2017 Monthly Meets

[Dave Eds]

Facebook ain't the answer boys. Through TLF and regular face to face meetings is the only way...

[clivef38]

I  try to make make the BTH on the third Monday Lotus or Saab transport. ( ooo look the letter b is now up and running again bbbbb BBBBB yipee) It would be nice to see a few more faces. I cant do two meets a month though. Maybe try a couple of joint meets and see what happens . Face to face is better than tech.

[ChrisJ]

Nothing wrong with going to more than one meeting a month - I go to two or three.

As to the moving around, we had a regular turn out of between 4 & 6 when we met in a fixed location. This has more than doubled since we started meeting at different locations.

[OwenGT3]

13 hours ago, Buddsy said:

I think if we did combine/ meet another group it would be still a once a month meeting. It just seems a waste if there are two groups of Lotus fans meeting at the same venue on differing nights!

From what Ive heard though EALC seems to be run by people who want to control or own "their club" where as here I think we are just a bunch of interested people who like to meet others when we can!

 

buddsy

CL meets are more like you have said, just turning up and having a good chat with fellow Lotus fans. EALC wouldn't really entertain non members turning up at their meetings, it does a lot of events and gets a good turn out of cars, but as you have said Scott, it for the paid members.

If you are going to pop along to any, CL would be the one and it's at the pub you want to go to, BIH. Pat was the CL organiser, but he did stand down, but may be doing it again as no one wanted to take the reigns.

 

[Bibs]

10 hours ago, OwenGT3 said:

EALC wouldn't really entertain non members turning up at their meetings

Would they ask them to leave?

[Barrykearley]

https://g.co/kgs/aKXVfG

[silverfrost]

What do they say,  " IF YOUR NAMES NOT DOWN, YOU ARE NOT COMING IN "   

[Orsom Weels]

Hello all

As the 'new kid on the block', I've been following this thread with some interest, as this is a subject that rears it's ugly head quite often in other clubs/groups that I'm involved with. How do you get more people to turn out for meetings more often? Trying to organise an activity, time & place that suits everyone seems to be a universal problem & in the classic bike club I'm a member of, we have tried pretty much all the ideas mentioned here plus a few more. We manage to get a core of about 15 members that turn up regularly plus a few occasional visitors, but I certainly wouldn't say that we've found the answer, this is from a club with over 120 members in Norfolk alone, & we don't have two other similar groups to compete with! Overall, we've found that the best results have been achieved by having a regular meet at a regular venue. Anything else we have tried has resulted in reduced attendance. Maybe it becomes more of a routine? In our case it's always the second Wednesday of the month. We did try making it every fourth Wednesday, which gives an extra meet per year, but that didn't work at all, people either turned up a week early or a week late! The best option for a reminder we found was text message as most people have their phones with them all the time & one text can be sent to several recipients. Facebook works for some, but a lot of us don't have anything to do with it & email relies on the recipients checking their accounts, something I'm not always that good at, & I know I'm not alone  Strangely, like yourselves, we have a few from Suffolk amongst our number, so we tried moving the venue closer to the Norfolk/Suffolk border, but instead of gaining more from Suffolk, we actually lost several from the north west of the region & a couple of the Suffolk lads stopped coming as well, so that didn't work . It's always a compromise, but we have found that a venue fairly central to Norfolk gets best turnout. Where ever we go, it's always too far for some to travel, particularly in the winter months, but at the same time there are those who regularly travel much further. To try to counter this, we tried adding an additional meet a fortnight after our regular second Wednesday which moved around to reduce travelling now & again for those further afield, but found they were very poorly attended to the point where only one or two turned up. We gave up on that, then tried organising some Friday night ride outs, where a list was compiled such that a different pub was chosen for Every Friday through the better weather. You then had a destination to head for where theoretically there would be a few of us meet up. That worked well for quite a while, but then gradually fizzled out & again it was just the same one or two of us making the effort, so we're back to our one regular monthly meeting. It seems to be the best we can do.

Hopefully in the next month or two I will be able get along to meet a few of you at the BiH, or where ever you decide to congregate, so if you could let me know the where's & when's of your next meetings I can mark them on my calendar in an attempt to not forget .

In the mean time, best wishes to all,

Tim

[JayEmm]

I've set reminders in the forums now but a monthly PM a la HEC would certainly be a good shout.

Once the weather's better I'll get back into the swing of things. I really enjoy the BIH meets by the way, just a shame a lot of the route is quite tedious. Some of its great though.

[chipp]

4 hours ago, Buddsy said:

Cheers for the heads up Owen these guys deffo sound like the bunch that gives Lotus owners a bad name. Wouldnt want to meet up with this bunch for a pint 

Club Lotus chaps seem worth talking to.

buddsy

Not the case at all Scott, they at a good active club. If you want to be more involved with going to events, rallies, country fairs, a regular club evening, annual bbq etc then pay your subs and that's what you'll get. They often do fund raising for charity, have a pitch at the Lotus Festival and the last couple of years have been present at the Silverstone Classic.

There are different organisers for the events so they all run fairly smoothly. You can be as active as you wish and there is something for everyone's taste throughout the year. they often have a speaker at a club night the last being Guy Munday. 

Go along one evening see what you think but you will be expected to join at some point if you want to be involved.

Club Lotus seem to be dwindling a bit all round, possibly due to some extent from the emergence of TLF. They don't seem to mind too much if you turn up at a meeting but again they are a subscription club.

Varying the monthly meeting place has been voiced lots in the past and I don't mind if it does move around at times. But I do think it best to have a primary meeting place which at the moment is the pub closest to the factory. With its past links, pictures of Lotus everywhere and memorabilia items good food it is also a place were you can meet Lotus employees at times. The summer months would be better for most to venture a bit further on an evening for a change. 

 

chipp

[OwenGT3]

Hopefully I haven't given too wrong an impression of EALC. The club is a good club, I've been in it for most of my Esprit ownership which is ten year in April, and they do a lot of great events, and I'm now on the committee for the second year. Like all clubs there are a core few that attend a lot of the events organised, and as said a lot more turn up at the food events who you never see any other time. EALC wouldn't turn you away at any meeting, and like meeting other Lotus owners. Maybe if you went every month they would ask you to join at some point. ;-)

As Scott I think has said, you mostly want to turn up and just have a chat and organise the odd run/event. EALC organised events are more regimental, organised and made sure everything is in place, t's crossed and the i's dotted, hence the need to sign insurance forms, it's these events I'm on about, not the monthly meeting. I have seen people turn up at events in a Lotus and just tag on the end of the row of our club plot, which raised a few eyebrows. To be fair they are just covering liability and making sure it's all runs smoothly as Trevor said.

Sometimes you don't want that part and just want to have fun, as I go to CL meets at BIH as well as EALC, IMHO I think they have a more casual approach to meetings so perhaps that meeting would suits your needs better. By all means go to an EALC meeting and see what you think.

All the issues you mention go on in every hobby club. The Star Wars club I'm in has disagreements, issues and fall outs, but it still going strong. The R2 Builders Club I'm in also has the same, it's part of club life, and usually you get over it and stick with it, or just don't bother going anymore.

At the end of the day clubs are about having fun and meeting like minded people. When that stops and it becomes like work, then it's time to leave.

 

Edited January 19, 2017 by OwenGT3

[Orsom Weels]

10 hours ago, OwenGT3 said:

 EALC wouldn't turn you away at any meeting, and like meeting other Lotus owners. Maybe if you went every month they would ask you to join at some point. ;-)

It's 3 or 4 years ago now, so things may have changed, but Mrs O & I went along to an EALC meeting & were made very welcome. We were given a bit of an introduction & a brief insight into the club & what they got up to, & yes, we were asked if we'd like to join, but there was no pressure to do so. In fact, we were told we would be welcome to go along to another meeting or two if we'd like, before we made our minds up. I suspect we may well have joined up but for the fact they held their meetings on the second Monday of the month, & we were/are already committed to our motorcycle club which meets on the second Wednesday, which meant that mostly, both meetings would be in the same week, which would make it a bit difficult to fit it all in.

11 hours ago, OwenGT3 said:

 I have seen people turn up at events in a Lotus and just tag on the end of the row of our club plot, which raised a few eyebrows. To be fair they are just covering liability and making sure it's all runs smoothly as Trevor said.

Regarding the above, we have attended one or two events where we have been either directed by the organisers, or asked by an EALC member to join them on their club stand/plot, as have a couple of other Lotus owning friends of ours. Holt vintage transport festival being one in particular where we were told on arrival that EALC had asked the organisers if they could have ALL Lotus cars parked together & were directed to their stand. We had actually travelled together with friends in their Daimler Dart, & had planned to park with them, but we did as we were asked/told. We assumed it was to boost the number of cars on display & show a sort of 'united front', perhaps in the hope we may join up. Sorry if we caused a few raised eyebrows, but we wouldn't just tag on without being asked by someone. You may want to clarify things with your event organisers in future?

Regards, Tim

[OwenGT3]

8 hours ago, Orsom Weels said:

Regarding the above, we have attended one or two events where we have been either directed by the organisers, or asked by an EALC member to join them on their club stand/plot, as have a couple of other Lotus owning friends of ours. Holt vintage transport festival being one in particular where we were told on arrival that EALC had asked the organisers if they could have ALL Lotus cars parked together & were directed to their stand. We had actually travelled together with friends in their Daimler Dart, & had planned to park with them, but we did as we were asked/told. We assumed it was to boost the number of cars on display & show a sort of 'united front', perhaps in the hope we may join up. Sorry if we caused a few raised eyebrows, but we wouldn't just tag on without being asked by someone. You may want to clarify things with your event organisers in future?

Regards, Tim

EALC have never done the Holt show, someone may have given that name, but most event that have take place at Holt I or Garry Smith have organised and gone under the name Anglian Lotus Group, which is the Facebook page I've got for events in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge. The Holt event was just a turn up and park event, you organised your own ticket, so that's why you would have been asked to park near the other Lotus cars, just to put on a better display of the brand.

The same practice was done last year at Helmingham Hall. EALC didn't go, some of it's members went and parked in the private entry field. We kept a few spaces free so if any other Lotus cars turned up we got someone to direct them to our row of cars as it makes for an impressive display. We did actually get a new member from that event.

What I was quoting was like a show EALC did attend as a club at Rougham Air Show some years back. We had a plot allocated to our club, but the organisers just directed all the Lotus cars to our plot. I didn't organise that one.

Last year EALC did the Yarmouth Festival, all the cars coming with the club had to be notified to the council before we arrived on the day for insurance purposes. The non club members attending went representing EALC, so they signed insurance forms so they were covered. Still at that event other cars turned up and tagged on the end, but they were not covered by our insurance.

Event organisers just want to get cars in quickly, so more than often they will just say go park near all the other Lotus cars, but some plots the club has paid for to be at that event. So you can see why it raises eyebrows if the club members have paid and the random car arriving late hasn't and the punters assume it's part of the club.

I think perhaps the thread is going off topic, it's not about EALC, most local owners know that EALC exist and to do their events you would have to join the club as a paid member. I think the question is whether you stick to the TLF date every month or decide to go along to the CL night and see if you can merge the two nights, but I think you need to talk with Pat as he's the main man as it's CL night, at least it's at the same pub.

 

Edited January 20, 2017 by OwenGT3

[JayEmm]

I think in summer we generally get a good turnout at the BIH, we need to encourage some new members along. Should be the most populous meet but occasionally it has been a bit under-attended

[clivef38]

I go to club meets for a good laugh and good banter etc.Im also a member of the SAAB owners club that meet in Bury st Edmunds on the first Thursday of the month. Everyone donates 2 Pounds into club funds for run outs in the summer to help with costs. there are normally about ten members who attend each month and some are not local. Not bad for a car thats no longer made. Its the people that make the club no mater what make. I hope this makes sense it's been a long day.

[JayEmm]

One of the most active clubs seems to be the TVR club. Possibly because they've managed to not splinter their membership into a million sub-clubs.

In any case, I look forward to February's meet. If I'm here for it. Think I am.

[C8RKH]

I thought we only had one main club?

We have TLF for the people who love to socialise with their Lotus  cars and other Lotus owners whilst they drive them and fettle them.

Club Lotus for Lotus owners with flat caps and a metal lathe in the garden shed and who are a certain age.

And S E L O C for people who like to talk about and buy Porsche, Audi and BMW cars.

?

[clivef38]

I will be at the next meet come hell or high water. Sorry about the high water bit. Not thinking.

[Orsom Weels]

15 hours ago, OwenGT3 said:

EALC have never done the Holt show, someone may have given that name, but most event that have take place at Holt I or Garry Smith have organised and gone under the name Anglian Lotus Group, which is the Facebook page I've got for events in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge. The Holt event was just a turn up and park event, you organised your own ticket, so that's why you would have been asked to park near the other Lotus cars, just to put on a better display of the brand.

Oops, but on arrival, we were told that "The East Anglian Lotus Club has a display & have asked us if we could direct all Lotus cars to them, do you mind?" When we got to the display area, there were several Loti arranged in two rows back to back, a gazebo, quite a few people wearing EALC sweat shirts &/or baseball caps, some of whom I recognised from our visit to the club night, they introduced themselves as EALC, & I was given a little laminated card advertising the EALC, (which I actually still have as I thought it was a brilliant idea & had thoughts of pinching the idea for our classic bike club) so please forgive my mistake/confusion , but I assumed that it WAS an EALC organised display. & Yes, I know assume makes an ass of u & me . Later on, friends with an Elan were given the same request at the gate, & duly arrived on your display. I have been to the same event at Holt before & since, & yes, arranged our own entry ticket as always, but that was the only time we've been asked to join other Lotus cars, & none of the other general entry cars were grouped together by make or model, so don't think it came from the show organisers.

Tim

[OwenGT3]

2 hours ago, Orsom Weels said:

Oops, but on arrival, we were told that "The East Anglian Lotus Club has a display & have asked us if we could direct all Lotus cars to them, do you mind?" When we got to the display area, there were several Loti arranged in two rows back to back, a gazebo, quite a few people wearing EALC sweat shirts &/or baseball caps, some of whom I recognised from our visit to the club night, they introduced themselves as EALC, & I was given a little laminated card advertising the EALC, (which I actually still have as I thought it was a brilliant idea & had thoughts of pinching the idea for our classic bike club) so please forgive my mistake/confusion , but I assumed that it WAS an EALC organised display. & Yes, I know assume makes an ass of u & me . Later on, friends with an Elan were given the same request at the gate, & duly arrived on your display. I have been to the same event at Holt before & since, & yes, arranged our own entry ticket as always, but that was the only time we've been asked to join other Lotus cars, & none of the other general entry cars were grouped together by make or model, so don't think it came from the show organisers.

Tim

I've had a look, but can't find any photo's from Holt in my EALC folder, and I usually take photos of every event I've attended. I looked up in my photos and can only see 2014 and 2015. If EALC did go it was before then, 2013 maybe? I can't find any photo's from that event or remember going as EALC. If we did go as EALC it was only the once, becuase they haven't been recently.

This was 2014, rained all the time, didn't stay the whole day.

Extra cars tagged on the end

2015 event

The complete line up with additional cars tagged on the ends

Edited January 21, 2017 by OwenGT3

[clivef38]

Wow thats my Elite. Bloody vac lights now sorted MX5 motors. Elite will be back on the road i hope this year as i miss driving it. The Elan is ok but it does not have the character.

[Orsom Weels]

3 hours ago, OwenGT3 said:

I've had a look, but can't find any photo's from Holt in my EALC folder, and I usually take photos of every event I've attended. I looked up in my photos and can only see 2014 and 2015. If EALC did go it was before then, 2013 maybe? I can't find any photo's from that event or remember going as EALC. If we did go as EALC it was only the once, becuase they haven't been recently.

My how time flies, I think you are probably right with 2013. I would have guessed a bit later, but I'm pretty sure it was the year before the one that it rained all day, one to remember for the wrong reasons, we went home early also.

When I posted my initial reply, I was trying to point out that in my experience, the EALC were actually a friendly bunch, & if we had caused "raised eyebrows" by tacking on to one of their displays, it was simply because we had been asked to do so. It seems, & I accepted, that I may have made a genuine mistake as to who's display we had actually been asked to join, for which I apologised & explained why I may have made that mistake in my last post, I really don't want this to become an argument about who is right or wrong, I concede

[PhilW]

Well we have now spent 2 weeks talking about it with no decisions.

I propose in the Month of February we move the meeting to February 9th and join Owen and friends.  We can then discuss face to face and maybe come away with a resolution for the the short term at least.

Everyone who agrees give a 

[Stuart Monument]

Sorry not been commenting much in this thread as first week back at work. 

 

I will happily do either. I was going to make a list of people on here and drop them a line for our normal meet , not sure if that's the right things to do if we are going to meet up with another group incase there is a weird vibe. No reason there should be I suppose. This is turning into gang of New York. 

 

[Stuart Monument]

That's , that then. Let's keep the day as it is. People do show up but we just need to get numbers up. I will send a message to people in the area as a reminder. If we could get a consistent 10 or so I would say that's pretty good. I am sure numbers will increase in summer and decrease it winter. We have had 8-10 before and there seems to be more Norfolk people popping up all the time. 

If we add in a couple of summer drives, a BBQ and maybe a classic team lotus tour then surely this will cement relationships and build a community. I think they key to this is no pressure but fun and interest when we meet. 

 

So for those who have not attended the meet is at the Bird In Hand 3rd Monday of every month. The food and beer is decent. Plenty of parking so we can have our own Lotus area. Nice twisty roads and also just a mile or so from the Lotus factory. What other region can say that. 

 

We normally meet in the car park 7-7.30. A bit of grub and a beer. If you don't want to eat a beer is fine . We have a nice mix of cars from the 1970-2000's.