Club Display...

Hi Guys.

I'm sticking my neck out here, but I'll say what I have to say anyhow.

I thought the club display at Stamford Hall did very little to promote the club to potential members. For a start, why the hell was ther a mk2 golf and a splitty on the stand???

Secondly, the presentation of the cars left a bit to be desired, no one looked to have preped thier car to "show standard", a bit of tyre shine and back to black wouldn't have gone a miss  8O

I also found the lack of promotional flyers to be odd and the members on the stand were all sat in a big group and seemed unapproachable.

This is meant to be a constuctive, not a dig at anyone.

Also, before you all start to slate me for this post, I need to give you a bit of background. In the late 90's I had a pug 309 GTI and was group leader for the yorkshire group of the Peugeot Sport Club. There was always an internal show and shine within the club at shows and all the cars were as well presented as possible, many of them had a few menbership forms under the wiper/bonnet. This increased club membership.

As for the "show standard" I refer to, I also have a reasonable knowledge of this, the Pug was a in regular attendance at shows up and down the uk, resulting in a full on magazine feature in revs magazine in early 1998. A few years later my MK3 GTI won the standard/slightly modified class at the Elsecar Mega meet. Although It seems a bit exessive, all 3 of our cars are upto show standard on the out side, although the golf is still very rough at present.

I guess I'm just trying to say I'm a bit dissapointed with the club.

Sure I'll get a lot of flack for this, but, it needed to be said!  

It was a club display, not show and shine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I suppose the 5 hours I spent cleaning my daily went to waste then.

I think you will find that it you actually join in and are part of the stand things are very different when you get to know everyone.

It is quite daunting approaching a big group of people that you don't know, but I went to the AGM on my own and have never looked back.

I had a fantastic time and everyone is very friendly. It was only my second time as part of a club display, first time at Stanford.

It's quite sad that you feel this way.

Maybe when a new Events organiser is appointed (I stood down 3 weeks ago) someone may fancy organising show stands in the way you feel is the correct manner.

99% of members who attend the shows on club stands enjoy themselves and that is the reason I did them, my priority for a club stand has been to enjoy the day, whether or not anyone else outside the display thinks differently is secondary.

I do not expect cars on display to be of "show standard" it wouldn't be half the fun it has been over the years.  

Normally I would have a bit of promotional stuff, but being as this is one of my last shows, I hadn't anything to put out.

Your entitled to your opinion, but it wont change how I do/did events…no regrets  :wink:

It was a club display, not show and shine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :roll:  :roll:

i also spent hours on saturday cleaning my car, but car being black attracted loads of dust from the road in the middle :evil:

anyway pics of my car from the show



a few pictures from the show, we had loads of people coming on our stand

if you only allowed "Show" standard car on the stand very few ould turn up as people always think their can't arn't up to standard

it is a good job the diesel didn't make it as that, is very tatty and rough

gammy has improved shows massively and they have grown to a point where he is having to ask other clubs if we can have there space as well

I think theres 2 ways you can look at this.

1) Everyone could spend hours at the show prepping there car (yes it can be done at home but will get dirty / dusty on the way) but everyone will be to busy to chat to the public to promote the club and push us forward.

2) Everyone can spend a little bit of time cleaning the cars to get them looking good, which leaves more time to chat to people and maybe get more members on here. That way the overall image of the club is a good one.

I would go for the 2nd option (just my opinion)

If it was a show and shine it would be different.

I think to suggest a club stand should only have "show standard" cars on it is not the way forward as to maintain a car to "show standard" would require it to live most of it's life in the garage and not driven in my opinion that is wrong. Club stands should have a good cross section of dailys and not so dailys. As to why there was a Mk2 and a splitty on a Mk1 OC stand as asked seems to be being side stepped?

stanford hall was so popular that gammy asked from space from the stand next door

maybe these were the overflow from the stand that were kind enough to give us more space

i really can't see a problem with it

this club is a very friendly one and as a result the stand fill up very quick. there is no snobbery, everyone and there car are welcomed with open arms

the way it should be!!

Some pics of my dusty car too!

Small number of points that I could make;

I prefer to see a wide spectrum of MK1 types and in various conditions. If anything there were too many nice cars! At the NEC Classic shows a few years ago one of the biggest draws onto the stand was a beat up old S1 5 door that people were encouraged to get aboard and play with the switches etc.  The BBQ is that sort of draw for open air events like Stanford.

It is 'people car' and some roped off highly polished garage ornaments wouldn't really feel right.

The cars I saw all looked like they had been cleaned and spruced up.

Shows are a social event for club members and must be fun and enjoyable, that's one of the main features of the MK1 Owners Club.


Areas for possible improvement;

Members attending taking it in turns to 'meet and greet' people that wander around showing an interest, just convert a few per show to signed up members and the benefit to the club will be immense .

Don't huddle together. You know each other and think it's OK but to outsiders may come across as a bit cliquey. I know this is difficult gathered around a BBQ/tent chatting but the above would resolve it.

Have some publicity material readily available so that even passersby that don't want to stop and chat have something to take away, a small calling card type thing would be fine.

That'll be it then with regards to the Mk2 and the splitty, there is nothing better than a restored/customised/knackered Mk1 being used as it was intended - DRIVEN!!!! See you at the shows, when i get a trailer to put my Mk1 onto  :mrgreen:  joking!!!

As was said, the Splitty and the MK2 Golf at the front left side of the club area belonged to Potters VW, through a little bit of negotiating between myself and Potters VW, they agreed to ask for 10 passes for their club (they only wanted 3 passes), then by talking to Paul Riley the organiser of the show and repaying them with 8 bottles of Cider  :mrgreen: they arranged it so both clubs were side by side and thus as soon as we arrived, the ticker tape divider was removed to give us the large area that we had.  Obviously as part of the deal it was only right that Potters VW had their 2 cars at the front of their side of the stand, we in return got a great pitch, twice the size of normal and a lot more mk1's on the stand………… the club does not pay for the events it comes out of mine and everyone who attends also pays towards it in some way, whether it be BBQ, food, cakes, tea, coffee etc it all comes out of the pockets of those on display.

If you approach anyone on a club stand about their MK1, they are all happy to tell you what they can, they are approachable people.

I've never set up a stand and then got a rota out and said to people, that I expect them to sit around generating memberships, it's cost them enough money to go for the day, my opinion is either people like what they see or they dont  :dontknow:

You will always find the chairs in a circle, but how else can you talk to someone when your having a bbq or a brew, also those attending yesterday and other shows are forever answering questions or chatting to people about their cars or the club, there is only so much you can do before attending a club stand becomes a job rather than a day out  8)

chris-h said

Hi Guys.

I'm sticking my neck out here, but I'll say what I have to say anyhow.

I thought the club display at Stamford Hall did very little to promote the club to potential members. For a start, why the hell was ther a mk2 golf and a splitty on the stand???

Secondly, the presentation of the cars left a bit to be desired, no one looked to have preped thier car to "show standard", a bit of tyre shine and back to black wouldn't have gone a miss  8O

I also found the lack of promotional flyers to be odd and the members on the stand were all sat in a big group and seemed unapproachable.

This is meant to be a constuctive, not a dig at anyone.

Also, before you all start to slate me for this post, I need to give you a bit of background. In the late 90's I had a pug 309 GTI and was group leader for the yorkshire group of the Peugeot Sport Club. There was always an internal show and shine within the club at shows and all the cars were as well presented as possible, many of them had a few menbership forms under the wiper/bonnet. This increased club membership.

As for the "show standard" I refer to, I also have a reasonable knowledge of this, the Pug was a in regular attendance at shows up and down the uk, resulting in a full on magazine feature in revs magazine in early 1998. A few years later my MK3 GTI won the standard/slightly modified class at the Elsecar Mega meet. Although It seems a bit exessive, all 3 of our cars are upto show standard on the out side, although the golf is still very rough at present.

I guess I'm just trying to say I'm a bit dissapointed with the club.

Sure I'll get a lot of flack for this, but, it needed to be said!  

Firstly, thanks for having the balls to stand up for your opinion. Nobody should shoot you down for that even if they disagree.

You've made some interesting points here and I'd like to address one or two, nothing special but I think they deserve a response.

Yes you're right it can be off putting, seeing a bunch of people standing around chatting in a huddle. What we do about that is difficult to say though. I suppose it's your call to be a little less shy and just walk up.

Yes we could have Members patrolling the stand and we do at more formal shows such as the NEC in November. This however is less formal and it wouldn't be appropriate.

Basically people come to these shows to get together and have a chat and a laugh. What you probably saw was a group of people doing just that, having a laugh. Next time go up and introduce yourself mate. Ask about a car or blag a coffee!

The standard of cars we have is broad. This is a GOOD thing. In being open to all we encourage a more friendly atmosphere and make ourselves more approachable. This is what you're after isn't it? Yes again, some shows demand an exacting standard of car and for these we ask owners to respect the organisers wishes and only display concourse level cars. Again this was a less formal show so cars were prepared the day before then driven to the show and finally given a once over on arrival.

Information availability at shows is a good point. We used to have a merchandise and info available at shows and we have been less than proactive on this. We are recruiting a new Merchandise Manager though and I know with his hard work and enthusiasm this will change.

The shows we attend are many and varied. Events take place all over the country and organising them is time consuming and a labour of love. Warren has been at the head of this for over a year now and in my opinion he's done an amazing job. Thing's aren't always perfect but neither is he. He is however a top man and a hard working member of the Committee who goes about his club business without a moan or complaint. You'll never see him standing around with his thumb up his butt neither will you see him waiting for praise.

Like he says, he's stepping down and this is a massive shame. If however you think you have what it takes to fill his shoes and perhaps improve on his performance then please let us know. We are always in the market for new blood with fresh ideas. Trouble is when push comes to shove they tend to fade into the background.

Constructive criticism is great and I appreciate you're entitled to it and that's great, you even have one or two good points but help is where it counts, putting in the hours, calling around, posting up events and getting people interested. Turning up, stetting up, geeing people up on the day, making sure we have tea and coffee. All the thing that go to make a successful show.

Sorry, I'm rambling on, I'm not having a go at you or defending Warren. He's big enough to defend himself but I just don't thing the average Member (and as I don't know you I'll err on average, no offense) realises just what goes in to keeping this place going. It's easy or perhaps too easy to find fault but the act of doing is much, much harder.

Oh and as a side issue, we've won 'Best Stand' at more shows than I can remember so we must be doing something right.

Once again, sorry for going on……..

T :wink:

Looks like we have a volunteer for the next events manager?

well tbh and no offence to chris_h but in my opinion if the stands start going into the way he thinks they should be there will be nothing to manage .. some points taken though

chris-h said

Secondly, the presentation of the cars left a bit to be desired, no one looked to have preped thier car to "show standard", a bit of tyre shine and back to black wouldn't have gone a miss

I think that you are missing the point of MK1 Golf Ownership and why most of us on here attend the various shows, it is for the love of the MK1 and to catch up with old friends and meet new people with the same fondness…

Well i feel great now.  Not.   :cry:

GHIA said

Well i feel great now.  Not.   :cry:

Oh have another glass of wine.

T :mrgreen:

R u buying?????  Seriously though mega flowered off about critism of our cars.  We try our best. :dontknow:

GHIA said

R u buying?????  Seriously though mega flowered off about critism of our cars.  We try our best. :dontknow:

Your car looked lovely Hazel  

If you'd not shot by like Nigel Mansell, this was my favourite photo, and just managed to get Daz's in the mirror  :wink: