Well ,this subject has come around again, but this time from a different
angle and I've been enjoying the discussions about other club's activities.

In the end, what it all comes down to is that the quality of your clubs
meetings are only as good as it's members. So if you'd like to belong to a
young and vibrant club, but your local club is tired, don't forget that
there are only two ingredients which can make it change: YOU and a little
TIME. Tell people what you want, either directly, or indirectly, by
bringing in lots of shells for identification, give the old-timers some
time to change their ways, or move out of the way (this make take a year or
more). Nominate yourself for a position, propose a new committee, or new
activities. Here we add another ingredient: COMMITMENT, which is a very
rare commodity these days. As Carol said, people want to belong to a club,
but don't want to commit themselves in any way. I see this attitude as a
greater threat to the survival of clubs than anything else.

Bans on shell collecting: Young people and others are already learning to
enjoy shells in a different way. Bird lovers don't collect stuffed birds
anymore, but they still enjoy looking at them. Maybe in the future one can
no longer collect shells (or it is regarded as not-done, as we now look at
collecting stuffed birds), but hey, you can still go to the shore and look
at them, and photograph them, and keep them in an aquarium.

Ageing clubs: I've had a major tirade about this some time back. I don't
think it is necessarily bad that clubs are ageing (are they really, both
active clubs I belong to have only got younger in recent years?). If you
want to find new members, just forget the 25-45 age group. They have
carreers, kids, mortages, parents, in-laws and much more to look after. If
they are really keen, they will come anyway. Instead target the 45+ age
group. By today's statistics, they have at least 35 years to live, years in
which they will have oodles of time and quite a bit of money to boot. These
are the people that have knowledge to add to the club's resources (to
produce that excellent newsletter), friends in high places from previous or
existing employment (to get collecting permits), cars, boats (to go on
shelling trips).

I also agree with Bobbi and Frank about education. But basically, that
education can take any form. It is only just not education as such, but
more connectedness. For example, it can be very rewarding to have as one of
your members a service station owner, who displays shells in his shop,
where thousands of people pass each year. One or two are bound to ask about
the shells, and, given a couple of visits, may start to think about joining
the club.

When I write a shell book, I always put names and addresses of clubs in the
back. I am pretty sure this approach has worked with at least one shell
club I am a member of.

Also, our shell books tend to be increasingly technical and expensive.
General bookshops don't want to touch them. But it is often books that
'rogue' shell collectors will resort to. If they are not available, or
don't have information about clubs, how are the 'lost souls' going to find
out? Think about how you found out about your shell club. Bet it was a
chance discovery. This is where I think commercial operators (shell
dealers, anything) come in. They have the money to pay for advertising to
attract people in the first place.

I'll get off my soap box and finish the next shell book...

Patty
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