Replacing income

[Dungrange]

9 hours ago, davidmcc3 said:

One idea I had was to start a new (much smaller!!) layout geared to the likes and expectations of the younger people.

 

What are "the likes and expectations of the younger people" and how do you know what will interest the people you hope to attract to the club?

 

My own club doesn't seem to have a particular problem attracting younger modellers, as we've had a few join us in recent years and we now have members ranging in age from 18 to 80 with at least half of members under 60.  In fact I had an enquiry in the last month from another 18 year old looking for information on becoming a club member.  Sadly, we can't hold meetings at the moment due to lockdown restrictions, so attracting new members will have to wait for now.

 

However, we have one member in his late 20s who models the pre-grouping era and we also have two members (one in his early 20s and the other in his late 30s) who model the BR Steam era.  All of these guys are modelling a period from before they were born.  Therefore something like a modern DCC diesel era layout wouldn't necessarily attract these "younger people".  It's fair to say that we have a couple of members for whom such a layout would appeal, but my point is, that not all younger people have the same interests or expectations.

 

Personally, I think the idea of building a layout for members that you don't have is crazy, especially at this time when funds are tight.  I can appreciate that you may need to build a smaller layout for exhibitions (assuming they return at some point) and that you should consider a subject that differs from your existing layouts (so will require different stock), but I'd still choose a project for which there is currently at least some interest for in the club, otherwise where is the motivation for building the layout going to come from?  Could some of your members get interested in a secondary interest of a few of your other existing members?  Within my own club, we have several members with an interest in narrow gauge, but also German, Swiss and Austrian prototypes as well as some industrial railways. In fact the only prototype I can think of that no-one seems to be interested in is North American models (which were popular in another club I was previously a member of).

 

Would it be worthwhile considering either a dual era layout or one with two track gauges, so that it can interest more than one group?  I think the way forward lies not in replacing income, but adapting your expectations to the new 'normal'. 

[SM42]

We are closed for the duration as we have no practical means to open the club rooms in a COVID secure way.

 

We were fortunate to go into this with a reasonable reserve of around 18 months rent, a situation that we wouldn't have been in 10 years ago.

 

How did we build this reserve?

 

By not having an exhibition. The exhibition was, as the club demographic changed, slowly strangling the club both the finances and atmosphere on club nights (too many committe meetings about the show and not enough modellling and running the club's day to day affairs)    and we eventually decided, after a coupme of bad years that enough was enough.

 

We now have more members and a more vibrant club.

 

Whilst this may not be the case for every club, we found that the exhibition is not necessarily the golden goose it is often thought to be. Still miss it but not the stress and work involved.

 

In the current climate we are frustrated that we can't carry on with the projects we had on the go at lockdown, but then the  club is not spending any money on them either and  then we were also fortunate to get a support grant offered to us from the from the council that gives us an extra cushion.

 

Exhibitions will be a harder to organise for the foreseeable, so perhaps now is the time to look elsewhere and find more imaginative or low cost ways to market the club  for when you do re-open.

 

We started (about 18 months after our last exhibition)  doing some free open days at the club room and putting on small, informal "meet the club days" at a local hall where we charged a very small entrance fee (£2) to cover costs and  used club and members layouts and projects. They made a modest 2 figure income above cost, but the real pay off was the new members we gained.

 

Now we won't be able to do that for a while so the thinking caps will need to come out again.

 

Andy

[JeremyC]

On 12/10/2020 at 14:40, davidmcc3 said:

One idea I had was to start a new (much smaller!!) layout geared to the likes and expectations of the younger people. Club members probably don't have appropriate stock, so as well as the layout, there will need to be stock purchases. And this needs to be funded.

 

On 13/10/2020 at 00:28, Dungrange said:

What are "the likes and expectations of the younger people" and how do you know what will interest the people you hope to attract to the club?

The club I'm a  member of (actually the same club as Dungrange) has tried this two or three times in the past and in each case it has failed to attract or retain the 'target' group any better than our other layouts. The only result was that we had a layout in which no one was really interested and had used resources that would have been better spent on other projects.

Edited October 26, 2020 by JeremyC

[cessna152towser]

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Edited November 17, 2020 by cessna152towser
Duplicate post deleted

[Ed-farms]

16 hours ago, cessna152towser said:

For those who collect limited editions I have heard that this next one might be a class 320 in N gauge.

 

 

Given the Revolution Trains 320 is expected in Q1 2021I believe it would make sense. Only question is which one? SPTE Crimson & Cream?

[Barry O]

Our members have been very generous in donating money to the club. As a CIO we can get them to gift aid it which means for every £1 donated members who pay tax give and equivalent to £1.25. Thank you Mr and Mrs HMRC.

 

Baz

[DCB]

Its a very difficult time with the new lock down starting just as many of us were planning to get more active.

I don't think for one minute younger modellers are likely to be more interested in Blue era, Sectorisation era, Franchise era or modern image than good old OO gauge 1955-62 BR steam.    Round yer tis ard to find Modern image, with the nearest station Brunel designed and the next nearest Cheltenham being Pre -Brunel.   It can't be beyond the wit of clubs to provide an OO layout capable of running all eras from 1900 to 2020 DC, DCC and RC can it?  

But looking forward the exhibition model depended to a large extent of folks turning up to visit trade stands, I have seen the trade stands crowded and layouts completely ignored.    Now we don't need trade stands (or swap meets) we just click away on eBay from our armchairs for models,tools and parts .   Which leaves funding as a huge challenge.     

Big subs put potential members off, small exhibitions may be dead.   Is the "Club" model dead?  Or is the large model which folks pay to see, as in Bourton Model Railway the way forward?   I ask as I recently realised I enjoy doing up or building models to sell on eBay  more than building stuff to fill my shelves which no one ever sees. 

 I'm bored.  I was supposed to start work on Monday and had it cancelled and was asked to do some guest (Musical not bus) conducting tomorrow which was also cancelled.

[njee20]

32 minutes ago, DavidCBroad said:

I don't think for one minute younger modellers are likely to be more interested in Blue era, Sectorisation era, Franchise era or modern image than good old OO gauge 1955-62 BR steam.    

 

You were doing so well, but I don’t think there’s any one era which will attract certain age groups, wholly personal. Personally I’d have had no interest whatsoever in a steam era layout as a teenager (nor now as a 33-year old!), and even BR blue is pushing it a bit! But that just proves the point - building a layout with the sole intention of attracting a certain age group seems ill conceived, particularly at a time when club funds are stretched and income uncertain. 

[CloggyDog]

In the case of my club, lockdown (#1) started just after the start of the 'club year', so most members had already paid their annual subs.  With most of our members falling into the vulnerable bracket, we've not met since March - we were exploring ways to restart meetings safely when lockdown #2 kicked in and put everything on hold again.

 

We rent the space for our own cabin, along with use of the other buildings, power, etc., from a charity organisation, who obviously have their own outgoings and are pretty much shut down themselves. However, they did agree to a halving of our monthly rent for the duration, which has eased our pain from lack of show income (we run 3 a year) and means we won't dip too deeply into our reserves (which have been boosted in recent years by good surpluses from the shows). Plus of course there's virtually no work/expenditure on club layout projects at present.

 

While we aren't offering refunds of subs paid for 2020, we will be delaying the 2021 annual sub until we are clear to meet 'normally' and the rate will then be pro-rata'ed for however much of the club year is left at that point. While this will eat into reserves, the feeling is we can stand that for a year (that's what the reserve is for).

 

In the meantime, we stay in touch via a weekly 'social' Zoom (on the basic platform, rebooting every 40 minutes as required) and also members offering dedicated Zoom sessions on electronics, photo slideshows, demos, etc. Our AGM in Feb may well also be virtual.

Edited November 15, 2020 by CloggyDog