Membrship fees (proposals)

[Guest]

We know where the extra £5 will go - along with a lot more unnecessary expenditure - on the elite, and GB squad (No it doesnt all come from grants and sponsorship to fund their trips to the world chapms etc.) We need the funds to go to the grass roots level, either direct to the clubs, or developing it in schools, or for BOF to do some noticeable work at this level instead of high profile elite. As we noticed some years ago, this sport is getting elitest like most others do.
33% increase in fees - you are obviously having a laugh.
Do away with BOF, the clubs are quite capable of putting on events and publicising the sport.

[rocky]

er, yes it does all come from "grants and sponsorship": the biggest misconception around is that bof members subsidise squad activities and competition trips.

[lilywhite]

I don't know why I'm wasting my time replying to "guests" ill informed load of tripe, but they should read about all the stuff Oli and Jenny (elites) have been doing with school development.

[John Morris]

A guest said:-

"We know where the extra £5 will go..."

Well, the guest was certainly wrong, and Rocky was right, but as a point of principle it's certainly reasonable to ask for a 'Sources and Uses' analysis to show what does go where now - and what is planned/budgeted for next year.

BOF can supply these analyses if asked; can I suggest that you put your question to our Treasurer, Malcolm Duncan, in the first place?

If the EGM papers have reached you, you will find an answer to the specific question posed by the guest, in Bob Roach's statement supporting the funding proposal. I quote: "The major planned increase in 2006 will be a £40K increase, largely funded by BOF, to assist Club and Regional Development through the RDOs, in accordance with the Strategic Plan."

And you might also read Peter Bylett's article in Focus 3/05 to find out what that means in detail...

[HOCOLITE]

I read the article by Peter with interest. The article implied that the achievements were across the board. I was particularly interested in the School Orienteering Co-ordinator. I work with a school taking kids to O events etc., but not on a large scale or in curricula activities, and would have thought I might have been asked to take on this role. However all our SDO said was 'your school is grouped with either x or y, both are a long way away you are in nomans land'.
Perhaps I've upset someone

[Mrs H.]

groan - even controversial guest sems to think that schools work is the only way to club development - POW has proved it isn't (Infact i think the returns are appallingly poor given hown much resources are poured into it) My kids say orienteering at school is embarrassing and put people off the sport not on .BOF should be concentrating their resources on strengthening the clubs which deliver the sport instead of by-passing the clubs with never ending unproductive schools work - all that is doing is pleasing the government not expanding the sport.

elite funding looks fine to me - mind you we do seem to be getting an awful lot of bumf with their happy smiling faces on these days - not sure that's all necessary - for a start poff its preaching to the converted and also it costs money which could be spent on their training/travelling etc.

Give the sport back to the clubs instead of getting the clubs and the members to fund the government's target hitting agendas (and the staff needed to deliver this)

[awk]

I tend to agree Lynden in that the balance of family/school orienteering development has now swung far too far the latter way. I am also concerned that feedback from my club is that the RDO is perceived as generating work for the club to do - work that as you point out isn't going to produce cost effective results from the club's point of view, and deflects the volunteers from work that would be more directly beneficial to the club.

The only saving grace to the proposed extension of RDO time paid for by clubs would be if that work was done under the club's agenda, not BOF's/Sports Council/government agenda (I know BOF Central regularly finds itself standing up to the other two, but the development programmes do look very SC/government targeted, and not a lot to do with clubs). I am yet to be convinced that this will happen. If it does, I would also need to see some evidence or convincing argument that it's the most effective way of using that money.

Yet another anonymous Guest talking complete garbage.

[El]

Don't think BOF necessarily are preaching to the converted with the elite publicity. There's a lot of people like guest who think (albeit wrongly) that too much money goes to the elites, and/or probably more commonly that the elite side of things has nothing to do with them. The brochures are a good way to get people interested and get their support behind the team.

[rocky]

or more likely that the conditions of the sponsorship deals with companies like Platypus have conditions to do with the publicity.

propaganda!

[El]

In which case it performs two useful functions. Excellent

[RJ]

Don't be so hard on poor Guest. It is a widely held misconception that the elite funding in part comes from our membership subs. Like it or not, quite a few orienteers believe that.

Yes, all the detail is in the BOF AGM papers and auditors report... but reading that document is a trial and a half.

The brochures from WOC etc, are good advertising for the sport. Granted we all get a copy, but hundreds of copies go to other interested people. I show my copy around to friends in the hope they may get interested enough to attend an event.

Lets hope that Keith Auchterlonie's survey gets all the right answers and BOF improve their communications to us all. Hiding stuff away on a website isn't good enough either. The detail yes... but publish the bare bones on a regular basis.

And..... not all Guests talk complete garbage... even people with fancy subriquets manage a load of that at times!

[awk]

And..... not all Guests talk complete garbage... even people with fancy subriquets manage a load of that at times!

All too true (and they don't have to be that fancy - three letters will do!). However, my ongoing point is that all too many "Guest"s hide behind their anonymity to do so.

[gross2006]

i have a habit of thinking of things in terms of beer. probably because i've been bartending now for almost ten years.

so the increase in the BOF membership fee is less than the cost of two pints.

Not true for all.... it's about 7 pints worth for me

[John Morris]

Erm, what happened to Page 3?

If I go to Page 2 and click on '3' or 'Next' a page appears which informs me that 'no posts exist for this topic'.

SNAFU?

Perhaps a non-message will unjam the system.

So here goes...

[rocky]

nopesport is a page three free zone... except for occasional posts in banter of course!

just a little glitch in the database i expect, it has got over 50000 posts to deal with after all!