I have been secretary since 2009 and I have had to put up with much moaning from some amateurs on the island on how the club is not as good as it could be.
Based on some negative comments yet again recieved about our lack of an internet presence and treatment of some amateurs web sites I have taken the decision to write the below…..
The current IOMARS committee have in my opinion had a hell of a time with a minority of people (both current and ex members) bad mouthing everything they do. Usually (in my experience) the worst detractors are older (in age) and often once held a committee position.
If we turn the clock back to the AGM of 2009 none of the detractors who are members wanted to help run and steer the society, since that date the committee has been re elected because no one else has offered their time.
As the new committee in 2009/10 we discovered the www was littered with web sites about the society, some proclaiming to be official Isle of Man amateur radio society sites and others just giving contact details for the club. All were incorrect in detail, giving obsolete email addresses and in one case listing a deceased committee member. This came to a head when amateurs from another country got the wrong contact details for the society from an incorrect web page, in a nutshell they thought we were ignoring them. We were not, they had simply sent mail to an obsolete address once owned by a long resigned committee member.
As the IOMARS secretary I was tasked with getting these web sites updated. Some had no current ‘owner’ and in these cases I had to apply to the web company to have the site concerned deleted. Other cases had old incorrect details on them but their ‘owners’ identity was known, they were contacted and asked to keep their web page up-to-date or remove reference to the IOMARS altogether to stop confusion.
After that we had a problem with the original http://iomars.blogspot.com run by another ex committee member. Simply put the ‘owner’ insisted on editorial rights on that blog and had edited official IOMARS information changing it’s meaning as he did not agree with it. The IOMARS committee could not accept that and the new blog http://iomars.wordpress.com was started.
Hope that clarifies the matter, moan over. If you want to discuss this I am in the phone book.
PS the AGM is on December 11th 2012. You can always offer yourself for election.
regards Andy
GD1MIP
Reblogged this on 2d0ylx and commented:
My sentiments exactly! If the moaners don’t like the way that IOMARS is being run then either speak up and help sort out the problems, or vote with your feet!
I am one of the older hams on the Island and have listened to all the moans and groans – This is one of the older societies in the UK overall and I feel we should forget all the differences we’ve had in the past and band together to preserve the society in its current form.
If members/non-members have feelings why this should/not happen Either appear at the AGM with your membership card and vote – or please desist as it makes us al look like a bunch of kids moaning about the ball thats been taken in by one of the other kids.
Support or desist – Its better overall and allow us to make competent decisions about what goes on here. We are small in numbers and we need to be cohesive and forward looking.
If any of the non members wish to voice their opinions Please email me GD6ICR at Manx . (you know it by now) and I will bring these comments logically and succinctly to the committee acting on your behalf – I will be as impartial as I can be as I was a committee member in the early 90’s and found most of the petty complaints were the same then – But I will bring them forward no matter how trivial they are.
Thanks in anticipation
Mike
Please pass this on to anyone who does not read the ‘official’ blog
Interesting comments from the secretary and even more so from the Chairman 2D0YLX who I remember attempted to expunge an older member unilaterally from the club after the last AGM.
I seems, I feel, that if the committee (and do I mean all the committee !) does not agree with some of the membership’s comments then they are as described above and quoted here………..If the moaners don’t like the way that IOMARS is being run then either speak up and help sort out the problems, or vote with your feet! this is the Chairmans view…..And, the members have voted with their FEET.
The secretary states…Usually (in my experience) the worst detractors are older (in age) and often once held a committee position.
I resigned from the committee because I was not happy with the treatment of an “OLDER” member. I am an older member 62.
One day all the older members will be gone.
Finally, I would invite the current Chair to resign forthwith from the committee and the committee to appoint a holding chair until the AGM or if enough members decided to hold an “Emergency” AGM.
At present I think it would require only about ten members to affect this – now this is democracy at work.
A small quote….
There was no respect for youth when I was young, and now that I am old, there is no respect for age – I missed it coming and going. ~J.B. Priestly
Morgan
MD0DXW
(specifically to W Morgan G, but not all points may be covered as I have just spent another whole day building our mobile shack)
Morgan. I am happy to answer this as myself. So please no one later quote it as ‘the committee’.
People will remember that one of the reasons that use of the old blog was discontinued by the IOMARS was because one person edited it if he did not like what was posted. Here things are different, everyone can express an opinion as long as its reasonable, not offensive etc, even if the committee don’t like it.
I do not invite the chair to resign. Hes done a good job and I support him. I am not going to discuss this ‘older person’ as you describe him, I think I know who you mean and it’s not appropriate here. But if members don’t like what’s going on a mechanism exists to voice their concerns. Some would do well in my opinion to start their complaining by being active members (abilities considered).
You say one day all the older members will be gone, Well thats true. which ever way you meant it.
Now remember I got voted in as secretary as no one else would do it, just like the rest of the committee including you at the time. I have done my best for this society, as have the rest of the committee. We try to get people interested and get events off the ground. But sadly only the same old faces turn up. I agree with the chair when he says people should speak up, help etc, because in my opinion they should.
Remember you were present when I attended the cafe and got the cold shoulder by some (well quite a few really) a disapointing reaction I felt. I have never done anything but try to help and the constant moaning of, ‘it’s not like it used to be’ is quite saddening. Any person can have my secretaries post at the next AGM. But they will have to offer to do it.
Now a quote from me….. (by me) ‘I have loads of respect for age. But I do not respect an old person who behaves like a toddler’ And believe me as secretary I have had some pretty bizzarre phone calls and conversations from some members and non members.
And finally you say ‘or if enough members decided to hold an “Emergency” AGM. At present I think it would require only about ten members to affect this – now this is democracy at work’.
Well you know what to do if you feel that strongly about it.
Andy
Harry Blackburn MD0HEB (ex treasurer) has emailed the below to me. It its reproduced unedited / exactly as he sent it.
Hi andy like this to go on iomars blog site. Thanks
——————————————————————————–
Kindest regards
.Harry Bb. MD0 HEB
When hitting at the oldies what the Secretary and Chairman have done is just highlight their lack of understanding. Two years ago the current committee members said on air on several occasions they wanted to “sweep the past under the carpet”.
These comments plus others resulted in sweeping the future under the carpet.
The men that started up IOMARS some thirty years ago were at that time in their, 30, 40 and 50 years of age and a couple in their 20’s; these men that the current committee are criticising are these same men! No wonder they don’t want to continue with this clique that has failed to communicate with them
The most important point that has been overlooked by this current committee is; all these so called oldies were loyal to the IOMARS.
The current committee has failed to recognise this.
Kindest regards
Harry Bb. MD0 HEB.
Harry, I am happy to answer this as myself again, as a member of the IOMARS. So please no one later quote it as ‘the committee’.
Firstly when I say I want to put these issues in the past, it is because that is where they should stay in my opinion, perhaps under the carpet is a poor choice of phrase but it really is too late to change the mistakes of the past. We should work together for the present and the future.
If ‘you’ (read any person) had a disagreement with another amateur in past years forget it and move on. It was and is not the current IOMARS’s fault.
The IOMARS has been up and running for at least 64 years, not thirty, it was incorporated into the RSGB in 1948. So I do not feel I am criticising these people when I made my comments about some older in age members.
I was first licenced in 1984, getting on for 28 years by my reckoning. So it would seem I am an old timer by some peoples reckoning.
Now I do recognise loyalty, some of our most loyal members are the oldest both in life and amateur age. But I stand by my earlier comment of…. ‘a minority of people (both current and ex members) bad mouthing everything they do. Usually (in my experience) the worst detractors are older (in age) and often once held a committee position’. I can state this as I am the one usually getting the complaints in my role as secretary, so I know who I speak to.
Enjoy your day everyone.
Andy Morgan GD1MIP
Well, this has got the flavour of just going round the houses a lot of this “AGE” and “OLDER MEMBERS OFTEN EX-COMMITTE MEMBERS” fiasco will not stop until this prescient chairman Dave CAIN 2D0YLX who in fact precipitated this current unrest by attempting to expunge an OLDER Member RESIGNS Immediately.
Morgan
MD0DXW
In the wordsof Mark Twain…
“It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either.”
I will not be drawn into an arguement on a public forum about a matter which was discussed at length at an IOMARS Committee Meeting, with all members present and voted and acted upon accordingly. This matter was concluded and closed.
Morgan – your resignation from the committee came shortly after the meeting and to this date you chosen not to speak to me either in person, on the radio or the telephone. Your choice, not mine.
The “fiasco” only seems to be a problem for one person, unfortunately, that just happens to be you. I do not have a problem with any of our members or non members of the Society, and have openly stated this on several occassions. My views are MY views, and you and many others know I am not afraid to view my thoughts publicly.
Dave Cain 2D0YLX
Well, Dave you state that you will not be drawn – but that in actual fact, is just what you have done.
I am rather curious as to why you think I have “chosen not to speak to you on the radio in person or on the telephone”
You chose to blank me the Wednesday following the committee meeting. Where it was agreed that an apology should be sent to the member in question following your actions.
I use the radio very in-frequently and when I do its at times when you would be at work,
I do not attend club evenings – thus the chances of personal contact between us are nil, and as for the telephone, well, that works two ways.
Your quote…”The “fiasco” only seems to be a problem for one person, unfortunately, that just happens to be you.” It would be a simple matter if it were so – you are by that statement attempting to “Blame Shift”. Hence the falling numbers in membership.
I will use my democratic right not to re-new my membership in December to this club.
Kind regards
Morgan MD0DXW
Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
Mark Twain