :

1. Track Days.
Where possible they are included in True Grip. When they come up at late notice we issue a flyer to all the members who said no to email notification. We email all the members who said yes to email notification.

We get lots of returned emails where people have given their address wrong or have changed/moved on. If you don't receive notifications please email us. There are simply too many bounced emails to sift through them

Who is the non-SIDC member out of interest ?

2. Track Day Support.
This was discussed at length by the committee. Northampton Tyres have committed to attend a track day inside the UK and are reliable. How many other companies would do the same ? As you say, they offer a good and reliable service. period.

3. Meets.
We have regional organisers. If you feel your regional organiser isn't doing anything, kick his/her butt
The regional organisers are published in TG.

4. Annual meet - AGM.

5. Finance - the club funds are spent wisely how the committee see fit. If anyone has any objections or think we are doing a poor job, raise them in the members only section on

Stef

Oooops. Just seen Lee'e post as well.

"These comments are posted because it may be that they are not hearing these messages first hand, and so hopefully will find the feedback useful."

Well you could always try and tell us 'first-hand'? We're hardly the most difficult people in the world to contact!
The whole point of the SIDC bbs was to give members (if you are one) the opportunity to discuss club issues in it's own environment.
Anyway, as most of the queries seem to revolve around track events I'll answer the best I can.

1) Every member is notified either by e-mail or post about track events. I reserve several places for non-internetties, and then release these justbefore the event. The only time any postal member has been told an event was full was during this last week. Even then, we're talking about two people at the most.
Who is the non-member you're talking about? I'm not aware of anyone who has attended our track events on a regualar basis who's not a club member, and I do the bookings!!!!

2) Firstly, I doubt many attendees question the virtue of paying a surcharge because nobody pays a surcharge at all! The cost of the track support is now included in the cost of the event, and the club considers the service they provide as invaluable. How do you class wheel-changing and air-lines as 'commercial'?? Several other companies have expressed an interest, only to run away when they realise the level of commitment shown by TN. If anyone is unhappy about this they should at least have the courtesy to talk to me or the club. Nobody ever moaned when I used to ask for £5 in the past.

3) The club is currently in the process of becoming more 'regionalised'. This will hopefully lead to more regular local meets.

4) There are far more VW's and RS's around, both clubs have in excess of 10,000 members. This makes annual 'jamborees' far more viable. However, the SIDC will be starting a similar, if somewhat smaller event next summer.

5) The club does have cash, but most of it goes back into the club. Track events are run at cost. The bbq at Bedford WAS included for all the drivers. It's a bit difficult to include it for non-paying spectators!

6) You know what the SIDC is. It is not in competition with Scoobynet, nor will it ever be. What does the club offer that Scoobynet does not? If you're a member you'll know the answer to that as well. Try asking the question the other way round.

And as for asking for the comments of Scooby drivers, what's the point? If people want to join the SIDC they can, if they don't they won't.
Once again, if anyone else has any points they want to raise on these or any other club issues, the club bbs is available for all suggestions

Trout

iTrader: (1)

I'm a member and this year I have not received either an email or flyer regarding track days. I did request it by email.

The only SIDC track I ever booked on I had to cancel - but I did cancel within a couple of hours of booking!

If there is any substance in what Spooky is going on about it could be that SIDC is not visible to its members and many of the 'local' events are attended by SIDC and non-SIDC without fear or favour. It would be a shame if the SIDC started to lose membership as accountability or activity was not visible to its members, which I think is what Spooky is saying. Or maybe he/she is just a stirrer.

With regard to Northampton tyres, I have not had to opportunity to use them, however to say that it costs them to turn up is surely a specious argument as from reading the BBS they get an awful lot of halo business by 'representing' the SIDC.

Just rereading the 'committee' responses. SM asked about finances and the criteria for accessing SIDC cash. Neither of you answered the question. What is the criteria for accessing SIDC cash - if everything is run at cost as you say, then the membership fees must be accumulating somewhere? Or have I missed the point?

Just my ha'penny worth.

Rannoch

[This message has been edited by Rannoch (edited 12 June 2001).]

lpitt

Just my bit:

I have been an SIDC member for about six months now. So far:

3 copies of True Grip received
2 e-mails with a list of future events
1 letter with list of events

I'm happy.

Laurence

SDB

I just want to comment on the Tyres Northampton (Not "Northampton Tyres" (they are a totally different company)) issue...

Tyres Northampton were the company that initially came along to support us all.

The lads that manned the tyre van did it without pay and after the cost of losing the mobile van for the day and fuel, etc they made a loss every time, but did it to support us.

Tyres Northampton now have MANY Imprezas a day from all over the country arrive and have tyres, exhausts, brakes, suspension, barrier deadlocks, etc, etc, etc fitted.

The reason they travell all that way is because TN do such a great job, GENUINELY provide some of the best customer service I have ever witnessed (certainly the very best for a tyre fitting firm), know Impreza's inside out (and have a genuine enthusiasm for them) and have supported us at their expense, so it's nice to support them back.

If they make a profit at SIDC days now (which I'm sure they do, considering the sea of cars that are always lined up for them) it's no reason to start saying "yeah thanks for creating the succesful formula lads, we'll take it from here and throw it out to tender!".

It is all too easy to forget the good things done at people's time and expense as soon as they start to see some reward in return.

Just thought it was important to say.

Cheers

Simon

[This message has been edited by Simon de Banke (edited 12 June 2001).]

Jza

I actually joined the SIDC recently (got my "package" this morning - so this is relevant to me as a new member).

I havent been to a track day - thats why i joined the SIDC - because it offers me just what i want - a friendly and enjoyable first track day (at least i hope it is!!!) with enthusiasts - and some coaching to go with it from people who know how!!! It offers a "novice" session and the chance for me to sit as passenger in someone else's car so i can learn the track safely.

I like the fact that someones there to change tyres. Thats a really positive thing for a newbee - i can get home if my cars unroadworthy after ive trashed the tyres - i give someone a peice of plastic and its fixed!!! Thats worth £5 of re-assurance for me!!!!!

Thanks guys!!!

One thing i have noticed however, is that i paid for 1/2 years membership via the web site - but my membership expires 31/8/01. - thats not six months in my book. Is that right?

Jza

RonaldoH

Edited and followed by an apology below.

I do want this though, ALEX DE LA SALLE (DR EVIL) and Rannoch as Surrey Organisers (well at least in our neck of the woods, scooby capital)

and something I think is and gives me an excuse to go to Chessington:

6)More involvement for the KIDS of the SIDC, and I don't mean me and Alex, but for those that have KIDS. How about a KIDS fun day at Thorpe Park or Alton Towers because many a row would of been caused between husband and wife because of scooby events..."your not going here, your not going there"...lets make it feel more family orientated because it must get on some husbands and some wives nerves a bit...

Kind Regards
Ronnie






[This message has been edited by RonaldoH (edited 12 June 2001).]

gregh

regarding some of Ronnies points:

1)A list of all of the regional organisers for each region, obviously.

>> Was in last True Grip I believe.

2)3)Track Days for SIDC members company cars and *OTHER* cars

>> No thanks. there are plenty of companies out there doing this already.

6)More involvement for the KIDS of the SIDC, and I don't mean me and Alex, but for those that have KIDS. How about a KIDS fun day at Thorpe Park or Alton Towers

>> No thanks, its the Subaru Impreza Drivers Club, not the entertain kiddies club (and yes I have a child)

8) SIDC insurance policy oppurtunitys.

>> yes please! I think this is being worked on.

All the above is IMHO of course!

Greg

Pete Croney

Spooky

Like Lee, I welcome your comments. Its only by receiving such feedback that we can make the club better for its members.

In answer to your points and expanding on some of Lee's, here are my views...

You may want to make a coffee before reading all this

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Spooky Mulder:
<B>I have been to several Subaru meetings recently and have heard a lot of discussion about what people want from a car club, both SIDC members and not. I am sure that the SIDC committee work very hard on SIDC and for that we must owe them our thanks.

These comments are posted because it may be that they are not hearing these messages first hand, and so hopefully will find the feedback useful.

For others I think it is an opportunity to air your views as to what you want from a Car Club such as SIDC.

1) Track Days - a lot of people love track days and want a fair chance to attend them. Has the system changed, as many of members relate the fact that they have not received notification, by mail or by email of impending track events and then they are too late as they are fully booked.

As a supplementary point, it has already been debated on here about non-Subaru attendance, and the days being strictly SIDC. This is clearly not the case as there is at least one individual, whilst very welcome, has never been an SIDC member.
</B>

Two valid points. As Lee has pointed out, we still have problems e-mailing members because of the number of bounces. My column in True Grip (next issue) raises this point again. We need your CURRENT e-mail adresses. With regard to getting info out, we do, whenever possible, put event details in True Grip. There is a problem with this in that some social events and some track days get arranged at very short notice. When it is a large social event or a track day, we send out flyers. This is not an ideal situation as Lee, Lisa and their family spend an entire weekend printing, labeling and stamping thousands of envelopes.

With regard to non SIDC member attendance, I assume you mean Simon de Banke coming to Bedford. Simon was invited, in recognition of the help he has given the club over the years. With regard to allocation of places, our decision on priority of track place allocation received heated debate. I have been overwhelmed by the supporting letters and e-mails that our decision generated and feel it was the right choice for Subaru Impreza drivers. Further, you will shortly be able book on line and see at a glance how many places are remaining.

<B>
2) Track Day Support - everyone wh
o goes to Donington appreciates the hard work and excellent quality of support provided by Northampton Tyres. However many attendees question the virtue that all attendees have to pay a 'surcharge' of £5 to have Northampton provide what is ultimately a commercial service.

There is no question that Northampton offer a good and valuable service, however as a club shouldn't this have gone out to tender - I am sure that someone would have done it for free. Or, perhaps attendees have the option to say whether they want to use them or not. Maybe all this has changed now.
</B>

As others have pointed out, you may not need TN at a track day. It is possible to change your own wheels over, use an air line at a garage away from the track and correct any possible technical problems yourself. However they have proved to be a fantastic benefit to the smooth running of track days and I'm sure you are in a very small minority questioning their attendance. With regard to their cost, the club pays 300 for each visit and levies 5 per car towards this. Compare a typical day at Donington with the alternatives. SIDC member = 90 to the circuit, 5 third party/landowner insurance, 5 TN, making 100 for unlimited track access. The commercial companies typically charge between 200 and 300 for the same, except you run in sessions, so get a third of the track time and you get no free mechanical assistance.

We went with TN because they were the only company prepared to guarantee attendance at ALL SIDC track days. I agree that this should be open to tender and if any members know of any other companies thatw ould be prepared to offer a similar level of service, we would like to hear from you.

<B>
3) Meets - a very great many SIDC members and non-members have never been to an SIDC event. The majority of events are organised locally and are self-generating. Many others are not aware of local SIDC activities. Many other clubs, even clubs much smaller than this have regular, 'Club' events organised by region.
</B>

There are now a great many regular and well attended meets. North West, Essex, Kent, Fleet, Herts and the Dales. Scotland has John organising its events and I'm sure that he would go round their houses, if they missed an event. All of these meets are regular fixtures and the Regional Organisers of these events have been working on different themes and non car related activities to make them even more family friendly.

It has may seem that it has taken us nearly 4 years to achieve this. In reality it has taken 9 months. This was the task of my predesessor, who was Chairman for 3 years. I'm afraid that in that time nothing was done. I, and the rest of the Committee, are committed to making this club a model for all others, with an enviable social and motoring calendar. It is easy to look at other clubs with lines of shiny cars at Trax, for example. But come the SIDC's track time, all those owners are sitting in the grandstands wishing they were out with us.

<B>
4) Annual Jamboree - many other car clubs have a big annual event, like the VW event where they take over Santa Pod for a weekend. Or the RSOC annual bash. Didn't SIDC used to have one - will there ever be another.
</B>

Something I am in favour of, but seems to only appeal to a minority of members. Bentley Park is a great example. This is a jamboree/park and shine type event in an area of the country that has the greatest concentration of members. 48 cars turned up. I'm demeaning the event or the number of people that turned, but I was seriously expecting well over a 100 cars to attend. Markus worked his butt off to promote this and there was bearly a day went past without a Bentley thread being near the top of this bbs or the SIDC's Forum. There are a hardcore of people who much prefer to attend this sort of event and we will continue to support them and encourage/assist in the organisation and promotion of such events. But I would have reservations about committing several thousand pounds of club funds to a VW type weekend event as I think our membership are predominately a different breed. Last year, we organised a weekend event at Pembrey in Wales. It was primarily a family weekend with everyone staying in the same hotel, a treasure hunt planned for Saturday evening and a track day on the Sunday with bouncy castle, bbq etc, or time on the beach if wives/kids preferred. The cost was less than 200 pounds per family including. The event was heavily publicised, months in advance, but with 6 weeks to go, we had 18 people planning to attend. We had to cancel and I was bitterly dissapointed. I hope that times have changed and we may be able to plan something like this again.

<B>
5) Finance - the SIDC must have a stack of cash now - what is the process of spending this cash, and what are the criteria for qualifying for this cash for events/track days, driver training, whatever? An example of this was paying for the BBQ at Bedford - at all other Bedford events the BBQ was part of the track day charge.

</B>
We do have a reasonable balance sheet now, which does let us consider things which would have, in the past, been too much of a financial risk. An example is merchandise. For two years, we produced calendars. The first year we produced 1000. Despite hard sell techniques at events etc, we binned approx 700. The next year we decided to do a limited run of 500. We sold 300 again. We lost over a thousand pounds of members money and this made us very wary of such ventures. We feel that there is now sufficient demand for club merchandise, calendars, mugs, mousemats, T Shirts etc We also now have sufficient funds to commision the manufacture of the items, without making the club broke. Details on the club shopping site soon. With regard to the bbq at Bedford, the club subsidised the bbq for drivers partners and spectating members to the tune of 10 per member. I beleive this cost the club 50 quid. As with any subsidy, we ask event organisers to submit their plans and the committee will consider any requests. We have sometimes offered less than was asked for, but have not yet said no to any requests.

<B>
6) What is the SIDC? - sorry to sound blunt, but Scoobynet has become the de facto heart of the Subaru community. What is the ratio of Scoobynet v. SIDC members on board in this bulletin board. What does the SIDC subscription provide that Scoobynet does not?

</B>
As Lee said, you are not comparing like for like. Scoobynet is an on-line community. An electronic meeting place. The SIDC is a real world car club, that hopes to drag you away from the keyboard. We also use the internet, as it is an incredibly powerful means of communication. I beleive that there are 6000 registered posters on Scoobynet, whilst the SIDC has 2200 members. I see the two organisations offering complimentary functions. At work, you can catch up on the latest topics of conversation, at the weekends you can meet up for a pint and to see each others cars. The idea of the SIDC's Forum is actually so that topics like this can be discussed between members, in our own dedicated area. I hope that this will gradually become the case.
<B>
Sorry to sound like this is having a go, however these seem to be very common themes at the Subaru meets - it must be a pain in the **** for the committee members to hear this - they work very hard on our behalf - but if the SIDC or any Subaru Car Club is to be successful then it is reasonable to share the views of the membership.
</B> I agree that there is always more to be done, but we are already the largest club outside Japan and that one is run by Fuji themselves. It is you input and suggestions that will make the SIDC continue to grow.
<B>
The times they are a changin' - Scooby drivers, what are your views?
</B>
Indeed they are and I hope that the SIDC continues to change with them and continue to be something that its members are proud to be part of.

Pete Croney
SIDC Chairman


[This message has been edited by Pete Croney (edited 12 June 2001).]

gregh

Nice to see such positive replies from SIDC committee members.

Regarding an annual meet, perhaps Pete and others you could model this on the MG car club. They combine a track day, with park and shine, with camping/BBQ, with concours, shopping, display by MG etc etc.

Granted they have a much bigger club, the one I attended was at Silverstone with the MGF trophy racing as well as vintage MGs. however I feel the concept of combining various events should therefore meet most peoples requirements and hence get high turnout.

cheers,

greg

Stef

Ronnie.
"I think the sidc could of paid for the BBQ at Bedford?...many others agree, but again wont stand up and shout...".
You are joking, right?
You pay £20 annual membership and you seriously think the club should have footed the £25 per head cost of the bbq for all 90 people that ate? That's over two grand just on a bbq!! You don't think that getting half your membership off was enough?
Blimey!
Anyway, at the next event we will be visiting a local eatery for the grub and it will only cost £5 per head.

Stef.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Pete,

you have obviously put a good deal of effort into your reply.

A couple of factual points...

...I don't know if Spooky was talking about SDB at Bedford, however I am aware of at least one track fiend who is perversly proud of attending SIDC events and is not a member. His view is why pay £20 pa when he gets to go for free

Also, you mention the Fleet meet as an example of a well run local meet. If you check the archives you will see that the first Fleet meets were organised by yours truly, starting in 1999. They have continued, grown, moved to Mytchett under the aegis of Dr Evil and have now moved by to Fleet, again under yours truly.

I have never been approached by the SIDC (and to be fair I have not done approaching either) about these meets and would not know a local SIDC co-ordinator if they hit me in the face with a wet fish!

These meets are attended by SIDC and non-SIDC so no-one is counting them in at the gates.

I have now decided that I have lost plot and will go and get my coat!

Keep up the good work and let's try and bring some of these non-official and official things together and make the SIDC even stronger if that is what people want.

Cheers,

Rannoch

gregh

&gt;&gt; I am aware of at least one track fiend who is perversly proud of attending SIDC events and is not a member

Come on then name them!

Greg

Stef

"I am aware of at least one track fiend who is perversly proud of attending SIDC events and is not a member. His view is why pay £20 pa when he gets to go for free"

Can someone please mail me the name of this person?
There is NOBODY that I know of who regularly goes on track at SIDC events who is NOT an SIDC member.
Stop all the cloak and dagger nonsense and please tell me who it is saying this.
I obviously won't publicise who it is.

Stef.


[This message has been edited by Stef (edited 12 June 2001).]

RonaldoH

Stef, I am not joking.lol

Rannoch, no more drugs for you.