Our dance on 10/11/07 has been cancelled from today. This has entirely been due to a lack of support from our members, the same members who asked at the AGM that we run a dance in the first place this year (at the venue we subsequently booked).
A total of 14 tickets were sold ahead of the event next week out of a membership of over 50. An advert appeared here months ago on the front page as well as an item in the forum. Two paper adverts were placed on our noticeboard in HQ at the same time. The price was pegged at the same level as last year and not one member has said they had a problem with the pricing, although it's hard to get economies of scale with a hall that holds just 80.
I've today also had to cancel the Whyte & Mackay sponsorship that would have generated a case of whisky/vodka for our raffle (some £100 pounds worth). In doing so our standing as a club has been tarnished not only in the view of the sponsors but also by the Association of Tartan Army clubs. Gnasher is cancelling the venue tonight and we have effectively lost our deposit (your money) of £50. Furthermore Gnasher has had to cancel the disco, busses and buffet. My printing off 80 tickets was obviously a waste of time too.
Can I ask the next time you show up at an AGM that you have the decency to tell us what you really want out of being a member of the TSTA instead of spouting bull**** about wanting a Dance. It seems to me the membership is only after getting tickets together and travelling together and that's fine but we are not mind readers. Tell us!
Very embarrasing!! I think we should now avoid club events and stick soley to the International games. It will certainly make life easier and furthermore prevent wasting peoples time and peoples/clubs resources. There were many reasons given as to why last years dance was so poorly attended that I thought we had agreed on a more suitable Day/Time/Venue for this years to suit the majority, or at least the majority that were at the AGM. Judging by the ticket sales, this was obviously not the case?
So were does this leave us? Are we a club or a ticket outlet?
Bought and paid for 4 tickets and 2 people arranged holidays to attend,very disappointed at the lack of response from our members. On a more personal basis I have never looked on our club as a ticket outlet centre and have been greatly appreciative of the transport,tickets and pre match entertainment that our club has organised over the years.I am sure that we can move on from this minor setback and go on to beat the world champions.Come on Scotland. FREEDOM.
If there are indeed members who are unhappy regarding our planning/timing/venue/pricing of the Annual Dance, or any other topic/reason, could they please post their concerns. You can post anonymously if you so wish, but we need to either communicate and change, or simply turn the lights out. There is no argument that we all get along with each other, that can never be up for debate. It is for this reason that I feel we should not simply stop the planning of another Annual Dance (maybe next year) or other get-togethers.
We have one Annual Dance and for this reason I don't think we should be digging from the bottom of the barrel. By this I mean pricing.
If you charge very little, you get very little in return. i.e. 50 people buy tickets at £15 a head. That is a total of £750 for the comittee to somehow organise an annual dance. Let's be honest here, you can't hire a decent band for that price, yet we are expecting a Band/Disco, buffet and the hire of a venue.......for £750. Best of luck with that one!! We are simply expecting too much in return for too little cash.
Up the membership to £20 a year (£10 of which will be for the Annual Dance) and charge £20 a head for a ticket. That would guarentee £500 from the membership fees, and if 50 people buy a ticket then that gives the committee a total of £1500 to play with. Even if the annual dance is the only event we organise outside the football, then at least it will be a good night with good food and a good band.
I BOUGHT A TICKET AND CHANGED SHIFTS SO I COULD GO TO THE DANCE, WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO IT, TOTALLY OUT OF ORDER THAT THERE IS SUCH LITTLE INTEREST, IN OUR ONE AND ONLY YEARLY DANCE.
In View of the recent situation re the dance,why not hand out a questionnaire on the bus for the Italy game and have a tick box of questions to determine what the members want in future,it will be the last chance were most of the members will all be together before the next agm and you can get a rough idea of members expectations of what they want from the hard work that the TSTA commitee put into this club to keep it running for us
It's a real kick in the teeth for the people who organise the tsta events, and also for the people who go to all the events, when people can't be bothered going and showing support.
I bought 5 tickets for the dance and had organised for people to come through from Dundee. It's very embarrassing to then turn around and say that it's been cancelled due to lack of interest.
Something has to be done, as it would be a real shame if the social side of the tsta fell by the wayside.
What about having more frequent meetings during the year than just one AGM?
I think its a real shame that this year's dance has been cancelled. Malky and I were really really looking forward to it, particularly since this is going to be our last year in the Tap Shop. I know perhaps, we are partly to blame for the cancellation - as like a lot of other memebers we fully intended to go to the dance, yet had not got our fingers out and paid for our tickets. Maybe in future, this will make people get off the mark a bit quicker.
I cannot comment on last year, as due to illness I was not there, but the previous years' dances have all been absolutely fantastic, and it's a real shame to let the sociable side of the club disappear.
Anyway - I'm new to all this technical malarkey, so this message will probably make as much sense as big stuff's french (le chat est sur le mur) and all that! Lou x
It's all about when you count I'm afraid. That had to be last Thursday and that's how many were sold and paid for at that time, i.e. just 8 further nights before the dance. Gnasher was organising things this year and was quite rightly concerned about ticket sales knowing he was off to the EASTA dance on Saturday with Heather. He also knew Vicey and myself were off to London on the Saturday too and wanted help to decide what to do.
It's no use saying "Aye but there would be others who would have went".
He HAD to commit to the dance one way or the other that night since we would be billed for the buffet the next day at 80 x £6.95 = £556.00. The arithmetic was simple we hadn't even collected enough to pay half of the buffet and we still had to pay for the hall, the disco and busses.
Sadly it was a no brainer we could not gamble that we would sell enough tickets. As it turned out there were a few more sold over the weekend but nowhere near enough to make anything like a go of it.
From memory (and apologies if I missed you out) the only members who shelled out were Mark, Jenny, BigStuff, Fraser, Ian, Craig, Garry, Lorna, me and Mary Doll. I think the total was enough to fill two tables. There were also a few definites we could add on e.g. Malky and Lou etc. but again nowhere near the numbers we would need to run a decent night out.
This is the last you will hear from me on this subject. What's done is done, well in truth it wasn't even Feckin started. I would rather concentrate on more positive aspects, like the forthcoming Italy game.
Isnt it strange that there are more posting on here about the dance being cancelled than there were members buying tickets. It is very sad that it had to be cancelled, but i think they were right to Cancel. if tickets are not being sold, how long do you wait to tell people who have bought them that its cancelled? On the day? the day before, two days before? none of these are any good. how many people should we have told the caterers to prepare for? 16 ,50, 80, 90? The dance committee couldn't take for granted that a rush would be forthcoming, or even try to anticipate numbers that would buy tickets, then we would have had to pay the caterers if it was cancelled any later. May I suggest that before we arrange any more dances, we bring it up at the agm, then discuss the best time to have it, the venue, the entertainment, so that all members are happy with the decisions, (as they made them,) Then notices could be posted i nthe pub, then a few weeks before the dance, say for example, in the pub before we all leave for a scotland game, we could remind members about it, we might even have dance tickets for sale on that day. oh wait a minute, thats exactly what did happen. Ah well back to the drawing board.
To be fair, I think everyone who has posted was actually going!!
Think the committee were right to cancel. If I'd been involved it would have been cancelled long before it was! Too many sit back and expect to be spoon fed then take the hump if they are too late.
Anyone seen my monkey?
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Barry George is an innocent man Sean Hodgson is an innocent man
Will openly say, like I did at the last AGM, the dance just isn't for me. Hence I didn't buy a ticket.
Although.... am a little disappointed the majority of members at the last AGM voted in favour of the dance and didn't attend. Must admit if I was on the committee or infact had organised the dance I'd be a little frustrated - if there is to be another dance, the members (not just the committee) need to be a little more committed.. Suggest deposits on tickets well in advance (to cover the cost of the venue deposit and perhaps ticket printing)?
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Me and Phil found him ..and he's no as big as he looks on telly!
