 Poster: A snowHead
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From the ski club members only link above
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| I do think that we should be on good terms with Snowheads and if we could get the two idiots to stop slinging mud (which they describe in other terms) at each other we could get a mutually beneficial representation on there. Currently that spat must make outsiders think that Ski Club members have two heads or somesuch. |
So there is some hope of this thread ending? Will the club ban one of their own Directors for bringing the club into disrepute, an item at AOB for the AGM.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Boredsurfing, I think what's more likely (in the short term) is this thread - "New Ski Club of Great Britain Chat Forum" - achieving 120,000 hits this week. [119,688 when posting this message]
Look at this analysis from Google - "120,000 jobs gained" at Mar 2012 (remarkable, since this thread only started in Dec 2012).
Keep posting - boost employment
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Keep posting - boost my ego
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fixed it for you
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Boredsurfing wrote: |
| Will the club ban one of their own Directors for bringing the club into disrepute, an item at AOB for the AGM. |
They probably should....but, think on another 10, 15 years or so. Where is that person going to be grinding their bases to a lethal wood-cutting/head-splitting edge? 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Boredsurfing, shouldn't think so, I made a formal complaint about that same person to the club many years ago and got nowhere it's the main reason I left, if they want him they can keep him and good riddance
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The most recent comment from Gerry Aitken:
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The forum isn't monitored by the Club. It was decided not to have community moderation and therein lies the problem or one of the problems.
The SCGB forum was actually most successful when it wasn't really moderated at all, during 2002-4. |
I have seen several of Gerry's more controversial posts disappear from the SCGB forum a couple of months back. Making nonsense of the thread. If they are not monitoring then he is self monitoring in a clumsy fashion - which doesn't seem likely given his generally combative style. In the words of Tom Petty, 'I won't back down'
Bit reminiscent of PJSki on here, really. Now there's a coincidence.
Agree with your comment, CG, that it was working pretty well, and at least active, with very very little moderation in use before its abrupt closure.
Similarly, there is very very little thread moderation now implemented on sH. An active healthy posting community more or less self moderates. PJSki seems to be the exception which proves the rule - I have reported several posts which appear to contravene the T&Cs and he is still swearing and deliberately beating the profanity filter - but the Mods here have chosen to let things lie as posted. Amen.
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There's no question that Gerry Aitken (a.k.a.PJSki/Tim Brown) has done significant damage to the public image of the Ski Club of Great Britain, but he managed to attract enough votes to return to the boardroom of the Club for the second time in 2011 and is now scheduled to serve as a director until autumn 2015. DG Orf, above, is one of three former SCGB members who have stated that they've discontinued membership specifically because of his behaviour.
There must be an upside:
1. Does Gerry Aitken recruit large numbers of new members?
2. Was his chairmanship of the New Media Task Group successful for the SCGB website?
3. Did he approve or oppose the shutting out of non-members from the SCGB forum in Feb 2004?
4. Was his organisation of the annual SCGB Verbier race (can't recall what it was called) successful? The event seems to have vanished.
5. Did his 2006 promise of a top-class news section of the SCGB website materialise? It is never a news source for me, and I do several ski news searches per day.
6. Did his plans on re-election in November 2011 materialise? This is from his electoral address in the 2011 SCGB annual report:
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| If elected I'm keen to enhance our reputation as an inclusive community of like-minded people. I will also press for the Ski Club becoming less commercial and more independently financed, with a higher percentage of turnover coming from a larger number of members. I'm also determined to improve communications within the Club, with a greater emphasis on direct, member to member messaging via the website. Finally, I want to encourage a greater number of members of all ages and abilities, both new and existing, to engage in the Ski Club's on-snow activities. |
There may be other success factors that ought to be mentioned. Finally, he made a big point (on the SCGB's own forum) a few months ago that he doesn't claim expenses. How is his skiing as a SCGB leader (rep) therefore paid for? What did he mean by the comment?
Gerry's welcome to respond, with answers to the above or any other positive points concerning his directorship and achievements.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| If elected I'm keen to enhance our reputation as an inclusive community of like-minded people |
Maybe you have it there....cause and effect.... 
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Come on, Gerry. You registered with snowHeads as 'Gerry' - time to quit the funny names and give us your annual self-review as a SCGB director. What have you achieved over the past 12 months, with an estimated 40-50 board meetings under your belt since 2005? Here are the key headings:
- Membership growth (above)
- Reduction of commercialism and growth of independent finance (above)
- Improved communications within the Club (above)
- Member-to-member messaging (above)
- Growth of take-up of SCGB 'on-snow activities' (above)
- New media development - website - traffic growth
- Social media development - SCGB chat forum, Facebook, Twitter etc. participation by members
- Other notable points
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Seeing that this thread is no longer about skiing, snowboarding, snow or such thing and more about private members club politics in Wimbledon, can we petition to have it moved to the Apres Zone?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Richard_Sideways, SCGB wanted it in ze Piste though.
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You know it makes sense.
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GOOD CRIVENS! A darknet of hidden threads not listed in The Index!!! (possibly because there isn't any room thanks to the new humungo-font)
WE ARE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS! WAKE UP SHEEPLE!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Richard_Sideways, All the forums are listed in the drop down box 'Jump to' at the foot of every page 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Richard_Sideways, it was all put to one side a long time back - mainly because it became as tedious as most of this thread. Not strictly an archive since you can still post there but not sure if new posts show up anywhere?
There were earlier suggestions that this topic should be forcibly removed off The Piste to somewhere more private. But Admin / the Mods did not agree.... 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well I never... Those off index threads are a touch on the stale side, aren't they.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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boredsurfin, maybe you have to be paying member because I don't see a link to the SCGB one in my forum index list. I can get it clicking your link, but not otherwise.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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albinomountainbadger its under the archives bit of the drop down box on the bottom right of the screen
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Alternative entertainment [for bored old codgers] is available at WTF Ski Club - SCGB afiliation pending.
Click: https://www.facebook.com/groups/325182624251298/
This morning's breaking news:
- "Madman on the Piste" Al Thomson backflips at Sipapu, New Mexico
- "HAVE A GO AT GRASS SKIING!" says Yumping.co.uk
- "Aviemore ski hotel predicts "largest snowfall in decades"
- "The world's oldest skier?" 100th birthday action shot for super-centenarian Charles Elliott
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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GOOD CRIVENS!
WE ARE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS! WAKE UP SHEEPLE!
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Just a quick reminder that the 106th annual general meeting of the Ski Club of Great Britain is at 7pm tonight at the Club's HQ - the White House - 57-63 Church Road, Wimbledon.
If you wish to know more about the UK's national skiers' organisation, and vote on the various resolutions etc., it's a good idea to be there. Memberships start at £23 for "beginners" ...
https://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/join/yourdetails.aspx?isBeginner=true#.Uo4bJCff5xU
... or £62 for those who have begun.
By the way, the SCGB is 110 years old, but has only had 106 AGMs. There is an explanation for the missing 4.
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Personally I shall be watching An Adventure in Space and Time tonight, far less fiction on the tv than by certain people who might be at such a meeting
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Am I right in thinking that the SCGB is just a club?
Why has the internal politics of a club managed to generate 56 pages of discussion on a forum that has nothing to do with the club?
None of it matters as far as I can see.
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emwmarine, well... its a long story as old as the hills.... an evil conspiracy... and a righteous hero who guards the truth that shall prevail...
WGAS really.
Comedy Goldsmith, if you go - have a free drink for me... 
(not that I'm entitled to one as an ex-member)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| stoat of the dead wrote: |
| Comedy Goldsmith, if you go - have a free drink for me... |
There is no such thing as a free drink, and there is no such thing as a free copy of the SCGB annual report (for the financial year ending 30 April 2013) ... when one has been expelled on 30 September. As I discovered this evening!
I made the return trip to Wimbledon (c. 2.5 hours) tonight primarily to collect the annual report, since I'd paid for it, along with magazines which were also cancelled in September (my annual subscription was actually paid up to November 2013). My intended mission was pre-announced and I was warned that I would not be allowed into the building.
So, essentially I returned home fairly empty-handed. There were copies of Ski+Board magazine at reception, so picked up a copy of the latest issue.
The other purpose of the mission was to stand on the pavement outside the White House, handing incoming members a copy of a letter concerning my expulsion ... with an attachment that I thought they'd find interesting.
Old timers will be interested to know that I had a brief friendly chat with Neil Britten, chairman of the SCGB up to 2012, who had some involvement in MO Day (Feb 2004) and its aftermath. I also talked to at least two SCGB members who have been avid posters to snowHeads, over the years.
Standing on a pavement in an outer London suburb, on a freezing November night, is not as mad and miserable as it sounds. The vast majority I chatted to were very friendly.
[/end of chapter 39]
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| emwmarine wrote: |
Am I right in thinking that the SCGB is just a club?
Why has the internal politics of a club managed to generate 56 pages of discussion on a forum that has nothing to do with the club?
None of it matters as far as I can see. |
A great number of snowHeads are immigrants/refugees from the SCGB, for striking historical reasons. It's quite normal for immigrants to retain an interest in their birth country. Terrible analogy, but it'll do for the moment.
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| Comedy Goldsmith wrote: |
| I also talked to at least two SCGB members who have been avid posters to snowHeads, over the years. |
Spill the beans old boy. Let's hear who the double agents are.
Love the thought of one of them being Gerry A but one suspects, once he'd got his teeth into you, we'd have had to get the RSPCA over to put him down, the poor beggar.
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You know it makes sense.
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No, didn't see Gerry Aitken. It's remarkable how few people attend that AGM. I took 28 copies of my letter down there and returned with 15. I was on the pavement for 30 minutes before the meeting started. Maybe a few people got there super-early. A couple of people slipped past me without being accosted, when I was talking to someone else.
Has anyone seen the SCGB annual report? Clouseau is searching for a copy at this moment ... a bit of analysis to follow tomorrow.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| emwmarine wrote: |
| ...None of it matters as far as I can see. |
Which is self-contradictory - you would not (a) read it, and (b) post here, if it did not matter to you. Nice try, but no points for coherence there.
DG>... who had some involvement in MO Day (Feb 2004) and its aftermath.
What's "MO day"?
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Poster: A snowHead
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| philwig wrote: |
What's "MO day"? |
"Members Only" Day. The day (4 Feb?) the SCGB closed its public forum to non-members in the first week of February 2004. Up to that date, the forum had been the busiest social ski forum in Britain. snowHeads began a day later.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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David. I'm sorry your membership ended that way. It obviously meant a lot to you.
You have spent the last 8 years I have seen you posting here and on SCGB railing against aspects of the club. You were never going to change it. Things move on. I hope you can move beyond this and be happy.
Good skiing.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| stoat of the dead wrote: |
David. I'm sorry your membership ended that way. It obviously meant a lot to you.
You have spent the last 8 years I have seen you posting here and on SCGB railing against aspects of the club. You were never going to change it. Things move on. I hope you can move beyond this and be happy.
Good skiing. |
Sorry ... I hope you don't mind ... I just can't resist ...
Doctor, thank you for your diagnosis and prognosis, but you didn't answer my key question: "How much longer can I expect to live?"
As for your penultimate line and prescription, I normally refuse anti-depressants but will make this exception just for you.
Taking your first line ... membership of the SCGB has meant an increasing amount to me in 'journalistic interest' terms - it's a great story. In that sense, I can't see how my membership status (paying or expelled) makes any difference, except that I can't now be a direct witness to AGMs. Recent ones have been recorded on video (with I think all floor-table discussion recorded too), so everything's available in some way ... presumably.
I specifically asked to attend last night because there have been instances of reporters and non-paying 'members' (including journalists who've been give free subscriptions!) attending the SCGB AGM. One gentleman who I chatted to on the pavement said he was no longer a member but was attending as a proxy for a paid-up member who couldn't attend. Now, that struck me as interesting - on that basis I could presumably pay the subscription of a friend and attend again on their behalf. Might make a nice Christmas present for somebody.
Given that the SCGB is the self-styled "spokesbody of British skiers" and "voice of British snowsports" ... i.e. seeking to represent the sport's participants generally ... it's not a bad idea for the AGM to be an open affair to observers/reporters (except, of course, that only the SCGB's owners (members) should speak and vote). Membership must grant some privileges, after all!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| stoat of the dead wrote: |
| ... railing against aspects of the club. You were never going to change it.... I hope you can move beyond this... |
I think that is what the SGSB thought and want to happen. Machiavelli and my personal experience would suggest that's an unrealistic understanding of people. The alternative approach would be to deal with Mr G and the issues he raises.
Skullduggery and incompetence is at least part of what he appears to be accusing them of, and their response here has included both of those things - posing as real people, being outed for it, and getting their asses[1] kicked in the process, for example.
If they want to deal with Mr G, they need to do so openly and honestly, posting as themselves and preferably simply stating the facts so we can decide for ourselves. If he's just bitter and twisted for no good reason, we'll get bored. But the more he chides, the more they seem to dodge and weave, so I at least am minded to think that this smoke has a fire in it.
Of course an alternative would be for their erstwhile loyal and now apparently betrayed member to simply see the light and take up snowboarding full time. Then they could continue their gentle descent into irrelevance without having to fear change...
---
[1] This is American usage. It seems that the forum is offended by my mother tongue, but not by American, so let's use that.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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philwig, fair points. And the club starting this thread in such a dumb fashion was a totally stupid thing to do. However in the end the club is a private organisation, not a government body. It has no duty to do what you say. They may feel that they have expended enough effort dealing with David's frequent complaints. I wonder how many members they have ever expelled? I don't know, I'm not a member and haven't spoken to anyone in authority at the club for nearly 2 years.
Comedy Goldsmith, just genuine good wishes actually. It's been really good to see you posting some interesting stuff on sH again.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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As you say - if it was a public body I'd have already pulled FoI requests to dig out what's behind all this
I also take your point about good wishes, one doesn't wish to get things out of proportion, which internet people often do.
Personally I'd quite like to be expelled from something, especially for annoying the establishment. That's partly why I took up snowboarding....
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| philwig wrote: |
| If they want to deal with Mr G, they need to do so openly and honestly, posting as themselves and preferably simply stating the facts so we can decide for ourselves. If he's just bitter and twisted for no good reason, we'll get bored. But the more he chides, the more they seem to dodge and weave, so I at least am minded to think that this smoke has a fire in it. |
This hits the nail on the head.
Lyndon Johnson once said he preferred to have someone 'inside the tent p*ssing out, rather than outside the tent p*ssing in'. SCGB take note.
As for the AGM, it was fairly tedious stuff. Most items were delivered with little comment apart from the one chap down the front who bothered to ask questions.
You can make a case for an awkward squad who study the communications from the club and question them. Some in the SCGB seem to regard that as bad form. There is a tendency for proceedings to be somewhat self congratulatory - frequent comments about the club's long history, what a wonderful job it does and how marvellous snow sports are. Everything except motherhood and apple pie gets included.
There was no harrumphing this year, probably because nobody 'rocked the boat'. The expulsion of said member was raised at the end. Answer came there none. The CEO did not really want to talk about it, other than to say they had taken legal advice and it was in order. This did little to satisfy the curiousity of the member who raised the question but she was hardly his biggest fan and went on to say she wanted him expelled years ago.
Other than that, SCGB ticks over. They lose members and gain a similar number most years. The age range is on the old side - no surprise there; but remedies are in short supply and they cannot accept the bleedin' obvious. How long have ordinary members questioned the notion of 24 year old 'children'?
The way forward is claimed to be the website snow reports. Drawing people in and converting them to members as a result. Not convinced myself. Plenty of free info on the web these days.
A carte neige insurance offer was also a big hope, though I personally cannot see insurance being a reason to join a club.
I was rather surprised at the take up figures for ski leaders - 40% on average but some resorts have leaders with no members while other resorts cannot get enough leaders. Go figure.
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I started to read this until I started to drown in the overwhelming feeling of not giving a sh*t that was washing over me
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| stoat of the dead wrote: |
| And the club starting this thread in such a dumb fashion was a totally stupid thing to do. |
[conspiracy theory alert] How do you know it wasn't a false flag operation? Very easy to fake, not like moon landings or 9/11 [/conspiracy theory alert]
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| George Jones wrote: |
Other than that, SCGB ticks over. They lose members and gain a similar number most years. The age range is on the old side - no surprise there; but remedies are in short supply and they cannot accept the bleedin' obvious. How long have ordinary members questioned the notion of 24 year old 'children'?
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I believe the rationale there is that by allowing them to remain in family membership till 24 means that impoverished students can still take advantage of the club's benefits as a family member rather than having to pay for their own membership. I suspect the hope is that once they graduate and get a proper job, they'll buy their own membership.
Equally, if they are never going to become a member, then does letting them hang on till 24 really cost the club any more?
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FAQ
