Fell Ponies??

[QUOTE=FellMonster;85752]
On a personal level, and Im sure most ponies would back me up on this, we wanted to avoid all that bollocks.

Fell monster perfectly put, i back you 100% with your statement

Well said Fellmonster.

I once took on the job as secretary of my rugby club (No one else would do it) and I couldn't believe the crap that you had to deal with to comply with this that and the other regulation. I got out as soon as I could but it left me with immense admiration for anyone who does such a job and sticks with it.

Mind you in some sports where there isn't much regulation or money involved you can get by with just paying lip service to whoever your "establishment" is. We had a small climbing club once and we affiliated to the BMC. We modified a copy of someone else's constitution, AGMs took 10 minutes before beer took over the evening and subs were only ever to cover the cost of affiliation, usually about £2.50 each.

If Bowland can charge £6 and others charge £30 then surely the latter must be offering more benefits to their members and their members must be happy with this?

Perhaps the bottom line is that some people prefer highly organised clubs and some prefer the opposite. There should be plenty of room for both.

Sorry, that went on longer than I intended!

Good reply... you must have experienced some pretty big and formal clubs.

My personal experience of my own (traditional , affilliated!!) relatively small club - Ambleside AC- has been nothing but positive. Although we do have an AGM, it never lasts longer than an hour and this is our only meeting of the year. Although our treasurer is on the ball, our secretary's only job is to bin all the post that comes our way other than the London entries!! Most decisions in our club happen informally over a drink in the pub after club nights. It costs £10 a year to join and this goes towards paying a donation to the rugby club we use as a base for training nights in winter -pretty good value really.

As a club we have organised the British Relays in langdale and organise a selection of races that thousands of people enjoy every year, as well as supporting Broughton Runners, a junior club with links to ourselves - certainly a club that gives something back to the sport (like nearly all do!)

All our runners don't train together but there are regularly 10-20 there on club training nights which are as fast or slow as anyone wants to go. I've made some great friends through running and racing with others in the same club and can't imagine running and not being in a club. But then everyone is different.

Talk of "all that bollocks, pointless politics, time wasting, arm twisting and power struggles" is not my experience at all.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by old un

i thought the ponies were

A, the anarchists/misfits that other clubs did'nt want.
B, too tight to pay club fees.
C, no one could be arsed to treasurer so we dont have fees.
D, and didnt want to give self appointed jobsworth little shits the power to hassle you into running races what they want and all that bollocks like my local club.

thats why i joined , and to frolic and run free on all fours (well at pendle in parts anyway) and i thought we'd have to wear bridals too,a bit disappointed about that bit. :D

---

Well done Old Un.....you summed it up perfectly! If we were to have a written constitution (we never will) that would do nicely:D

In the interests of fair play i feel i should declare that i was once Chairman of the PTA at my kids school though in my defence i would like to point out that my appointment was a great disappointment for the for the school:cool:

Actually the more i think about it, maybe we should have titles? I may style myself "Captain" and ask the Ponies to subscribe £2 a year to get myself a fancy outfit with gold tassles and epaulettes

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Master

In the interests of fair play i feel i should declare that i was once Chairman of the PTA at my kids school though in my defence i would like to point out that my appointment was a great disappointment for the for the school:cool:

Actually the more i think about it, maybe we should have titles? I may style myself "Captain" and ask the Ponies to subscribe £2 a year to get myself a fancy outfit with gold tassles and epaulettes

---

Oh Please please please please can i be the ships fool! or a parrot
i will pay 20 p to be a fool and 5 p to have a sorry, be a bird!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dux de lux

I'm honestly not fishing for an argument but the 'ponies' club has been set up as a club with a difference.

No fuss, no fees, no rules..... but is the real difference that you dont want to affiliate to UKA and its rules?:)

---

The Ponies started out as a bit of a laugh and i honestly dont see why we should change from that. The fact that there are now 40 of us just makes it more fun and thats what running up and down hills should be....fun.

Anything that detracts from that is an unnecessary complication and affiliating to UKA is definitely on that list....;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Amex

Oh Please please please please can i be the ships fool! or a parrot
i will pay 20 p to be a fool and 5 p to have a sorry, be a bird!!

---

Its £2 or you're out Amex!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Master

In the interests of fair play i feel i should declare that i was once Chairman of the PTA at my kids school though in my defence i would like to point out that my appointment was a great disappointment for the for the school:cool:

Actually the more i think about it, maybe we should have titles? I may style myself "Captain" and ask the Ponies to subscribe £2 a year to get myself a fancy outfit with gold tassles and epaulettes

---

i'd gladly pay £2 to see that on the fells :)...............dont forget the monacle

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by old un

i'd gladly pay £2 to see that on the fells :)...............dont forget the monacle

---

Always comes back to fancy dress doesnt it? that just about sums us up:D