November 2007 Issue

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Ken's Chat

After the fiasco of the September meeting when members turned up to find the room that we use was in use and no other room was available, things returned to normal for our October meeting. I say normal, well nearly normal as only four members turned up. Interest has been steadily declining over the years as there is so much now available with ever advancing technology that people do not seem to have time to get together and share their interest and to assist one another..

As it is getting near the end of the year, I suppose some members will consider if it is worth rejoining for the coming year. I must confess that we do not offer much these days, leaving it to members attending the meetings to chat to each other and giving help when necessary. Most existing members have been members for many years and I earnestly ask them to consider the position of the club should they leave.

We have received a blow from the school in that the rent for the new year is to be very considerably increased. Up to now we have been losing a small amount each year but have enough cash in hand to keep us going for several more years. With the increase, with the present membership, our cash will run out after another year. Bryan Coleman and I have discussed the problem and feel that the subscription should not be increased although the £10 annual subscription is not large, In order to keep the club going our only option is to try and increase membership. We have tried organising talks in the past but these don't seem to be of much interest these days and were scrapped because, after spending time in preparation it was disappointing to say the least only to have a few members attend..

Why have I gone through all this again? Because I earnestly ask all present members to give us their support for at least another year.

The person in charge of letting the room at the school is genuinely sorry to have had to increase our rent and has offered to assist where possible. The school publishes their own newsletter and we are to be given publicity in that. We have also been offered the facility of displaying details of membership to the club on the school notice boards. Hopefully this may bring in more members. If this is the case we need all the help we can get from existing members to make them welcome and to give them all the help that they need.

I used to complain that I had no help from members in the days when there was quite a lot of organising to do. Eventually Bryan Coleman offered to help and has taken over the printing and distribution of this newsletter. Bryan has undergone an operation recently and has been in some discomfort. I understand that Bryan is now feeling better and hopes to be at the November meeting. We missed you last month Bryan and it will be nice to have you back again this month. We hope that you are now feeling much better.

At the moment of writing I am going through a very nasty cold myself but hope to be able to come to the meeting. The same day would have been the 60^th anniversary of my wedding had not my dear wife Phyllis not died two years ago.

After this newsletter my job is to print 150 fixture booklets for my golf club. The booklet has eight pages printed in colour with a picture of the clubhouse. I do not use my computer a lot these days as I have mentioned before, a lot of the fun has been taken out of it by the advance of modern technology so work of this kind of thing helps me to retain my interest.

I was invited to have a meal with a neighbour recently. It was a very good meal and a pleasant evening. During the evening I was told that the lady had just purchased a computer but had no idea of how to use it. Guess what?

A sad thing about getting old is that one (or at least me) turns to the obituary column of the paper each day and frequently find friends from the past that have past away. This week, two old friends were lost one of whom was Andy Dunn an old member of the club. I remember that in the early days, Andy and I made what was almost a hobby collecting PD (public domain) clip art. God bless you Andy.