The highs and lows of cycling in the Himalayas

The speaker at STACC's forthcoming summer public meeting is Nick Siddall, intrepid international touring cyclist from St Albans.  The meeting is at the Council Offices, next to the Alban Arena, on Wednesday 30 May, at 7.30pm.
As well as an entertaining talk that will put Holywell Hill in persepective, the evening will provide an update on local cycling issues and there will be a brief AGM.
See you there!

STACC Membership Count

STACC membership has grown fairly slowly but steadily over the years since founded in 1998

Member numbers have a direct bearing on the influence we have with St Albans District Council and other bodies.
When indicating the support we have, we only count Paid-Up members (some other organizations are somewhat vague as to their support).

The current membership count will be shown on this post, for reference, updated from time to time.

Number of Members Paid Up so far this year is 480 (in 187 households) (41 households yet to pay so do not count)

Number of Paid Up Members at the end of 2007 was 484 (in 189 households)

STACC Membership Matters

Yes it does matter - the more members we have, the more influence we can exert.
When declaring our membership, we only state the number of committed paid-up members (unlike some organisations which claim to represent some wider community or people on a mailing list).

Membership stats over a number of years show a reasonable but not consistent growth.
Members can do their bit by introducing friends and neighbours to STACC activities, so they may be attracted to joining.

REPORT AT END OF	2006	2005	2004	2003	2001	2000
HOUSEHOLDS PAID	188	177	161	146	157	152
MEMBERS IN PAID HOUSEHOLDS	479	455	est 413	369	382	372
HOUSEHOLDS NOT PAID	32	33	40

As you see, a number of households don't get around to paying each year (not necessarily the same set). If all paid up we would have a total of 220 households and 644 members. We continue to hope that we can win them back sometime, but of course we can't count them when quoting membership figures.

2007
As at the date of this post...
Email or Postal subs requests have been sent to all households. A trickle of payments is being received.
Households paid so far 153 (not yet paid 66)
Membership cards have been issued to all who paid by 23 Jan (133 households, 352 members)
More membership cards will be produced when a batch of worthy size builds up.
Subs payments are not generally acknowledged other than by sending membership cards.

More and more members are electing to pay for several years in advance - many for 4 years. This saves a great deal of work.
More than 63% of payments have been by Standing Order - which also saves a great deal of work.

I will update this info by adding comments from time to time.

WELCOME to STACC Blog - but what's it for?

Welcome to STACC blogspot.
All raring to go.

STACC Members - this is your blog, please leap on board and give it life, make it into an effective campaigning tool.
Keep reading it, tell others about it, add comments, share information, enthuse about cycling.
The blog will thrive on solid content provided by you - members of all ages.


Why have a blog?

I felt there was a need for a blog - as up to now I have published most STACC happenings to members by email.

• All emails had to be composed to suit new members who were not up to speed with an ongoing topic, which the old hands knew well, so texts could be repetitive.
• Some members may have felt the volume of emails was on the high side.
• Where a response to the email was requested, I had to attempt to collate responses & circulate them (and usually failed to do so).
• Members without email at home or work have not been kept in regular touch but I know some of them use a public library computer.

Having a Blog means

• There is no need for repetition (a reference to previous post is enough)
• Volume of emails may be reduced
• Responses will become comments by members and others, attached to appropriate Posts
• Snail mail members would be able to keep up to date & able to participate in any topic.
• Members can share easily accessible information with minimum delay..
  

Comment on this Post to tell us other good reasons to have a blog - or any reasons to not have one.
Also to give advice on any problems you see on how the blog is set up.
Be sure to read the Post on COMMENTS first - here.

Anyone world wide can read the blog.
Anyone world wide can make comments.

Content may be edited or removed. Off-Topic comments will be moved.

All content is the opinion of its author and does not necessarily represent the view of St Albans Cycle Campaign.

Authoring of Posts: Initially only by me - soon to rolled out to STACC Committee members, then to STACC members who want to.

Another reason to launch this blog - It's my birthday 6th February.