There has been a debate – or rather an attempt at debate – on the GWOCGB Forum, in the context of the Club’s declining membership.  It was about what constitutes “politics”, often cited by Wingers as something they really don’t like.

“Politics” seems to be a pretty important membership factor – especially in membership retention, which has been a serious problem for GWOCGB for some years.  The Club has suffered steadily declining membership and took a particularly big hit last year. Generally speaking the new independent clubs are thriving and the older ones are also doing very nicely too; it’s really only GWOCGB that’s in serious membership decline.

So if “politics” is what turns Wingers say causes them to leave the Club, what exactly do they mean by it and what can be done to improve things?

This was potentially a very useful question for GWOCGB to pose to itself and in the privacy of the Members-Only Area of the Club’s Forum it could have led to constructive discussion and maybe thereby to ideas for turning the Club’s fortunes.

Unfortunately it rapidly degenerated into challenging personal criticism and argument and it got quite heated, even by GWOCGB Forum standards.  The webmaster called time and locked the Thread; the discussion was nipped in the bud.

The Thread is still there for Members to see, or at least it was when this Article was published.  It illustrates very clearly to those Members of GWOCGB who don’t already know that friendly discussion comes hard to their Club – and that joining any discussion on the Forum puts you at risk of personal attack if any of the resident bullies takes objection.  Perhaps this answers the question which was posed anyway, by providing a vivid illustration of what Wingers mean when they say they don’t like about GWOCGB’s politics.

There was however a short calm before the storm broke and one or two ideas about what constitutes “politics” were mooted.  For example that discussion of business matters at Club (i..e. Regional) Meetings often takes up too much time, when what Wingers really want to be doing is riding their bikes.

This was a useful observation and it also provided an example, the constructive implications of which seemed to have been completely missed, of a new approach to group riding activities which is actually being handled almost as if it was part of a GWOCGB recruiting initiative and has proved to be very popular.

Maybe those who run meetings do need to make more effort to sense when other people have had enough and it’s time to get out on the road but Wingers who ended up leaving the Club for this reason wouldn’t necessarily say it was the politics; they would probably say that there weren’t enough ride outs or simply that they were bored by the meetings.

But it is perhaps typical of the blinkered view of things which burdens GWOCGB that instead of praising this contributor for his successful initiative in attracting lots of Wingers to what is at least partly under the GWOCGB banner and is part of an attempt to interest them in joining the Club as well, he was attacked for taking Members away from the local Region by competing with them.

However, let’s get back to what constitutes “politics”.  Another idea was that Wingers leave (and call it politics) when what’s really going on is that they aren’t getting what they want – the implication perhaps being that they are selfish or opinionated people  who are no great loss to the Club anyway.   Again Wingers who leave because they are not getting what they want (as opposed to not getting their own way in arguments) will probably say so, rather than call it politics.

And although some drop out or don’t join GWOCGB or any other GoldWing club at all because they say they only want to ride and/or they prefer riding alone or with other sorts of biking groups, the mixture of riding and non-riding activities which GWOCGB Regions have offered has appealed to plenty of Wingers in the past – so why should that appeal have tailed off so much in recent years unless there is something more to it than not getting the sort or quantity of rides or other activities they want?  Plenty of Wingers still enjoy getting together at WingDings, so even though GWOCGB doesn’t offer much of anything other than camping weekends, they obviously still hold their attractions.

Another suggestion was, as far as I could make out, that Wingers have probably left the Club because they found the circumstances or sequence of events which resulted in a substantial number of Members leaving the Club and starting independent clubs (following disputes with the National Committee) too political, so they themselves have since left the Club because of this, presumably in disapproval and presumably of the way the dispute was handled by the Club.  Alternatively, since the contributor clearly strongly disapproved of the conduct of those who had left the Club rather than toe the Committee’s line, so it was their fault for causing others to leave too.  Or maybe he meant the Club was well rid of them, so politics is a good thing if it flushes out and gets rid of non-conformists, even if there was also collateral damage.

Broadcasting arguments isn't likely to help

Is it simply argy bargy that Wingers don’t like?

The same contributor seemed to me to be getting much closer to the real meaning of “politics” when he suggested that “strife” was what turned people off.

If people want contentious debate as a club activity, whether at meetings or on a forum, they will join a debating society or a political party rather than a bike club.

They join a bike club to enjoy friendship with like-minded Wingers and certainly not endless arguments, for which at least one GWOCGB Region has acquired something of a reputation.  And at national level too, Club meetings are attracting smaller attendance and are rarely without controversy of some sort – and some arguments, for example the one about admitting caravans and motorhomes to camping events, never seems to go away for very long, even when it’s supposed to have been settled.  Sooner or later someone will have another go at expounding his traditionalist view on the matter.

Could it be as simple as that then, that “politics” is simply an aversion to endless arguments, in what is supposed to be, above all, a friendly Club?  Anyway that was that as far as suggestions for the meaning of “politics” during this Forum discussion got before it turned into interpersonal argument.

I think there are more aspects to “politics” than this relatively short list and if the Club is to turn its fortunes, it needs to study them carefully and learn all possible lessons.  So it’s a real pity that this potentially useful discussion failed.

So let me suggest some aspects of “politics” too, because even though I am no longer a member of GWOCGB and now think there is a better way to provide national-scale services for UK Wingers, I enjoyed my time in the Club, I didn’t choose to leave and I take no pleasure at all in seeing it going downhill.

Everyone should do it my way

An irritant which Wingers might label as “politics” is having strong views stuffed down their throats, especially if it relates to how they should be riding.  Unsolicited advice, let alone edicts from the ruling committee or anyone else who thinks he or she has a right, is rarely welcomed or appreciated in any volunteer organisation.  Telling a biker what/where/how he should be doing things is more likely to get up his  nose more than most people’s.

So even relatively polite discussions about whether this or that is the “right” way to do things, as if there is only one right answer, can be very irritating, even if the reluctant listener doesn’t take issue at the time.  If Members who express opinions can’t see that there is almost always more than one way of skinning a cat (or marshalling a ride out) and fail to respect other people’s ideas and opinions, it isn’t friendly.

Rules and Rulers

There is a limit to how much in the way of rules and regulations bikers are likely to feel necessary for the running of a club, especially a club which aims to be friendly.  Maybe the elaborate Constitution and the set of Rules which GWOCGB has built up over the years are themselves something of a turn off.

Why does a friendly bike club have to get so institutionalised – and therefore politicised?  GWOCGB’s rule book reads as long-winded, lawyerish, mumbo jumbo – isn’t that in itself a turn off which Wingers might label “politics” if they ever come face to face with them?

People don’t like being bossed around in any volunteer organisation and Wingers are no exception.  They probably get quite enough of that sort of thing at work or at home.  Biking is an escape to freedom rather than a journey into conformity.

GWOCGB grew rapidly in its early days to become the predominant club for Wingers it would have been natural to develop a composite national structure, so that Wingers would be welcomed anywhere at Club events, even when they were organised by local Regions.  And few Wingers would object to the idea of a national Club which is a genuinely friendly national network if it can stay that way.

But therein lies the problem.  A ruling national structure is potentially oppressive.  And if heavy-handed action is taken to get members to toe the line it could very easily be seen as bullying.  Whatever else it might be, being told what you can or cannot do from above isn’t going to feel friendly.

Integrity and fairness at the top

Friends are people whom you regard as trustworthy.  There may or may not be honour among thieves these days, but among Wingers, in the context of their friendly Club, honesty and trustworthiness from Wingers towards other Wingers is rated pretty highly.

Honesty and fairness in dealing with the Club’s affairs and in exercising power or judgement on behalf of the Club is something which Members probably have fairly high expectations of.  So if Committee Members are seen as having done something improper or disreputable, Wingers may feel they are letting the Club down.   Stuff like that isn’t compatible with friendliness and the more there are in the way of whiffs of any of it, the less comfortable some Wingers are going to be with the Club.

Institutionalised Unfriendliness

Going Negative

Attacking Wingers who are no longer in the Club by casting them as non-persons or calling them or the new clubs they might have formed names, and trying to undermine these Wingers and clubs by spreading smears is what politicians call “going negative”.

It can be hurtful and damaging to the targets, especially in the short term, but it can also backfire in a big way because whatever else it might be, it’s not friendly.

The ideal of a single national GoldWing club, serving the needs of all Wingers in friendship is an aim worthy of respect but at the end of the day it’s just one of a number of ways of running a bike club, not a religion, in defence of which holy war becomes justified.

Spreading smears, like those who have joined other clubs have “gone over to the dark side” or are “scabs”, and false information, like saying the Blackpool Light Parade is no longer running, or passing the word that going to the Blackpool Light Parade is now regarded as an act of disloyalty to GWOCGB, carries a risk of being seen as thoroughly disreputable.  And it’s hardly likely to encourage the Wingers who have left because of “politics” to come back either, even if they are not the targets of the smears themselves, quite the opposite.  It just isn’t friendly.

Friendliness is the key

Friendliness lies at the core of what people join bike clubs to enjoy and unfriendliness is the common feature of all the possibilities of what “politics” means to the Wingers who feel driven away.  Maybe it boils down to a feeling that GWOCGB is no longer a friendly Club – or at least it’s not friendly enough for their needs.

There is still lots of friendliness in GWOCGB too of course, notably in the more successful Regions, but unfriendliness has become far too prominent. Taken as a whole, GWOCGB has arguably become institutionally unfriendly.

So it ain’t rocket science guys, if you want your so-called friendly Club to be more successful at retaining and re-attracting members, stop being so unfriendly to each other.

Likewise stop being nasty to Wingers who have left; they are among the people you need to win back. Mixing with them, going to their events and being friendly to them is more likely to cast GWOCGB in a new and favourable light in their eyes than keeping a wary distance, calling them names and throwing brickbats whenever you get the chance.

Just as professional footballers and policemen have to learn self-control in order to stay in the game, so do Wingers if they want to be part of a genuinely friendly club.  And that’s just as true for Committee Members who are overheard saying “more trailer trash” on the radio about Wingers arriving at a Club Event as it is for belligerence on  the Forum.

Personal criticism is always provocative

Personal criticism of any kind, on the Forum or elsewhere, is a particularly potent way of being unfriendly without necessarily intending to be.  It’s easily taken as more hurtful and offensive than just being “a bit abrasive”.  Why be abrasive to other Members anyway within a friendly Club?

I’ve posted personal criticism myself in the private area of the GWOCGB Forum in the belief that it was a way of conducting a robust debate among grown-ups and I was wrong.  I’ve learned the hard way that it’s almost always likely to be taken the wrong way when it’s done in writing and it’s almost inevitably counter-productive.  I have to admit to making an exception for President Obama and Senator Screaming Skull recently, who seriously disappointed me with their anti-Britishness, but they’re not in my bike club and they’re politicians who have themselves been expressing very critical opinions, so they’re fair game!

Anyway personal criticism among Wingers is unfriendly and that’s why this Blog doesn’t normally carry any at all.  Contrary views are welcome, belligerence and personal criticism isn’t.

A friendly approach is never a bad thing

Friendliness is blossoming again in the UK GoldWing Community.  Wingers who meet up on the road or at shared events, like Appleyards Open Day and the recent Cumbria Ride for help for Heroes are behaving in, at the very least, a courteous way to each other when last year that would not necessarily have happened.  The worst of the turbulence, or at least the nastiness of the past two years is probably behind us, thank goodness.   Wingers are riding their bikes in company and thereby rediscovering friendliness between local clubs and/or Regions by direct contact.

Indeed at the Cumbria Ride for Help for Heroes a very surprising and very positive thing happened.  An active member of Lancs & Lakes, who last year was cutting me dead, presumably because he blamed me for the difficulties with the National Committee and the split in the Region, took the trouble to bring a Winger over to introduce to me, which he did by name, using my name too, in a brief but perfectly polite and helpful way.   This was surprising enough from my viewpoint but it was even more surprising that the Winger he introduced had asked for me because he wanted to know more about our new independent Club, GoldWings North West.  The Winger said, and perhaps he had said to the Lancs & Lakes Member too, that he didn’t want anything more to do with GWOCGB; he had tried it and didn’t like the politics and squabbling, so he wanted to try something different.

For the time being at least the Winger who was introduced to me seems to be a lost cause to GWOCGB and to Lancs & Lakes.  Perhaps the L&L Member who brought him over realised that.  And it wasn’t that he had been subjected to any sort of hard sell of GoldWings North West’s virtues and certainly not any denigration of GWOCGB, or at least not from me he hadn’t.  When he had emailed me about GoldWing clubs in the North West (via this Blog) some time previously, I had replied in a balanced and non-judgemental way and I had mentioned Cumbria Wings as his nearest option, and Lancs & Lakes as well as GoldWings North West.  I just gave him the facts.  He’d then tried Cumbria Wings and been disappointed, although to be fair to them it was not because of squabbling.  But he also made it clear that he was fed up with the bickering and arguments he had seen in GWOCGB, presumably elsewhere.  I didn’t ask.

But by bringing this Winger over to me and introducing him in the way he did, the Lancs & Lakes Member left a far better impression of Lancs & Lakes and of GWOCGB than if he had said I didn’t exist, or pointed and said I was that so-and-so over there.  It left an impression of GWOCGB friendliness rather than the opposite.

Heartbreaking times

For those for whom a national GoldWing Club which provides for all Wingers in friendship remains the ideal, these must be very disappointing if not heartbreaking times.   They may have suffered broken friendships themselves.

Maybe they still wouldn’t contemplate leaving GWOCGB themselves after all these years and they’ll try to hang on to the friendships in the Club which they still have, but some have become semi-detached, at least until the climate changes.  Even among some of the Wingers who are still paying their subs there are therefore disaffected and disillusioned Wingers, as the personal testimony which popped up in the Forum Thread I’ve been describing illustrates very well.

Likewise another Forum comment a while ago from a former Committee Member, in the context of the difficulty the Club is having to get volunteers to take up the vacant Treasurer post, saying that he felt driven out when he tried to contribute and would never have believed the nastiness he encountered from other Committee Members.  Surely that speaks volumes.

Turning GWOCGB’s fortunes isn’t just a question of projecting friendliness and suppressing unfriendliness.  It needs willingness and capacity to recognise other weaknesses and deal with them, and to recognise constructive opportunities so they can be exploited.  These skills and personal qualities seem to be in short supply.  If GWOCGB is to stand any chance of recovering credibility as a national Club which can provide for the needs of all Wingers in friendship, maybe it going to take rather more than just finding a new Treasurer.

Anyway, what a pity to see GWOCGB, which was a great Club in its hey day, going to the dogs.

Postscript:

This Article has revived a relevant Thread on GWOCGB’s Forum which sought to welcome the spirit of friendliness which has been reappearing in the UK GoldWing club scene.  This suggestion has provoked some spirited responses which you can view for yourself by clicking here.

Related Articles:

GWOCGB Membership – Worth renewing this time? (December 2009)

What makes a friendly GoldWing Club? (October 2009)

“Support” GWOCGB Style – The Troubles of 2008 (December 2008)