AMOC - is it worth it?

[F1NDW]

I very much doubt I will be renewing my AMOC subscription.
The new Committee are ruling it like Putin. No questioning is allowed. Their first accounts under this new COM show a massive deficit.
They will have their fingers crossed that new members do not go onto the Forum and try and find out what is really going on.

You will note that earlier on in this thread I was a great supporter of the AMOC. The actions of this new management have destroyed all that.
There are far more open clubs and forums to move to.

Edited by F1NDW on Friday 25th August 15:13

[kevin_cambs_uk]

Joined in Feb. I really like being a member, you get a little monthly magazine and a bigger quarterly one

Been to a few events, enjoyed them all, entered the car in the concourse event at Duxford and had a really great day

Overall I am well pleased with what they do and what you can get involved with . My area 14 person is great ,have gone to events in area 12 as well

I just like the idea of being a member too

Kev

[Bournemouthboy]

Take out the events that the local areas arrange the AMOC only 'manage' to organise 1 event and thats concourse! They are supposed to do two of those a year!

Any other events are not theirs, the road trips are external companies, Simply Aston is down to Beaulieu, the recent Gaydon event was an Aston Martin Heritage event. The recent 110 celebration had a lot of owners some members of AMOC but their invitations came from the dealers and not AMOC. Strange though there were a lot of members of the Committee in attendance.

They are now in conflict with AML and have spent more monies on legal fees.

I am interested to know how the claim the membership is up or is that interesting account around the increase in fees. The increase in fees was defiantly needed for all the events they organise (see above) and only having £800,000 in cash reserves!

You might be able to guess I am no longer a member.

[RichB]

Budweiser said:

I am in Area 11 is there anyone on here from this area who could give me an insight into their activities etc?

This is the Area 11 page from the Club's website. I don't know if non-members can access it? https://amoc.org/area11

[RichB]

F1NDW said:

I very much doubt I will be renewing my AMOC subscription.
The new Committee are ruling it like Putin. No questioning is allowed. Their first accounts under this new COM show a massive deficit.
They will have their fingers crossed that new members do not go onto the Forum and try and find out what is really going on.

You will note that earlier on in this thread I was a great supporter of the AMOC. The actions of this new management have destroyed all that.
There are far more open clubs and forums to move to.

They don't need to go to 'the forum' I can explain. There was significant expenditure during the last accounting period because, essentially, the Club felt it necessary to legally safeguard their use of the 'Wings' logo. The logo has been in use since 1935 but there is only a gentleman's agreement for its use. The Club, sensibly, prefer to safeguard itself against any challenge by AML on the matter. No subterfuge or malpractice, just the culmination of a process that, incidentally, was commenced in 2019, pre-covid and certainly before the current committee were in place.

[alscar]

F1NDW said:

The new Committee are ruling it like Putin. No questioning is allowed. Their first accounts under this new COM show a massive deficit.
They will have their fingers crossed that new members do not go onto the Forum and try and find out what is really going on.

You will note that earlier on in this thread I was a great supporter of the AMOC. The actions of this new management have destroyed all that.
There are far more open clubs and forums to move to.

Edited by F1NDW on Friday 25th August 15:13

Indeed - what is especially disappointing is that the new committee pledged to be a breathe of fresh air and would persuade members that good times were ahead.
I appreciate the current Chair has been unwell but let’s not forget he was the only candidate to vote for last time - or not.
In reality the new committee is probably even worse than the previous one because of the lack of promised fresh air and had it not been for the reversal of the increased membership fee increase would have seen a lot more drop outs.
The spending of the legal fees decision including a huge slug of it to a member who was allegedly supplying mates rates just also says it all.

One question though - if not AMOC what other Aston specific clubs are there ie is there a TIPEC equivalent to the Porsche Club equivalent ?

[RichB]

I have been for 16 years, I guess that’s quite a while now. I really enjoy my membership and have met some lovely people, many that are now friends. Like all clubs its depends if you are the sort of person who wants to join in with things, if so, there's so much going on you could probably find something to do every weekend. The area reps get funding from the Club for activities and members may find two or three areas adjacent to where they live with things going on. Yes there is only the concours arranged nationally but that's rather overlooking the regional events of which there are many.

As for the politics, I guess everyone has a view but I think the new committee are heading in the right direction. Sadly, the chairman recently had a heart-attack and has obviously stepped back, fingers crossed for his healthy recovery. Whatever the politics, the health of an individual makes that pale into insignificance.

Perhaps falsely, I got the impression that some on here think the club is not the place for Gaydon cars but certainly every event I attend is well populated by what I would call modern Astons; Vantages, DB9s, DB11s, DBX etc. and the driving on the tours is 'spirited'.

My interest is in the 1950s cars, the DB1, DB2, DB2/4 and DB MkIII and since I started my Facebook group, some 6 years ago, I have started to organise events/meetings for Feltham-era Astons (and Lagondas as they were also built by AML in Feltham) which are enjoyable and rewarding. A year ago I started writing in the monthly magazine and, I guess almost by default, became the coordintor for these cars. Personally, I’m not interested in joining the committee but I’m grateful that someone is prepared to do it. On that basis I enjoy the Club for what it is and I’ll not be criticising those that do something I’m not prepared to do.

[DB4DM]

At a recent Area 5 (covering 6 Midlands counties) event at the RAF Shawbury families day, there were 46 AM present of which 43 were AMOC. Of the 43, about 35 were Gaydon era. A recent joint Area 5 and Area 22 (Glos) event attracted about 30 AM, of which about 25 were Gaydon. I would hazard a guess that many of the Gaydon owners will not be aware of PH, nor will use the AMOC Forum (especially the "Idling" component in the members-only area, which many regard as toxic!). It was also interesting to see at the AMHT Festival the dominant numbers of Gaydon cars. Those of us in unrestored old rot boxes were very much a minority! As reflects the AM and AML manufacture stats, about 14000 from 1913 to 1998 (when AMHT was formed) and over 100000 since

[mattybrown]

RichB said:

Budweiser said:

I am in Area 11 is there anyone on here from this area who could give me an insight into their activities etc?

This is the Area 11 page from the Club's website. I don't know if non-members can access it? https://amoc.org/area11

Email the rep and ask to get put on the WhatsApp group, All activities and more are shared on there.

[RichB]

mattybrown said:

RichB said:

Budweiser said:

I am in Area 11 is there anyone on here from this area who could give me an insight into their activities etc?

This is the Area 11 page from the Club's website. I don't know if non-members can access it? https://amoc.org/area11

Email the rep and ask to get put on the WhatsApp group, All activities and more are shared on there.

And Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/AMOCArea11

[ds666]

I can reiterate what’s been said about the regions . I’m in area 5 and they do loads of things . What I don’t get is where the membership fees go - none of the monies seem to get out to the the areas and the areas seem divorced from the middle … so apart from some nice mags , I don’t know .
I don’t like the thought that my membership fee is being spent in the middle by the red trousered elite …

I’ll not be rejoining as the Aston owners works better for me - a couple of great days out with the Vanquish crowd and some visits (Prodrive etc ) .
Quite a lot of Amoc stuff seemed to revolve around eating whereas I just want to kick tyres .
Each to their own .

[DB4DM]

Not much tyre kicking at Area 5 meetings so I don't stay to eat. On the other hand, I don't sign up for the drive-outs as my rotbox won't keep up even though when new it was a fast car, modified by AML to outdrag an E Type for a US road test in 1963

[ds666]

DB4DM said:

Not much tyre kicking at Area 5 meetings so I don't stay to eat. On the other hand, I don't sign up for the drive-outs as my rotbox won't keep up even though when new it was a fast car, modified by AML to outdrag an E Type for a US road test in 1963

Maybe we should start an area 5 " Tyre Kickers " branch ?

[williamp]

ds666 said:

I can reiterate what’s been said about the regions . I’m in area 5 and they do loads of things . What I don’t get is where the membership fees go - none of the monies seem to get out to the the areas and the areas seem divorced from the middle … so apart from some nice mags , I don’t know .
I don’t like the thought that my membership fee is being spent in the middle by the red trousered elite …

I’ll not be rejoining as the Aston owners works better for me - a couple of great days out with the Vanquish crowd and some visits (Prodrive etc ) .
Quite a lot of Amoc stuff seemed to revolve around eating whereas I just want to kick tyres .
Each to their own .

In my day, it was contraversal that we subsidised the expenses of the racing members. And then there was the barn. Boy, that was fun. And becomming a Trust. There was a huge EGM in a conference room at Gaydon, and a vote of members. Speakers included the DBR1 designer Ted Cutting and Walter Hayes making their thought known. Serious stuff!!

[RichB]

ds666 said:

What I don’t get is where the membership fees go - none of the monies seem to get out to the the areas.

The area rep can ask for money from head office. Perhaps the rep for area 5 doesn't? I don't know the details but the areas get money from the subs.

[ds666]

RichB said:

ds666 said:

What I don’t get is where the membership fees go - none of the monies seem to get out to the the areas.

The area rep can ask for money from head office. Perhaps the rep for area 5 doesn't? I don't know the details but the areas get money from the subs.

You don’t know the facts - no one does . That’s the point .
I’ve asked many times - just get patronising answers .

“Please sir , can I have some money” .

“Aye , here’s a tenner , off you go dear boy “
Maybe I’m wrong ?

[RichB]

ds666 said:

You don’t know the facts...

okay, I'll bow out of this thread.

[ds666]

RichB said:

ds666 said:

You don’t know the facts...

okay, I'll bow out of this thread.

If you can tell me where the membership fees are spent it would be great to know - I’ve asked but don’t get any answers .

[Jon39]

ds666 said:

If you can tell me where the membership fees are spent it would be great to know - I’ve asked, but don’t get any answers .

Certainly complexity at HQ level (thanks for Areas who mostly provide for members), but purely looking at the financials, we can see the following;

The annual accounting end date has been 30 September, since 2016.
However, on 29 Nov 2022 the current accounting period was extended from 30 September 2022 to 31 March 2023.
By doing that, no accounts have yet been published since 30 September 2021.




(Click to see the covered figures)


Cash held increased by over £100,000.
Cannot see the profit and loss figures. For small companies, those are not required by Companies House.
The accounting year in 2015 was up to 31 December.
For 2015, full accounts were submitted to Companies House.

[DB4DM]

The latest accounts to 31 March this year were published to the membership on 19 August, visible on the AMOC website to members who log in, ahead of the AGM on 16 September. The agenda includes a motion to approve the accounts, after which presumably they'll be sent to CoHo

Edited by DB4DM on Sunday 27th August 13:43