Club AGMs

[Keith]

Just returned to my local club as a past, but not current, member and went to the AGM. I was surprised that I was initally told that o could not stay as the committee had decided not to allow any non club members to attend the AGM .

Just wondered if this was normal practice amongst other clubs as I found it strange because when I last went up to the club all non members were always welcome particularly to AGMs as it would give potential members an idea of how the club was run and to see if they wanted to join.

I had previously been a club and committee member for four years and was considering coming back to the club to help with instructing and get back into diving with them. This less than friendly approach put me off somewhat.

[John Williams]

Just returned to my local club as a past, but not current, member and went to the AGM. I was surprised that I was initally told that o could not stay as the committee had decided not to allow any non club members to attend the AGM .

Just wondered if this was normal practice amongst other clubs as I found it strange because when I last went up to the club all non members were always welcome particularly to AGMs as it would give potential members an idea of how the club was run and to see if they wanted to join.

I had previously been a club and committee member for four years and was considering coming back to the club to help with instructing and get back into diving with them. This less than friendly approach put me off somewhat.



Sounds normal to me!

Whilst I like the idea of allowing potential memebrs to see the management process in action it makes it very difficult for tellers to count a vote. You would need to sit all non-members in a separate part of the room and ensure that they stayed there to avoid confusion. Since theyn are not members they have no right to speak about the issues being discussed.

It would appear to be far simpler just to ask them not to attend the AGM...most will be happy to wait in the bar with a pint for the social side of the club to commence after the AGM

John

[tony thomson]

As secretary of My Club, I would say it is normal that non-members do not attend the AGM as this should only be for members who have voting powers ie on things to be discussed at the AGM like committee voting, Proposals and constitution amendments.
Perhaps you should go along to their club night and talk to the DO and find out that way what is happening with club developments etc and then rejoin. I certainly wouldn't cut your nose of to spite your face by not going back, as clubs could do with members who are keen to get involved at all levels particular committees as its normal hard to fill these

[Steve Walker]

One the one hand seems reasonable if they didn't know you, but as an ex-committee member it seems a overly officious to me, and if you were attending with a view to helping out with instructing I think they're very foolish not to make you feel welcome.
I always found that getting _anyone_ to attend the AGM of my old branch was an achievement in itself :))))

Regards
Steve

[Andy Wade]

Just returned to my local club as a past, but not current, member and went to the AGM. I was surprised that I was initally told that o could not stay as the committee had decided not to allow any non club members to attend the AGM .

Just wondered if this was normal practice amongst other clubs as I found it strange because when I last went up to the club all non members were always welcome particularly to AGMs as it would give potential members an idea of how the club was run and to see if they wanted to join.

I had previously been a club and committee member for four years and was considering coming back to the club to help with instructing and get back into diving with them. This less than friendly approach put me off somewhat.


Hmmmm. It depends.
If it's just a couple of potential members then I'd say it would be OK, but if you have a lot of non members, then as said before, it gets confusing when some of them might put their hands up to vote, which as non members they can't do of course.

Then there's the issue of the club hanging it's dirty washing out in public....
Do you really want potential members to see the back stabbing and in-fighting that goes on within the average dive club?
;-)




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[scubamuppet]

Just returned to my local club as a past, but not current, member and went to the AGM. I was surprised that I was initally told that o could not stay as the committee had decided not to allow any non club members to attend the AGM .

Just wondered if this was normal practice amongst other clubs as I found it strange because when I last went up to the club all non members were always welcome particularly to AGMs as it would give potential members an idea of how the club was run and to see if they wanted to join.

I had previously been a club and committee member for four years and was considering coming back to the club to help with instructing and get back into diving with them. This less than friendly approach put me off somewhat.



Strange as it may seem more & more Bsac clubs are becoming so politically correct that Diving of which this is all about tends to take a back seat to the ambitions of Comittees and how they see things instead of being a Team effort and involving as many people of a branch as possible or at least putting Comittee made decissons forward to members before acting on impulse and beliving they are acting in the best interests of Members who subsequently cannot make Pool or Dive weekends and starts the the branch on a slipppery slope to having only comittee dive weekends . So by barring non members from AGM's the so run branches belive they have a regular intake of new Divers but only after one year these new divers surley see the infighting that Comittees bring about but only after spending on average ?100 pound for that privelage before deciding Bsac & Diving may not of been the best way of learning a new sport.