Steam Boat Association Of Great Britain A G M

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Edward
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Steam Boat Association Of Great Britain A G M

Post by Edward » Mon Mar 15, 2010 1:26 am

I know that several of the members of this forum who live outside the UK are members of the Steam Boat Association Of Great Britain .
In the past it has not particularly mattered that overseas/non UK residents have not in general been able to attend the Annual General Meetings because matters have been voted on with no favour or partiality regarding nationality or location of members . This has not been because of any particular benevolence , liberality or generosity : the question has simply not arisen .

I'm sure forum members who are also members of the SBA will have seen the Agenda for the AGM on the SBA website .

It seems to me that one agenda item in particular is slightly unfair : this is the proposal that non UK members should pay a considerably higher subscription to cover the higher postal charges in sending them The Funnel each quarter .
While I feel it is fair that members should pay for what they receive , and it obviously costs more to post The Funnel across the world than to the next town or county , I cannot but feel that the very people who are going to be asked to pay the most are the very people who , because of their location , are least likely to be able to attend the AGM and vote on the matter . These are also the people who are the least likely to be able to benefit from membership of the SBA through attending rallies or social functions ; their only benefit is receipt and readership of the Funnel .

Whilst I feel uneasy in raising this issue in this forum before consulting the SBA Committee I hope I am justified in so doing as I only saw the agenda this afternoon (Sunday 14th March) , so there is not much time before the AGM.
I also therefore ask that PeteThePen1 inform the committee of the content of this post so that it may be considered by them before the AGM .

I would therefore ask any non UK based members of the forum who are also SBA members to let me know if they feel strongly about this : I will then try to represent their feelings at the AGM .

Whilst not the primary reason for this posting it may also demonstrate a possible method of electronic proxi voting , not for this AGM , but perhaps something to investigate in the future .

Hoping that this will lead to a constructive dialogue ,
Regards Edward .
87gn@tahoe

Re: Steam Boat Association Of Great Britain A G M

Post by 87gn@tahoe » Mon Mar 15, 2010 6:55 pm

Edward,

I see where you're coming from in regards to the funnel being the only benefit for most of the non-UK based members.

I personally am a bit miffed over the situation, but would still pay the price to receive the publication. Pay out the nose for quality, size, and content.. Though it only comes four times a year.

Perhaps they could offer an electronic version of the Funnel in a .pdf file that one would receive by email for a greatly reduced membership fee.

One must be willing to "think outside the box", or in this case, outside the envelope.


Thank you very much for taking our concerns into consideration and attempting to let our voices be heard.

Wesley
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froya66
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Re: Steam Boat Association Of Great Britain A G M

Post by froya66 » Mon Mar 15, 2010 8:30 pm

Hi Edward

Personally I have not taken much notice of the agenda until now (my failure), but this very fact also enlighten your basic argument, namely that we members outside the UK do not really have the possibility to participate in the activities anyhow.

I think it would be fair to bring this general consideration to the attention of the AGM prior to voting for the increased subscription.

On the other hand, as long as the overhead on top of the actual costs are almost identical for UK members and non UK members (approx 6 £) I am still perfectly willing to pay the price.

28 £ is the average price for 5 pints in a Danish pub :)

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Re: Steam Boat Association Of Great Britain A G M

Post by farmerden » Tue Mar 16, 2010 4:31 am

Edward First I am not a member of SBA. No reason I've just never got around to it! It would appear that all postal systems are financially failing and the postal rates will have to increase. That being said I would have to agree with Wesley to investigate an internet publication.I know the NWSS has talked about it. I guess the question to be asked is how many SBA members have an internet connection? I keep all my literature from steam sources but I could print anything I receive via internet. The "Funnel" is a very classy publication worth every penny but I would hate to see such a worthy publication cease to exist because of increasing postal rates [and unfortunately increase they must!] Just for the record how many members exist outside of the UK? Maybe it's just the price those in the colonies will have to pay!! :lol: Den
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Re: Steam Boat Association Of Great Britain A G M

Post by froya66 » Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:11 pm

Den

May I friendly remind you that Denmark never were a colony of England or Great Britain. Actually it has been the other way round long ago :twisted: (can you see the horns at the helmet)

From said AGM agenda I found that there are 1178 SBA members at present. 238 lives outside UK including 9 in Canada and 6 in Denmark.

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Re: Steam Boat Association Of Great Britain A G M

Post by farmerden » Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:09 pm

Oh so sorry! I never intended to include Europe in the colonies. I hope that my weak attempt at humour has not offended you too much. It is interesting how few members there are abroad!! Begging forgiveness I remain-- Den :D
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Re: Steam Boat Association Of Great Britain A G M

Post by preaton » Fri Mar 19, 2010 9:42 am

I belong the the SBA, NWSS and the International SS as well as my local Society. I also subscribe to a number of international magazines. The North West Steam Society, our local Steam Engine Society and to date SBA have a standard subscription irrespective of where you live. ISS has always had a US rate and "Overseas" rate. All international magazines have an overseas postage charge. If it is true that it costs the association more to send me Funnel than I pay in annual subscriptions, then that does not make sense. I am willing to "cover costs"

As for the comment that we overseas members get nothing but Funnel - well that's our choice - we still should pay our way. I have been to a couple of rallies and was made very welcome - and I doubt that anyone has to travel further to get there.

I enjoy Funnel, have contributed occasionally and would be prepared to pay the required postage for it to get to me 4 times a year. :)

Cheers

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Re: Steam Boat Association Of Great Britain A G M

Post by Edward » Tue Mar 23, 2010 8:42 pm

At the AGM I mentioned that I had put this posting on this forum and summarized it and the responses .
At present the SBA rules specify that members must be present to vote so allowing electronic voting would need an amendment to the constitution (impressive sounding but not difficult providing enough members at an AGM agree .)
There are at present no plans to make an E-Mail Funnel , but it is intended to make back issues available electronically , though I think this will take a while .
It is accepted that the SBA needs to make more use of the internet and it is intended that this should happen , but first the current data base and systems need to be modernised and this has been made the first priority .
So a fairly satisfactory result with the hope of more to come but it will take a while yet .

Edward .
Last edited by Edward on Wed Mar 24, 2010 1:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
87gn@tahoe

Re: Steam Boat Association Of Great Britain A G M

Post by 87gn@tahoe » Wed Mar 24, 2010 5:25 am

Thank you for doing the leg work Edward.
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Re: Steam Boat Association Of Great Britain A G M

Post by PeteThePen1 » Mon Apr 05, 2010 9:06 pm

Hi Folks

Thanks for making your views on the subscription issue and the problems of being an "overseas" member visible. I am sorry that I did not participate, but was slightly busy with said AGM paperwork at the time...!

It strikes me that a forum like this could come up with some ideas about how overseas members could get better value for their money. Ideas on the table include putting more stuff on-line, as for example the boiler pressure vessel plans. The various digitised archive items could also be made available for download once we get the website sorted out to handle that kind of thing. The on-line voting is a nice idea, but I suspect that is probably a "bridge too far" at the moment. However, that does not meant that other ideas would not be welcome. (Oops too many negatives, but you know what I mean)

We also have a request on the table that I must take to the next Committee Meeting. That is to make the SBA Auctions available to members who are not physically present. For folk that are not familiar with the SBA traditions, the morning of the AGM event is an auction of "stuff" often related to and useful for steamboaters, but all sorts of other things come through. There is also a second auction on the Saturday morning of the Autumn Seminar weekend.

My view is that this looks like a pretty simple database problem that would be accessed through the SBA website and would operate a bit like e-Bay. However what we need is some software, preferably from the public domaine, so that we don't go through the process of re-inventing the wheel.

Thus if anybody has any ideas, I would love to hear from you, either through this site or direct.

Regards


Pete
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