Memberships

[Stephen Houghton]

Having been into the scene for 40yrs +, I was wondering in the old days when we had membership cards, why this stopped. As I have quite a handful of them from casino, connoisseurs club, after dark, Chiltern soul club, etc etc etc. After lockdown wouldn't it be good to reintroduce them, what's anybodys angle on this issue. 

[Winsford Soul]

We could start with having a virtual Bury one. Oops I already have mine.

Seriously think it is a good idea,  still have a few knocking around myself.  Swinton with the Invictus Soul Club is the only one I can think of that still has a membership card. 

[Greedy]

As I was only 15 when I first went to my first niter in 1980 at least I can put my real age on now or should I go the other way and take a  few years off.. 

Seriously though  it sounds like a good idea 

[Len]

I think the idea of having membership cards was to keep the 'rif raf' out (Although Steve 'Winsford Soul' still got in)

I like them for memories, but not sure if many venues would refuse entry to anyone without a membership card nowadays - You can tell who ain't soulies by their lack of 'Ready Brek' aura 

Len 

[Woodbutcher]

Think it was more to do with licensing .

 

[Stephen Houghton]

Having just rummaged through my tunes came across these membership cards, do we still have these on the club doors if not why not 

[Woodbutcher]

Why are you running two threads on the same subject ?

[David Cartlidge]

Still got some of mine great idear .

[Stephen Houghton]

40 minutes ago, Woodbutcher said:

Why are you running two threads on the same subject ?

Sorry couldn't find my last thread fella

[Speedlimit]

Why not at least the right people would get into the venues, no piss heads then,  I've got all of mine to right back to 74, if you didn't have a membership you didn't get in. 

[Stephen Houghton]

It was a good feeling back in the day,to show your card. And get a stamp on the back of your hand if you went out. 

[Mike]

14 hours ago, Stephen Houghton said:

Sorry couldn't find my last thread fella

have just merged the two 'membership' topics

if you ever 'lose' a topic or post, a quick way to find it is just click on your profile 

 

[Stephen Houghton]

Thanks mike

[Kevinkent]

I think that membership is likely to become a necessity, and not just for nostalgia or "keeping out the p!ssneads" purposes.

I'm going to use the 100 Club as an example but what I am suggesting could presumably be the same for any event. My view of the very near future is this:

Venues with membership will stand more chance of being allowed to open. This is due to the importance of contact tracing which does not yet have a proven effective system but which will become more of a requirement with the threat of a second wave or localised outbreaks of Covid-19. 

Example:

"You have tested positive for Covid....where have you been and who with?"  "Err, I was at the 100 Club with Trickster, Billy Whizz, Butch and a load of people from Manchester, Doncaster, Bristol, Market Harboro' and Spain."

or

"Hello 100 Club, could we have the addresses, emails and phone numbers of members present on this date please?" Sorted.

Membership should be available on the night (for anyone that is deemed worthy of it). The important thing is having registered details. Also you only have to show your card and have your attendance noted, and not be stamped with something that has been in contact with a couple of hundred other people.

I have heard that in Spain, sunbed vendors are just now forced to reduce their available rentals by 30% and hotels are being allowed only 50% occupancy. So another consideration will be venues running at an enforced reduced capacity. I will gladly pay well over the odds, twice or even four times the usual door tax, to attend a decent allnighter. So, hopefully events won't fold because they're not covering their costs.

But what if you get there and three lots of 2 couples have been inquisitive enough to convince the door staff that they deserve entry? That's 12 people that, though I'm all for newbies discovering the scene, are denying entry to 12 people that really need to be there. Membership can overcome that problem.

I know I suggested that membership and therefore entry should be available on the night. Currently I believe this should be allowed for travelling members of our current community rather than interested (or not) outsiders.

There are other ways in which membership could be used. Could you imagine the first allnighter in the country re-opening. Capacity could well be reached before many of us from around the country arrived to find we'd had a wasted journey! I would feel bad too (just a little bit) if I'd travelled 200 miles and denied a local regular from being able to attend his usual haunt.

I think we would have to accept that promoters should have the right to advertise an event as "current members only", or even not to advertise but to make it an "invitation only" event. That allows for a (reduced?) "full capacity" to consist of invited known regulars or, with details available from the membership register, to consist of only those from a geographical area, i.e local or local + guest DJ locality. Promoters choice.

I expect to come in for a bit of flack here and I'm really just mulling over ideas. What I do think though is that the promoter who takes membership seriously, today, is a step nearer to re-opening.

Ady, can we retain membership No1 for Sean please, and give me a low number too?

- Kev

 

 

Edited June 22, 2020 by Kevinkent
Missed a bit out

[Winsford Soul]

On 20/06/2020 at 21:02, Len said:

I think the idea of having membership cards was to keep the 'rif raf' out (Although Steve 'Winsford Soul' still got in)

I like them for memories, but not sure if many venues would refuse entry to anyone without a membership card nowadays - You can tell who ain't soulies by their lack of 'Ready Brek' aura 

Len 

Len. I got in to keep the raff riff confused plus its my job as mischief a gogo to give out memberships to keep them out

[Stevie]

1 hour ago, Kevinkent said:

I think that membership is likely to become a necessity, and not just for nostalgia or "keeping out the p!ssneads" purposes.

I'm going to use the 100 Club as an example but what I am suggesting could presumably be the same for any event. My view of the very near future is this:

Venues with membership

 

 

No flack from me - Good post!

[John Reed]

I think membership cards are nostalgic reminders of the past and don't really have a place in the modern world.  In peoples youth, there was a sense of belonging and they were proud to have a card, but not so much now, especially for someone over 50. 

People talk about them as a way of keeping out the riff-raff or drunk people, but really this should be the responsibility of the venue door policy or security.  If the venue doesn't provide security, hire a registered security guard and inform them of your admittance policy. 

I don't go out much these days and i'd be very disappointed if I arrived at a venue and was turned away because I didn't have a bit of card or laminated paper in my wallet.  Also, if I was then given membership on the spot, what would then be the point of membership in the first place.

[Len]

I had memberships years ago so I could use them as an excuse to 'keep out the riff raff' (Now spell checked) As in, if someone turned up that I could tell wasn't in to our music, and suspected they may take the p*ss (or were already drunk) I could simply say it was a members only event to save arguing why I wasn't letting them in.

I didn't bother to ask for memberships from soul people, so anyone new that was in to our music would have got in.

Saves trouble on the door.

Len 

[Stephen Houghton]

The replys on this subject have been very interesting, and I'm glad a lot of people have totally wide views on this. 

[Winsford Soul]

14 minutes ago, Len said:

I had memberships years ago so I could use them as an excuse to 'keep out the riff raff' (Now spell checked) As in, if someone turned up that I could tell wasn't in to our music, and suspected they may take the p*ss (or were already drunk) I could simply say it was a members only event to save arguing why I wasn't letting them in.

I didn't bother to ask for memberships from soul people, so anyone new that was in to our music would have got in.

Saves trouble on the door.

Len 

Len. I didn't need spell check

[Jayne Houghton]

I am getting quite excited thinking venues might open soon , I am missing having a dance & my friends, But I am thinking it should be tickets only , till life gets back to normal, then you are Guaranteed entry, or you could book an hotel travel 200 miles and be very Disappointed, I love the idea of membership cards too , anyway until the venues get up and going again KTF

[Timillustrator]

The Licensing acts of 1988 and then 2003 liberalised matters a lot and whereas previously clubs were allowed to operate differently if they were "members only" these exemptions became gradually totally removed so there was no reason to issue membership cards. On the other hands if a club was voluntarily "members only" and only allowed people to attend by taking everyone's contact details and addresses then perhaps that along with other measures such as temperature checks on entering could be used to demonstrate to the Government that the establishment was responsible and allow a greater degree of freedom?

 

[Ady Croasdell]

On 22/06/2020 at 11:26, Kevinkent said:

I think that membership is likely to become a necessity, and not just for nostalgia or "keeping out the p!ssneads" purposes.

I'm going to use the 100 Club as an example but what I am suggesting could presumably be the same for any event. My view of the very near future is this:

Venues with membership will stand more chance of being allowed to open. This is due to the importance of contact tracing which does not yet have a proven effective system but which will become more of a requirement with the threat of a second wave or localised outbreaks of Covid-19. 

Example:

"You have tested positive for Covid....where have you been and who with?"  "Err, I was at the 100 Club with Trickster, Billy Whizz, Butch and a load of people from Manchester, Doncaster, Bristol, Market Harboro' and Spain."

or

"Hello 100 Club, could we have the addresses, emails and phone numbers of members present on this date please?" Sorted.

Membership should be available on the night (for anyone that is deemed worthy of it). The important thing is having registered details. Also you only have to show your card and have your attendance noted, and not be stamped with something that has been in contact with a couple of hundred other people.

I have heard that in Spain, sunbed vendors are just now forced to reduce their available rentals by 30% and hotels are being allowed only 50% occupancy. So another consideration will be venues running at an enforced reduced capacity. I will gladly pay well over the odds, twice or even four times the usual door tax, to attend a decent allnighter. So, hopefully events won't fold because they're not covering their costs.

But what if you get there and three lots of 2 couples have been inquisitive enough to convince the door staff that they deserve entry? That's 12 people that, though I'm all for newbies discovering the scene, are denying entry to 12 people that really need to be there. Membership can overcome that problem.

I know I suggested that membership and therefore entry should be available on the night. Currently I believe this should be allowed for travelling members of our current community rather than interested (or not) outsiders.

There are other ways in which membership could be used. Could you imagine the first allnighter in the country re-opening. Capacity could well be reached before many of us from around the country arrived to find we'd had a wasted journey! I would feel bad too (just a little bit) if I'd travelled 200 miles and denied a local regular from being able to attend his usual haunt.

I think we would have to accept that promoters should have the right to advertise an event as "current members only", or even not to advertise but to make it an "invitation only" event. That allows for a (reduced?) "full capacity" to consist of invited known regulars or, with details available from the membership register, to consist of only those from a geographical area, i.e local or local + guest DJ locality. Promoters choice.

I expect to come in for a bit of flack here and I'm really just mulling over ideas. What I do think though is that the promoter who takes membership seriously, today, is a step nearer to re-opening.

Ady, can we retain membership No1 for Sean please, and give me a low number too?

- Kev

 

 

Hi Kev,

          It's a sensible suggestion and we may implement it at the first dance, but the first few are going to have to be ticket only at a high price I should imagine so it's not an immediate concern. The BIG problem is going to be getting the tickets to the right people, We have some ideas that I'll keep to myself for now, but there will be disappointment for many people for quite a while i would imagine; there's just no totally fair and workable way of doing it I'm afraid.  Ady & Matt

[Kevinkent]

4 minutes ago, Ady Croasdell said:

Hi Kev,

          It's a sensible suggestion and we may implement it at the first dance, but the first few are going to have to be ticket only at a high price I should imagine so it's not an immediate concern. The BIG problem is going to be getting the tickets to the right people, We have some ideas that I'll keep to myself for now, but there will be disappointment for many people for quite a while i would imagine; there's just no totally fair and workable way of doing it I'm afraid.  Ady & Matt

Thanks for reading Ady. Yep tickets is a good idea and I don't know why I didn't think of it until I'd already posted and then read Jayne's post above. Good luck with whatever decisions you have to make, I don't envy you!

- Kev