News4Clubs Bulletin Number 20

17 March 2011

Top Tips for increasing club membership

The MCofS will soon be launching a new "opt-in" initiative to help clubs recruit new members.

We would like to ask each club to consider whether they wish to participate in this initiative, and for those that do we ask you to send an e-mail to mike@mcofs.org.uk to record your interest.

We realise that not every club wants to recruit new members, so we are planning to work with only those clubs that do want to increase their membership levels. So, if your club is interested in taking part, please send in an e-mail to say you wish to participate and, if you can come up with a few ideas, send us your Top Tips for increasing membership of your club please.

MCofS Launches Consultation on Draft Club Child Protection Policy and Guidelines

The MCofS is keen to encourage clubs to involve young people in both indoor and outdoor activities, and to encourage young people to join clubs. Doing so will help clubs to become more sustainable and enable many young people to benefit from the valuable skills and experience shared with them by experienced club members.

It is clear that many clubs have yet to take the step of including young people in their membership, and many of those that have, have found the existing MCofS Child Protection Policy and Procedures to be overly complex. The existing policy has also had to cater for both MCofS events and Club activities, and has lacked sufficient clarity for clubs planning day and weekend meets, and those wishing to understand the implications of 'nominated adults' accompanying young people as guests on club meets.

For example - what are the implications if I take my son and his friend hill walking with my club?

Following discussions with Children in Sport, MCofS's insurers Perkins Slade, and with some help from our friends at the BMC, we have developed a draft Child Protection Policy and Guidelines specifically for clubs located in Scotland, where the legislation and legal terms used are different to those in other parts of the UK

We urge all clubs to consider the draft policy and guidelines. Please feedback your comments using the questionnaire form provided for this purpose. We need your initial responses by 4 May 2011 to enable our Board to consider your comments and determine whether any changes should be made to the draft policy. Our Board wishes to see the draft policy (as amended if applicable) put to the membership for approval at the AGM in September 2011. In the intervening period we are inviting members to consider and comment, as the policy will be binding on all members if approved at the AGM.

MCofS is also planning to introduce a virtual (email-based) club forum to share information and best practice in the area of encouraging young people to get involved in mountaineering and climbing clubs. Please let us know on your response form whether your club will be interested in joining this group.

Update from Initial Meetings with Clubs - Karin Froebel, Director

I came onto the MCofS Board in September 2010 in the wake of the memberships' rejection of the proposal to increase club subscriptions (and having supported my own club's decision to vote against it).

Since joining it, I have set out to find out what the MCofS needs to do to keep the support of the clubs, and as far as I can, to facilitate whatever is required. So far I have met with five clubs. Although they differ in the details, the clubs main complaints are 1) the MCofS is becoming too big and too amorphous, and 2) there is a lack of transparency about how the subscription money is used.

In general, the clubs I have met want the MCofS to focus on preserving access, on mountaineering safety and on weather and avalanche forecasting. There is variable support (from less to none at all) for indoor climbing, competition climbing, the magazine, courses, and subsidies to individuals or expeditions.

The Board is listening! For next year, it has approved a balanced budget by cutting some of the fat, and by not increasing pay scales for staff.

In the longer term, the Board will review MCofS activities, and may take further action.

Hopefully it will also be possible to show the accounts in such a way that it is clear to members, which activities are funded by subscription, and by how much, and which are funded externally, by specific investment from sportscotland, grants or trust donations.

I would like to continue the dialogue with clubs, to be sure I am not just hearing the minority voices of the dissenters, with the silent majority being perfectly happy with the way things are, and I would like to meet clubs from different parts of the country. I may approach you, but please do contact me, if you would like to set up a meeting. I'm retired, and am flexible as to time and place.

Karin Froebel: k.froebel@btinternet.com

Summit Financial Services

Summit Financial Services support MCofS and its members through specialist insurance services tailored to the needs of climbers. Summit claim their latest offer 'Will Save You Money or Improve Your Cover'.

Many people take out life insurance when they complete a mortgage or start a family and may leave it running its term without reviewing the level of cover or cost. Insurance companies often view climbers as 'high risk' applicants and as such they will often charge extra or have climbing related claims excluded from cover. Or even both!

In recent years the cost of life insurance has fallen so that similar policies taken out today are often cheaper than the original policy. The work of Summit Financial Services over the past 15 years has improved the terms available to their clients by providing the insurers with statistics which show that climbers and mountaineers take adequate precautions and care to ensure that they are still around to provide for their families. However should the worst happen, you need to know you are covered without being charged over the odds simply because you enjoy taking part in a sport you love.

Summit Financial Services are so confident they can save you money or improve your cover on your life insurance, that if they obtain terms for you that are not as good as your current cover due to your activities, then they will send you a free British Mountain Map to compensate you for your time.

In most cases a 5 minute conversation with one of their advisers results in a monthly saving or gives you wider cover than before.

Call 0844 579 1008 or visit us at www.summit-fs.co.uk to save money or improve your cover now.

Norway Ice Climbing Course

Click here to see a short video of the recent MCofS ice climbing course to Rjukan in Norway. A number of club members attended this week long adventure.

New Discounts for MCofS members

The MCofS has expanded its range of Members' Discounts over the past few weeks. New additions to the Discount Scheme include Go Ape, Grough Route, Alcaig Cottages (near Dingwall) and the Laggan Gaskmore Hotel. Visit the Discounts area of our website for the full list of discounts available to MCofS members.

Sperrin Challenge Walk

The Mid Ulster Walking Club has contacted us to seek our help in inviting hill walkers and runners from Scotland to a Challenge Walk they are organising across the Sperrin Mountains in Northern Ireland on Saturday 28th May. Further details here.

Mike Dales
Membership Development Officer