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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Butte de Warlencourt sold?


Skipman

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The Association's objective is ‘to educate the public in the history of the Great War, with particular reference to The Western Front'. While not defined 'the public' surely includes all ages and so going for the youth vote (something DF thinks is wasteful and somehow conflates with the lowest common denominator) as well as the old vote is something that the WFA should be actively doing - and all the votes in between.  

 

 

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2 hours ago, Gareth Davies said:

The Association's objective is ‘to educate the public in the history of the Great War, with particular reference to The Western Front'. While not defined 'the public' surely includes all ages and so going for the youth vote (something DF thinks is wasteful and somehow conflates with the lowest common denominator) as well as the old vote is something that the WFA should be actively doing - and all the votes in between.  

 

 

 

Indeed. The WFA, will of course, need to secure members for the future, if it is to survive.  I doubt the current scandal will help matters though, but perhaps with the publicity it might give the WFA a chance, after a bit of a re-organisation, to reach a wider audience.   

 

I have been following the Social Media accounts etc of various WFA branches for many years now.  There has been some really fantastic and active content from some WFA branches, particularity the Suffolk area who have had a well publicized series of "high profile" events/talks that have had made me very envious indeed. Others have seemed to be non-existent, like my local branch, who it would seem have remained invisible (in comparison) over the Centenary.  

 

It is such a shame that the sale of the Butte-de-Warlencourt has undone all this hard work in a heartbeat and totally shifted the focus.

 

 

*edit for spelling*

Edited by Toby Brayley
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Suffolk WFA = Taff = excellent 

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Not what I am suggesting at all. Members of all ages are welcome and in my brach welcomed. Equallythe WFA has undertaken a great deal of educational work with the young. That we need a membership  of all alges is important  - many organisations sufferi the problem of aging memberships. All are welcome to join - if they are interested in the Great War. But as almost all organisations will confirm youth - with its many other attractions - is rarely a significant or mesuarable core market for those with with specific historical interests.  There are no simple answers to this, or to growth, but with a 6,000 strong membership as a  single subject histrical interest organisiation I think we do pretty well. 

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8 hours ago, David Filsell said:

Not what I am suggesting at all.

 

Really?  How else are we supposed to interpret

 

" The choice of course is for the wasteful urge for the WFA to go for the youth vote. To try to appeal by infantilising its activities and seeking to attract the internet button pressing young. Fact is, the lowest common is not the only denominator and the young have much else to do."

 

I actually thought those words were quite distasteful and unnecessary.

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On 19/11/2018 at 11:19, ss002d6252 said:

 

Annual reports shows membership as:

 

2017 - 6069
2016 - 6271
2015 - 6333
2014 - 6427

 

Craig

Interesting that I have been a member for about 20 years, and my membership number starts with 9!

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On 11/12/2018 at 09:22, towisuk said:

"There is another way of looking at the matter, from the bottom up: the WFA is not recruiting enough younger members"

 

And how would you do this..???   we have WFA branches across Britain, and if the younger generation want to do something else rather to attend meetings, lectures and trips to the battlefields what are you going to do??? 

I have been the treasurer of another club with a totally different hobby for 38 years, and I have noticed the fall in membership even although we do exhibitions, educational courses and are well advertised on the web....  Times change, nothing is forever, and no amount of "wishful thinking" will change that..!!

regards

Tom

One problem with the WFA is that you don't join as a member of a certain branch, but as an individual; then they don't tell the local Branch that you exist.

When I was secretary of the Branch here, I was always getting this. Members would arrive, and after a year or so I would get an irate letter because I hadn't contacted them. My standard reply was always; Apologies, but you weren'r contacted because we didn't know you existed. No one tells us.

Not the most welcoming of greetings for members.

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Hi Healdav

 

I have been in since about 2000 and my membership is 12***, members come and members go, I presume that lower numbers are not reused and new members get the next unused number.

With regards to new members, here in Ireland we get 2/3 updated membership lists a year from which I can then pick out the new members.

 

Regards

 

IanC

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2 hours ago, Ian C said:

Hi Healdav

 

I have been in since about 2000 and my membership is 12***, members come and members go, I presume that lower numbers are not reused and new members get the next unused number.

With regards to new members, here in Ireland we get 2/3 updated membership lists a year from which I can then pick out the new members.

 

Regards

 

IanC 

Maybe they have started telling branches who is in their area. They certainly wedren't when a Branch existed here.

Incidentally, one difficulty is that some of the old members are fixated on the western front from Calais to Ypres and on a bit. In other words, just the British zone.

A few years ago there was an article in Stand To about the Russian front, and there was a flood of complaints. I even got a couple after an article about Luxembourg was published.

As far as I am concerned the name of the association is just that, and not a definitive statement of their only interest (in which case it really ought to be the "British Zone of the WFA").

Equally, there are an awful lot of articles about people who were killed and of whom you have never heard.

And, of course, it is automatically assume that you know intimately the topography of the British zone.

I don't and don't want to. I have enough trouple trying to remember what went on around the Verdun region.

 

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There are legitimate issues being discussed here. There iare no good reasons for the debate to be overheated or to become personal.

 

Keith Roberts

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Certainly no intention on my behalf to appear either overheated or personal, my intention was simply to indicate a realty of marketing -that the youth market is both different to that for Olf Arts, not least it is highly fragmented, and thus particularly hard to define and penetrate by organisations with specific and limited interests. 

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WFA membership??   what is the WFA??  I bet if I asked any of the people I have known or worked with in the last 40 something years , none would know the answer.

Ive never seen advertisements to join or promoting the WFA so how would they be able to recruit new let alone young members. a few men I work with know I visit the Somme area 6 times a year, 2 or 3  have actually mentioned the area, youngest son is the only one likely to want to come over out of 34 of us..

come to think of it , apart from Herman (ex German WW2), Gerry (ex Jap POW), and possibly 2 Italians (POW in England), they are the last of the WW2 that worked with, I doubt , any had much interest in WW1. 

had a discussion with another local motorcycle shop this week,  throw away society, computers, sunny Med holidays, one stop dealers multi brand showrooms all stop customers come to us for repairs. its the same discussion that was made on the British Medal Forum regarding future of collecting possibly also discussed here. I think, if they want information they will look on internet and probably thats as far as they would go. as has been said a few times here, look at the number of new recruits here that either join and dont post or who post a couple of times.

I couldnt see the WFA doing a mail drop to get new blood so, pick a prime time slot and advertise on TV or how about getting local members to have a table at a militaria fair or even possibly a general collectors show, not necessarily any thing military. word of mouth or local WFA meetings are only going to collect those likely to already be semi interested.

new direction/ management needed to advance..

just my two penneth

 

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16 hours ago, chaz said:

pick a prime time slot and advertise on TV or how about getting local members to have a table at a militaria fair

TV advertising is out of the question on the grounds of cost.

 

The WFA already has a presence at some militaria fairs, and also occasionally at BBC "Who do you think you are?" roadshows.

 

Ron

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ok Ron, 

never seen any at Yate over the past 4 years, at least not prominent and dont know anyone who has ever gone to WDYTYA roadshows. this would also apply to the people I work with.

I have been to Classic Bike autojumbles over the last 30 years and there are owners clubs, specialist type clubs, trade stands and specialist contractors. to be honest after purchasing my first trio in 1975 its only the last couple of years Ive been aware of the WFA and thats only on the forum. Ive probably only been on the WFA  web site once or twice, what is there to pull me and others in??  I find human contact , face to face better than internet communication. should I join or not bother , after the goings on recently I doubt I will. I definately would not contribute to join a club then not have a say

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I'm unconvinced about  any commercial advertising. The point has been made already that there are limits to the likely market for an increased membership. We have seen a plethora of Great War conferences  over the last 5 years, and there has been a WFA presence at some, just as many have been held by active WFA branches.  There is of course the snag that many attending do already belong to the WFA, and some have  done so in the past and withdrawn, so the potential market at these events will always be relatively modest, but they still represent the greatest concentration of potential membership and maybe that is something for the Executive to consider next year.  The other area possibly to work on further would be the most popular of our military museums. I maybe visit 2-3 a year, but it is rare to find promotional material for the WFA at these.  I do appreciate that winning their co-operation might not always be easy, and that some are these days incredibly commercial in their approach.

 

I think there is also an argument for events that do have a WFA presence  to have not so just clothing, but old copies of Stand To and the Bulletin to give away to interested non members.  It would be a small thing, but might just help.

 

Finally, I do appreciate that my thoughts above are hardly earth shattering, if increasing the membership significantly really was simple , the present EC would surely have done it already.

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I think there are few things mentioned here - bar television advertising (forget the cost of a quality ad., think of the cost of on air time) that have been employed at sometime or another during my very long period of membership. Does size actually matter?

That  said, for many of us with a real interest it is not simply the size of the organisation but its quality over the years - with, I accept the exception of the mishandling of the Butte sale - it has provided an excellent organisation.

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21 hours ago, keithmroberts said:

The other area possibly to work on further would be the most popular of our military museums. I maybe visit 2-3 a year, but it is rare to find promotional material for the WFA at these.  I do appreciate that winning their co-operation might not always be easy, and that some are these days incredibly commercial in their approach.

 

I think there is also an argument for events that do have a WFA presence  to have not so just clothing, but old copies of Stand To and the Bulletin to give away to interested non members.  It would be a small thing, but might just help.

I have never been a member, partly because my local branch meets on a Sunday, which doesn't suit and partly because the couple of issues of "Stand To" which I have seen had nothing that interested me in them.  I'm sure they were very good and well researched but (like most of this forum) they were not on topics I care about.  I did get into a discussion with a WFA member at a stand at an event who made it quite clear to me that even though he knew I was a historian and wrote articles on the Great War, I wasn't studying it "properly" because I wasn't interested solely in the BEF and the minutiae of the Somme. 

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2 hours ago, Heid the Ba said:

 I did get into a discussion with a WFA member at a stand at an event who made it quite clear to me that even though he knew I was a historian and wrote articles on the Great War, I wasn't studying it "properly" because I wasn't interested solely in the BEF and the minutiae of the Somme. 

 

I think you were unfortunate in your contact. Many branches have significantly wider interests these days, and over the last few years I can recall some fascinating speakers at the Hampshire branch on topics as varied as the war in East Africa, Gallipoli, the Macedonian Campaign and some naval themes to name but a few. I would be genuinely surprised these days if there are many if any branches that limit their meetings to the British sector of the Western Front.

I must admit to flicking through both the Bulletin and Stand To. I probably find a few articles each year that do require my attention, but I always read the book reviews which again often roam further afield.

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Indeed. I have talked at 5 or 6 branches over the past few years and not one of those talks has been about the Western Front.

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1 hour ago, Skipman said:

Time for a re-brand "Great War Association"

 

Mike

Good suggestion, I can't see that being a bad thing Mike, it may help open it up a bit.


Craig

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As I said a few posts back, the Association's objective is ‘to educate the public in the history of the Great War, with particular reference to The Western Front'.  That covers all theatres of the war as well as non-fighting aspects and the home front (and not doubt countless other categories that I can't think of right now).  

 

Does it achieve its objective? 

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Hmmm. This discussion goes back a long long way. I seem to recall that it was the Western Front and no other back in the day (e.g. for articles in Stand To! etc). Gradually that has slipped and articles on other areas came into Stand To! and in talks and so forth. On the other hand, there are also well established Associations, some considerably older: e.g. Gallipoli. Personally I see no reason for a name change but, equally, I do not see why other interest areas, particularly at branch meetings, should not be covered (as indeed they are and have been for many years). But the  Western Front is the focus of the Association and to tinker with that too much would not be sensible, IMHO.

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