CTC Membership Service

[MartinC]

Theclaud hit the nail on the head a while back (on this thread or another): as a member of a membership organisation you are not merely a consumer of the services it provides, but a participant in the things it does. And if you go into it with your "consumer" head on, you will not get as much from it as if you expect to take an active role

If your supermarket does something you don't like, you can bitch about it on forums if you want but ultimately your only option is to vote with your feet. If the CTC do something you don't like and feel strongly enough to get involved about, you can get involved and change it. It's a big organisation so I guess it doesn't necessarily feel like that because all the glossy "professional" trappings tend to settle on it like dandruff, but positions like Users, AIUI, are more or less open to anyone who can get x signatures of members and enough people voting for them.

+1

 

[silverbow]

Theclaud hit the nail on the head a while back (on this thread or another): as a member of a membership organisation you are not merely a consumer of the services it provides, but a participant in the things it does. And if you go into it with your "consumer" head on, you will not get as much from it as if you expect to take an active role

If your supermarket does something you don't like, you can bitch about it on forums if you want but ultimately your only option is to vote with your feet. If the CTC do something you don't like and feel strongly enough to get involved about, you can get involved and change it. It's a big organisation so I guess it doesn't necessarily feel like that because all the glossy "professional" trappings tend to settle on it like dandruff, but positions like Users, AIUI, are more or less open to anyone who can get x signatures of members and enough people voting for them.

Exactly! That is why supermarkets go to great lengths to find out what their customers are thinking before they go elsewhere, and the supermarket is just after your money. So when it comes to the CTC surely they want to know what there members think for economic and ethical reasons. The CTC is a socially caring organisation not a multinational company.

 

[hulver]

The CTC is currently involved in a large scale governance review, which I am part of. We asked people for their thoughts and views, and gave them feedback mechanisms. We got one e-mail!

I'm a CTC member, I get the Cycle mag, read the CTC forum and several others. I missed this. Either I didn't see it, or I did and didn't register what it was actually about. Committee speak involving too many words like "Governance" and "Engagement" tend to turn my brain off unless I'm actively translating it into readable english.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

what hulver said. but as i work for a charity any trendy 3rd sector speak a la gouvernance makes me turn the page as fast as possible.

I think there is a flaw in some of the reasoning about member consultation though. CTC membership is at an all time high. How many of those members have contact with their DA? I've not ridden with or knowingly spoken to another DA member in 3+ years nor have they reached out to me. I'm also a member of the WDM. The local group get my details from head office and call me once in a while to ask if I want to deepen my involvement locally. Just a thought. I only found out Simon was a councillor by chance!

As a club the way it communicates with its membership is dreadful and largely one way. But I sort of like it that way.....

 

[dellzeqq]

I've considered joining the CTC recently but I'm not too sure having read this thread so far.

The lack of transparency and comments like "If the membership wants to have a member-led organisation, then it needs to get involved in this issue and provide feedback. The membership can no longer sit on its hands and bemoan what is done on their behalf."

The membership is the club, not just a method of funding. If those who run the CTC feel the members are not being listen to because the members are not organised or members are complaining then shouldn't the 'club management' do something about it? Shouldn't the CTC management make efforts to work with their club members rather than see than idle whingers?

I find it interesting that there is a view that the CTC's great asset is the CTC building, it is not. The CTC asset is is membership. Without a strong membership there is no government funding / BIG Lottery / DfT / Local Councils etc.

From what I have read here it seems the CTC is losing its way.

Silverbow, you've misconstrued my point. By asset I meant financial asset. That's the kind of asset that might be put at risk by the contracting activities.

Beyond that is the question of whether the CTC should be interested in government funding of any kind. It's a club, owned by its members. There is doubtless room in this world for an organisation that contracts itself to government, doing things that are probably beneficial to the wider world of cycling, but should the CTC be involving itself?

 

[dellzeqq]

what hulver said. but as i work for a charity any trendy 3rd sector speak a la gouvernance makes me turn the page as fast as possible.

I think there is a flaw in some of the reasoning about member consultation though. CTC membership is at an all time high. How many of those members have contact with their DA? I've not ridden with or knowingly spoken to another DA member in 3+ years nor have they reached out to me. I'm also a member of the WDM. The local group get my details from head office and call me once in a while to ask if I want to deepen my involvement locally. Just a thought. I only found out Simon was a councillor by chance!

As a club the way it communicates with its membership is dreadful and largely one way. But I sort of like it that way.....

You've been on quite a few DA organised rides.........

and that, really, is how it should be. There shouldn't be the need to worry ourselves about the future of the club, but (and it's a big but) there's a decision to be made that will take the CTC irretrievably down one route or the other.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

You've been on quite a few DA organised rides.........

indeed, but not with 'my' DA though you ran through their turf on the last one you led. Hope you had permission, (and mudguards; they seemed very keen on mudguards 5 years ago......)

 

[dellzeqq]

I've been having a nice long stew about this thread. Now I'm nice and tender.

I'd consider myself one of the new breed of CTC members. I'm a utility cyclist who dresses up as a roadie at weekends. The closest I'll get to touring is an 80 mile blast to a boutique hotel, where I wave my ethically-sourced credit card in the direction of the receptionist before retiring to the jacuzzi.

So why am I a member? The main reason is that the CTC appears to be, at the national level at least, the most effective campaigning organisation for cyclists in the UK. I look to the CTC to work in the rarefied world of transport politics on my behalf because I don't have the expertise, time or patience to do it myself.

The services offered by the CTC are fine, but there's little there that I couldn't find elsewhere. Cycle is usually a good read, although I weary of pro-am curmudgeon Chris Juden's sniddery. I'd be better described as a CTC stakeholder than a club member. I definitely don't look to the CTC for any sense of community or social intercourse. For me, and I suspect many other newer members, the "club" element is largely irrelevant.

I think goes some way to explaining the low turn-outs for votes. The high politics of the CTC make an interesting diversion but, in the short term, mean bugger all to members like me. If the CTC ceases to be relevent to my cycling needs, I'll just cancel. It won't make me happy, but I'll not lose sleep.

Things could get interesting if the CTC eventually follows its motorised equivalents - the AA and RAC. By degrees, both of these organisations mutated from clubs to companies* without many of their 'members' even realising they were now just consumers. I doubt the CTC will be bought up by Anglo-Chinese Taser Corp or somesuch, but an unaccountable CTC is less likely to have the pulse of the cyclist on the street (or jumping the red ). As a taxpayer, I've no objection to the CTC receiving pennies from the government but then I do expect accountability in spades.




*the RAC is now owned by insurer Aviva and I believe the AA is controlled by a private-equity firm

Bollo I've highlighted three sections of your post, because they embody, in the finest possible way the conundrum that is CTC membership. Most people join for a mix of the benefits and because they support the CTC's campaigning activities. They have no regular contact with their local DA, other than going on the occasional ride. In essence what they're buying, apart from the peace of mind that comes with the legal advice and 3rd party insurance, is a sense of belonging.........but, they're not interested in belonging in an active fashion.

That's the problem. There's probably a core of (I'm guessing) three thousand members who belong, that is to say volunteer, in an active way. They respond to local authority road schemes and planning applications. They write to local authorities and remind them of their failings. They organise rides and fund raising events. CTC is written through those three thousand members like a stick of rock.

Now the active ones (and I include myself in this category) are generally speaking of a traditionalist bent. The larger, wider membership really don't have a view on the matter. They want to belong. But the odd thing is that the thing that they want to belong to is essentially the three thousand active members.

At one remove from all of this is the National Office. Let's first of all refer to the activities of Young Geffen and his henchpeople. We (the active and the inactive) love 'em. The Campaign staff, who are far less numerous than their achievements would have you believe, reach in to Government in ways that you scarcely want to think about. There's many a DfT old stager who's been scalped by Young Geffen, out thought, out-detailed, out-imagined.

Look beyond the Campaigning team and we see what is basically a management organisation that does the stuff that needs to be done to keep the club running (although you'll see from my OP that I'm not convinced they're doing it as well as they might) and, (here's the rub) look for ways to make the CTC a bigger organisation. And in that looking they're looking beyond that core, active membership.

So we have an uneasy triangle. The active members like things as they are, or were. The larger inactive membership doesn't really mind, but would like the CTC to embody the noblest of impulses, and, generally speaking those nobler impulses are the product of the active volunteers. The National Office want to see the CTC grow in new ways.

It may be that User and his merry band of Governancers can bring harmony to this triangle - he's certainly the best bet we've got. Me, I'm old and crusty and not optimistic. But I'm willing to be persuaded.

 

[dellzeqq]

indeed, but not with 'my' DA though you ran through their turf on the last one you led. Hope you had permission, (and mudguards; they seemed very keen on mudguards 5 years ago......)

we don't have fixed geographic boundaries these days. I've just sent an e-mail to the secretary of the East Yorkshire crew, letting them know we're on our way!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

The current review has the aim of putting the membership back at the heart of and in control of the club.

Please everyone.... if you're a member take part in this exercise. It may be a bit of a jargon headache (although I try to use plain English wherever possible) but it is vitally important and needs your input.

tell me how, point me at the link, etc., etc.,

I'm happy to take part and I'm happy to be converted from mere paying member / consumer to an activist if the opportunity to do something meaningful presents itself... I suspect other less involved members feel the same.

 

[purplepolly]

The CTC is currently involved in a large scale governance review, which I am part of. We asked people for their thoughts and views, and gave them feedback mechanisms. We got one e-mail!

It wasn't being handled by the membership/renewals staff was it?

 

[sadjack]

I have read this thread with a lot of interest. I have only been a CTC member a year or so and I have been really happy with what I have found.

No problems with membership or my renewal

I have got to know some great people with loads of knowledge on cycling and I have enjoyed riding out with them each Sunday. (They may appreciate the rest they get on each hill waiting for me )

I have found the local club a little fussy over rules and regulations and that can be off putting to some, especially I would say to younger members. Where are all the youngsters anyway ? (OK so my three are in front of games machines. ) Our last AGM was attended by about 60 people and the new national rule book was debated hotly ( as was the need for mudguards ) The interest and debate was a real eyeopener to me.

I agree that as members we should get involved if we can, but most people just want to ride their bikes with their friends and have a good time.

Its difficult at a local level to appreciate the finer points of decisions made at national level and thats why its important that such decisions are explained in a clear non jargon way so that people do not switch off in the first couple of sentences and start to yawn.

The concerns of the OP were very well put and I would look to the likes of User to publish the thought process behind whats going on in a clear way so that people can read, understand and express support or concern.

User mentions to keep a look out in CYCLE and the WEBSITE. I will do so with interest.

Thanks for the original post and Dellzeqq, interesting stuff. Shame I became aware of it here and not via the CTC itself and there maybe a lesson there in communication.

 

[Noodley]

I did not renew this year, after only two years of membership I had 4 reminders of expiry, none of which was correct then another a few months after expiry to tell me my membership was due to expire. And the attitudes of the local CTC clique did nothing to encourage me to remain a member, only really interested in doing things their way...

..oh well, CTCs loss is another organisation's gain..

 

[bonj2]

Some of you with nothing better to do than go to CTC AGMs will remember that in April 2008 the AGM passed a resolution that said blah blah blah blah blah blah blah... blather blather blather

so, to cut a long story short, the CTC is shite, then?

I have no idea whether i'm a member of it or not.
I was, but whether my membership has expired or not I've no idea.

What I would like to know is if I suffer an irrepairable mechanical breakdown while cycling will I be able to call the CTC out i.e. have i got breakdown cover?

 

[PBancroft]

After reading this thread, I've signed up for CTC. Dunno if its reverse psychology or what, but it seemed like a good idea.