Calling all marshals and potential marshals

[fazza]

Originally Posted by EvilPumpkin

As a non-UK member, a bit more online capability would be helpful for me. Particularly for membership. I've just realised that I haven't renewed our membership this year - mostly because the forms got lost in the Xmas clutter and I suspect they ended up in the recycle bin in a panic clean when someone was coming to visit! I now have to download the forms and try to put together a sterling draft for payment, which keeps getting put to the bottom of the pile on the "to do" list.

It's a petty niggle, but if I could just go online, fill out the form and pay with CC or paypal, you'd have had our renewal weeks ago! I suspect that for other people, that may be the case too. If it's a question of web expertise in order to get it up and running, we have enough web type people on this site that we could fix you up with someone who could assist!

As a committee member in the north west I can say that this has been discussed in meetings and was not dismissed as a bad idea, I would say the North West region are looking at various 21st century technoligies, I would keep watching this space.

Regards
Allan Farrimond
BMMC NW Deputy Training Co-Cordinator.

[Dave Brand]

Originally Posted by Stoowert

Thanks everyone! I think I see the BMMC as a form of "Union" for marshals.

I'd say "Professional Body" rather than "Union". In my opinion BMMC has done, & continues to do, much more than just represent its members interests. If British marshalling can lay claim to any measure of professionalism I'd suggest that is in no small way down to BMMC's pioneering work in such areas as training & grading.

I would like to see the BMMC working closely with circuits and secondly, racing clubs in improving the lot of the average marshal. How?

1. The siting of marshals posts
2. The provision of clean toilets, accessable during racing
3. Sound protection for everyone (Yes, the land-line monster, again!)
4. Proper walkways behind arco (this is being delt with, by and large)
5. There must be other things....

Isn't this already happening?

[Stoowert]

1. No! Ask anyone who has Post Chiefed Post 20 at Brands Hatch (And written several comments on the signing-on sheet!) The MSA has unilateral power re the siting of Posts. No consultation.Nuffin'...
2. You're havin' a giraffe!
3. No comment!
4.I'll concede that point. Who inspects the walkways on seldom used areas? The Walkway Fairy?

[Stoowert]

Oh yes... I totally agree with you Dave, on "Professional Body" point.I wasn't totally happy with "Union" anyway.

[Lrawlings]

I myself have just posted off my first membership form for BMMC. think payments via paypal or cc would be great. As to comment on the past would be unfair as only doing my FIRST track day next month. I have found though that it's a bit of a mine field getting the right info on how to start as so many web sites around.

[Shelagh]

I've not really read this but will re-iterate something I've been known to repeat on many an occasion:

The Marshals Club (BMMC) is there for us. It does us proud. Why join another?

Shelagh

[EvilPumpkin]

Originally Posted by Lrawlings

I have found though that it's a bit of a mine field getting the right info on how to start as so many web sites around.

In fairness, an awful lot of the sites that are out there are run by enthusiastic marshals rather than any of the marshalling clubs. But it can certainly get confusing when you have to figure out the circuit, then the organising body, then which region of the organising body........ I thought I knew my way around it until I tried to volunteer for an event at Anglesey and ended up having to contact Mike Kelly to find out how the heck to volunteer!

A central dbase of events and how to volunteer would be good.

Julian does a fab job every year with his volunteering site (and works really hard at it for nothing!), but there's no link that I can see to that from the BMMC website. Rather than re-inventing the wheel, formalise the mechanism that's already there and make it more widely publicised.

A clear method of volunteering - or even a guide to it - would be very helpful.

[Mark Mitchell]

I would like to see/hear/read what goes on at committee meetings, regionally and Nationally! I appreciate that there will always be some issues that can't be broadcast to the members but it would be nice to know about our (The BMMC) aims, plans etc. The newsletters are good but stop short of actually telling us anything about the Club.

[Eric Ridler]

I........ I thought I knew my way around it until I tried to volunteer for an event at Anglesey and ended up having to contact Mike Kelly to find out how the heck to volunteer!

As the Webmaster for the BMMC site, I must disagree with you on this point, there definitely is a link to volunteering for the North Region.
If you follow this link http://www.marshals.co.uk/regions/north/index.htm it will take you to the North Region's section of the website and on the right hand side of the page there is a box marked "Volunteering 2011" which has both Pdf and MS Word versions of the volunteering form.

Alternatively, email the competition secretary of any region and they can supply any information required. Also on each region's page is a calendar of events where you can also volunteer for meetings as well.

If you have any difficulties navigating the website please feel free to contact me (via email).

[Eric Ridler]

It's a petty niggle, but if I could just go online, fill out the form and pay with CC or paypal, you'd have had our renewal weeks ago! I suspect that for other people, that may be the case too. If it's a question of web expertise in order to get it up and running, we have enough web type people on this site that we could fix you up with someone who could assist!

Hi John

May I please ask you to have a look again at the volunteering form, because there is a Credit Card facility at the bottom of the page. You can fill this in and post it to Paul Sutcliffe or alternatively give him a call over the phone and he can take CC payments direct.

Why not use the Direct Debit facility and save all the hassle?

I did suggest having an online payment system to council last year but was voted down but I have not given up hope that it will eventually happen.

[chezza]

Filling in forms and posting credit/debit card details, no thanks. It is good that they can be taken over the phone, however you are still relying on the person at the other end disposing of them correctly once they have been used. (Not that I'm saying anything untoward would be done with them, but if not disposed of in a correct manor they may fall into the hands of someone less scrupuless) .

It would surely make sense for the facility of online payment to be made available?

Also in Terri's defence, her and Grant are pretty web savy and if they're not able to locate where to sign on, then maybe the layout or style of the site needs thinking about?! What you think maybe the sensible or logical place for something might not be for others etc.

Also any feedback is good and should be taken on board rather than getting defensive etc.

[beltanedeath]

yeah, you have to give paypal as a payment method now, that's just basics.


And I agree with Chezza, if someone has found something difficult, then it has been for them.

It's a bit like this forum, i'm a bit of a computer geek and spend loads of time on forums, can I see where to add my avatar? no, so for me that is frustrating, but I can see loads of other people don't have that issue, but theres no use telling me "yeah, it's easy...I made it"



sean

[Greem]

Originally Posted by beltanedeath

It's a bit like this forum, i'm a bit of a computer geek and spend loads of time on forums, can I see where to add my avatar? no, so for me that is frustrating, but I can see loads of other people don't have that issue, but theres no use telling me "yeah, it's easy...I made it"

Try a bit harder, it's documented here

[beltanedeath]

ahh i see i will have to spam the forum just to get a pic up


(moderators, i am just joking)
only 217 post to go!

Sean

[Stephen Green]

There have been some interesting points raised here which I will raise at the next committee meeting and let you have feedback.

[Terrible-Tones]

Originally Posted by Mark Mitchell

I would like to see/hear/read what goes on at committee meetings, regionally and Nationally! I appreciate that there will always be some issues that can't be broadcast to the members but it would be nice to know about our (The BMMC) aims, plans etc. The newsletters are good but stop short of actually telling us anything about the Club.

Interesting point Mark, I have parked it in brain and will bring it up at next SM Committee.....cheers

[Mark Mitchell]

I think that the BMMC and Ten-Tenths could work together in some sort of way to help the Marshals' Club communicate with the members a little more! (Some will say that it already does, and obviously not all Marshals subscribe to TT)

One thing that I have found bemusing (For a want of a better word) is the differing opinions of BMMC top brass. Take my Regional Chairperson, he isn't a fan of TT and often criticises some of the content contained in the marshals forum (Usually justified).......however the National Chairperson is a (Fairly) regular poster on here!

I'm not suggesting that all the BMMC business is put into a public forum but wondered if there was some sort of "Association" with TT whether a private group could be hosted for such?

I don't thing anything is seriously "Wrong" anywhere, but as they say, there's always room for improvement!

[Stephen Green]

It is up to individual members whether they wish to use ten-tenths as a medium or not; as you say, some love it and some don't. I think that tying the club to ten-tenths is something unlikely to happen for all sorts of reasons, one of which is that Grant and Teri might not wish to do so preferring to remain independent.

The BMMC do use this forum to help explain things and to answer questions raised. It is often a much quicker route than waiting for a quarterly newsletter to be published for example.

[Mark Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Stephen Green

I think that tying the club to ten-tenths is something unlikely to happen for all sorts of reasons, one of which is that Grant and Teri might not wish to do so preferring to remain independent.

A very valid point!

[EvilPumpkin]

Originally Posted by Eric Ridler

As the Webmaster for the BMMC site, I must disagree with you on this point, there definitely is a link to volunteering for the North Region.
If you follow this link http://www.marshals.co.uk/regions/north/index.htm it will take you to the North Region's section of the website and on the right hand side of the page there is a box marked "Volunteering 2011" which has both Pdf and MS Word versions of the volunteering form.

Alternatively, email the competition secretary of any region and they can supply any information required. Also on each region's page is a calendar of events where you can also volunteer for meetings as well.

If you have any difficulties navigating the website please feel free to contact me (via email).

Hi Eric,
Ok so it's there for the North region - what about the other regions? And how am I supposed to know which region?

[EvilPumpkin]

Originally Posted by Eric Ridler

Hi John

May I please ask you to have a look again at the volunteering form, because there is a Credit Card facility at the bottom of the page. You can fill this in and post it to Paul Sutcliffe or alternatively give him a call over the phone and he can take CC payments direct.

Why not use the Direct Debit facility and save all the hassle?

I did suggest having an online payment system to council last year but was voted down but I have not given up hope that it will eventually happen.

Hi Eric,
I'm aware that there is a credit card facility on the form - that's what we've used in the past. But I still have to print out the form and post my CC details through the post. I wasn't aware that there was a phone option.
As for the direct debit, the last time I checked, you were unable to offer that option to non-UK residents. Has that changed?
Regards,
Terri

[EvilPumpkin]

Originally Posted by Stephen Green

It is up to individual members whether they wish to use ten-tenths as a medium or not; as you say, some love it and some don't. I think that tying the club to ten-tenths is something unlikely to happen for all sorts of reasons, one of which is that Grant and Teri might not wish to do so preferring to remain independent.

I think it's well known that Tenths has always been a very vocal supporter of marshals in general and we are delighted to have such a good relationship with the BMMC.

However, one of the reasons that this forum has continued to grow, I believe, is our independence from any organisation. That independence has cost us personally in that there are now some clubs/circuits at which we are not welcome to marshal because we were not willing to remove valid criticisms. That's the price you pay. Over the years, we've taken written, verbal and even threats of physical abuse about some of the things that have gone on, on this site. So have several of our moderators.

However, I also believe that Tenths has contributed, in a small way, to some of the improvements we have seen over the years and it's vitally important to have somewhere that people can discuss issues without fear or favour.

While we are happy to work with any marshalling organisation as much as possible, I believe it would be counterproductive for both the site and the organisation for us to have any formalised relationship with any of them, even one we think of as highly as the BMMC.

One thing I would say is that if you don't want honest answers, please don't ask the question. There is no point in asking for constructive criticism and then getting annoyed when you receive it.

[Stephen Green]

I totally agree with your comments Teri

[Mark Mitchell]

I think the general consensus of opinion still seems to be that the BMMC is THE Marshalling club to be a member of BUT the whole concept of how to get started (For new/potential Marshals) AND who/where to volunteer to (For Regular Marshals Too) is still far from perfect!
Julians site is brilliant but is not affiliated to the BMMC and (As Far As Volunteering Goes) the BMMC regions are not all up there with the North Region in offering online volunteering via the website.

The BMMC website needs a page that has every event listed and grouped into Race/Hills/Sprints/Bikes etc. We should be able to click on the event(s) we wish to volunteer for and submit personal details.

The BARC and Castle Combe do this perfectly!

[Stephen Green]

Certainly some room for thought there Mark and I will bring as many as possible up at our next national meeting