Is your Club Size Diminishing and your Membership Ageing?

[Son of a Beach]

As an aside, I would like to be able to find ways to support and enhance clubs on this site (eg, private club forums). I think clubs would greatly benefit some some sort of online community (whether here, facebook, their own sites, or elsewhere). But it needs to be not just a web site, it needs to be online discussion, or interaction of some sort.

[jez_au]

Younger people don't want to sit around at meetings. Even though I am an active member of my walking club, I would never go to more than one or two formal meetings a year. What gets younger members on trips isn't a crusty monthly meeting (we can share info / photos / trip reports online), what works is running interesting and appropriate easier trips where people can learn the skills and meet people. Many of them then continue to come back and you have momentum build up.

I agree. Meetings can be at inconvenient times, at strange distant places, have weird unwelcome vibes and be a very time inefficient way to get involved in a particular hike.

[Bush Walker]

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think bushwalk.com and electronic media in general may be partly responsible for this. Twenty years ago, if you wanted to do the Western Arthurs, you joined a bushwalking club to get access to the information and experienced people required to complete the trip - and stayed a member for those benefits. With internet sites like this, the whole reason people join a bushwalking club in the first place has been removed. It also explains why the general club demographic is ageing... younger people are more likely to google something for information than go to club meetings.

Thanks South_Aussie_Hiker.

I think you've put your finger on one of the contributing factors. It certainly applies in my case, as my reason for joining a Club was to plan a walk to Federation Peak. Today I can plan most walks using the web and then fine tune my ideas by talking to those who have done the walks before, but if I didn't have time to do this there would be no reason to attend Club meetings other than to find walking partners. If I had a Facebook page with the right friends or wanted to use this forum, I could find walk partners, without even attending a Club meeting

[Bush Walker]

Anyone had any success in forming links with local youth clubs as a way of gaining new members?

I think the biggest issue with this is insurance.

Yes pazzar, I had forgotten about the impact of insurance on Club activities.

[Bush Walker]

Why do you think your Club had a lack of interest in backpacking?

I believe the Club still offers day walks every weekend pretty much all year round and gets numbers of around 15 to 20 on a walk. This is down from the hey-day where three day walks would be on offer every weekend (easy, medium, hard) plus at least one backpack a month if not more.

Andrew

Hi Andrew

I agree with your logic that the ageing of the Club has had an impact on the number of backpacking walks offered, and for for the reason that you stated ie that relationships become more important as you get older. Assuming that membership numbers have not fallen away, why are the younger members, if you have any, not offering backpacking as you did many years ago.

[Bush Walker]

For a club to have a broad demographic they need to actively work on it all the time, not just when they realise all the members are above a certain age. Once the demographic of a club gets to the point that they 'notice' that there are younger people out there, and they are not joining the club, then the chances of getting them to join is almost nil. For an existing club wanting to attract younger members, creating a separate youth club might be a good strategy of getting around the problem.

I agree photohiker.

Each Club needs an active on-going strategy to recruit younger members, and like you, I agree that the decline becomes self-perpetuating when younger members can't finds anyone their age to talk with in the Club. The strategies used to reverse this might be similar to those used to increase the number of females in organisations ie special events, reserved representation on all committees, surveys of existing younger members to get their views and especially exit questionnaires for those young people leaving. As with other minority groups whose representation you want to increase, making them feel valued is critical.

[Bush Walker]

Access to information on the internet may present a problem for club membership, but the genie is well and truly out of the bottle and you can't put it back.

The internet has also come at a time when people are more time poor than ever before. They can now improve their knowledge (as they might at a formal club meeting) at their leisure and at a time suitable to them alone. The level of detail available online exceeds anything available at a club meeting because it is generally an authoritive collection assembled from multiple sources. See the Larapinta Trail website for an excellent example. On top of all this, are you suggesting that interest in bushwalking is waning? From what I've seen, it seems to be growing while the clubs are slowly losing relevance in the modern age.

Some good points Photohiker.

The quality of the information on the web is now better than you can get at a Club meeting. Having recently planned a climb of Mt Aspiring in NZ, I was able to read numerous detailed blogs with photos, routes and experiences, which complimented the guide book. Being able to do this at my leisure, when family activities had finished for the day, was great. yes Clubs in general are declining, but I don't think this is irreversible. There have been some good examples of Clubs eg CWA at Sevenhills in SA, which have been reinvigorated by young enthusiastic members who are familiar with Twitter and Facebook as tools to communicate with others.

[ILUVSWTAS]

HWC uses facebook to advertise spur of the moment walks. I think this is great as it gives potential walk leaders more flexability, booking a trip months in advance can be difficult. It also guarantees nice weather usually

[Bush Walker]

Bushwalker,
I'm firmly of the view that email provides the best way to organise trips, especially with a younger audience. Facebook is good, but email is the only thing that every member is guaranteed to see. Twitter is fairly irrelevant as most people with accounts rarely check it. It is worth having these things as well, to maximise the club's reach, but they are not solutions in themselves.
As far as the timing and need to plan things well in advance, I have actually found that for day / weekend trips, I actually get the most interest if notice is between one and three weeks. Beyond that people don't want to lock things in, then forget about trips being on. Admittedly this is with a club that has the bulk of its members between 18 and 40 years old.
For me, I hate to sign up for a trip unless I am a definite. I have only ever dropped out of a couple trips, always for serious work / family reasons, but I hate doing it. If people drop out last minute on my trips (more than once) I put them at the bottom of the list for future trips. This is because with a uni club transport is always a difficulty and there is a lot more logistical organising required. People who drop out can make a trip unviable. They also cost spaced that other keep people could use.
I am still a member of a few other organisations with bushwalking programs that are heavily structured. While I like what they do, I haven't been on a walk with either of them in about two years. The quarterly walks program simply doesn't work for me. I do trawl the programs looking for good trip ideas, which I then run at more convenient times.
As for the broader debate about the decline of clubs, this is a real issue. Political parties, youth organisations, charities, social clubs, sporting clubs, everyone is seeing a decline in membership and added difficulties. I don't think there is a simple solution. Younger people don't want to sit around at meetings. Even though I am an active member of my walking club, I would never go to more than one or two formal meetings a year. What gets younger members on trips isn't a crusty monthly meeting (we can share info / photos / trip reports online), what works is running interesting and appropriate easier trips where people can learn the skills and meet people. Many of them then continue to come back and you have momentum build up.

Thanks FatCanyoner.

My experience with many Clubs is that a small percentage of members 10-20% may not have internet ( no computer, no broaadband) and hence no access to email but then of course they would not have access to Twitter or Facebook either. Your statement about Twitter is probably true for many, but there has been phenomenal growth in the number of twitter users. My blogs seems to gets one or two new people following me each day on Twitter recently and "likes" on Facebook are also increasing.

Your observations about people forgetting the event if you plan to far ahead are probably true for many, but some of us plan months ahead to fit in with work commitments and rarely drop out, especially not at short notice, for the reasons you mention.

Can't disagree with your last paragraph.

[Bush Walker]

As an aside, I would like to be able to find ways to support and enhance clubs on this site (eg, private club forums). I think clubs would greatly benefit some some sort of online community (whether here, facebook, their own sites, or elsewhere). But it needs to be not just a web site, it needs to be online discussion, or interaction of some sort.

Can't deny that any Club without a web presence is doing themselves a great disservice. The ability to exchange ideas is important as it not only provides opportunities to develop friendships, as people do on this forum, but also provides transparency which potential new members need before they can evaluate a club.

One of my Clubs already has a "forum" disguised as a noticeboard, but it is poorly used, with comments few and far between. I am not sure that the sort of postings made on it would be suitable for a public forum. Unfortunately, a private forum diminishes any promotional aspects.

The loss of identity on a large forum like this ( even if private) and the vagaries of ownership and hence loss of continuity would worry many Clubs.

[Bush Walker]

HWC uses facebook to advertise spur of the moment walks. I think this is great as it gives potential walk leaders more flexability, booking a trip months in advance can be difficult. It also guarantees nice weather usually

Yes there are many advantages in ad hoc arrangements, but it also means that some will miss out.

[photohiker]

My experience with many Clubs is that a small percentage of members 10-20% may not have internet ( no computer, no broaadband) and hence no access to email but then of course they would not have access to Twitter or Facebook either.

This might be relevant for the aging members of the clubs, but I have yet to meet a young person without some form of internet access. (I'm sure they are out there though) Don't forget that these are people who often access the net widely on their smartphones etc.

If you cater for the luddites, then you ignore your target group.

[Nuts]

In my uni days I thought bushwalking club meetings were great, went to far more meetings than walks (too busy partying to let walking steel weekends ). Where else could you be entertained and learn of things first hand so cheaply (World Ex tour evenings at travel agents, greens party fundraisers were good too). I met some famous names of days past or to come. I'm surprised some older folks (30+) don't try hard enough to point out what is missing here.

Younger people will always think their way is better, nothing to compare it with right.

Perhaps some younger people would be shocked to hear that some of the oldies just don't care?

Whats the point in crapping on about the bigger picture, grace V twit sociability Living life like a duracell bunny with a manic thumb!! (can 20 somethings relate to those adds )

Hold on, forgotten what my point was going to be...

[corvus]

Our little walking group formed through the Forum from a day walk to Bastion Cascades organised by speculator way back in 2007, a totally disparate group of 20+ to 60+ year olds got together not quite the Butcher the Baker or the Candlestick Maker but a good mix never the less and so the BWT Strollers evolved.

We are not a club just a bunch of like minded enthusiasts who did not want to join any Club but wanted to share knowledge and walking experiences and we have done so almost monthly in some really nice locations since then and rather than diminish our group has grown to include an even wider demographic of 10+to 70+ year olds.

Our walks are by consensus and to date I dont think we have experienced a dud and indeed we have even expanded to a Rollers group who have used Mountain Bikes for a couple of nice day trips,next big walk is to WA and Fedders which will reduce the parcipients but still include a 20+and 70+ Stroller so perhaps Club membership is not as attractive as it once was owing to cost ,regulations and even litigation ?

Thus diminishing club size ?

corvus

[FatCanyoner]

My experience with many Clubs is that a small percentage of members 10-20% may not have internet ( no computer, no broadband) and hence no access to email

This is probably a demographic difference between traditional walking clubs, with their ageing membership, and uni based clubs. I can assure you every one of our members has email and access to the internet. Most not only have it at home, but also at work and on their phone! From the speed I get often get responses to emails about trips I know a huge number are glued to their technology.

[climberman]

As for the broader debate about the decline of clubs, this is a real issue. Political parties, youth organisations, charities, social clubs, sporting clubs, everyone is seeing a decline in membership and added difficulties. I don't think there is a simple solution. Younger people don't want to sit around at meetings. Even though I am an active member of my walking club, I would never go to more than one or two formal meetings a year. What gets younger members on trips isn't a crusty monthly meeting (we can share info / photos / trip reports online), what works is running interesting and appropriate easier trips where people can learn the skills and meet people. Many of them then continue to come back and you have momentum build up.

Not a bushwalking club, but my local flyfishing club has a similar demographic. At 40 I am one of the three or four youngest.

We make a good effort, every month, to have a meeting that meets the needs and wants of members, and from a club of around 70-80 most years, gets 25-35 members turn up each month. How do we do this ?
a) seperate out the business from the pleasure. Business is dealt with at a mangement meeting (held the night befor a general club meeting). If need be it is brought up and summarised at the general club meeting. Any member is welcome to an executive meeting to either see what is going on or to raise an issue they would like to see addressed (purchases, rules amendments, whatever).
b) we hold a raffle each month. low cost, small but regular prizes (to about $25 value), often as donations from retail outlets or our host venue (a local leagues club).
c) we talk fishing not politics, nor the politics of fishing. Who's been fishing, what have they caught, where'd hey go, who fell in, what were the great sledges. This info is relayed in only the most general terms in the newlsetter, so if you want the good oil, ya goota turn up.
d) spread the executive and other roles very thin. We have a meet and greet person, one who hands out name tags (note that both of these help members and guests feel at home and comfortable), a library holder, one who does the raffle, a newsletter editor, fly comp runner etc, etc. About 15 or so positions all up. all could easily have an equivalent in a walking club.
e) take the senior roles (Pres, finance, secretary, trips coordinator) seriously, and with good governenance.
f) have regular well organised guest speakers. We sometimes pay some costs to make a big name happen as well. We probably have around 60% of meetings with a guest speaker - a guide, a fly tier, an author (sometimes tied in with a book signing), a raconteur, a photographer, a fisheries rep, a beaureau of met rep, a local gun angler, a retailer or importer to spruik gear. Dedicated nighs to chewing the fat work well too. Swap meets get people talking and interacting, and you can even pick up a bargain. Members sometimes present on gear, and bring in four or seven versions of the same thing to compare and discuss. If you try and think hard and vary it a bit, there are many possibilities above and beyond a standard slide night.
g) buy stuff members can use and don't make the use rules too onerous. We have two PLB's and thought about a whole lot of restricitve rules but in the end they are a tool and if members are too scared to take them for fear of breaking a rule or being 'fined', they are no good. Can't save a life with a PLB if it's in the cupboard.

Nothing too didactic there I hope but some ideas that may work. Good luck with it !

edit - pretty much all our members have email, only about 4 don't. Our members are up to about 80 years old. We also have kept fees very low - $25 pa and less for pensioners. Between that and raffles we keep a healthy balance which pays for things like PLB's, subsidised annual dinner, the occasional big prize (brand name rod sage z-axis) for the christmas raffle, smaller prizes, insurance, etc.). No use hoading it but we never get too low either.

[Bush Walker]

We make a good effort, every month, to have a meeting that meets the needs and wants of members, and from a club of around 70-80 most years, gets 25-35 members turn up each month. How do we do this ?
a) seperate out the business from the pleasure. Business is dealt with at a mangement meeting (held the night befor a general club meeting). If need be it is brought up and summarised at the general club meeting. Any member is welcome to an executive meeting to either see what is going on or to raise an issue they would like to see addressed (purchases, rules amendments, whatever).
b) we hold a raffle each month. low cost, small but regular prizes (to about $25 value), often as donations from retail outlets or our host venue (a local leagues club).
c) we talk fishing not politics, nor the politics of fishing. Who's been fishing, what have they caught, where'd hey go, who fell in, what were the great sledges. This info is relayed in only the most general terms in the newlsetter, so if you want the good oil, ya goota turn up.
d) spread the executive and other roles very thin. We have a meet and greet person, one who hands out name tags (note that both of these help members and guests feel at home and comfortable), a library holder, one who does the raffle, a newsletter editor, fly comp runner etc, etc. About 15 or so positions all up. all could easily have an equivalent in a walking club.
e) take the senior roles (Pres, finance, secretary, trips coordinator) seriously, and with good governenance.
f) have regular well organised guest speakers. We sometimes pay some costs to make a big name happen as well. We probably have around 60% of meetings with a guest speaker - a guide, a fly tier, an author (sometimes tied in with a book signing), a raconteur, a photographer, a fisheries rep, a beaureau of met rep, a local gun angler, a retailer or importer to spruik gear. Dedicated nighs to chewing the fat work well too. Swap meets get people talking and interacting, and you can even pick up a bargain. Members sometimes present on gear, and bring in four or seven versions of the same thing to compare and discuss. If you try and think hard and vary it a bit, there are many possibilities above and beyond a standard slide night.
g) buy stuff members can use and don't make the use rules too onerous. We have two PLB's and thought about a whole lot of restricitve rules but in the end they are a tool and if members are too scared to take them for fear of breaking a rule or being 'fined', they are no good. Can't save a life with a PLB if it's in the cupboard.

Nothing too didactic there I hope but some ideas that may work. Good luck with it !

edit - pretty much all our members have email, only about 4 don't. Our members are up to about 80 years old. We also have kept fees very low - $25 pa and less for pensioners. Between that and raffles we keep a healthy balance which pays for things like PLB's, subsidised annual dinner, the occasional big prize (brand name rod sage z-axis) for the christmas raffle, smaller prizes, insurance, etc.). No use hoading it but we never get too low either.

Thanks climberman for the tips on how to run a Club and get a good meeting attendance. There is no doubt that the ideas could be used in most Clubs, with a few modification to suit the context.

[Bush Walker]

We make a good effort, every month, to have a meeting that meets the needs and wants of members, and from a club of around 70-80 most years, gets 25-35 members turn up each month. How do we do this ? .

I think this is the key to any club's success is meeting the needs of members. Guest speakers, bulk purchases of gear etc. Obviously the opportunity to "network" is very important to members and to some extent younger people are replacing face-to-face networking with "social networking" using twitter and Facebook etc. which can lead to a drop inattendance.

I like your model of spreading the responsibilities thinly as in some clubs the "power" is concentrated in a few and held so tightly that others can't get a leg in.

Keeping the costs low is also a key to increasing membership. The only problem is that only those who attend meeting get hit with a raffle, which is effectively an additional membership fee spread over the year.

Some great ideas climberman!

[South_Aussie_Hiker]

Hi PhotoHiker.

You seem to have gotten the wrong end of the stick on several counts after reading my post.

I guarantee you are mistaken. Membership of online groups and/or face to face clubs is not an either/or situation. If this site evaporated overnight, people would still find the information they seek at other sites, and probably the vacuum would be filled by another site anyway. You're chasing the wrong shadow. Access to information on the internet may present a problem for club membership, but the genie is well and truly out of the bottle and you can't put it back.

Um.... I was never suggesting bushwalk.com is the only site with information, and I'm not suggesting that other sites wouldn't fill the void if it disappeared overnight. What I was suggesting was that one of the main reasons for people to traditionally join a bushwalking club (to get information) is lost with the availability of that information online. I'm not chasing any shadow, I'm not trying to put something back in a bottle, and I have no idea what you are implying by making either of those comments. I didn't think my comments were particularly difficult to understand or could be taken as a criticism of this, or any other site.

The internet has also come at a time when people are more time poor than ever before. They can now improve their knowledge (as they might at a formal club meeting) at their leisure and at a time suitable to them alone. The level of detail available online exceeds anything available at a club meeting because it is generally an authoritive collection assembled from multiple sources. See the Larapinta Trail website for an excellent example.

I completely agree. In fact, as someone on ever changing shift work, I'm a "time poor" person. I can't play weekly sports, or go to regular outings, or organisation meetings either. In fact, the professional association which represents me at work has monthly meetings - and I've managed to get to one this year. I'm very much someone who sees the advantages of this aspect of online information.

On top of all this, are you suggesting that interest in bushwalking is waning? From what I've seen, it seems to be growing while the clubs are slowly losing relevance in the modern age.

Um... I don't know where this came from, but no, I never suggested that. Perhaps you got my post confused with someone elses.

Lastly, I get the impression you think I was criticising this forum, or electronic media in general. I think I made it quite clear that I wasn't - I even wrote "Don't take this the wrong way" at the start of the post to make it abundantly clear that was not the path I was going down. I still maintain that a lack of club memebership, and particularly lack of young people, could be attributed to the fact that the information can now be found elsewhere and that would have been the main motivation for people joining bushwalking clubs 20 years ago.

[trepur]

The HWC had been getting smaller due to the changing demographics but over the last year we have been reviewing the way we do things. Facebook site, last minute walks, easier joining procedures etc. Our membership is still primarily active retirees but last year we had a 25% increase in participation. We are also looking at our programme and it is looking very impressive with a vast range of walks from "Toddlers Toddles" to some multi day wilderness extravaganzas. Rupert

[photohiker]

Hi PhotoHiker.

You seem to have gotten the wrong end of the stick on several counts after reading my post.

[..]
What I was suggesting was that one of the main reasons for people to traditionally join a bushwalking club (to get information) is lost with the availability of that information online. I'm not chasing any shadow, I'm not trying to put something back in a bottle, and I have no idea what you are implying by making either of those comments. I didn't think my comments were particularly difficult to understand or could be taken as a criticism of this, or any other site.

Glad to hear it, and glad that you have clarified your position. My reading of your initial post was that you had regrets that the landscape had changed. I certainly didn't take it that you were criticising this site. My view is that we can either embrace or fight change, but as we cannot stop it, we might as well embrace it.

The internet has also come at a time when people are more time poor than ever before. They can now improve their knowledge (as they might at a formal club meeting) at their leisure and at a time suitable to them alone. The level of detail available online exceeds anything available at a club meeting because it is generally an authoritive collection assembled from multiple sources. See the Larapinta Trail website for an excellent example.

I completely agree. In fact, as someone on ever changing shift work, I'm a "time poor" person. I can't play weekly sports, or go to regular outings, or organisation meetings either. In fact, the professional association which represents me at work has monthly meetings - and I've managed to get to one this year. I'm very much someone who sees the advantages of this aspect of online information.

On top of all this, are you suggesting that interest in bushwalking is waning? From what I've seen, it seems to be growing while the clubs are slowly losing relevance in the modern age.

Um... I don't know where this came from, but no, I never suggested that. Perhaps you got my post confused with someone elses.

Sorry, perhaps I did. Don't sweat it.

Lastly, I get the impression you think I was criticising this forum, or electronic media in general. I think I made it quite clear that I wasn't - I even wrote "Don't take this the wrong way" at the start of the post to make it abundantly clear that was not the path I was going down. I still maintain that a lack of club memebership, and particularly lack of young people, could be attributed to the fact that the information can now be found elsewhere and that would have been the main motivation for people joining bushwalking clubs 20 years ago.

See above, you've clarified already. From your suggestion that clubs would recover if sites like this did not exist, I took it that you somehow regret that change. In any case, If a club wants to continue to attract new and young members it needs to be active, visible, internally healthy, and do things that make it relevant to young people. One of those things is social media.

On the whole, I think that clubs will have an increasingly uphill battle maintaining relevance in the new landscape. People, especially youth, generally do not devote the sort of time to singular activities that they might have in the past. Instead they adopt multiple interests taken from a smorgasbord of possibilities many of which would have been inconceivable not that long ago.

[Bush Walker]

The HWC had been getting smaller due to the changing demographics but over the last year we have been reviewing the way we do things. Facebook site, last minute walks, easier joining procedures etc. Our membership is still primarily active retirees but last year we had a 25% increase in participation. We are also looking at our programme and it is looking very impressive with a vast range of walks from "Toddlers Toddles" to some multi day wilderness extravaganzas. Rupert

Hi Rupert

Glad to hear that HWC has been trying social networking and to meet the needs of younger members. You say that you have had a 25% increase in participation. Does that mean membership increased by the same amount and if so what percentage were younger than your average age?

It would be really useful for the rest of us if you were able to indicate which changes, of those you listed, were believed to be most successful if you have indeed attracted new younger members.

[Bush Walker]

I understand that the Sydney Bushwalking Club has had some success in increasing membership. Any insiders able to give us some details?

[doogs]

I guess I am kind of in the age group that is lacking from walking clubs, and I am not a member of a walking club. I would like to be but I work full time and have young children, this doesnt stop me from going bushwalking though
The problem I have found with joining a bushwalking club is the qualifying walks and the expectation to do a skills course. If I get a leave pass from my wife I dont really want to be doing walks I am not particularly interested in. I also work most weekends so dont want spend a free weekend I have doing a skills course (although I do probably need to update my first aid). I understand the need for these things to be done, but I have been walking in mountainous areas since I was about 6 years old and would rather do walks by myself or not with a Walking Club. Basically I dont want to nor have the time/leave passes to go through all the rigmarole to eventually get on the walks I would like to do.

[bauplenut]

IIRC, Bushwalking QLD (state body) addressed this issue in their last AGM as a concern of many clubs - might have come from Bushwalking Australia in fact. At our club, membership has declined slighlty over the past couple of years. Demographic of the club is mature, mostly 40+ - 70. We attract a steady stream of visitors who find the club through the website (Townsville Bushwalking Club), most only do a walk or two, but some convert to members. The challenge is developing walk leaders and retaining the knowledge of areas to walk in and walk leadership skills.

[Bush Walker]

IIRC, At our club, membership has declined slighlty over the past couple of years. Demographic of the club is mature, mostly 40+ - 70.

Thanks bauplenut.

It would be useful to find out why the newcomers don't stay on after a walk or two? Perhaps an exit questionnaire

Are they not made welcome?
Are the walks varied enough to suit newcomers?
Are there insufficient walks or are they at the wrong time?
Is the age gap too great?

[Bush Walker]

The problem I have found with joining a bushwalking club is the qualifying walks and the expectation to do a skills course.

Thanks Doogs. I am sure this is a problem that many bushwalkers have and I myself had when I joined a club, and for some could deter membership.

Initially, I was offended that anyone could question my expertise, but after thinking for a moment I realised that it was completely appropriate to ask a new member to do qualifying walks, no matter what they said their expertise was. Club's have a legitimate right to filter new members so that Club walks are not disrupted by those who are a safety risk due lack of appropriate equipment or fitness. I have been on several walks which have had to be curtailed, due to the limitations of the participants, who had overestimated their capabilities.

I found the qualifying walks most enjoyable as they were much easier than my usually walks and gave me the opportunity to get to know some members. Why else would you join a Club if you did not want to mix socially with the members?
Qualifying walks, far from being an inconvenience, also give you a chance to decide if you want to walk with the Club and allow you to make this decision usually before you fully commit with the full membership fee. As for the skills courses, I have always seen these as an opportunity to train for more difficult walks and hence a bonus.

[under10kg]

I wanted to join the brisbane bushwalking club but could not do so unless I attended a meeting at brisbane. As this involved a 4 hour return drive I did not do so.
Silly rules like this just drive experienced walkers away!

[Bush Walker]

I wanted to join the brisbane bushwalking club but could not do so unless I attended a meeting at brisbane. As this involved a 4 hour return drive I did not do so.
Silly rules like this just drive experienced walkers away!

From the perspective of the Club this is not a silly rule. Why would you let someone into your "home" to spend intimate time with you without having met them before?

[photohiker]

I wanted to join the brisbane bushwalking club but could not do so unless I attended a meeting at brisbane. As this involved a 4 hour return drive I did not do so.
Silly rules like this just drive experienced walkers away!

From the perspective of the Club this is not a silly rule. Why would you let someone into your "home" to spend intimate time with you without having met them before?

There goes your demographic!

I can see the club's point of view, but isn't the club ignoring/snubbing the outlook of the target generation here? Once the club displays this kind of attitude, it will struggle to attract younger people.

The trail would be a better place to assess someone's capability/suitability than a formal club meeting. Why not have provisional membership for new members rather than turning them away at the door?