Apathy in the world of MV's - An Area Secretaries View

[M5Clive]

Evening all !

 

All the banter back and forth with regard to the 'Post War v Wartime' debate has set me thinking and this, coupled with our recent Area AGM, has produced the following observations. Again, I don't speak on behalf of the MVT or any other organisation - Just my humble opinion for what its worth as a grass roots Area Sec.

 

Before I moved to East Anglia in 2002, I was the Wiltshire Area Sec of the MVT for several years beforehand - And long before that, brother Neil had also been Area Sec for a few years. After a while in the chair, it quickly became apparent that it is indeed, to use a cliche, a thoroughly thankless task, with little recognition forthcoming - with the voice of criticism never too far away :roll:

 

However, it does on ever rarer occasions have a few advantages as you are the first point of contact if someone whats something or even wants to sell something :wink: I can't remember when that last happened however as the www has opened up a much vaster audience, and all at a finger's click away.

 

18 months ago the Wiltshire Area MVT folded. No-one was prepared to take over from the last Area Sec who always stated that he would only fulfill the post for 12 months and already had his hands full with his own parents in ill health. Sadly, everyone was so engrossed in there own endeavours that no-one wanted to make the effort any more.

 

I felt a tinge of sadness as I had nursed the group through the highs and lows - One meeting being so poorly attended (6 members) that we all up-sticked from the pub in Marlborough High Street and trooped up to my cottage and held the meeting in my front room and we even watched a military related video or two - honest :wink:

 

In 2004 the Suffolk Area MVT Committee resigned on-block and who could blame them? They had run the Area for many years with little input from the members, the same old faces at the meeting, the same old few making the effort and they had decided the time had come to move onto different things. As the club reporter who had written the Windscreen reports for a year or so, I was elected onto the new committee as Area Sec - A position I was happy to accept.

 

Two years on and the turn out at monthly meetings was dismal. As one local members said to me at a show in the summer "Its almost become cool to brag how long its been since you haven't been to a monthly meeting!" This apathy that seems to have set in, and I'm convinced that its not purely in Suffolk Area bothers me and I felt that I no longer wanted to be associated with a group/club that was a stagnant ship in the water - So in the lead up to the Area AGM this month I wrote several members a letter outlining the position.

 

I didn't pull any punches and said that unless we had a good turn out at the AGM I would resign from the committee and the Area could bumble along without me. (It had been going long before my association with the Group and would no doubt continue to do so without me)

 

The result was remarkable - 23 people turned up at the AGM, including some of the people who had been staying away previously. I am now enthused enough to organise an Area coach trip to London to see the HMS Belfast or the like and of course the OPERATION BOLERO event in June next year has also created a lot of interest from within the group, although its me and Ed Abbott doing all the work :roll:

 

In conclusion, I think our movement in general is going through a trough rather than a peak - like 2004 when MV's were all the rage both in the press and on the tele what with all the 60th commemorations. Hopefully next year with the 25th Anniversary of the Falklands Conflict, our members vehicles will again be in demand and have some more front-line duties.

 

Am I just in clocks-gone-back, winter doom and gloom apathy with little excitement on the horizon or am I striking any similar chords with other MVT Areas?

 

Over to you!

 

Cds

[Mark]

NOT just MVT area's..........Oh No

[fv1609]

18 months ago the Wiltshire Area MVT folded.

 

Clive. I'm sorry to hear that. I am in Witshire but in the SE boundary & the meetings were always quite a distance in the Swindon area I think. Dorset is some way away & the two Solent groups (one MVT & the other not) are focused around Portsmouth. Meetings I imagine come into their own in the cold non-show vacuum of winter. But more than an hours journey each way in the winter after the conviviality of the usual pub meet puts a damper on things. It isn't necessarily 100% apathy.

 

But I know what you mean about taking on jobs in clubs. My wife had a role in a horse club she gave 2 years notice of quitting & then when she did nobody would speak to her, despite all the work she had done previously :-(

[Great War truck]

Peaks and troughs just happen and it is very difficult to find a reason for it. When i joined the Devon MVT i think we had just peaked and then things started going wrong and the club split (hopefully nothing to do with me). After a rough patch they seem to be doing well again.

 

I think to be really succesful you do have to put in a great deal of hard work and have a lot of luck. In N Oxon and Cotswolds we are certainly on the up. From humble beginnings 12 Months ago we had nearly 50 attend our last meeting. We have had plenty to attract people including great talks, a quiz, film, guided tours, road runs, barbecues or maybe it is just meeting in the Hook Norton brewery that does it for everybody.

 

It is hard work to keep it all going, and to keep people coming. So Area Secretarys and Chairman really do deserve any praise that they might get.

 

AGM next week. Will anybody else stand for election. I certainly do not expect them to, but i dont mind being Area Secretary for the time being. But some day i will want to pack it all in, so time to start preparing my successor.

 

Tim (too)

[berni]

i know many wiltshire members & many already subscribe to our Gloucestsreshire newsletter.

we have also extended the hand of friendship & are holding 2 meetings a year in Crudwell which is on the glos/wilts border.

the 2 meetings this year have been attended by great numbers & the next one is planned for the second tuesday in march.

not everyone is able to attend meetings so we do a monthly newsletter which anyone can subscribe to for 5.00 a year which does help to keep them updated with whats occuring.

we have just resurected it after a years break & it is doing really well.

well done to all area committee members,it is a hard job & to do it without pay is a testament to the guys dedicated to this hobby, :bow: :clap: :thankyou:

 

i have just noticed this smiley :hug:

Berni

 

[Pete Ashby]

Clive you make some time honoured observations, you know how long I've been around in the movement and it was ever the same, a small number of faces doing the work nearly thirty years ago. I have to hold my hand up and say that I have not attended a Berks and Oxon meeting for many years now despite being the driving force behind establishing it back in 1977/78 and running the area as Area Sec for three years.

 

It would be easy to wax lyrical about the good old days and how it's not the same anymore but I don't think it’s of interest to younger collectors or indeed relevant to any of us now.

 

So why is it that you perceive a bit of a downer? Is it real or imagined, interesting point and one that has been debated in the workshop on more than one occasion over the last couple of years.

 

I'll give you a personal perspective which is the only one I'm qualified to hold in the hope it stimulates debate.

 

Thirty years ago I earned a fraction of what I do now, but worked far fewer hours and was thirty years younger, there’s a common theme there which I hear in other circles, more money and less time to spend it also means that I get tired and over emotional quicker now than I did.

 

You and I both know running an area is dam hard work and requires real input from the Area Sec and usually his other half to make it work well. The thought of that additional pain on top of the 12 stressful hour days that makes up the day job is not appealing to me.

 

This sounds like real old fart stuff but I’m warming to the theme now so humour me a bit longer. I am convinced that I have less free time now even though my kids are both grown and left home. As a result the free time I that I do get I use to chill out with my projects and chew the fat with a few mates who don't feel the need to make demands on my life or my ravaged nerves.

Isolationist and elitist I hear you cry…………. or just plain up himself,…….. well yes I agree with you and don't think it's good for the hobby and it certainly does not encourage younger people to get involved but it does seem to be the way of it and it keeps me from turning into an axe murder so it has some personal merit

 

There was a time when five or six trucks from the area would travel together to shows as far apart as the south coat and well up into the midlands we'd be away nearly every weekend from April to the end of September doing up to 2000 miles a year, needless to say not too many of us do it now. We can neither afford the time or the fuel and at best we can mange two or three shows a year together by juggling dates and appointments when we just may all be in the same country at the same time let alone in the same field.

 

Is there a glimmer of the truth here, perhaps the world and the way we all live our lives changed?.

It is true that the MV scene is not attracting the numbers of enthusiastic young people it once did. If this is so then why?, is it now considered not cool to be seen in a big green truck?.......... Was it ever?.

 

Has the meaning and draw of trucks associated with both WW11 and the post war period paled or are they considered just old and quaint and not too cool to be seen around. Is the modern generation so wedded to it’s Ipods and DVD games that the thought of getting out and actually getting your hands dirty and committing to the two or three years of restoration not fitting with the ‘have it now credit no limit’ image of self that I see beamed out of every advertising hording or media source…………don’t know but I’m suspicious.

In fact as I type this I see that I’ve become one of those grumpy old B#### who thinks of the good old days and is suspicious of anything new Bah.

 

So Clive in conclusion,

 

there may well be a small down turn but over all I think things are just different, times are different, perhaps the way the hobby is presented needs to reflect that and I think forums like this one and others on the web catering for MV collectors are reflecting that change very positively and for the good.

The bottom line is do we still enjoy our trucks and restoring ? the answer has to be overwhelming yes……………… so no problem….. over to you.

 

Pete

:cofee:

[ArtistsRifles]

Has the meaning and draw of trucks associated with both WW11 and the post war period paled or are they considered just old and quaint and not too cool to be seen around. Is the modern generation so wedded to it’s Ipods and DVD games that the thought of getting out and actually getting your hands dirty and committing to the two or three years of restoration not fitting with the ‘have it now credit no limit’ image of self that I see beamed out of every advertising hording or media source…………don’t know but I’m suspicious.

 

FWIW - every one I've spoken to in the 6 months of owning the Stalwart all seem to have the common theme in mind of "how can you afford to run it". The cost of fuel and the increasing costs of insurance and taxation seem to be perceived as blocks to owning MV's. I reckon about 98% of those spoken to have been amazed when told the vehicle is tax and MOT exempt, insurance is on an agreed value basis and only costs £90/year. Fuel is the bg cost together with time - both in maint. and in travel as they aren't built for speed.

 

Perhaps if more people were made aware of the low fixed running costs and the fact some MV's can move a lot faster than Stalwarts and use less fuel it might attract more younger members to the movement???

[Mark]

 

It is true that the MV scene is not attracting the numbers of enthusiastic young people it once did. If this is so then why?, is it now considered not cool to be seen in a big green truck?.......... Was it ever?.

 

Has the meaning and draw of trucks associated with both WW11 and the post war period paled or are they considered just old and quaint and not too cool to be seen around. Is the modern generation so wedded to it’s Ipods and DVD games that the thought of getting out and actually getting your hands dirty and committing to the two or three years of restoration not fitting with the ‘have it now credit no limit’ image of self that I see beamed out of every advertising hording or media source…………don’t know but I’m suspicious.

 

 

I dont know about ipods and playstations my kids have both, but any chance thay have of coming to the shows I go to they jump at it, they think its cool to ride in a jeep or reo, dress up in camo and have a thoroughly messy weekend, hopefully this will carry on as they grow up, wether I will let them drive "my toys" when thet are old enough is another matter

[M5Clive]

I guess Pete Ashby has hit the nail pretty much on the head with regard to changing times - The attention that this forum creates, the many MV related web-sites and of course TWO monthly MV publications available from any WHSmiths the length and bredth of the country clearly indicates how times really have changed.

 

When our family first got engrossed in the world of privately owned MV's nigh on 17 years ago the gap between the quarterly Windscreen magazines seemed to last for ever! Then when it did finally arrive, there was a toss-up to see whether Dad was going to take it to work with him, Neil was going to take it to work with him or I was going to take it in my school bag - Sounds almost laughable doesn't it, :-D but that was the level of enthuasium the MVT magazine created - Well at least it did in our household. You could barely wait for the postman to arrive.

 

But of course there was no www, you were lucky if a monthly off-road magazine may have accidentally printed a picture of a GMC or Jeep by mistake and the bi-monthly green sheet/MVT sales and wants newsletter was anticipated with great excitement. I'm not sure they were good old days as such, or whether being new into the MV movement made things appear through Rose tined specs!

 

As far as running costs of vehicles goes, I don't smoke, I don't drink to any great degree and I don't belong to a golf club - Add those three up over the course of a year and anyone could afford to get into the hobbie and attend a few shows. I have to say, one of the main reasons for selling the Dukw in 1999 was because of the huge amount of money I was spending on fuel and I simply just didn't have the financial resources to keep the old girl afloat. I reckon about 5 mpg was about the average and I had no one to split the running costs with. I remember doing Fairford International Air Tattoo and Tidworth British Army display over two consecutive weekends and being a poorper for the rest of the summer :-o :-o

 

It also worth mentioning that in addition to the countless Area Sec's, the majority of the MVT Council of Management also do there services entirely voluntarily and this should also not be forgotten. Thats not to take anything away from other clubs and socieites - it just happens that I know more about the workings of the MVT far better than any of the others groups that HMVF members may belong to. Could it be that this reluctance for members to take on any responsibilities or positions if pretty much even across the board?

 

Berni, I studied your comments with interest about Ex-Wiltshire Area members supporting your area across the border. I also note that Clive Elliott makes reference to the distance people have to travel. Yes, Wiltshire is a fairly vast county from tip to toe, although Marlborough/Pewsey was always pretty central and thats where I always held our meetings for exactly that reason. It didn't make any difference however, and members from the South of the county still were few and far between. It was only after I left that the meetings were re-located further North to near Malmesbury.

 

Its a shame that none of the members who are prepared to journey up to your meetings Berni aren't prepared to grab the bull by the horns and resurect there own area or maybe they just like to go with the Flo - If indeed she even attends herself :-D

 

Interesting observations none the less!

 

Cds

[berni]

i think flo wins it in this case, but who knows what the future holds

Berni

[Snapper]

I would hope that nobody would be churlish enough to criticise the people who organise clubs, groups and events. I salute them. I am not apathetic, it's just that I am apolitical by nature and do not like committees and stuff. I am not an anarchist and do not suggest a third, fourth or fifth way like a Labour politician might. The movement needs the very sort of dedicated person I am not. I don't apologise. I'll pay my way and I'll always help if I can; but the top table is not my thing. I have only been to one Essex Area MVT meeting in three years. I have yet to renew my MVT membership. I've said before I am a big fan of Windscreen, the commitment it takes to produce it is immense, but - to be honest, I don't see what else membership actually brings me. This is NOT NOT NOT a criticism of the organisation; far from it - where would we be without it?. I just prefer a more carefree approach. I would appreciate some sound advice on this from longer serving MV scene people and Young Turks alike. I think this topic started by Clive is potentially another good debate subject for us to see what people really expect from MV ownership and not

another debate about preferred vehicle periods and types (which was superb).

[FV601 (R.I.P.)]

As an Essex area member I can only speak as I find.

 

We normally have an attendance at meetings of 20-30 people, sometimes it depends on local traffic situations at other times it depends on whether the call has gone out for a greater number to attend (AGM and suchlike).

 

Feedback from those who do not attend varies from location of meeting, to "not wanting to be involved in the politics".

 

Once again we are talking about a fairly large county spreading from the outskirts of London, up to the Norfolk/ Suffolk border and out to the east coast, so all in all, a big catchment area which according to main MVT has over 200 members registered there.

 

Meetings are held pretty much in the centre of the county at the "Crown" ph in Sandon, Chelmsford, which is OK for those living reasonably near, but involves sometimes over an hours drive for those living further afield.

 

We seldom see new faces at the meetings and even if we do they normally only attend the once or twice never to be seen again other than at shows/events.

 

Now I know the "get together thing" is not for everyone who joins the MVT and as such in our case if we had the supposed 200+ members all decide to turn up for a meeting, we would not be able to have it due to size of venue. However one would expect an increase of attendee's given the fact that new members are joining all the time.

 

I can remember turning up for my first meeting, not knowing anyone there and having to check with the barstaff that I had the right venue as the place was empty, then finally seeing people come in and move to the meeting room, go and sit myself down at a table and have not one person speak to me the entire time I was there. I was lucky enough to already know some members who were not in attendance at that time so persisted in attending the meetings finding that we were in a "group apart" from most who attended. The thing that got me though was that if I had been of any different a nature, I would have washed my hands with the bother of attending due to the initial reception I received.

 

This is not a knock at the Essex area as Berni has stated in the other thread that she experienced much the same when she joined up. I would think then that this might be a prevalant thing that might occur in many areas.

 

To me it shows a "closed doors" mentality that does little if anything towards the promotion of the hobby and is therefore apathetic in its own nature.

 

Lets face it, if new members are not welcomed when they have taken the trouble to attend the area meetings they will not bother to attend and as such will not provide the neccessary input the hobby requires to keep its momentum.

 

We dont have to like everyone we meet I know, but we have all been bitten by the same bug and as such have a common ground on which we can all work on so why should it be so difficult to assimilate the newbies into our folds?

[fv1609]

 

We seldom see new faces at the meetings and even if we do they normally only attend the once or twice never to be seen again other than at shows/events. .....................I can remember turning up for my first meeting, not knowing anyone there and having to check with the barstaff that I had the right venue as the place was empty, then finally seeing people come in and move to the meeting room, go and sit myself down at a table and have not one person speak to me the entire time I was there. I was lucky enough to already know some members who were not in attendance at that time so persisted in attending the meetings finding that we were in a "group apart" from most who attended. The thing that got me though was that if I had been of any different a nature, I would have washed my hands with the bother of attending due to the initial reception I received.

 

I think that has an awful lot to do with it. In my early days trying to get into the hobby it was extremely daunting. Going to a meeting was very nerve racking nobody seemed to recognise your plight of not knowing anybody at all. Attempts to introduce yourself & be included in a group conversation met with little acknowlegement. My only hope was to try to guess if there was anyone in my situation as well, not easy as you just don't who is old & who is new. But after a while you can spot someone who is being ignored & hope they will sit with you at the new boys table. But if they didn't turn up next month you were on your own again.

 

Once the show season came you could talk to the person in the vehicle next to you & you were more on a level footing & there was no bar clique to try to break into. When you next went to a meeting you could then at least speak to someone you knew. To this day I can still remember the few people who would eventually talk to you & be nice & those, through I think ignorance of you predicament, would give you a non-welcome.

 

The area in question is not in my vicinity, I have since moved. But it wouldn't surprise me if this exists elsewhere & in other hobbies. Perhaps the idea of contacting the secretary before the meeting might help with the intro, although this is what I tried but was of no value.

[Jack]

Do we have anyone here who would/can comment on how IMPS?

 

Just for a balanced view?

[fv1609]

Jack I don't think it is an issue specific to MVT, its just people not thinking what its like to be a new face, which is why some companies have a buddy system.

 

I got the same when I went to an All Wheel Drive Club meeting once & didn't bother again.

 

As regards the MVT meeting I didn't feel it was a WW2/PW issue. Although I had a Rover Ambulance which I drove to meetings, a new boy with a Jeep was equally cold shouldered.

[NuttyNick]

Jack - I'm a member of both IMPS and MVT but first and foremost I'm IMPS. I have been going to the Surrey Area IMPS meetings for a couple of years now and we get between 30 and 40 people turn up each month. Sometimes this increases to over 50.

 

I was a bit aprehensive the first time I went along to the meeting but I was introduced to everyone at the start of the meeting and was made very welcome. We have had a number of new members join since and they keep coming along month after month.

 

I'm not sure whether its because IMPS is more of a "local" club, predominantly being based in the south east, but the club is very close knit. We have a number of area meetings within the south east, sometimes with 2 or 3 area meetings being within about 30 miles of each other. As such, there are a number of members who attend 2 or more area meetings as well as the main club night meeting in Dartford (where the politics tends to take place leaveing the local area meetings to be relaxed and informal).

 

Obviously I can't speak for the MVT meetings as I have never been to one but as far as IMPS meetings are concerned we have a great laugh and I have made some fantastic friends.

[Guest matt]

Hi,

 

Just to pick up on the subject of younger MV owners mentioned earlier. It seems there is a general feeling that there are too few "youngsters" getting into MV's but I wonder if this really is the case? I'm 27 and bought my first vehicle when I was 20,since then I've added to the collection and now have six WW2 US vehicles(most are unrestored).

 

I have met a number of people around my age who own MV's and to be honest I don't see there is a shortage of "new blood",but maybe others see a problem in other areas??.

 

Just for the record I don't belong to any clubs nor do I buy any of the MV mags. I was an MVT member for a while but it wasn't for me.

 

Matt.

 

[John Pearson]

I went to my first MVT meeting in November (?) 1984, having joined a couple of weeks earlier. T/c to local area secretary got me date place and time. I went along, introduced myself to area secretary and then sat in silence for about 2 hours as everybody ignored me. No one said a bl**dy word and I decided never to go again. The secretary gave the details of rallies etc and then said: oh yeah, we have a new member. While everyone looked at me he said in a bored voice 'do you have any vehicles?' Yes I said, a Valentine. A Valentine what? A Valentine tank says I. After that they were queing up to ask about it.

So what if I have a tank? They should have spoken to me because I was a new member not because of a possession!.

I am still an MVT member and make a very strict rule to ALWAYS speak to new members. If everyone did the same we might get and keep more members at meetings as well as on the books.

[sirhc]

Like Matt I am young, at only 24, and bought my Ferret when I was 18. I know quite a few young people who own vehicles. I am lucky in that I share the hobby with my Dad so we can afford to take on new projects and get to some shows. I think money and insurance are keeping more young people from owning vehicles. This year when we renewed the insurance we asked for quotes from several places, the only people who would insure me (being under 25) were the current company, and they would only do it because they had already insured me for a few years. If I had been refused insurance I'm not sure what I would have done!

 

 

Chris

[Great War truck]

Damn right John. At our meetings, if we have a new member i usually go and sit with them that evening and try to introduce them to everyone and make them feel part of the group and appreciated. It's just rudeness and ignorance to ignore them. I dont think this is an MVT problem as a whole, but i think a lot of people do not know how to behave in a polite way (ignorant bar stewards).

 

Tim (too)

[Pete Ashby]

I went along, introduced myself to area secretary and then sat in silence for about 2 hours as everybody ignored me. No one said a bl**dy word and I decided never to go again.

 

There's beginning to be a reoccurring theme here.

 

Looks like we have a poor record on the hospitality front, I'm not surprised but am a little saddened and just a bit ashamed.

 

Should the MVT central council issue something in the way of a new members charter to Area Secs, these sort of things make me cringe but perhaps there is a need for it ??

 

Pete :-(

[FV601 (R.I.P.)]

There's beginning to be a reoccurring theme here.

 

Looks like we have a poor record on the hospitality front, I'm not surprised but am a little saddened and just a bit ashamed.

 

Should the MVT central council issue something in the way of a new members charter to Area Secs, these sort of things make me cringe but perhaps there is a need for it ??

 

Pete :-(

 

 

Pete, in all honesty I dont think a directive from above will be the answer as this sort of thing is at grass roots level.

 

I know that as a "group" we have grown considerably due to our pro active welcoming of newbies at meetings and due to that now have a lot of the older ones doing much the same.

 

In regards to this just being an MVT thing, I can also look back to my first IMPS area meeting and remark on the difference, I was welcomed by members before the meeting started and got involved in some good conversations, The area secretary also made a point of spending a considerable time with me to get to know me a little better and all in all I found it a much pleasanter experience.

 

Could this be as Nick said, that it is a more localised thing? I doubt it as the local MVT areas are much the same. Could it be that IMPS were a breakaway from the MVT all that time ago and therefore have a different mindset towards newbies? That one I will let you all think about.

[Snapper]

Taking up John Pearson's theme and not wishing to open any old fronts I suspect this topic is in some ways linked to the hot subject of WW2 and PW. As said I have been to only one Essex MVT meeting. Everyone was cordial and some people smiled - (but we are British after all ...) I made a point of sitting amid a group of older gents in deep discussion about jeep parts and I engaged a total stranger in conversation about our vehicles. He is very active with a RA 25 pdr troop and I have seen his chaps in action - a top quality mob. I talked a bit about my tatty VW Iltis and there was not a lot he could say. It would be easy to take the wrong impression that he was being stand offish because of my MV :- not the case at all. He was being polite, as English as I would expect of someone who had just met me (reserved in other words) and although our machines are green we are outwardly from different ends of the spectrum. But the mutual understanding was there. That's what matters. I didn't expect to be involved in a group hug from these people. Nor did I expect, or want, to make any kind of speech. We Brits don't do that stuff. The Branch secretary/chairman was friendly as whenever I've met him and what more should I expect? If it ain't broke, don't fix it

 

[Jack]

If any one has felt unwelcome at any MVT meeting or any others for that matter then you need to look no further than the ‘top table’. If this is full of ill-mannered, arrogant fools then it tends to be viral through out the rest of the group. That is the sad thing about groups as no one will do anything to remove them, I have heard the excuse of ‘I am doing standing again as no one else will’ to many times from many groups that I have been involved in. The problem is that no one is being honest with themselves and here is a question that must be asked, if the top table is standing again because no one else will – then is there much point of even having a group?? If the momentum or drive of the group is no existent then the guy who is trying to hold it all together is in for a life time of hurt.

 

First and foremost it is the duty of the ‘chair’ to introduce new members and they should have the intelligence to be able to see a new face in the crowd and go and approach them and bed them in, they should also the ability of reading the newbies body language and make a judgement if the need their hand held or can stand their own ground – surely this is common sense?

 

It is also the responsibility of the newbie to get of their bum and say hi I am new. Groups that bleat about low members turn out should seriously analyse the situation and take the time to ask some serious question of where the group is going wrong as clearly something isn’t working – but how many people have guts to do that?

 

Back in the late nineties I started a group called the Dorset Coppice Group. In my previous life I was a woodsman, in fact I was a Hurdle Maker one of our most ancient woodland skills. I founded the group as I felt there was a need for all of us woodsmen to meet, chat and network – pretty much like HMVF. I started this group on my own with many people like English Heritage, Forestry Commission, Wildlife Trust and god knows how many more against me but I had the drive and the vision and had the determination to drive it forward. I put my own hard earned money into it to get it started, I done all the press releases, arrange the speakers, the venues, the shows, the press interviews, I sat on local authority/Forestry Commission/Agenda 21 committee’s. I would travel to other groups up and down the country as a guest speaker on ancient woodlands and their associated history and a lot of my work is the Rural History archives, and I used to write for some well now magazines too. This is the sort of drive and work that goes into a group. I chaired the group for 4 years and when I stood down I had seen it grow from 1 member to 80 and instigated the groups EU funding which now tops half a million pounds, the groups still going strong.

 

One of the reasons that the group is still going strong is because of the mentality that I built it upon. From the start I wanted to group to always be ‘warm’ and ‘open’ to everyone and anyone no matter what their abilities where – we were all there for the same reason, our love of our woodlands, I always made sure that this was never forgotten. During the meetings I would ban all smoking as this isn’t conducive to members who didn’t smoke this is something my local MVT group should implement as I do not like coming home smelling of an ash tray and breathing in all of the smoke and having to wash my clothes.

 

As I said earlier, the behaviour of the top table influences the rest of the group and so can also happen on the larger scale of national groups. If the management aren’t approachable or are unhelpful then this is reflected in the ‘work force’ and morel soon drops. I hear to often that regional committees only stand as no one else would., well perhaps the brutal honesty is that no one really cares if there is a group or not. I chaired my group because I wanted to and not because no one wanted. To me it is unfair when people stand because no one else wanted to as this people are under massive stain right from the start trying to keep everyone happy – it takes a lot of strength to keep smiling when up against such apathy.

 

When I joined my local MVT they welcomed me with open arms and people were very friendly and that is a credit to them. I feel bad for Clive when he had to use the big stick of resignation to gather the flock together and I hope people continue to populate the meetings but somehow experience tells me that human nature isn’t like that and people soon stop going again.

 

One thing that has always confused me with the MVT is that they have monthly meetings – this is one of the reasons in my opinion why they is such a small turn out. They need to be every other month. People would have more to talk about, have some news to tell each other and it would keep things a lot fresher.

 

Isn’t it time for a fresh approach to regional groups - this model is no longer working.

 

[Jack]

Hi Mark.

 

......flipping heck - I can't be banned from my own site, can I :schocked:

 

Not flaming anyone or anything, hence "If any one has felt unwelcome at any MVT meeting or any others for that matter" - just talking about the mentality of groups in general and what tends to happen and what the tell tell signs are :cry: