GOODWOOD SECTION
NEWSLETTER, FEBRUARY 2009
HELLO, GOODWOOD SECTION MEMBERS. Happy New Year to you all. Settle down with a drink, this is quite a long Newsletter! Just a reminder about communications - You can now reach the website via http://www.aroc-uk.com/goodwood/ and you can contact me on goodwood@aroc-uk.com News And EventsSince I last communicated, we have enjoyed another excellent Christmas Lunch at The Pub with No Name, and thank you Keith for your help with this one. It then seemed a rather long time until we met again, but the turn out for last Thursday's Monthly Meeting, which included the AGM, was rather good. We rattled through the business, and I can report that your committee is happy to serve for another year, although we are always happy to welcome new members. Just to remind you, your committee members are: Keith Goffe - Section Secretary Events for the coming year were discussed, so here are some dates for you: Sunday March 8th - skittles at The Spur at Slindon - booking form at the end of this Newsletter. Other events in the pipeline include an evening of Ten Pin Bowling in Chichester, and our late autumn lunch at Il Palio. Keith will be checking out the new proprietors of The Good Intent in Petersfield in the hope that we can include the ever-popular Bangers and Mash evening in this developing programme. We are always delighted if members come up with ideas for events, so if there is anything you'd like us to try to arrange just let me know. A member has already suggested what might be a fantastic half-day or evening at The Race Centre in Eastleigh - I have visited their website and this certainly looks interesting. Maybe one of you has already been there? I would urge you to have a look at the website, www.driverschallenge.co.uk and let me know what you think. Some other car-related events for your diaries:Keith has received details of this year's calendar for the Goodwood Breakfast Club - full details can be found at http://www.goodwood.com/breakfastclub. Keith has kindly listed them as a Word document so if you'd prefer the information in that format, just let me know. David Hills has kindly pointed out that on May 2nd, (the day before Spring Alfa Day), there is an Auto Italia Italian Car Day at Brooklands. More details on www.auto-italia.co.uk Some (not altogether welcome) news from national AROCYou will probably all have seen the announcement in the January 2009 AROC Newsletter that the AROC bi-monthly newsletter will, from the March 2009 issue, be an "on-line Web-based resource" - in other words it will not arrive with a welcoming thump on your doormat, to be thumbed through, taken in and out of your magazine rack until you've read it all - you'll have to go on line and look for it. This development was first announced in an editorial in the October 2008 AROC Magazine (their other bi-monthly publication). Your committee met in January and we discussed this matter and put together a precis of the views that were expressed (and, of course, made it clear that this was not necessarily the view of the Section or individual Section members). These have been sent to Andrew Brown and here is a copy: Dear Andrew, The Goodwood Section committee met last week, and we discussed the demise of the AROC Newsletter with effect from March 2009. Section members, of course, may respond to you directly, but the following sets out the views of the committee. Assuming the driver for the proposals are the associated costs, and the fact that it is becoming generally accepted that the modern way to communicate is electronically, the committee appreciates the need to consider changes from time to time. However, the first reaction to the proposal was disappointment that a hard copy would not be mailed to members in its current format, as this forms a regular link to members, and provides them with a document that is portable. Our experience is that not all members have internet facilities. and of those that do. there are some who do not regularly use the capability for various reasons and would therefore probably not bother to access the website to view the Newsletter with the consequent loss of readership. Another factor is the potential size of the document to be downloaded, particularly if it contained pictures etc., in particular for those not on broadband. Additionally, if Section Secretaries are to be required to download and distribute the Newsletter to those without computers this would be an added task, and it is difficult enough to find someone willing to undertake this role without adding to it . To be constructive, it is suggested that if the subject matter of the Newsletter is to continue then perhaps we should revert to the time long ago when we only had the bi- monthly Magazine, with the classified adverts being placed on the website to enable them to be more speedily circulated and the magazine expanded to include the Sections News without significantly adding to the production and mailing costs. To maintain membership at an acceptable level clearly a balance has to be made between containing costs/expenses to the subscription, and providing members with the contact they desire and feeling they belong to a club which caters/cares for them. Perhaps our suggestion is worthy of some consideration. Finally, the point was made that the membership would no doubt be seeking reassurance that the Magazine will not also end up as a web-based resource. Thanks and regards, A "policy statement" about this will be made in the February magazine. AROC do seem to be inviting comment, so do please send your views directly to the editor, Andrew Brown. His e-mail address is news@aroc-uk.com Some pictures for you:Just to make sure that we have some pics in this newsletter, I asked Bill to include a couple shots from his recent jolly to the UK Press launch of the new Alfa MiTo. You'll be able to read his impressions of the car in the next AROC magazine. In the meantime here's a photgraphic preview:
Some Section administration!I am creating a new up-to-date Section database, and to this end have already e-mailed out a Membership Form for you all to complete and return to me. They are flowing in nicely but plenty are still missing, so attached to this e-mail is a further copy of the form. I would appreciate you all acting on this one please, thanks in advance. ................................................................................................................................................... BOOKING FORM FOR SUNDAY LUNCH WITH SKITTLES
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