General UK Barchetta Owners Club

[Arch]

Hi guys - hope you all had a good xmas break.

I was lucky enough to gain a Barchetta in August 2013, so one of the first things I did was to contact the Barchetta Owners Club and send off an application form for membership......................but months later, nothing

A further exchange of emails......................................and a few more months, still nothing

I can only assume that either:

1.membership is full and there is no more room in this club for one more owner
2. Membership is so exclusive that I don't meet the minimum standards

Has anyone else had this problem? - it must be very difficult running a one make club, especially one where most owners don't have UK supplied cars and thus smaller numbers - But surely the club will become extinct if it doesn't recruit new members?

 

[Millmoo]

The same thing happened to me. Are they perhaps now defunct?

 

[bpoole]

Snap. Gave up and joined several European Barchetta facebook pages, still follow the fiatforum every day though.
Fiat Barchetta International group
Barchetta Italian Style
Barchetta Enthusiasts
Barchetta vrienden
Fan Club Fiat Barchetta
Barchetta Club Polska
Barchetta UK owners club
I am living in Poland at the moment so I have an interest here,
There as been no comments on the UK page since October 2013, the others are used regularly. Perhaps we should start to use the UK owners club more.

 

[Richkeoghuk]

Hi all,

Richard Keogh from the owners club here.

The club isn't defunct but as pretty much the only surviving member of the club committee and as such responsible for the finance, website, membership, insurance etc etc etc and despite numerous requests in the past for new committee members to take an active role in running the club I have,lost heart.

I do process membership applications from time to time but with my extremely busy work and life commitments in the Uk and France it comes way down my priority list.

Very few of the membership applications show any intention of assisting in the running of the club and very few of the club members show up to events.

There are a core of members who do put them selves out to attend but insufficient to maintain momentum.

My intention is that unless individuals volunteer to take on the various committee roles within the next 6 months I will move to close the club and donate any remaining funds to charity.

Regards

Richard Keogh

 

[KC3]

Hiya Guys, Wishing you all, have had a wonderful Xmas and enjoying the holidays. I imagine it would be a shame to lose the UK owners club, although there does seem to be more momentum and plenty of info on the Barchetta to be had here at the Fiat forum. Since joining here back in 2007/8 I've found it to be of great help regarding my B ownership and also found and made new long time personal friends So to all you new members who have recently joined, stick around and I'm sure you will feel the same after a short period.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Barchettahood!

 

[Arch]

Hi Richard

This does seem to be a bit of a catch 22 situation..................if processing new members is such a low priority you will never get anyone enrolled who maybe able to assist you - this is the road to certain death of a club.

Perhaps now is the time to assess how Barchetta Owners needs will be met in the future.
- with the Barchetta being out of production for nearly 10years now numbers of vehicles on the road will only reduce.....thus a club will only get smaller
- A lot of Barchetta owners have also been owners of other Fiats - and possibly came across the Barchetta this way, thus their interest maybe Fiat rather than just Barchetta

With all of the above in mind maybe the Owners Club should be encouraged to merge with the Barchetta section of Fiat forum?

I would be willing to assist a club in putting events on - I don't have the time commitment to head a club, but many people assisting you could turn this back into a thriving club?

I would welcome other people's thoughts to see if there are enough of us to make this happen

 

[bpoole]

As KC3 states the momentum and new owners (mine May 2013) interest in the Barchetta seems to centre around the Fiat forum. The amount of information and help available on maintaining the B is fantastic. I would like to see some of the maintenance, improvements moved to or included in the guides section just to save time in searching. Still, it’s there somewhere just me an old man moaning.
I do like the UK and European Barchetta owners face book pages format better for general interest and members photos.
I’m willing to organise a Sunday meeting or ride out in the North Staffordshire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire area.
Happy new year

 

[ben]

Actually our Barchetta mod has stepped down from here.

So if someone was inclined and wanted to put some effort into the FF side of things (such as getting the groups together for our events, guides setup and what not) - then why not apply to become the new moderator?