I'm in the Vintage Car Club motorcycle section, the Classic Racing Register and recently both have asked why the clubs are in decline and how to attract new blood? I go to the odd VCC Motorcycle meeting...about 50 pensioners, a couple of old motorcycle, a few moderns and lots of cars....they mill around for a while then your called into a room to listen to a speaker. Some are interesting , some less so. then the ladies who have done baking pour you out a cup of no brand tea or coffee and you have a ginger crunch or sausage roll and try to find someone to talk to.... They have runs where you follow a route map, often ending up at some ones house where the Missus pours your a cup of tea/coffee and you have some ginger crunch or sausage roll and try and find someone to talk to.... I don't go very often..... I would if it was like the one in Napier. With the advent of the internet have bricks and mortar clubs lost their appeal? Last year the CMCRR had their AGM and asked for " ladies to bring a plate"......I asked my wife and I won't repeat what she said...... I ended up with a box of microwave sausage rolls......could not find ginger crunch at Pak and Save. Is the 'Club" as it was dying? My boys see my garage as a room full of old crap...... I see it as a haven away from meetings, reports, compliance, EH and S, PC, modern life...etc..
Clubs are all declining in membership and it seems that the younger folks following on are not interested in the commitment of actually joining clubs. The numbers at the sailing club I was attached to are declining and the woodturners club is similarly affected. I have no idea what the answer is, I wish I did.
The sad truth is your boys see you as a decrepit old fossil in his garage which is really a room full of old crap... Seriously - I think part of the problem is that some of these type of clubs regard vintage and classic as non-jap and nothing made after 1970 counts. While they carry on (with diminishing numbers), they don't see the need to accept younger bikes and people. The Rover club was a good example. Some members regarded the last 'real' Rover as the P6. Others counted the SD1 as a true Rover. The sad truth is that they have to accept any car with a Rover badge to stay alive. What does the Napier club do differently? That is the key.
Thats true... The Racing Register asks how to attract new members yet maintain the pre 1976 cut off..... I think there are too many clubs chasing a shrinking market.....I'd suggest that the Classic Register and the Post Classics amalgamate with the Auckland Motorcycle Club, and just have different classes as per the MNZ rules. The Vintage Car Club has a 30 year rule, but they are probably viewed as 'decrepit old fossils with sheds full of crap" types. Demographics plays a part as well as the changing face of Auckland, and with housing prices going mad sheds will be a thing of the past....we'll have to just live our biking out on a keyboard.....like those blokes from Pie he a tua...
No Volty! We have monthly rides!
I wonder about the pace of life that has undoubtedly picked up speed over time (from, say, 30 yrs ago) and how it can be so difficult these days to find time/space to come together even with best friends, let alone with people who you're connected to only loosely (like in a Club)...
In the old days we met people with common interests in clubs. Now it is all about social media. I don't see much evidence of generation X or Y having the time, facilities or money to do much apart from keep in survival mode. Actually doing work with hands and tools has disappeared for so many. Good on the boy racers though. They are keeping the spirit alive. I am labeling all my tools so my son will know which recycle bin to put them in. Saves having to figure out what they are and what they do. If we front up to Chez Volty to look at the crap will we get sausage rolls, ginger crunch, cheap tea and a plate where we don't want it?
The Racing Register asks how to attract new members yet maintain the pre 1976 cut off. CAMs are more onto it,Girder, pre63 pre 73, pre82, pre89 and let Jappas in
wood turners club I have some old oak tree at home if ya need some wood to turn Rhys
Sorry the rules are strictly " ladies bring a plate" might be able to do Lion Red, but the bar closes at 10:00 PM , Tea is Choysa and only full milk available......none of your fancy pickled onions and cheese on a toothpick washed down with Cold Duck here......not blinking Epsom.
I've never been a club person, or a gang person... I don't get many invites. I joined some motorcycle clubs so I could get a competition license, it's not current anymore, and I don't want to join a club again just to make it so. I used to go to Triumph Owners Club meetings and rides...I was never a member, but friends were on the committee so it was just hang out as usual. Clubs are like Unions, I'll only join them if I have too.
Thanks for that Ice but I will pass on that. I have a basement full of wood that I might just get around to turning someday .. a bit like bikes really.
i dont know what the key to the hawkes bay classic clubs success is, but it certainly is a success at the moment, in the ten years ive been frequenting the place there numbers have more than doubled wickle would know exact figures. im sure some of the oldies grumble a bit at the jappers and modern harleys but mostly theyre pretty happy...numbers through the door an all that. biggest drawcard is probably the fact they have a well catered clubrooms in a rural setting, are open every saturday at beer oclock and your garanteed too have anywhere between 20 and 200 bikes and enthusiasts to chat too, ullysses, bay mc, hawkes bay harley club and other groups seem to be gravitating there more and more rather than their own 'pads'
