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Just received my new Lagonda Club membership card. Bears a striking resemblance to the AMOC one and very nice it is too, well done all concerned.
Can anyone explain why you need a ultra smart plastic club membership card and what was wrong with the inexpensive but adequate paper one?
Here here. Who do I show it to?
Another member suggested that perhaps a new card each year would be a nice idea and there was quite a bit of debate at committee level. It was decided to put it to the members to vote and the majority of those that did, voted in favour. So that?s why we have them.
What?s their purpose and who do you show it to? Good question.
With about 1/3 of members residing outside of the UK and with limited access to UK events or connecting with other members I suspect that they might like receiving a card each year. Something else connecting them to the club. It?s early days but I?ve already received quite a number of positive comments from members within the UK (such as Richard] so there is clearly some appeal. Personally, I like receiving membership cards from my various clubs but appreciate that there?s little appeal for some. Stephen and Colin you are obviously in that camp and there will be plenty of others I am sure.
The paper card shows membership number but the annual plastic ones also serves as a reminder of subscription renewal date. Colin has a hard job chasing up membership fees each year and perhaps the cards may help people remember when subs are due.
The picture on the card is the featured model of car at this years annual gathering. The car on the cards will change each year to celebrate that years featured car.
I have also been trying to drum up discounts for members with various suppliers and you will notice the discount codes on the cards reverse. Having these in one place seemed helpful and I will continue to petition suppliers to support this campaign. Any suggestions welcome. Participating suppliers may wish to see a membership card as proof. We will see.
Finally, this is an experiment and I think it?s good that we try the odd new initiative every now and then to freshen things up. This is not an expensive process. The club has bought the printer and blank cards and I produced the cards myself with the help of my daughter. This was the cheapest method and most data secure. We will monitor feedback and I suggest we should let it run for at last 3 years and then review with another member ballot. But that decision is obviously not mine – it?s just a suggestion.
I hope this helps explain the initiative.
David
David, Thank you for the explanation and I do think that the Club should try new things and grow. Interestingly, I run a professional engineering institution with around 22,000 members worldwide. We stopped issuing plastic membership cards around five years ago as they were seen as an expensive pastime with out any real tangible benefit. Good job we are all different!
I certainly wouldn?t have enjoyed printing and posting 22,000 cards. And I doubt my daughter would have been seen for dust!
Your right though. We should be open to new ideas and encourage suggestions from our members. It?s their club and not the committees after all.
We all know its a posh ice scraper….
Nice card! I’ll put it in my wallet on top of my (ugly) P.Eng card… ;<]
AlecThank you David for all your hard work in getting this through the committee and the cards in our hands.
It’s a great idea, in my view, and long overdue. We have static and (I would argue) modest and unsatisfactory membership numbers and most of our members are either already past their ‘best before date’ or heading that way presently (and I count myself among that cohort). I’m sorry to be so blunt but it’s just a fact. We need to both grow and attract membership applications from those born in the 1960s/70s/80s and later. Anything that encourages a sense of belonging is a boon, so far as I am concerned, and I think that good quality membership cards fulfil that primary function very well (in a ‘bangs for bucks’ sense). I also see a useful future practical utility for the cards to act as an entrance ticket to events that are advertised and run for the purposes of attracting the attendance of non-members – a key element missing currently from the Club’s armoury in the battle for membership.
AML is pouring huge resources into the relaunch of the marque. If it is successful, the Club should be in the vanguard of this revival, not trailing in its wake as a mere footnote in Lagonda history soon to fall victim to its own demographic. As it is, AMOC has been stealing a march on us for some time now, not just in relation to what is to come but also in terms of recruiting the post-war Lagonda owner to its ranks.
I’m sorry to read some of the remarks above but not surprised (remotely). In my opinion, those detractors who do genuinely care about the future of the marque and the Club should wake up and smell the coffee. As for the others, well; “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. … and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”
The efforts of active members and the club committee is of course appreciated as always, but what do we use the card for? Please explain. I don’t think I have ever shown my membership card to anyone. If they only cost a few pence then they do make the club look more professional so I’m fine with the new card. If they serve no purpose why issue one, plastic, card, or otherwise.
As for new club members I imagine most members are owners. As there is a fraction of the cars compared to Jaguars or MGs, for instance, the club can’t hope to gain many extra, can they? I?m all for attracting younger members but is there evidence of younger owners that aren?t members to be encouraged to join. If that?s the case then fine, encourage them. But why would a lot of non-owners of any age join? A key reason to join is spares. A non-owner has no need for spares.
A report on club membership compared to cars over the years would be interesting. You only need to look around at an AGM to notice most present are not in the younger age bracket. There are no cheap Lagondas to buy anymore unfortunately so it has become the hobby of the older person. There is no rival club to attract new members from either. So, who are your target younger potential members?The AMOC claims to have over 6000 members.
“Out of the 65,000 Aston Martin cars made, approximately 90 percent are still on road”Different ballpark, me thinks.
David
DavidLG45’s response demonstrates most eloquently (and I say this with respect, of course) what is ‘wrong’ with the attitude of a significant cohort of the current membership. I will respond following the order in which David has made his various observations:
1. I think that David Bracey and I have already explained the purpose(s) of the plastic cards. In brief recap, they are (in no particular order of importance) – (i) to help present a modern and professional ‘face’ to the world; (ii ) to foster a sense of ‘belonging’ among (in particular) the new, the young/younger, and the overseas membership; (iii) to act as a conduit so that members may take advantage of offers secured on their behalf by the committee; and (iv) to act as an ‘entry ticket’ to future events designed to attract the attendance of non-members.
2. It seems to me that good comparable clubs are not Jag/MG but rather ‘sister’ organisations concerned with luxury British marques, including: AMOC (5.9k); BDC (3.7k); RROC (6.2k); AOC (1.2k); and BOC (850).
3. We should be concerned with attracting not only current long-term / committed owners of Lagondas but also (a) those who are in the process of acquiring their first Lagonda, and (b) enthusiasts who would like to own a Lagonda. However, it is isn’t just about acquiring new members – membership retention is an important concern.
4. The key issue/benefit currently in joining the LC is indeed the spares service. Wonderful though the service is without doubt, it is a matter of deep regret (to me, at least) that little (if any) attempt is made to make the Club attractive in other respects. NB None of the other sister clubs that I mention attempt to be a spares factory and yet they achieve much that we do not (a better member:car ratio, better social, concours and racing events etc. etc.). In the case of the AMOC, they currently have a war-chest of in excess of ?1mil (which means that it can wield considerable financial clout when necessary) and they founded and partly fund AMHT, which has it’s own publications, museum and archives, and provides offices to house its own archivist as well as the AMOC’s offices and staff (including a full-time club secretary).
5. There are very many younger people who can well afford a Lagonda (or two, or three, or..), I can assure you, and oodles in their 40s and 50s.
6. I’m sorry to say that the demographic of attendees at the AGM demonstrates just how vulnerable the LC is currently in terms of achieving oblivion within the next decade or two.
7. The AMOC attracts more post-war Lagonda owners and enthusiasts than the LC – and, that’s without even trying very hard. If they put in the effort required, we’d be wiped out in terms of the post-war cars. God help us if they were to aim their fire at the ‘new’ pre-war ownership.
8. The vast majority of AMOC membership own pre-Gaydon vehicles – some are Bloxham fans but most are from the Feltham and Newport Pagnell car eras. Total AML production up to the end of NP production was circa 14,000 cars i.e. entirely comparable to total Lagonda production of circa 12,600. Same ‘ballpark’, I think you’ll find David.
Tim put his view most eloquently.
All I can say is that I like the way Lagondas were made, I like their quirky stylish looks and I like the way they behave in modern road conditions. Also, if a part breaks it’s pretty certain a replacement – new or second hand can usually be found.
I also like 18th century Houses and heaven forbid, good brown furniture (preference is George III)- now completely out of fashion of course .
I also like the company of fellow Club members. So I definitely represent what is wrong with a significant cohort of the current membership.
Importantly, I do not care.
Good luck with the new intake of Lagonda owners. If they have loadsamoney lets hope they also have the ability to absorb all the technical knowhow from the ones on their way out.
Oh yes and if they do want to discuss cryptocurrencies, blockchains and distributed ledger technology, my contact details are in the Club list.
A plastic laminated membership card will not change my view. Why not go the whole hog and make it a contactless payment card!
Regards M34
“I also like the company of fellow Club members. So I definitely represent what is wrong with a significant cohort of the current membership. Importantly, I do not care.”
Try as I might, I simply cannot understand your point of view, Colin. In what way does liking the company of fellow members have any bearing at all on my observations? You seem to have construed the totality of what I have had to say as some sort of objection to such membership per se when, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Rather, the key issue for me is that some members appear to be dead set against any kind of change, whether directed at trying to recruit from younger generations of Lagonda fancier or not. In other words, let’s just jolly along doing things in the same way that they have been done for the last 3 or 4 decades.
So far as I am concerned, a stark choice lies ahead for the membership. Put very crudely, we either change or the Club will die out with the majority of its current membership. Is that what you want to see? If earlier generations had not encouraged you along the road to ownership and clubmanship, would your hobby have been as enjoyable for you today? I think not. All I am saying is that times change and we must adapt to and with them if we want to grow and thrive.
The membership card initiative may assist in a small way in this regard – or, it may not. The issue is not the utility of the card but the attitude towards it, I fear.
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