Corrado club [Now with Poll!!]

[OSV 0]

I'm glad this discussion is developing and although the poll suggests the vote being strongly in favour of a combined Forum/Club a quick look at the numbers once again shows apathy. Very few forum members have actually voted or are regularly active. I try to take a positive view of CCGB and don't just take the view what do I get frim IT. The idea is that the more who contribute and get involved the more can be done, only with resources and enthusiastic help can the Club be strong, at least we aren'y suffering from multi brand or model rivalry. There is only ONE Corrado Forum and ONE CCGB.

[VR6 0]

John

 

Just to give some input on two of the points that you've made, namely funds and people getting of their arses ......

 

Could both of these problems not be quite well addressed simply by expanding the number of members i.e a combination or collaboration between CCGB and forum?

 

To be honest, I think that would be the biggest single advantage to the CCGB. Funds ... well speaks for itself. People actually volunteering their time .... well to get 10 out of 50 people to spend 3 hours of their time a week could be tricky .... but to get 25 out of 500 people to donate half an hour of their time a week wouldn't be so tough.

 

At the minute, we've got two separate entities both trying to achieve a couple of main objectives: funding for costs (and to keep the cogs greased) and providing members with as much in return as is possible.

 

On that basis, a combination of resources sounds like a good idea.

 

OSV - Yep I was pretty much expecting that result but, on the other side of your comments, what it does show is ...

 

..... there are a lot of CCGB members who won't be present on the forum soooooo surely that means that a lot of CF members have voted in favour of an amalgamation and would join the resulting club.

[chrishill 0]

I never even considered becoming a CCGB member during my corrado owning years. I joined the forum in 2003 (or was it 2004?) and even then the CCGB had a pretty bad reputation for politics and in-fighting, which put me off pretty much.

 

I've also heard through various people the story of the formation of the CF after goings on on the yahoo groups, again I never joined the yahoo group.

 

from reading the posts here, it seems the main issue for the CCGB is cash and people-power. Its a catch 22 in that generally one doesnt come easily without the other.

 

on the other hand we have the CF, 'generally' well tempered, free to join and has the mod squad giving up their time to help out free gratis. I know it costs Andi to keep this place going, and he often gets no thanks, but thats a testiment to how dedicated to the cause he is... updating the site on boxing day anyone?

 

if the two combined how would that work? I'm guessing there'd be a fee to join, which may loose us a few members, there'd need to be a combination of members from the CCGB and the CF running the show, ideally some of the mods from here if they have time and obviously andi. I guess that'd be down to you guys to thrash out.

 

so what would we get in the end? A pay-to-join club with (i'm guessing) a newsletter and discounts from suppliers, organised events and the more official sounding 'corrado club of great britain' name, with the forum online for the members to use. It sounds good in theory, I'm sure plenty of CF and CCGB members would be up for it as we'd be getting the best of both worlds, however I think the back-room stuff is going to be the hardest part to sort out. Any past differences of opinion, arguments or clashes need to be burried and forgotten, otherwise things will go downhill quickly. My reservation is that it could go the way of the current CCGB and we'd end up losing the CF too.

[Stan 24v 0]

Im still going for the idea of certain areas of the forum paid for, by the CCGB membership, and the rest remaining free, as VR6OC.

 

Oh, and I'd be more than happy to offer an hour of my time to help out during the week, with anything. i spend a lot longer than that on the CF anyway ;)

[timg60 0]

Im still going for the idea of certain areas of the forum paid for, by the CCGB membership, and the rest remaining free, as VR6OC.

 

Oh, and I'd be more than happy to offer an hour of my time to help out during the week, with anything. i spend a lot longer than that on the CF anyway ;)

 

2nd that

[Charleyvr6 0]

Some very positive and good ideas here, I have to say I'm definately warming to a merger, given the choice of no more ccgb or to link it with the forum it's a no-brainer, the survival of the ccgb depends on there being enough members to make it viable and at the moment it's looking gloomy, whilst this forum (and to a lesser extent the Yahoo forum) are going great guns.

This has probobly all been said before but here goes another 2p.

 

If indeed this merger is to happen it would be an extreemly good idea to cobble together some kind of concensus as how best to acheive it, and to put it forward at the ccgb agm (still no date announced yet).

This has only two minor problems:

1). Is anyone on the board of the ccgb even aware of the proposal? It might be a tad embarrasing to turn up mob handed at the agm saying "we've come to take over your club."

 

2). The agm would have to made open to non-members especially the moderators of this forum in order for a mutually beneficial proposal to be acheived. (I think someone has already suggested this).

The most important thing is to get the wheels in motion right NOW, we need someone from the board of the ccgb to stick their head above the parapit and say "actually the club's fine on it's own, mebership is up and we've got stacks of cash and planning a monthly copy of the Sprinter" or (and rather more likely) "actually the clubs not fine, membership is down and the coffers are empty, let's talk"

Also if this is to be seriously considered then the ccgb should post all it's members (remember 50% of members don't use this site) with a bare bones proposal which could be bashed out at the Agm. I for one don't want to turn up 200 miles away, just to be told the club's no more.

I'm not sure what percentage of forum members have ever participated in ccgb events, but if you (the unitiated) are unsure what the club would bring to the forum remember it is an established and dare I say it respected club with its own merchandise, club stand,,technical advisors etc. cheaper insurance, discount from the $tealers and of course about 400 members.

I and others quite often benefit from free tickets sent to the club from event organisers who want to see the ccgb at their events.

The only downside would be the funding, but who on this forum could honestly say they haven't saved a lot of money from advice here, I've saved my membership costs over and over, just from the discount from the $tealers. Is anyone brave enough to say they're too tight to fork out £20.00/ annum or so (thats 5p a day) for all the benfits membership of both would provide. I know a lot will say the forum is free and I don't want to go to events, or I'm quite happy just to turn up to forum events etc etc and I understand that having to suddenly cough up £20 to bail out some crusty old club full of old gits like me maybe asking too much, but from reading some posts it would appear that some of you do make financial contributions to the forum so isn't it a lot fairer that everyone should pay and not let leechers (like me, ahem) get away with enjoying all the benfits gratis.

Finally (phew) nothing irks me more than to have to drag my carcase out of bed on a Suday morning to set up a local club stand only to be joined by one or two fellow ccgb members and then to see 5 other Corrado's turn up on the essex vw stand, gti forum stand, sheep fanciers stand et al.

This car we all love is a rare beauty, does anyone want to see its presence diluted by further diversification, trust me on this one there is no greater sight than a long line of C's (except perhaps Liz Hurley naked).

 

So come on, head cheeses from the forum and head cheeses from the ccgb get your heads together and see what can/needs to be done.

Sorry, I do seem to have rather gone on a bit.

Rant over.

Charley

[A1 VR6 0]

Just read Charley's post (hello Charley) and we seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet. We are asking if this merger is a possibility or not as it can then be tabled at the CCGB AGM and the membership will decide. The problem here is that from a CCGB point of view the decision lies with a large number of people but ultimately with one person in the CF(correct me if I'm wrong there and no offence intended). I am prepared to table the item but I need a positive or encouraging response from a decision maker in order to do that. I'm not prepared to table it only then to be told that from a CF point of view that it's a non-starter. So please post or PM me with your thoughts and whatever you decide there's no hard feelings but I really do believe this could work for eveyone's mutual benefit as do other respected CF and CCGB members. Forget who's heading CCGB, forget about egos, forget about what's happened in the past, move on and let the membership of CCGB make the decision for the club. If that decision is not favourable then those who made it have to bear the consequences.

 

Bill

CCGB#1286

[Stan 24v 0]

Does that mean that all CCGB members will get the option to vote? What if they cant make it to the AGM but would like to vote?

[A1 VR6 0]

I can't see why a postal vote couldn't be undertaken for those who couldn't attend and with such an important decision I would expect that to happen.

[CazzaVR 0]

Good idea, Bill. Postal vote should be pretty straight forward.

 

ps- get some pics up in the Gallery so we can all drool over that engine bay! :wink: 8)

[dinkus 10]

Hmm, I really need to read through all 8 pages of this... dammit, no time today.

[docatkins 0]

Good idea, Bill. Postal vote should be pretty straight forward.

 

Volunteer needed to put 400+ letters in envelopes, put stamps on said envelopes and take a trip to the post office.

[billinjah 0]

My 2p,, The mods seem to feel they have to spend a lot of time and effort keeping the forum running, i personally think a few more mods wouldn't go amiss. As for paying for the right to use the forum if it became the official corrado club of GB i wouldnt support this as there is a lot of good info that comes from people we all know damn well wouldnt pay to be on here!, but members benefits would be a good idea, fees are difficult to administer i pay 60 pounds a year to use this forum which for me is excellent value but i also pay that much because its my choice to! if it became compulsory i probably wouldnt be nearly as generous!

if we did combine with ccgb i think there enough of us real enthusiasts to stage a show once a year a pie in the sky idea maybe but if edition 38 boys can do it....

i have probably repeated a lot of other peoples views but i didnt read all the pages just wanted to have a say!!

[Stan 24v 0]

So is there any ore news on a vote? Or anything else?

[A1 VR6 0]

Appears to be none publicly in the form of a stunning silence from both camps apart from Mike Edwards (CCGB Joint Chairman) who has just posted on the Yahoo E-Group that he will inform everyone when a venue and date has been arranged for the CCGB AGM.

 

Nothing will ever happen without communication, and all the optimism and good ideas expressed on this thread will amount to nothing without it (not meaning to sound profound), but just my view.

[Stan 24v 0]

whats the address for the yahoo site? Never been on it.

[A1 VR6 0]

Just do a search on yahoo groups but then you'll need to set up an account - pretty straightforward.

[Tempest 0]

Erm yes, I detest Yahoo, MSN, and so on, hence I've never posted or even looked at the newsgroups there.

 

Once a date and venue has been set for the AGM I'm sure that we can raise the issues made on here (in a friendly manner, no stupid slagging off etc., or else I will, too, join the ranks of those who say "If you complain, then join in and change things yourself, as just paying a membership fee and sitting back waiting is not enough to get a club going, getting involved is what it's all about", phew, rather long statement there :-)

 

I'm positive about things, though, as demonstrated several times already by combined clubstands at events, and many more to come :-)

 

Tempest

[dinkus 10]

No real commitment from Andi either way yet, but myself, Jim and Supercharged have all been contributing to the Yahoo group discussion - mainly just clearing up hearsay about what all us 'wet behind the ears' types* get up to on the forum tho :lol:

 

The Corrado-UK group is run by our (now) resident Andy Brookes - anyone can sign up, but you do need to register with Yahoooooo first.

 

 

 

 

*Comment by a guy on the Yahoo group and not wholly representative of everyone on there, but I thought it was funny

[Yandards 0]

I and others quite often benefit from free tickets sent to the club from event organisers who want to see the ccgb at their events.

 

 

Must have to know the right people for that then.. :wink:

 

Billingja - Great idea to organise a show open to all as oppossed to the bi-annual national days that are CCGB members only.

 

I don't like the yahoo user groups - I think the layout is poor and getting information from it is like pulling teeth/blood from a stone etc.

 

There still seem to be lots of random figures being banded around with reference to financing, and who uses what form of media etc. At the moment I pay more per year to use the forum than I do for last years membership costs of the CCGB. The flip side to that is that I have had more out of the forum that I have out the CCGB by a long way.

 

As for this 'wet behind the ears' comment then I would refer the individual concerned to the KB and the quality of the articles in there. (not trying to be bitchy but sweeping generalisations like that do no-one any favours)

[dinkus 10]

Yeah, sorry the 'wet-behind-the-ears' comment was from one guy on the group (you can read through the archives if you want to read his whole hilarious post) and it's not representative of everyone on there - but it did make me laugh.

 

I was going to put an explanation on the * in the main text, but forgot - I've just added it now tho.

[A1 VR6 0]

Sorry Yandards,

 

"I would refer the individual concerned to the KB and the quality of the articles in there. (not trying to be bitchy but sweeping generalisations like that do no-one any favours)"

 

 

Having used the E-Group for longer than this forum has existed I think if you searched it you would find everything that's in the KB and a lot more besides and I think I know where I read it first (and it wasn't the Sun Lol!).

[dinkus 10]

Aye, most of the stuff in the KB has been discussed in the eGroup before, but you have to search for it, find mangled threads, work out where (if any) of the pictures are etc.

 

The KB isn't claiming to necessarily provide any new information - the idea is to catalogue it in an easy to browse/find and read manner.

[VR6 0]

In a few years time the KB should be hopefully pretty damn good!

[A1 VR6 0]

Yeah Dinkus,

 

I might pm you a how to access the e-group Lol!