No Shows

It might not have been complicated, but it was certainly opaque.

You stated: "How would the club get on without CL's?" But neither DK, to whom you were responding, nor anyone else that I have seen, were suggesting the abolition of CLs. That was your clear implication. 

DK did not deny that the club had income from CLs. Indeed he stated clearly that they had. I agree that the income is more than he quoted because some members only subscribe in order to use CLs. If your point was only that then that is what you should have said. DK did not deny that there was some income. 

I do not know whether the club loses money or makes money from CLs. However, I am perfectly certain that the notion that it would not survive without them is entirely without foundation and almost certainly wrong. Total membership income is around £16m and, in a normal year, about 13% of total income. You'd have to lose a heck of a lot of that to threaten the Club's ability to trade profitably and in a solvent state. 

I realise that those who love CLs are clamouring to make points here in their support and falling over themselves to "like" positive CL posts. People have assumed that posts from DK, and my own, make us anti-CLs. Nothing David said showed him to be against CLs, least of all suggest they are done away with. Nor am I anti-CLs. They are an important part of the club. I am just realistic about them and what people should expect. The romantic notion that CLs would not be the same if they became more business like is a clear case of nostalgia getting in the way of common sense. I do not use CLs myself because I like to be certain about what I am going to get. But I have no argument at all with those that enjoy them or who confine their trips to CLs only. 

I think obberknockle was asking a rhetorical question to be honest GJ, rather than responding to DKs post.

I also think you might be underestimating just how many Members tour either solely using the CL network, or like us, only use either no facility Club Sites or Club Sites at significantly reduced prices in the Winter months. We are on those CLs, talking to other Members, so do indeed have first hand evidence at just how many folks tour like this, and are indeed only staying in Membership primarily because of the CLs. The Club has reduced the amount of Winter pitches it now offers, sites such as Bolton Abbey, now close early November rather than early January, so we are now touring almost exclusively via CLs in the Winter. In the last three years, we have used a total of three Club Sites, Ferry Meadows very early, cheap and even cheaper with the VAT relief. Marazion, which is no facilities, and Exeter Racecourse which is an AS, and has always been very cheap. Everything else has been CL, small private/Ex CL. We don’t insure with the Club, we make sure we get our monies worth of discounts to cover the Membership costs via places like Mountain Warehouse etc. 

If the CL network wasn’t there, we would have no reason to be Members. We have no romantic illusions about them, and fully accept that like other aspects of touring, CLs have changed a lot in the last 10-15 years. The days of someone choosing to share a bit of their garden, or a little bit of farm land for diversification are not the prime mover they once were. They are now a business venture in their own right for many, with rising costs of provision to be met, and they might well be underpinning/enhancing other business ventures. The variety, ambiance and welcome are still very nice though, and possibly why so many of us really do love them, along of course with average prices vastly below that of most Club Sites. 

Not all TDA, some around us still have that feel of yesteryear, a place where they intimately share a part of their personal ‘domain’ with us. They may be a dying breed as you imply but they do still exist and long may they continue. I love these places, they share the passion I do for our pastime.

Indeed, we still visit a few very old CLs, a couple we use first opened their gates some 50 years ago, way before our time. Next generation have updated a few things, but they still remain essentially the same. And thriving with new visitors as well👍