We are sure you all know that since our return from lockdown the club has been running at a weekly loss.
We have lost more than £2,200.00 that is more than half of our reserves.
Last year we started to address this by increasing the weekly fees by £1.00.
We knew that this did not cover the losses but hoped that we could attract more new members but this did not happen, in fact we lost more members than we gained, but we did reduce our loss.
This would have been much higher if we had not had the meetings in the garden room.
The problem facing the Committee was to ensure enough money came in each year to cover expe We based these proposals on all of our meetings being in the upstairs dining room, which would mean we were covering the more expensive options and this is where we will need to be as our membership increases.
Total annual costs
Weekly cost for the room and all coffees £135.00 + average cost of speakers £35.00
making a total weekly cost of £170.00 for each of our 35 meetings and a total annual cost of £5,950. We have 31 active members so dividing the total cost by the number of members gives an annual cost of £190.00 / member.
At the committee meeting it was recommended that all members be asked to make a one off ann payment of this amount.
At the moment any member that attends 30 of our 35 meetings pays £180.00 each year
So this is not a big increase for members who attend regularly.
In fact it is less than 2 people going out for a nice meal 4 times and for that amount you are able to attend and enjoy 35 Probus meetings with your friends have your coffee and be entertained by an speaker.
We do realise that some members may not wish to do this and other arrangements can be made paying in installments or paying weekly with a much higher annual fee. Details of this to be left to new Committee in the Summer.
We also realise that prospective members will need time to decide whether or not to join and so weekly fee could also be charged for them.
If all members decided to pay a 1 off payment it would make the treasurer’s job much easier.
Please give all this some thought and it will be put to members at the AGM after the main meeting on May 31st.
When I first heard this proposal, I thought that it would not work but time has made me realise it is the best way to provide a more stable and predictable financial position for the club.
Paignton Probus Club 