Club Membership Fee - What's yours ?

[target_master]

To me there seems to be a sub £150 theme here.

[davederrick]

I'm in 2 clubs around £70 each, one has green fees & other doesn't. I try & shoot with both regularly.

[Powderfinger]

John "Pennineway" is spot on. It costs a tremendous amount of money, time and effort to run a good shooting club. In addition, all clubs should be building up funds to guard against emergencies such as burglaries, fire, damage to club property and (most frighteningly) loss of a range due to eviction or redevelopment. The latter is a big problem that is resulting in the loss of many clubs. It is important to build up funds and develop for the future.

[SPILY]

Hi all, my club charges £100 per year for membership and this includes 100 yd tunnel range up to 50 cal. Twenty five mtr covered o/door range (4 position ) firing point, air range (50MTRS ), club room , kitchen facillities etc. Members have own keys and usable 24/7 all year. Also clay shooting membership £20 for 3 days a week all year round.Anyone in the NE Lincs area we are situated at the old RAF North coates site.

[dodgyrog]

£50 + £2 per week (open 5 nights and Sunday morning) or a flat £100 per year and no range fee.
Cheap as chips - come and join us.

[Coney2]

Originally Posted by pennineway.fswo

My club have superb indoor and outdoor facilities for air and rimfire
Annual membership cost is £120 with no other fees to pay except targets and ammo.The club is open on 5 days a week.

This is dirt cheap and those members who are switched on to the true running costs would pay double if they had to.
Just compare membership costs with golf for example

In fact, if it was not for the massive efforts of just a handful of members who give up many, many hours of their time each week to run and maintain the club buildings and grounds then we would have to pay a groundsman and contractors at least £10000 a year to do this work.
Membership fees would then have to at least double

Some club members have no idea as to the efforts necessary to manage/run and maintain/insure a shooting club These same members are often the ones who sprint a mile in record time, whenever the words 'working party' 'grass cutting', 'painting,''cleaning' etc are mentioned.

We have had members in our club in the past, who complained that £120/year was too expensive and yet they are buying and selling very expensive shooting kit on a regular basis ##usually buying).
It would appear that club membership was not high on their list of priorities. Thankfully and fortunately they don't stay with us for long and disappear to burden others with their flawed attitudes and laziness.

Sorry to go on fellas, but shooting clubs are closing down on a regular basis and sometimes this is due to lack of adequate funding and complacency among members.

Hopefully we will never get to the stage where air guns have to be licenced ##and so membership of a club is mandatory for most of us), but if that happens then £285 will not sound like a lot of money to continue in our splendid hobby/sport.
ATB
John

And there is the reality facing the club at the centre of this thread in a nut shell!!
B

[target_master]

As above, "true running costs"

Yes, but you CANNOT spend what you haven't got in the first place, otherwise the club would be, by definition, bankrupt and therefore cease to exist.

[Rutty]

Think on this, our club has a 10 firing point indoor 25 yard range and a separate 5 lane airgun range. It is in a nice centrally heated brick built building that is in good condition. We pay no rent and minimal council tax as we are registered as a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC). Roughly speaking the club costs £10.00 a day just to be in existence, that's about £3600/yr. That is without a single competition being entered or a round fired up the range.

If it wasn't for the members who freely give their time to act as RO, Stats, Secretary, Treasurer and to wash, clean, paint, replace the lights, muck out the gutters.......etc then the subscriptions would be astronomical, easily approaching golf club figures.

Rutty

[Hemmers]

Originally Posted by Rockphoon

In addition, all clubs should be building up funds to guard against emergencies such as burglaries, fire, damage to club property and (most frighteningly) loss of a range due to eviction or redevelopment. The latter is a big problem that is resulting in the loss of many clubs. It is important to build up funds and develop for the future.

Burglary, fire and damage should be covered by the club's insurance. I see no reason why a club should not be affiliated to the relevant governing body, with the insurance cover that includes.
I believe it is law that ranges must carry adequate 3rd party liability. Given that most NGBs offer that and more at very reasonable rates, it would be foolhardy not to get fully covered given the high cost to replace shooting kit.

Furthermore, such affiliation carries benefits - the NRA have in the last year saved at least one affiliated club by offering an emergency loan when the land was sold from under the range, with the possibility that a new owner may not extend the ground rental agreement.
With the NRA's loan, they were able to snap up the land themselves, thus securing the future of the club, and removing any risk of the landowner evicting them.
People may whine about what the NRA and NSRA should/shouldn't have done 10/20/30 years ago, but they are definitely good for more than just organising a few matches, even if there is still room for improvement (as there will always be).

That said, a club should of course build up a reserve fund wherever possible. One never knows what the future may hold.

[doctordoom]

Originally Posted by target_master

£258?

http://glevumtsc.co.uk/Membership.aspx

Note the £ 258 but also special deal for OAPS only £ 64.50!!

but you have to renew after 3 months, worth it if you anticipate severely reduced life expectancy Safe shooting, look after your club, ATB John

[OldybutGoody]

As an active member of the above club in question let me enlighten some of you on here that we are not money grabbers. None of the committee who run the club get paid it is all free and grattis. As to the costs, we have a committment to maintain the outside facilities to a standard set by another shooting fraternity outside of our own club. These standards are strict and set out in a legally binding contract signed many many years ago. The cost's of maintaining these facilities would be virtually nothing if we could get more than half a dozen members out of over 100 to turn up and do the work needed, but since we cannot then we are left with having to pay a contractor to do the work. You just get sick and tired of the same people winging about the costs, but are more than willing to sit back and let everyone else do the work.

[Neil-Carter]

Hi - I'm in Blackburn Rifle and Pistol Club. The annual fee is £90 or £60 for seniors (cannot remember what the junior and family memberships are) with a range fee of £2:50. Club has 2 X 10M ranges, 1 X 25 yard and 1 X 50M ranges, all indoors all heated in winter and an indoor car park with lighting. There are flushing toilets, a social area (with pool table) and a self service snack bar with hot and cold drinks and a shop with an onsite RFD for targets ammo, guns and consumables. All in all its a pretty good place to shoot.

[andythilo]

Originally Posted by OldybutGoody

As an active member of the above club in question let me enlighten some of you on here that we are not money grabbers. None of the committee who run the club get paid it is all free and grattis. As to the costs, we have a committment to maintain the outside facilities to a standard set by another shooting fraternity outside of our own club. These standards are strict and set out in a legally binding contract signed many many years ago. The cost's of maintaining these facilities would be virtually nothing if we could get more than half a dozen members out of over 100 to turn up and do the work needed, but since we cannot then we are left with having to pay a contractor to do the work. You just get sick and tired of the same people winging about the costs, but are more than willing to sit back and let everyone else do the work.

Then offer an incentive to those that do help in giving them reduced fees. Those that help pay less, simples. Well not simple but do-able.

[Hemmers]

Originally Posted by andythilo

Then offer an incentive to those that do help in giving them reduced fees. Those that help pay less, simples. Well not simple but do-able.

No, the trouble with that is those who help out are receiving payment in kind (i.e. part of their fees) in return for labour. This means legislation governng Health and Safety in the Workplace comes into play, which involves paperwork. Lots of it. If you've got a solicitor member who can make sure you are absolutely kosher and have the relevant risk assesments for the club to be a "workplace" then fine, but that's a load of extra effort in and of itself.
Actual volunteering does not come with all these strings attached.

Even giving old Joe a bottle of scotch at Christmas for mowing the ranges is technically payment in kind, but if the whiskey is bought by members and is strictly off the club books, you'll get away with it (as a private gift from some friends to a friend, not the club to a member).

On the other hand if you have a formal 2-tier membership system, you'll get screwed over if anything were to happen, H&S investigated and found they could consider those people "employed" and prosecute accordingly.

Sucks, but it's the way it is.

Liz Woodall wrote a comprehensive legal brief on this topic in a copy of the NSRA's Rifleman. Forget which one, but it was in the last 18months or so.

[doctordoom]

Originally Posted by Hemmers

No, the trouble with that is those who help out are receiving payment in kind (i.e. part of their fees) in return for labour. This means legislation governng Health and Safety in the Workplace comes into play, which involves paperwork. Lots of it. If you've got a solicitor member who can make sure you are absolutely kosher and have the relevant risk assesments for the club to be a "workplace" then fine, but that's a load of extra effort in and of itself.
Actual volunteering does not come with all these strings attached.

Even giving old Joe a bottle of scotch at Christmas for mowing the ranges is technically payment in kind, but if the whiskey is bought by members and is strictly off the club books, you'll get away with it (as a private gift from some friends to a friend, not the club to a member).

On the other hand if you have a formal 2-tier membership system, you'll get screwed over if anything were to happen, H&S investigated and found they could consider those people "employed" and prosecute accordingly.

Sucks, but it's the way it is.

Denise Doe wrote a comprehensive legal brief on this topic in a copy of the NSRA's Rifleman. Forget which one, but it was in the last 18months or so.

So my sailing club (PCC) which runs a points system for allocation of club moorings based on work party attendance, number of times boat sailed in last season and years of continuous membership is breaking the law??
There should be some benefit to members who contribute as opposed to those who don't, thats what being a club member is all about. Take care; John.