| Author | Message | ||
     Michael L. Palmieri (Great_pumpkin) New Member Username: Great_pumpkin Post Number: 12 Registered: 01-2004 |
Hi, my name is Michael L. Palmieri and I am a new Rover owner and new to Disco Web. Anyway, to the best of my knowledge, NJ does not have its own Rover Owners' Club. I would like to get one started and am looking for members (and some help). I have thus far created a little page about the club. http://www.palmieriphoto.com/theroc/ If you are interested, please drop me a line. Thanks. --Michael | ||
| Kyle Van Tassel (Kyle) Moderator Username: Kyle Post Number: 593 Registered: 11-2002 |
Its called R.O.V.E.R.S............ "Blow me" | ||
| Peter Matusov (Pmatusov) Senior Member Username: Pmatusov Post Number: 1289 Registered: 09-2002 |
The options to "polish off the Merlot" just expanded  | ||
| Rick Neff (Lostinboston) Senior Member Username: Lostinboston Post Number: 273 Registered: 06-2003 |
Michael, get a board going where we can post trail rides and routes we find. Im from Somerset county, moved to Monmouth but currently in boston for college. | ||
| Dean Brown (Deanbrown3d) Senior Member Username: Deanbrown3d Post Number: 1382 Registered: 02-2002 |
Somerset, NJ. Pop down to the PINE BARRENS every now and again for some light stuff. Thank you Kyle | ||
| Kyle Van Tassel (Kyle) Moderator Username: Kyle Post Number: 594 Registered: 11-2002 |
"Pinies" are the people dean "Blow me" | ||
| Sean Roche (Crazy_fish) New Member Username: Crazy_fish Post Number: 22 Registered: 10-2003 |
Michael- I got your email and photos for roversclub.com. We are in the middle of changing servers (still) so I have not posted your information. My thoughts are: Starting a new club dilutes other clubs, a large club has more resources-members-events, and Dean is in ROVERS, in NJ and will trail faster than you can say "lets go get muddy" We'd be pleased to have you join us if you wish. Sean | ||
| Donald McFarlane (Dsmcf) Member Username: Dsmcf Post Number: 81 Registered: 11-2003 |
Hmm... I seem to recall joining ROVERS, way back in the mists of time. I heard from them a couple of times, thanks to other appointments and being overseas for a few months I was unable to make any of the dates, and then I never heard from them again.... I thought the club was no more. If it's still a going concern I shall have to go visit the website... | ||
| Axel Haakonsen (Axel) Moderator Username: Axel Post Number: 845 Registered: 02-2003 |
Clubs go in cycles. Sometimes they are very active, sometimes they stay quiet for a while. ROVERS is no different. My 2 cents on starting a new NJ club (or anywhere else for that mattar); It takes a lot more than creating a website and get together a couple of people for a trailrun. I know this from experience, I was involved with the now defunct New York Land Rover club years ago. Best advice I can give for anyone who wants to be involved with running a club, find an existing one and volunteer your time there. Clubs are always looking for new volunters. An established club will also have the infrastructure in place already, and there will be others in the club that you can work with so that you don't burn out so fast. - Axel | ||
| Bill Bettridge (Billb) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Billb Post Number: 1431 Registered: 02-2002 |
Donald, That must have been some time ago as I've been doing membership for ROVERS for 4 years now and don't have any record of you in current or lapsed members. Anyway - it is still very much a going concern. We have some leadership postions changing soon, bu tother than that business as usual. As Sean mentioned, the website is transitioning servers, so is not 100% updated right now. Feel free to contact me with any questions though [email protected] PS - annual club meeting is Feb 22. Next event will probably be either another Trials in PA, or Assaateague in March/April Bill | ||
| Michael L. Palmieri (Great_pumpkin) New Member Username: Great_pumpkin Post Number: 15 Registered: 01-2004 |
Sean and all, Now that you have mentioned it, I agree that yes, more clubs could lead to the dilution of others. That being said, I also believe that consolidated clubs can be geographically too spread out. For example, ROVERS is made up of folks from PA, Del., MD and NJ. That is quite a large area and requires a good amount of travel just to make it to simple things like club meetings or informal get-togethers. My goal is to be part of a club � the fraternity of being a Land Rover owner really interests me. However, living on the coast of NJ means an hour ride just to get to Philly, let alone further west or south. So I don't know. My intentions are certainly to not step on the toes of ROVERS or any other club. After all, we are one big "family." Perhaps, instead of trying to form something new and separate, I should strive to make The ROC a "division" of ROVERS. Don't know � I am just thinking out loud. Is that doable? Would the powers that be at ROVERS be interested in that sort of relationship? Would there be enough NJ folks to even support it? These things I do not know, but I am tossing the idea out to all of you. --Michael | ||
| Axel Haakonsen (Axel) Moderator Username: Axel Post Number: 872 Registered: 02-2003 |
I know where you are coming from. When New York Land Rover Club was active, we were trying to cover those same needs, for similar reasons. If you do start a new club, I don't think anybody will think you are stepping on anyone's toes, but here is a reality check for you: You create your website, and start accepting members. Let's say your membership fee will be in the typical $25-$50 range. Let's say you get 100 members. Now you have a budget of $2500-$5000. The average member who signs up, is going to reason like this: "I paid my $xx, I am supporting the club.", and leave it at that. Then they will expect the following: - A regular newsletter. - A maintained website. - Club items to buy, like stickers and tshirts. - Regular off road events. - Regular club meetings. The website and newsletter will take time and money. Initially, a few people will provide you with content, but that will die down quickly, and you'll end up with content from the same few people. You will also spend time and money on printing and mailing the newsletter. Club meetings: Most of your members won't show up, because they are "too busy", and if they do show up, they might get elected for some position, which they don't want. Most will also reason that they already paid their membership fee, so that's all they have to do. A few people truly interested in helping with the club will show up, and you will end up with a board of directors, or whatever you want to call it, to run your club. Then you decide to make up a few club items to sell through the website and at events. You spend maybe $1000 on an inventory of stickers and tshirts. You won't sell as many as you think. We saw this in NYLRC, and also see it on Dweb. Then most importantly, there are the regular club events that your members will expect. After all, that's why they joined the club, right? And since they already paid their membership fees, they have supported the club, and the club will organize the event, they reason. All they have to do is show up. So, you decide to have a club event. Where is it going to be? Since you are in Barnegat, and since this is a southern NJ club, The Pine Barrens seem like a logical choice. It's big, and close by, and you have probably been in there already, so why not a club event there? Think again. If you want to hold an official club event there, you need a permit. Good luck securing one. And it will probably only be good for the public parts of the Barrens. Do you know which parts are public, and which are privately owned? Let's now say you have your permits, and put on the event. You advertise it in your newsletter, on your website, and maybe here. You and your 3-4 active club members locate the trail you want to run, and you are the trail leaders. Then 30-40 Rovers show up, most of whom you don't know, and many who have never been offroad before. Are you prepared for this? What will you do when somebody gets stuck, or break something? Or even worse, what if somebody is injured? Are you insured for that? Did you incorporate the club, so that the club as it's own entity is the organizer, offering you at least some small sliver of liability protection? And don't even get me started on all the comments you will hear about how the trail was too easy, too hard, too muddy, too tight so my paint got scratched, too disorganized, too much waiting, the event fee was too high, and so on and so on. So, now you have pulled off your first event. Where is the next one going to be? Pine Barrens again? You can't have every club event there. Where else can you legally wheel in Southern Jersey? I don't know of anywhere. What else is there? You could do Paragon, but that's in PA. Ringwood? Don't know of the legalities there. CT? Most of the trails there have been closed. Maryland? Virginia? MAR? See what I'm driving at? You and your fellow club leaders will be expected to find legal offroading within a reasonable travel distance from southern Jersey. That's a tall order. Let's say you and your fellow club leaders manage to pull off 3-4 major events for 2-3 years. You start to feel burned out, and want somebody else to take over running the club. You call a club meeting. You think you will get any volunteers to take over for you? If you do, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale cheap. What I laid out, was pretty much what happened with New York Land Rover Club, and is the reason the club now is dead. It may be different in your case, but if you decide to go down this road, know what you are in for. - Axel | ||
| Michael L. Palmieri (Great_pumpkin) New Member Username: Great_pumpkin Post Number: 17 Registered: 01-2004 |
WOW! How does one reply to that? Really, having read your comments, it certainly puts a different spin on things. I never realized how much there was to it. It certainly makes one think. Sean, as someone in the leadership of ROVERS, what is your take on the running of a club? --Michael | ||
| Axel Haakonsen (Axel) Moderator Username: Axel Post Number: 870 Registered: 02-2003 |
Michael, here is my advice to you. It sounds like you are enthusiastic, and want to do something, and that is good. That is the kind of person a club needs. Join ROVERS, and volunteer your time. You won't be starting from scratch. Work with them to put together a local run, which could be in the Barrens. It can be done, and you will have some experienced people to help you when the day of the event comes. That would be a win-win situation for everyone. - Axel | ||
| Sean Roche (Crazy_fish) New Member Username: Crazy_fish Post Number: 23 Registered: 10-2003 |
We'd love to have you join us. My thinking is while a spread out membership is not always the easiest thing to gather up, each little pocket of members have access to different things. Shop days are 80 miles away for me sometimes, but well worth the drive when you need help. I'm NOT an official in ROVERS, so these are my thoughts. I've only been a member since last Feb ( when I bought my first Rover ) and honestly, I could not keep up with all the work that is involved in running the club. Fresh faces are always good, as well as those who have seen it all. If you want I'll send you Tom Bache's phone #, the current president and you can pick his brain, but I think its all been said above. In general, I think that adding 3% to an existing thing is easier than building something from scratch. | ||
| Michael L. Palmieri (Great_pumpkin) New Member Username: Great_pumpkin Post Number: 21 Registered: 01-2004 |
Well, after some thought, I guess joining ROVERS is the place to start. I filled out the form just now and will send it out Monday. We'll see where it goes from there ... --Michael | ||
| Sean Roche (Crazy_fish) New Member Username: Crazy_fish Post Number: 24 Registered: 10-2003 |
And as a bonus, we'll introduce you to our NJ rovers and you'll find some of your own. What will happen is that you get together more with your local buddies, than official events, but thats a good thing right? Besides, you need some stickers on that thing! 2 Great events are the Robesonia Trials ( 2 times a year) and the Assaateague Beach Camping and you just missed 1800 acres of mountains-snow-hunting cabin-great trails Spruce Cabin Camp. | ||
| Jeffrey DelVecchio (Jeffreydv) Member Username: Jeffreydv Post Number: 58 Registered: 01-2003 |
I can see where Michael is coming from. I joined ROVERS last year and while it seems like a great group, most of the meetings are a bit far from NJ. I have been reading articles in LRM about ROVERS and some of the things the guys do sound great. It is just more practical sometimes to do things locally. Maybe all this is because my wife has been pregnant and we just had our first baby a month ago? Hopefully, in a couple of months we will be able to do more. Just my $0.02 Jeff New Milford, NJ | ||
| Axel Haakonsen (Axel) Moderator Username: Axel Post Number: 897 Registered: 02-2003 |
Problem is, that except for the Pine Barrens, there isn't really that much to do locally in NJ. And there really isn't much to do in the Barrens either, except drive through stinky mudholes. - Axel | ||
| Ron Brown (Ron) Senior Member Username: Ron Post Number: 686 Registered: 04-2001 |
ROVERS is good. Nice people. The way I would suggest doing it is whatever, events or whatnot you want to do with a "new" NJ club just do and promote through ROVERS. More people will come due to the wider distribution, and you will get to be like a subgroup of the club (for example, the people up my way know each other, there are the regulars who always got to Tom's, Steve, Peter and Sean are all up north, Bill B and John, Trevor and them are down in MD) it gets you close wheel and convoy buddies without the hastle and organization of a new club. As far events in NJ I know Peter had a shop day recently, and some of us went to ringwood last year, but like Axel says Pine Barrens is about all that is in NJ. Ron | ||
| Jamie (Rover_puppy) Senior Member Username: Rover_puppy Post Number: 823 Registered: 05-2003 |
Wow! This thread has been extremely educational. I had absolutely no clue that organizing clubs and events takes so much time, effort, cash, and bravery (liability issues). Looking at it from this new perspective, how can any of us expect an active club just by paying our measly dues to our regional clubs each year? In addition to our local/regional clubs, every single reader on this BB can get input, advice, and education from DiscoWeb. We all save money and keep our rovers running from the service this BB provides (even when we don't like the answers we get). I sure hope that when each of us is fortunate enough to have a few spare dollars that we all do our part to help support this site. BTW, I just found out what a "lurker" is. I hope that the lurkers who are benefiting from this BB are helping to support this site - even if you read it just for entertainment I'm sure that even lurkers can help support this site anonymously |
