Club membership fees

[Paul Stewart]

Hi

I'm in the process of forming a new canoe club in West Norfolk. Part of this involves setting fees for club events and annual membership.

I'd be interested to read what other clubs charge for annual membership and what categories they offer, boat hire/usage and the weekly club night or any courses they may run.

Any help appreciated.

[markg]

Hello Paul,
Here are our last years fees, hope this helps, I do know that different clubs have different structures but this seems to work for us. Good luck with the new venture.
Thanks
Mark.
http://www.pendlepaddlers.co.uk/index.php/fees

[sshearing228]

Take a look at ours, Works well, always full and active, the secret to a good active club is the people driving it.... Good luck for the future http://www.adurcanoeclub.org.uk/information/fees.htm

[janet brown]

As a follow-up to Steve's post, Adur CC don't charge any hire fees for use of kayaks or canoes. We have a good range of kayaks including one each of small/medium and large slalom kayaks. Also have paddles, basic cags and BA's people can use.

Janet

[TechnoEngineer]

Typically around £20-£30 per year in the clubs that I'm a member of. One club charges £10 per boat and £5 for all other items that are hired.

Be prepared for a minefield vis-a-vis insurance.

[DaveB]

I guess the biggest issues are the level of planned expenditure you are aiming for and whether you expect to pay expenses to your volunteer coaches/other helpers. Shrewsbury CC has no ambition to own or occupy a club house so our only major spend is on renting the site where our container stands plus kit renewals plus coach development plus BCU affiliation. We never ever run course or pool sessions which will cost the club money (iE if you want a place on the pool sessions or on a course with a bought in instructor you pay up front and then if you drop out at the last minute the Club is not of pocket). We are fortunate to have volunteers giving their time without claiming expenses for travel to sessions etc.

On this basis our membership fee is £15 p.a.(£20 for family membership) and kit hire is £5 for an evening session and £8 for a full day.

[DaveB]

Why "be prepared for a minefield vis a vis insurance"? Affiliating to the Union is easy and seems reasonable value for money. Do other clubs insure kit/public liability in the open market on a cheaper basis tha offered through the Union?

[Adrian Cooper]

£42 adults, £23 children, £19 boat storage. No charge for borrowing any of our extensive range of equipment. Actually, once you have paid your membership, you need not pay anything else to get you on the water.

We are BCU afilliated which insures all members and we carry further insurance for our clubhouse and club equipment.

[nutterboy]

per year: adult £40, junior £20, family £65

no charge for use of kit at pool or on the loch or river and no charge to get on the water except for entry to the pool for weekly pool sessions (not paid to the club but to the pool)

[Jon_Brown]

Bath- £40 adults, £20 U18s, £15 boat storage. No charge for borrowing any kit or use of pool (a 1.5 hour session every week). Membership usually sits at about 250.

[Yew]

My club is £95, £70 for membership, and £25 for club kit/personal boat storage

No fees for sessions, apart from those in a pool at £5, that only run in winter

[conoroneill]

Bristol Canoe Club. http://www.bristolcanoeclub.org.uk/general-information/

£30 adult membership. Pool sessions are extra (£4 adult members). Members can use club equipment for free on our 'home' waters (pool, and Bristol docks), but £10 per day for a boat if taken anywhere else. Boat storage at Bristol docks is £60 per year (waiting list!).

Beginner's course is £60. Always oversubscribed...

We also have a couple of other categories of membership: http://www.bristolcanoeclub.org.uk/general-information/membership/. The most relevant one is Associate which we have for cheaper membership for people who no longer live nearby.

And yes, we are affiliated to the BCU, mostly for their insurance, but we used to run lots of competition; very little now.

[Scots_Charles_River]

My club runs - regular Slalom, refualr polo, regular WW Kayak, occasional Sea and Camping trips. Normally monthly Coach led trips.

It's £25 a year and £40 for adults. Free hire of - opens, WW kayaks, Sea boats and juniors as well as tandem kayaks.

I joined 3 years ago, really good club. I mainly joined for open boating on rivers but have benefited from other members and it's helped my coaching.

Members get good deals on courses and can join in with the Star Awards very cheaply.

[andy g]

For us it is £35 pa for adults and £15 for youth/students. We make no charge for borrowing boats and gear (but expect polo players to have their own boats by the time they are in Div 3) Pool sessions £5 , Lake sessions free. All trips run by volunteer coaches and are run at cost. Courses run by volunteer coaches and are charged at cost plus small profit.
As others have said , if you have a lot of motivated keen volunteers (esp those with coaching or organisational skills) then things will work well, but be careful not to let the workload fall on too few people , you need a broad base of participants and organisers.
Andy

[hayleyclarke27]

About £28 ish for adult membership

[buck197]

Our club charges £100 per year and £25 to keep a boat in the shed.

[Lancs_lad]

LDCC is £35 for the year this includes all coaching and kit on club nights/trips. If an individual wants to borrow a boat for non club use for the weekend/week we have introduced a £10 charge this year.

For complete novices we offer a 1 star course for £90 (which includes membership and one free pool session), after approx 6 weeks they just become normal members who get coached for 2 star etc. I think our club is an absolute bargain. PS. We are a registered charity and with the BCU.

[Slime]

WCCC is £30 a year adults, £40 per family. Gives free use of all boats on Derwentwater (30) + some gear, informal tuition, Canoe England affiltation, and a reasonably active club programme. We are I guess living on a legacy of boats built up over the years.

[quicky]

Mold CC

2012 fees without insurance
Junior £9
Adult £14
Family £19

2012 fees with insurance
Junior £14
Adult £21
Family £34

2012 Mold CC supporter
(non paddling)
Junior £5
Adult £5

Pool Sessions: Polo £2, Coached £3.
River £3

[Jon Wood]

Castle CC (Recreational Club)
Adult £50 p.a. (50% concessions student/unemployed)
Boat hire £20 per weekend (full set of kit). Strictly speaking Castle CC don't own the kit, but GLL.org do.

Ealing CC (Racing)
Adult £85 p.a.
Under 18 £60
boat storage £25 p.a.

[Adrian Cooper]

Interesting! I've heard of three other racing clubs just recently with significantly higher membership fees. I wonder if there is a particular reason for that.

[twopigs]

Interesting! I've heard of three other racing clubs just recently with significantly higher membership fees. I wonder if there is a particular reason for that.

Maybe they need to buy more equipment than recreational clubs????? Maybe racing boats are more expensive than plastic club boats?

[Jon Wood]

Interesting! I've heard of three other racing clubs just recently with significantly higher membership fees. I wonder if there is a particular reason for that.

Ealing's home facilities are rather basic compared to many of the clubs in the Thames Valley & South. A clubhouse owned by the local council and boat storage in containers. And I would guess we have a smaller budget for new kit. Many of our boats have been acquired second-hand.

[mantamx]

Cambridge is £50 p.a. (with a decent clubhouse), kit is £10 p/d if taken off-site.

[Adrian Cooper]

John, some people suggest Marlow's clubhouse is 'basic'. :-) Some call it a 'shed' but we do try to keep our fleet of boats up to scratch, we rarely find a problem equipping people with suitable craft, until the interferance of the BCU's new star tests. I think we have bought 11 new boats in the past two years.

[Eliza Dolittle]

Maybe racing boats are more expensive than plastic club boats?

Just a bit- if you thought there was a big difference in price between Connect 30 and Rapid specs - there is an even bigger difference between Basic glass fibre and a full comp boat, and a wide choice of specs in between http://www.marsport.co.uk/Racing/Boats/Laance.html, The doubles used in the Devizes to Westminster race are even more expensive http://www.marsport.co.uk/Racing/Boats/Condor.html (Which is why everyone wants to borrow one at Easter.) And probably the cost of a racing canoe has put Adrian off the idea http://www.marsport.co.uk/Racing/Boats/wenonah%20j203%20c1.html

Some adult membership prices for Thames based racing clubs are
Longridge (nr Marlow)£80
Reading £170
Falcon (Oxford) £125
Royal £200
Richmond £135

[Adrian Cooper]

Actually we bought two club spec racers only last year. But it's not the price which puts me off, its all that effort! I did buy a Wenonah Advantage a couple of years back to do the DW but once I had it I really couldn't be bothered.

I had a great time at the Open Canoe Festival in France though!

[quicky]

Gosh if we tried charging some those sort of prices we would not have a club.

[markg]

Gosh if we tried charging some those sort of prices we would not have a club.

There is no way we could sustain prices like that and also we have a lot of rain at the moment (free) so hopefully Hebden Water for us tomorrow after work http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/rive ... bden-water
Whoop and indeed woo,
Thanks
Mark.

[Eliza Dolittle]

Gosh if we tried charging some those sort of prices we would not have a club.

There is no way we could sustain prices like that

Different clubs charge different fees and offer different facilities.
The cheapest club I've been a member of was free. Everyone provided their own boats, there was no BCU Affiliation because everyone was a full member anyway. No beginners sessions or formal coaching, though I did learn a lot in the pub afterwards. Publicity was limited to the club name in the results list.
Once a club starts owning boats then you need to pay for somewhere to store them - a lock up or a barn, and maybe insure them, consider BCU affilation and then running beginners courses to bring some money in, replace kit and so on. A recreational club may spend most of its on the water time away from the boat store on different rivers. If you are used to changing in a car park then a unheated shed will seem like luxury.
The racing clubs tend to have impressive facilities in expensive riverside locations, they are more like the rowing clubs. Members will attend 3 or 4 times a week or more for training and most of their activity will be from the one base. Facilities will include not just boat storage but clubrooms, changing facilities with hot showers, fully equipped gyms etc. Have a look at Reading CC website http://www.reading-canoe.org.uk/ and look at the picture of their Clubroom. (room hire), the floor underneath is boat storage. If that's what you want from paddling then maybe £170 pa isn't quite so outrageous.