Hastings District Volkswagen Owners Club which is based around Port Macquarie area in NSW is in real danger of disbanding, due to lack of interest & slow decline over the past few years.

There will be a meeting in Port Macquarie on Sunday 15th October at McInherny Park at 11:00 am to decide it's fate.

(The commitee has already resolved to disband, pending objections from members, so this is the absolute last chance to convince them to stop it from happening)


PLEASE, If you are a VW owner in this area (or know someone who is), now is the time to sign up and inject some new life into the club.

"The aim of the club is to develop and maintain interest in VW's. The main requirement for membership is - That you own or are interested in VW vehicles. Membership is not restricted to the Port Macquarie area."

Contact Info: http://www.geocities.com/hdvwoc/ 


If you do join, post a reply & let me know.

Matt.

This would be a pity if this was to happen, however maybe take it down a level to just being a social club instead? That way dubbers can still get together without the worries of commitee and fees etc.

Yes it is sad, like the Klub VW Sunshine coast packed up a while back just when I wanted to join..........maybe it's me or do you reckon paranoiaNow (as far as I know) there is no local VW club.

Anyone know what happened to Club VW Illawarra?

It has been on the verge of folding for almost as long as I can remember. I got an email a while ago asking me to come to the meeting to decide its fate, but never heard back.

I am/was a financial member but i wasnt actively involved at all in the last ... several years.

Brendan,

I'm not a member either, I found out about the issue while at Old Bar the other week. I'm planning to get there a little early, explain my intentions then, sign up if the clubs still a goer or they need votes to tip the scale. Don't want to chuck money away by joining only to have the club disband 10 minutes later.

Apparently the club was quite good a few years ago but has slowly dwindled down to the diehards and gone a bit stale. The local population can be a bit transient, so there are probably quite a few dubbers that have slipped through the net over the last couple of years. I've noticed a few more around town just in the last twelve months. Hopefully some new blood will do the trick.

McInerny park is off River Park Rd. Go past panthers and hang the next left, then follow your nose. Check whereis.com for a map. Bring something to throw on the barbie for lunch afterwards as park has covered bbq/picnic facillities.

Matt.

[ Edited on 9-10-2006 by Matt Ryan ]

Matt,

Good move putting this here.

It would be a shame if the club was to fold.

I have been a member for a few years now, even before I got the dub back on the road.

Unfortunately I can't make it as I have a prior commitment with the Fire Brigade, but will organise a proxy of some sort.

Long live the HDVWOC
:thumb

yep. was chaired by me until early 90's when I got shits cos I was doing every committee position and the club was going nowhere. Similar to other posts lately I was organising runs and nobody showing up, one particular family would only show up to anything if there was free food on offer (I kid you not) So I left and went to Wollongong Sporting Car Club committee and got my VW fix from Club VW Sydney.

Illawarra was rescued by someone who's name I cant recall... worked in BHP...., who got Volksday going really well. A real credit to him. I joined up again but didnt get involved in any activities, was a financial gesture only. I think he has since moved on and its gradually declined again. Probably no fault of Steve, just the evolutionary cycle that its in.

I think its going to take more than a few extra bods turning up to Hastings to get it rolling again. Some enthusiastic people are going to have to get on the committee to spark it up again and get the Hastings Happening show up and rolling again... and other dubbers getting along to it.

Hmmm... I think the decline of 'financial' clubs if you will can also be attributed to the numerous other non-financial, wide-reaching clubs that have appeared in the last few years using the internet as a base of operations. Prime examples being Kombi Club Australia, DSK, and so as not to sound like I'm casting stones, even to a small extent my own brainchild the Baywindow Mafia. I'm sure there are other such clubs in the scene catering for Bug and Type 3 drivers too...

I think in this day and age of technology and such, where you have the world pretty much at your fingertips, the traditional club with a yearly fee and monthly meetings and such is slowly fading in many places due to the advent of the online forum... in fact, AVD itself probably contributes a great deal even tho it isnt a club as such.

WHereas a club used to... and still can be a great way to socialise with like minded people and obtain advice when it is needed... and perve on nice VW's... and find out about events and croozes, these days a person can just get online whenever they please, still perve on nice VW's, come across good stuff at good prices, get an answer to their question in minutes, socialise with likeminded people from all over, track down good cruises, organise their own croozes..., from the comfort of there own armchair, making the traditional club a redundant concept in the eyes of many.

That said, I am still all for the continued operation of financial clubs... some of the best events are arranged by them, and as such, I will still happily pay a membership fee to become a member of my local club when I actually make it to another meeting whenever that is.

They will always have there place, however many will no longer prosper quite so much as they have in the past, before the advent of the internet... tis just a matter of realising that and not shutting up shop the moment numbers dwindle.

As ya said tho Chris... pikers don't really help things a great deal at all.

[ Edited on 10-10-2006 by Schmoburger ]

Bump - Meeting tomorrow 11:00 am



Matt

best of luck guys..

poeple are people you can't make them do anything they have no interest in, the vw club of WA has over 100 members-- GREAT! i hear you shout, but apart from the 4 or 5 commity members ther is usually only 1 (ONE) other member that shows up to the monthly club meets, so few people turn up to events and runs that they down graded the member of the year prize from a personal club number plate to $50, quite simply no body is bothered, they arn't even worth the $50 on offer to show up at meets!!
basically its the peoples choice, the dont want it, it will go! sorry but thats life.

bump

Matt,
you have U2U