Subscription renewals

We in Sutton Coldfield renewing in September reduced our fee from £50 to £35 to reflect some cancellations of lectures, found that we had a very slow response with the result that we ended up in January (reflecting the continuing restrictions) offering a lower fee alternative to those not with online facilities, and an alternative equivalent to the national Supporter Membership option for any who wanted to stay in touch especially for when live lectures might be allowed to restart. However membership has dropped by approx one third. Thanks to the help of two other societies, plus ourselves, we have been able to offer a wide selection of online lectures etc and are very grateful for such help. However now beginning to get worried about what to do with regard to subscription renewals this July/September 2021.

We in Richmond Surrey renewed on 1st July. We are providing a full programme, albeit on Zoom of course, so we kept the subscription at the same £40 as last year.

We have now published some guidance around this subject which may help you with considering what options might work best for you. It would be very useful to know what decisions you make locally.

Whilst advising our members of the third cancelled lecture, we have informed them that, following Committee discussion, we have decided not to refund part of their membership fee for this season (Sept-June), but to put it towards an enhanced programme in the next season. However, if anyone is not happy with this they should contact the Chairperson in confidence and we will refund a third of the fee.

We felt that most of them would support this action and we hope to be able to add at least 2 more lectures to next season, CV permitting.

Pat Pledger

We are in a similar situation with our year ending in July with the AGM, having cancelled 4 of the 10 lectures. At the moment, we are preparing to resume with the first 2020-21 lecture in October, with the AGM held at that meeting. However, I am not confident that we will be able to do this. I also fear that many of our members will not rejoin until they are confident attending a hall with 180 others. Many still do not have access to 'online' content. Delaying the start of the programme is an option, with implications to the budget, membership renewals and fee rebates and a 'gap' in membership of the National Society for receipt of the magazine and other benefits. Guidance would be appreciated for a consistent approach on the issues raised.

Thank you for your message Alison, we are keeping a close eye on developments around the restrictions and how they will affect us and our Societies. As matters develop further the Trustees will develop additional guidance.

Our subscription year runs from January to December but our members might be looking for a pro-rata reduction for 2020. We feel that there has to be a considency of approach among all societies and are therefore looking for positive guidance from Guildford Street once we have a clear idea of the long term restrictions on our membership age group.

Alison Miller The Arts Society Chiswick

Developing guidance and measures to help Societies prepare for the next season is one of our priorities. Our aim is to provide this information in the next Committee ebulletin. Right now we are calling a lot of Societies and are working with Lecturers to explore options for the 2020/21 season to ensure that any guidance we give reflects what Societies need and want. I hear what you are saying about your membership and we are of course taking that into account. Thank you all for posting, it really helps us so we can help you. Stay safe!

We are in a similar position in Eastbourne. Have Guilford House issued any guidance yet? Our renewals usually go out at the end of this month and a lot get paid at the last meeting of the season in May. Our membership is mainly made up of over 70s and we have a real concern that they will not want to sit in a village hall with 150 others for a long time to come.

Hello Jackie. Do get in touch with Katherine Sutton, Education Manager who will be able to provide you with an up-to-date list of all the lecturers who are able to offer their lectures digitally. Katherine's contact details can be found here: https://theartssociety.org/contact Many thanks! Isabel

Hi Richard. I’m hoping to follow your example and offer on-line lectures. I hadn’t thought about an online study day - good point!

Richard, we have a number of members who are not online, so providing online lectures would be of no benefit to them. An added complication !

Our subscriptions run from April to end of March. We only have 5 lectures a year. Our April, May and June lectures have been postponed to 2021 so we have extended this year´s subscription to the end of June 2021 (for the moment). However, this may have to be reviewed as factors unfold relating to restrictions of movement and public gatherings. We are in Menorca and quite a few of our members come and go to and from U.K. They may be unable to get here this year. We just don´t know.

Kington Langley’s subs are also due in July. We have agreed we will reduce the amount as compensation for missed lectures. However, with all the uncertainties surrounding this decision we are yet to agree anything else!

Richard, a difficult question. We are in a fairly similar position, except that our subscription is agreed at our AGM and then collected at our July & October lecture meetings. However with the Covid-19 lockdown, it has meant us having to cancel at least three lecture meetings, one being also our AGM, which leaves us unsure when we will be able to hold our AGM and also what we do about agreeing and collecting our subscriptions. Also unknown is how we budget for costs including the affiliation fee due 1st January 2021; whether we will have to pay costs for cancelled meetings; for how long we, with a mainly more elderly membership, will have to face a lockdown; and whether our members might expect a subscription reduction reflecting the cancelled lecture meetings. Hence a difficult question with no immediate answer to give you.