I recently attended the National LDWA AGM at Harrogate. As some of you may be aware, Steph Carter had volunteered to take on the mammoth task of Membership Secretary from Claire Duncan . As he explains in his presentation attached, currently he is spending ~ 20 hours a week managing the membership register and collection of fees. This task is made significantly more time consuming and onerous because more than 1000 members still prefer to pay their annual membership by cheque or credit card rather than by Direct Debit. His presentation will detail this time consuming task far better than me so please take the time to read it.
If you are a member who prefers to pay by cheque or credit card, the National Committee have requested that you reconsider and if at all possible switch to Direct Debit payment, thereby freeing up valuable time for this voluntary position.
If the situation does not improve, National may have to look into outsourcing Membership which would be expensive to implement and may also have limitations for members.
