Charles Yeates wrote:
Our club has operated on the cheap for over twenty years. Next month we
decide whether or not we are extinct.

BIG snip




Good luck Charles.

For what it is worth I see a lot more red tape and bureaucracy in the USA, and
recently in Europe. I think this probably is more of a deterrent than cost.
People have enough "toe the line" to do in the week without having this in their
recreation. My experience is that people are generally pleasantly surprised at
the low cost of soaring, we recently doubled our club rates and invested the
money in improving the operations (better retrieve car, refurb on aircraft) and
our membership has never looked better.

Personally I do not think money is the primary thing if you are careful. Look in
South Africa, we have three clubs all the same radial distance from Johannesburg
International (actually four if you count Brits, and five if you count the motor
glider only bunch at Benoni)
One club is the place for the wealthier or competitive pilot. Training fleet is
2x twin Astir and one L13 (used primarily for intros) The club is the busiest in
the country despite the prevalence of expensive glass, and predominance of aero
tow. They do have a winch for training though, and a fair number of older
gliders in private hands. Primarily they offer convenience, and lower time demands.

Then there is the Potchefstroom University linked PUK Akavlieg - only two years
old and growing like a weed. Some energetic instructors, lots of inexpensive
Ka7,8 and 13 trainers. Add some of the top competition pilots in the country
with their superships (ASH26e - Ventus 2, ASW22Ble...) for aspirational
influence and the club is booming. It is also a reasonably expensive club, but
has winch and aero tow and cheap flying for those who just want to stooge
around. The fiercest contests are flown with a couple of Std Cirrus... With a
number of motor gliders there the progress to solo can be quick, but expensive,
or slow and cheap.

Then there is our "mom and pop" operation in Parys, cheapest of the lot. We fly
old rag and tube trainers. One of the syndicates graciously lets us use their
L13 Blanik for training, mainly because they prefer flying in it to the
Bergies... We have members who are low income artizans who own superships (in
their day) and enjoy them - where else can you get three Scheibe Zugfogels in
the same thermal I wonder. We winch only and keep it simple, and concentrate on
instruction. Problem we have is we have been adding new members and gliders till
we can't fit in the hangar any more. 9 assembled long wings + one winch + the
retrieve and there is no space to move... For what it is worth we only have tow
glass toys, a Std Cirrus and a Kestrel 19 at the club. What we offer is a nice
place for the family and low fuss factor.

Each club offers a different social fabric, and serves a different community.
Those who want to arrive and fly their expensive planes from beautiful facilites
pay the equivalent of any exclusive club (golf or otherwise) for the
facilities and the services -hook up and go. The rest fit in where they feel at
home. Probably half of our members could afford the expensive alternatives, and
don't because they prefer the social fabric our club.

Funny part is the biggest and most active club in the country by far is the most
expensive. It possibly has to do with critical mass, but is also taps into the
"got to be where the action is" nature of a lot of people.

One surprising thing to me has been the lack of formal approach to growing the
clubs world wide. By comparison I look at the way Toastmasters International
manages their clubs and wonder if we should not be introducing something similar.

They have club officers responsible for specific aspects of operation that look
after the membership. We tend to focus on the flying and training aspects. So
why not add a "Membership office", and a "Public Relations Office" , and a
"Sergeant at arms" - to schedule the duty officers and see the equipment is
ready for use.
To our "President Office" - Chairman, "Education Office" (CFI?) and a "Financial
Office" (Treasurer) and Technical Office.
The TMI approach is to have a manual, and guidelines available for each office
and mentors to help new members do the job. They get inexperienced members to
take responsibility and learn. The benefits are in three areas:
New members get experience and feel involved.
People don't burn out from their recreation becomming a burden, the experienced
guys get to pass on their learning - but responsibility gets shared out.
The club runs well, and everybody contributes and understands how much it takes
to do the job.

That said, our club is still in existance because one instructor dedicated three
years to flying as duty instructor every weekend, until some of the newbies
could help... Sometimes it just takes refusing to accept defeat.