Hey All -
Just FYI. Nikki and I rocked up to this meeting last night and met up with MITS. Sat at the back of the room and had a listen.
They had Daniel Anderson speak at the start, which was great. I could see how being a member of this group, and getting opportunities like that at the start would be completely worth it. (I'll post what he said in another thread..)
But yea after that, we sat through minutes and financial updates, including earnings from last meeting's $20.60 raffle and who won it, and in all honesty (and no offence) that's where you would lose 90% of interest. Nikks and i dragged our arses there straight after work and were just hit with piles of information that gave no real interest. My favourite was when in the corrospondance we got to talk about sending cards and 'Betty decided not to renew her membership due to night games and damp air.'
I understand necessary evil, but if the plan was to get a whole new crowd of people in, interested and attending each week, something really needs to be done there.
Unfortunatley i can't see the current membership being happy if they were all of a sudden outnumbered with hundreds of younger fans. I think that they are quite happy at the moment with what they've got, and may give some resistance to any change.
I don't know what the solution is here. Do you make the current membership a side social group (which is what they are... They are all friends and this is their way of catching up) of the main PESC, and get some new blood in to discuss trips and events and fundraising? Or do you allow this group to remain as is and start something fresh with the BGA? I think what they have is great for them! When the young (poss. disabled?) boy (Josh?) spoke about his chance to meet Prince William with other young athletes - my heart melted a million times over.
In any case, Nikki totally won a packet of Arnotts NICE biscuits at the end of the raffle. Score one for the visitors. Thanks for having us, but not sure if i'll be motivated to come back for a few meetings.. until things get moving anyway!