Page 4 - January February 2017
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President's Car Robin Swan
By the time you read this Benson will hopefully (weather permitting) have come and gone. Details of our BOD meeting held there will be published in due course.
Freedom of the Region:
I am delighted to tell you that the Freedom of the Region was given to Michael Ingham at the Benson Meet. His name was proposed by the outgoing President and warmly endorsed by all of the BOD.
Michael and his family have given great service to the Region. To mention a few contributions: he has been the Registrar for the past 12 years, he and his family have been key players in the organisation and running of the Winter Meets for many years. He was a founder member of the Calder Northern Group. I believe that some of the
early meetings of that group were at his home in Warrington. On your behalf I would like to say many thanks and wish him many years of modelling. He can now concentrate on that HO layout.
We approaching that crucial time of year: renewal of membership. I would therefore like to hand over the rest of this President’s Car to the Membership Director: Peter Bowen.
Membership Renewals Peter Bowen
It is that time of the year again when the vast majority of memberships are due for renewal. At the last Annual General Meeting it was agreed by the membership that subscription fees should be increased by £1 per year and subscribers to the NMRA Magazine will pay an additional £5. These increases are due to the recent changes in the pound/dollar exchange rate as we still have to pay a proportion of members' fees to NMRA National.
On the reverse of the mailing address that came with this issue of Roundhouse is your membership renewal and a series of questions that we would like to ask you so that we can provide a better membership experience for you.
You can either return this form with your cheque made payable to NMRA British Region and sent to Peter Bowen, Avon, Frome Road, East Horrington, Somerset BA5 3DP or go online at: http://www.nmrabr.org.uk/renew-membership and you will see the same questions as shown here.
To help us to improve the NMRA British Region we would like to know more about you:
Please indicate if you have any skills or experience such as accounting, printing, event planning, marketing, writing, etc.
Do you have a home layout, modules, or an exhibition layout?
If you have a home layout or modules would you like to share with others?
Have you ever attended an NMRA National Convention in Canada or USA?
Have you ever attended an NMRA British Region Convention?
Would you like to help out as a volunteer at regional events or annual convention?
Are you connected on Facebook or Yahoo Groups - if so which?
Would you be interested in attending a new division or group event in your area?
Would you be interested in organising a local event in your area?
Question about being contacted
There is also the very important question that a lot of members get confused about and wonder why no one has ever contacted them and that is where it says:
"Are you happy for other NMRA members to contact you?" - the choice is Yes or No.
If you answer "No" then no one will ever be able to contact you and your details will not appear in the annual members directory.
If you are concerned about data protection we should point out that the data we collect from you is highly confidential and not shared with any other parties. The information about yourself is held on a database file that is only accessible by the membership director who is a member of the board of directors. As a board of directors we have access to your information only for the purposes of administration, addressing envelopes, and the production of the annual directory.
As a member you must ask yourself, "Do I want to share my knowledge and learn from others?" Then I should choose "Yes".
The next question asks if you agree for your email address to appear in the annual directory: if you choose "No" then we will not publish your email address.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Peter Borcherds and Tjapko (Koos) Fockens for updating the membership information on the website and Martin Boyask for doing a splendid ongoing job of preparing and producing Roundhouse - a first class publication.
If you have any further questions about membership then please call me, Peter Bowen on 01749 674 739
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4 ROUNDHOUSE February 2017