Re: New UK SIG Group

"Ken Duffey" wrote

> Don't get me wrong - I have the same beefs about IPMS as the rest of you
> (especially following the debacle over my membership renewal).

That sounds familiar....

> But surely Steve, if you weren't an IPMS member, could you still have had
a
> stand at SMW ?? (do they allow non-IPMS club/SIG stands ??)

I quite agree Ken, I have been a member for over 20 years now and intend to
be in the future, hardly feasible to have a SIG run by a non-member! I also
agree regarding the stand, it's well worth the extra ?4 (over the entry fee)
to have that facility and I wouldn't change that for a second.
>
> I consider that to be about the only benefit of being an IPMS member to
me - I
> belong to IPMS, so I also belong to the Soviet A/C SIG, so we have a stand
at
> the Nats, so I have free entry and a place to base myself over the 2+ days
of
> SMW.

I totally agree with the above statement.
>
> Although, had they continued with the policy of charging members this
year - as
> in the past 2 years - I would have seriously considered not going. Why I
had to
> pay to get in when I was providing (in our own small way) one of the
> attractions, was beyond me........

Again, I whole heartedly agree, I voiced my objections regarding the charge
the moment they brought it in, they could have saved that money by paying
for their own bloody hotel rooms (as the rest of us do) and not forced us to
pay for the privilege of actually making the show what it is, after all who
would go to a show consisting of only traders?

My original point was why are SIG's treated differently from Branches? If a
Branch can consist of only 5 IPMS members why can this not be extended to
SIG's? It is simply not possible, or feasible, for me to physically check
every SIG members IPMS number, esp. the overseas ones. I'm quite sure every
SIG has a share of non IPMS members, it's simply unrealistic to force us to
do otherwise. A point in case is that we have one particular member who is
very active in the SIG (articles, photos, models, etc etc) but when he
joined the SIG he was not an IPMS member, by joining the SIG he found out
more about the IPMS itself and duly joined that too. The point is he would
have been lost to the IPMS had he not joined the SIG, and he wouldn't have
joined the SIG had he been forced into IPMS membership in the first place!

Steve Hubbard, IPMS (UK) FAA SIG Leader

IPMS (UK) Fleet Air Arm SIG.
http://faasig.netfirms.com/

Flights Of Fantasy Scale Aircraft.
http://flightsoffantasy.netfirms.com

South London Scale Model Club
http://slsmc.netfirms.com