Just to chuck in my 2 cents...
I don't think changing the night will do an awful lot other than make people have to remember a different day. All the time I've been in the renegades, it's been on a Tuesday and it did used to be a lot more fun. I did put my vote as to change the night, but that was based on no kids and it was closer to the weekend. If Thursdays are a cheap curry night, as Pete has pointed out, then there would be no advantage to changing the night.
I think it has become more about a social thing rather than a car club, I mean it took a couple of months before we started cruising at club nights this year. We had some beautiful dry evenings and people were turning up in their daily drivers (which is fine if your daily driver is a yank or a classic, but not if its a regular car). With regards to cruises, some people were saying we always just do the same ole route down to Southsea, so it gets boring. Paul has tried to get people to do more with the treasure hunts and cruises to other places, but he usually just gets met with "that's a bit far for a cruise", or "we live in the other direction". I think we should cruise to different places, maybe alternate longer cruises and shorter ones, so the people who are lower on fuel still get to cruise every other club night. It would just be more interesting to go to different places, and enjoy our cars, which isn't that one of the main points of a car club?
We haven't done as much this year. I'm not putting any of this on Tracey, as she has had plenty on here plate with Kaan, but there's no reason we couldn't have organised other things, and I'm as much to blame as the rest of us. Sarah did a great job with the end of season show. I know that Matt did the Beach Buggin' thing, and was a great success; but, to me that wasn't a renegades show. The show that we did at the fort was, a great event, and we had plenty of ideas to make things bigger, better, and run smoother the following year. That didn't happen because of refurbishments in the fort, and this year was Beach Buggin'. I don't want it to sound like I'm taking anything away from what Matt did, but I know that he wanted to do the fort show too, but at the club meeting was met with indifference and a lot of people that couldn't be bothered. Matt made the best out of the situation, but it should never have been called our summer show, it wasn't.
Personally, I think some of the problems come from there not being as much structure anymore. I'm not saying that the club needs a chairperson again, but a spokesperson and someone to direct meetings, I think, would be of benefit. Having somewhere quieter for the meetings would also be good and it's too damn loud to hear anything and contribute effectively. There should be a time in each meeting to discuss things to do, to give ideas, and encourage people to be more proactive, rather than just a list of what is on and people's birthdays.
I do think there needs to be a bit of a shake-up, but I think this needs to come from people wanting to be more involved rather than a change of days. I think it's a bit naive to think that just by changing the night it'll improve anything.
BTW, wasn't there last night as I was working late. Some of you may have heard a purple chevy tiptoeing past at about 8:30
