Sept. 18, 2001, 3:47 p.m. (Message 27407, in reply to message 27394)
To pick up on a couple of Malcolm's earlier comments - I don't think the discussion of restructuring the Society for the future should always get bogged down over the cost of sending out books and bulletins. I, for one, have never used the dance instruction books which are sent - I wouldn't bring myself to actually throw them away, but they are stuffed at the back of cupboards and I would prefer not to receive them at all. NB I'm just a dancer not a teacher so I don't feel I need my own full copy of dance instructions (especially with music which I can't play!). Also, I hardly do more than flip through the bulletin when it arrives - in fact, this List is a far better source of fuller and more up-to-date information anyway. So, I would prefer not to receive the bulletin either, but to have its contents available on the RSCDS website where I would be able to refer to it but it isn't cluttering up my house. The same would go for HQ Newsbriefs. So there's some costs saved straight away. Even at present membership rates, HQ could still have the same amount of money from me and I wouldn't have lost anything I wanted in the first place! Perhaps I'm not representative, I expect you'll all tell me so! Malcolm's cost-saving suggestions mostly seem common-sense and presumably can be applied whatever the new management structure looks like - indeed, why haven't they been applied before now? I would argue with one, however... Doesn't experience suggest that adding an extra (regional) layer of bureaucracy would have quite the opposite of a cost-saving effect? I would support Andrew's outline of the Bristol Branch motion for the AGM as a way forward for managing the RSCDS. I think we should bite the bullet now instead of trying some form of compromise/deferring tactic for a few years, during which things may get steadily worse. Best regards, Jan Beaconsfield, UK RSCDS London Branch