Garden Railway Forum

Am I the only one that thinks the subscription procedure for the 16mm assoc is not fit for purpose?
Surely it cannot be beyond the wit of man to provide a simple online purchasing system involving Paypal.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to wade through their rambling instructions.

To be fair I've only just joined recently using direct debit and found it pretty easy, haven't tried to just do a renewal though.

They gave up PayPal a couple of years ago to cut costs.
Subs now go through Warner Group publishers.
I believe lack of volunteer workers may be a factor.

As MRail said, the association rely on volunteers, if you want to instigate change you're going to have to volunteer and do it from the "inside".

I shall be volunteering as a Steward at the show again this year, and for anyone contemplating it, I can recommend it as a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and you can share that feeling of pride having been involved in, arguably, the best GR show of the year.

Whilst I accept the reliance on voluntary input (something I know a lot about from other organisations), it was the membership process which led me to cancel my society membership when Warners took over. I suddenly became aware that I had provided personal information to Warners when I thought I was providing it to the society. I'm sure the process must have made me aware of this but I hadn't spotted it. Simply put, it wasn't clear enough for an IT idiot like me.

Andrew

Soar Valley Light wrote: ↑Fri Mar 13, 2020 7:42 pm... led me to cancel my society membership ... I was providing it to the society ...

It is many, many years since the 16mm Association has been anywhere close to being a society or anything that "cosy". The Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers Limited is a private company limited by guarantee and bound by GDPR data protection regulations. To that extent, the Association and Warners are much the same thing.

Totally agree , it’s not cosy anymore , too professional and glossy particularly the mag , it’s all about bling and spending power.

methsman wrote: ↑Sat Mar 14, 2020 3:54 pm Totally agree , it’s not cosy anymore , too professional and glossy particularly the mag , it’s all about bling and spending power.

There is always a level of commercialisation in a hobby when it grows above a certain size. That is not a bad thing IMHO as not everyone has the time or ability to make everything from scratch.

I think the association is well run and produces a cracking magazine. It relies on contributions from members and perhaps some of the more "back to basics" content is in short supply these days?

methsman wrote: ↑Sat Mar 14, 2020 3:54 pm Totally agree , it’s not cosy anymore , too professional and glossy particularly the mag , it’s all about bling and spending power.

I've been wary of saying this, but I've been thinking that for a while now. All my models are built as cheaply as possible, my little railway is 100% to scale to the Irish narrow gauge where money is concerned, it hasn't got any!