Starting up a club advise

[Andy Brooks]

Heya everyone.

I am after some advise from fellow model railway club owners etc. Me and a friend of mine would like to start are own Club here in Dereham Norfolk and i was wondering if i could get some advice. Etc Insurance what we need, Pricing (we thinking £20 a annual fee which includes hire of hall) and anything else that we might need to know about starting a club. 

Also what is the appropriate club time length eg 12 until 6 etc

 

Thanks

Andy B

 

[Ian Morgan]

I think you need to start with a few informal meetings, possibly at someone's house, and advertise to increase numbers. Before you start collecting any money, you will need to put more formal procedures in place, set up a Committee (usually Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer), produce a Constitution and a set of Club Rules and then get a Club Bank Account. You may also need to appoint Trustees, who will be responsible for disposal of club funds and equipment if the the club dissolves.

 

Contact an Association of Model Railway Clubs, such as the Chiltern Model Railway Association as they will be able to advise and support you. They can provide advice about insurance, and they have exhibition equipment, etc that can be borrowed when required.

 

Good Luck.

[Andy Brooks]

Heya Ian

Thanks for the great advise.  

 

Andy

[Dungrange]

I agree with Ian - you need to have some informal meetings to try and attract a reasonable number of potential members and then see what interests you share and what you each want from a club.  An annual fee of £20 is very low - I'm currently paying £144 per year (£12 per month) and we are likely to have to double that in the near future as we anticipate being evicted from our current premises and rents in Edinburgh are relatively high: we have a good deal at the moment.  If your proposed club wants to build layouts, then it's helpful not to be hiring a hall and instead have your own club room so that part built layouts can be left up at the end of the night.  However, there are clubs that operate as you suggest: hire a hall, erect a layout, operate said layout for a few hours, dismantle layout, pack it away and go home.  The length of meetings then has to be arranged around this. My club meets from 19:30 to 22:00, so just 2 1/2 hours, but none of that time is spent erecting or dismantling a layout (other than when we are dismantling to go to an exhibition or swap layouts).  If you are hiring a hall, then I would anticipate that you'd have longer meetings.  What do your target members do - noon to 6 pm may suit the retired, but isn't particularly convenient for those of us who work.  If that's a weekend, sometimes family commitments mean that for someone like me it would be difficult to commit to those sort of hours, but everyone is different.   Your membership would find a consensus view with regards times as well as days and the subscription that they are willing to pay.

 

You'll need a Constitution and appoint a Committee and you may find it difficult to fill these positions.  I became the secretary of my club a couple of years ago simply because our previous secretary stated at the AGM that he wished to step down and no-one wanted to take over.  After an awkward silence I agreed to take on the role and for the last two AGMs I've simply been re-elected unopposed.  The same is true of the Chairman and the Treasurer.

[TheQ]

21 hours ago, Andy Brooks said:

Heya everyone.

I am after some advise from fellow model railway club owners etc. Me and a friend of mine would like to start are own Club here in Dereham Norfolk and i was wondering if i could get some advice. Etc Insurance what we need, Pricing (we thinking £20 a annual fee which includes hire of hall) and anything else that we might need to know about starting a club. 

Also what is the appropriate club time length eg 12 until 6 etc

 

Thanks

Andy B

 

£20, membership seems very cheap,  have you priced up hall Hire? The cheapest we've found was about £70 a day in our bit of Norfolk.  So half day hire (52*35)/20= 91club members . Remember you are still going to need layout storage,  an hour to clean up the hall each meeting. 

 

We've been going nearly fourty years,  and now have an established membership of about 30, this has taken  much effort ( by others) ,  open days and our own show to build up. 

The club I belong to http://broadlandmodelrailwayclub.co.uk  40miles from you, Has gone to the extent of hiring an industrial unit,  but with a club fee of £300 it requires a membership of 10 just to break even. This does give all year all day opening to full members. 

 

As mentioned above getting a committee is difficult,  I refuse to go on committee at the moment,  having previously been a chairman of a national association ( not railway modelling) I found it stressful, even with a very good club secretary.  Only once retired will I go on committee... maybe..

 

And finally.. Why not take a 18 mile trip over to Aylsham this weekend,  it's our show this weekend , I'm sure our chairman or secretary could give you some pointers,  Just ask a steward in the hall to direct you towards them, of which I am one.. 

 

Edited October 2, 2019 by TheQ

[Andy Brooks]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

£20, membership seems very cheap,  have you priced up hall Hire? The cheapest we've found was about £70 a day in our bit of Norfolk.  So half day hire (52*35)/20= 91club members . Remember you are still going to need layout storage,  an hour to clean up the hall each meeting. 

 

Heya TheQ... Yeap hire of the hall is going to be very cheap or none exsistant as we are both Cub leaders at the hall. And do alot for the scouts so the hall is cheap for us  

 

Oh yes of course i forgot about Aylsham i try and pop along if i can.  But i agree with needing a committee 

 

Andy