Members may be aware from previous news items that various committee members will be standing down from their roles over the coming weeks.
There has been very little interest by members in back filling vacancies. As a result, when Mike Bloomfield stands down as our Membership Secretary there will be a temporary stand in to take over the core parts of his role.
Unfortunately, with this change to how we are currently able to staff the Membership Secretary role we will be unable to continue to provide a telephone number for use by members wishing to make their membership payments by phone.
To put this change in context the telephone number was originally set up in the days when debit/credit card payments were processed via a telephone link, and before the introduction of the online membership renewal facility, when making bank payments over the phone was far more common than it is today. The number of members still using this method is now down to a handful each month. We also have to recognise that the cost of providing the service has continued to rise. Currently it is costing the NGS some £400 per annum; barely balancing the income generated.
In parallel the Committee is starting to look at new ways to make renewing membership online easier.