Perhaps John Roake's note in Gliding Magazine points to one reason for declining membership:
AND THIS FROM AN ELDERLY PILOT - I woke up at 6 am, drove to the pick up point to find no-one there. Eventually reached the airport - the aircraft needed maintenance from the day before. The winch was difficult to start, and when it did, the cable kept breaking. It started raining and I had forgotten my wet weather gear. The winch got bogged as did several of the members' cars. I was covered in mud. The aircraft got a flat main wheel after the first launch, and again I got covered in mud when helping fix the wheel. Water wasn't working in the club house, so no shower. Some pillock had loaded muddy and wet equipment in the car, and returned broken jumper leads (previously in unbroken condition) to me after the winch had troubles starting. Weather closed in, day cancelled. Cars got bogged on the way out, more mud sprayed over everyone. Some-one's car leaves the muddy slippery road and rolls over, fortunately no-one hurt. Helped sort them out. My was car overloaded, pulled over by a cop on the way home because a headlamp had blown. Dropped everyone at their home addresses. Finally get home at 2 am to realise my house has been burgled. Worst thing was that I didn't get to go gliding. And you tell that to the young folk of today . . . -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Emilis Prelgauskas Sent: Wednesday, 11 July 2007 10:02 AM To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Declining membership suggestions On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:39:31 +1000, Stuart & Kerri FERGUSON wrote: >>You will always have someone left to help you to put the glider >>back in the hangar. > >Mal - your right - it will be the same small group that got them out >in the >morning, often known as the "Duty Crew". > >SDF The original correspondent quoted, in effect put up his own effort investment as seed capital, as demonstration/motivation which he hopes draws in others, some of whom led by example pay forward with their own effort. The limitation is whether the GPs who are able to fly in that sponsored environment hang around long enough to ante up a useful contribution (possibly in money terms) and concurrently whether the crew gets fed up with them working and others getting the flying, and losing that crew also loses the essential knowledge base the club needs to operate longer term. A necessary more in depth review is - who are coming in and who are leaving - if there is a nett loss in expertise, there is questionable benefit to the club which it may not survive medium term.
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