Open letter to Members

Good Morning Fred,
Surely it cannot be right to expect anyone else to pay us to indulge in this or any other hobby. There are very many pleasure activities infinitely more expensive than this one where the participants enjoy showing off their skills and abilities purely for the pleasure of doing so and maybe even encouraging others to get interested, new entrants are the lifeblood of any activity. If fuel and the cost of a weekend away is too much for anyone and cannot be 'saved up' for,or sacrifices cannot be made elsewhere within their annual buget of living, then I would feel that they need to 'downsize' their hobby. It will not be the show organisers who actually pay for the suggested 'donation' but ultimately the public who pay their entrance fee to see the club show! As the well known sying puts it " there ain't no such thing as a free lunch". Lest anyone think that I'm a fat cat rolling in dosh, I am a retired self employed person and go without much that others consider'essential' to enjoy building and operating various models, i cannot envisage want someone else to defray my costs anymore than supporting another's drinking or smoking habits,
Regards,
Trevor

Hi Crossie

Thank you for your reply, I am sorry to say I do not know if you are a member of the AMS, not that it matters to me, as we are all one in this hobby.

In my personal opinion I to think that any cost that I incur I should cover, but we do have some members that are on a limited income, also as the membership covers all of the U.K and not a local area, we must see if we can get any help to wards there costings.
I look forward to meeting up with your self at any of the show that we are invite to.
Fred

Hi Fred
i dont mind covering the cost of going to shows i used to love taking my planes to shows and i would travel 300 mile round trips to woodsprings e show my problem is time as i have a young family and my wife works saturdays(i have not made it to a model show in 5 years)
i would like to pencil in on my calander Alford as this is not far my question is what insurance is needed.

take care geof

Hi Gents,
Firstly I would like to point out that shows tend to fall into two types,firstly there are the charity shows such as Alfold and Merstam the AMS has allways supported these events free of any charge and the members have bourne the cost's from there own pocketts,but I would point out that some of the members travel hundreds of miles to do this,three of the members who attended Alfold last year clocked up over 1,000 miles each that is without hotels food,as was previously stated they need to budget for it and I would agree,and they do,but thats there budgett gone in one go.
The second type of show is a commercial event,these are run for the soul purposse of making money for the organisers,they ask the AMS to attend there event,often after the members have allready Budgetted for the shows they are going to attend that season,so I feel that given they are running a show for their proffit off the back of the skills and generosity of our members that is only fair that they should help with our members expensess.
I would point out that not all commecial show organiser treat members in such an off hand manner,Brighton model exibition has allways helped AMS members with fuel and hotel costs,as has the Submus at Gosport but sadley they are in the minority.
Nigel.

Hi Nigel & Fred,
Thank you Nigel for your comprehensive explanation which shows me that I have slightly misunderstood Fred's initial post and for that Fred, my apologies. Where the event is a purely commercial enterprise and the AMS member is invited to demonstrate their/his[or her's !] boats then they are in effect a 'performer' to entertain the public and thus ultimately benefit the promoter, and in such a case it is not unreasonable that as a minimum the promoter/organiser should offer some support at least for those who need it. In the case of Charity events or local boat club shows where the event is to raise funds for a good cause or club funds I personally would not expect any sort of recompense for attending, if it was too far away or too dificult to get affordable accomodation I would not go. As a recent new member of the the AMS I have not yet attended a submarine event but am building my boat as quickly as possible and hope to be able to get it along to an event somewhere this summer,
Regards,
Trevor

I think you paint a rather too gloomy picture, Richard!

I don't mind going to 3 or 4 shows a year some of them a long way from "darkest" Cumbria. I think Ian O would say the same thing if he was on here.

And Nigel sums it every well - we only expect expenses when a show is for commercial gain (i.e not Charity etc.) Even then we only request a contribution to expenses. (That was the situation at the last visit to the RN Submarine Museum 3 or 4 years ago. I seem to recall about £60 each - it helped towards petrol and was an enjoyable event anyway.)

It is good to see that you are planning some shows this year, Trevor. From your location, Norwich, Haydock Park and maybe even Barrow in Furness or Edinburgh could be on your list.

See you soon,

David