[TR] Car club meetings

[Glenn A. Merrell - TTA]

Hi Marty,

Feeling like your meetings are a bit empty when you go home?  Newcomers 
thinking your group is a substitute for a codger gathering?
Talks are fine, swapping stories about LBC's are fine, driving through 
your area for a lunch or museum outing or Pub / wine tasting is fine, 
having a chili cook off is fine, but they are all kind of self serving 
and in the end, seeming somewhat unrewarding when it is over, aren't they? 
And the Chili cook off just contributes to global warming from the extra 
methane produced, not to mention the added load on the community septic.

Would it feel better as a club to say after one of these events that 
something was actually accomplished for the good of others and you all 
had a blast planning and doing it, other than testing the proper torque 
on a 5/16" nut or pointing another enthusiast to the right page in the 
Repair Manual??  I'm not saying to eliminate those activities because 
they are extremely useful and enjoyable most of the time, just 
supplement them.

How about adding the subject of merging one or many of your LBC 
activities with some charitable support event?  This focuses the club on 
a task, gives the members something to plan - organize and look forward 
to,  establishes a goal that benefits more than just the basic club 
house paint job, and usually when it is all over leaves your 
organization with a sense of accomplishment.  Bring in a local or 
national organization or charity director and have them talk about what 
they do, then organize or assist with a fund raiser incorporating 
sponsors, drives or activities with your LBC's.

For example, there is the "America's British Reliability Run" that 
benefits children's charities.  Why not have your club plan, organize 
and conduct a drive to correspond with this event in say, competition 
with other LBC's to see which club or club representative entrant can 
raise the most $$ for their respective charity??  I would bet that the 
organizer of ABRR would gladly track which clubs raise what, and might 
even locate a prize sponsor for the most innovative contributors.

Over 45 clubs participated in the TTA 2009 Charity Drive and they all 
had great fun while organizing their coordination and hand offs with the 
other clubs.  To those clubs, how was the experience??  Did you feel the 
club accomplished something good?  Worth doing again with the clubs on 
either side of you?  How about with other LBC clubs in your area?  I 
know there are a lot of clubs and potential sponsors that sat back and 
wondered what happened, thinking they probably should have, or grumbled 
because the did not ...

Maybe hold a tech tuneup session for LBC's at a local service garage or 
merchant who will donate proceeds for that day, a tune for storage event 
where visits are made to LBC owners to help get their cars ready for 
winter or tuned for cooler months running on nice days in the south for 
a donation to charity,  the ideas are endless, be creative..

The LBC clubs in the UK do this stuff as regular activities in their 
LBC's  and it is not always in sunny and dry weather.

Why can't we - all?

I hope this ignites a few sparks in the Lucas lamps for ideas.

Cheers!

Glenn A. Merrell
TTA North American Drive Coordinator 2009
Lafayette, Colorado  80026-1811  USA
www.triumphtransamerica.org
Skype,Twitter,FaceBook: StagByTriumph



marty sukey wrote:
> Looking for some ideas. Our local British club has been in place for a couple
> of decades. Same core people hang around. Some come, some go. Seems like as
> time goes on more go than come though. Years ago our monthly meeting used to
> be pretty good. Now they are pretty stagnant. Could be because we have been
> following the same exact format for years. Maybe it time to try something
> different. You folks that attend local car club meetings, what do other groups
> do that makes the meetings something that folks want to attend and participate
> in?
>
> Thanks,
> Marty