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Finlay
12th November 2015, 01:46 PM
Interesting reading the answers to Q2, some standard replies but some touching on possible issues.

This line caught my eye 'Once we start doing something that cachers value'. In Scotland and I'm sure in other areas of the UK too. The GAGB has no value, people don't take it seriously enough. JackieC did a wonderful job of starting to change that attitude in Scotland but with her not standing, that may stop. So....

How do the rest of the candidates go about changing the Scottish view (and other areas I'm sure) of the GAGB and make it of valve? What new plans do you have to reach out to cachers, not just in your area but all over the UK?

Antreid
12th November 2015, 07:56 PM
Hi Finlay,

Thank you for a good question. I must say it's a bit of a tough question, too!

I hesitate to 'promise the world' here. I honestly do not know if there is anything specific to cachers who live in Scotland whereby GAGB is less relevant or can be more relevant, than for other places. I have cached in Scotland, my family come from Scotland, and I am likely to visit Scotland in 2016, but I don't want to promise you that I can do something specific to GAGB that will make it more relevant to Scotland.

One idea I have mooted is to survey the membership - or perhaps the Seeker readership - about what people want or miss, and perhaps one of those questions can be specific to how GAGB can help in certain regions.

I know we have a candidate standing for the IoM, and we do have another candidate who at least *is* Scottish. Without someone who actually lives *in* Scotland standing, I do think you have a good point. How can we engage with and listen to Scottish cachers?

My other theme is around reaching out to non-cachers - the media, and thence other local organisations like local trusts and councils. Maybe I can seek volunteers from outside the committee to do something similar in Scotland, and encourage or help them to create a general 'atmosphere' where such organisations understand geocaching, events, and CITOs a bit better. Interested in helping with that, by any chance...? :cool:

It's not much of an answer, I know, but I happen to know how far it is to my family in Greenock, and it's a long way to personally extend my reach...!

Ant

twoofnine
12th November 2015, 09:14 PM
It’ll be even tougher gaining new members in the Isle of Man as we currently have only one Landowner agreement in place! But those of us who have cached in Scotland know what the region has to offer in terms of all aspects of geocaching. I only know a handful of Scottish cachers but I suspect they are all well known in Scotland!
They must have the same issues there as anywhere else on the globe? I would be more than happy to discuss these issues with cachers from any region.

As far as "changing the Scottish view" - I refer to my reply to Q2.

Finlay
12th November 2015, 09:33 PM
Thanks for the reply twoofnine.

You say you would more than happy to discuss these issues with cachers from any region. So my question is how would you reach out to these other areas, social media, events etc. What new ideas do you bring to the GAGB for 2015/2016 to reach the whole of the UK and not just your own area?

twoofnine
12th November 2015, 10:11 PM
Finlay, I must point out that, if elected, I not not see this as a regional appointment. I am already a member of several geocaching Facebook groups, including Geocaching Scotland. But I cannot possible read all the posts nor can I attend events in all regions. Such a small volunteer committee could not, in my opinion, operate on a regional basis, so by attendance at major events and promotion of the benefits of GAGB membership via GB-wide social media is our best option.

Jackie Fox
12th November 2015, 10:35 PM
Finlay, being Scottish and caching in Scotland a lot when I go back I home I wonder why you think Scotland is different. But I feel the GAGB has to promote itself more explaining to cachers what they do and the only way I see this being done is using social media, there regional groups and attending events round the country or as I said before contacting event organisers and asking them to hand out info. What would you like to see the GAGB doing?

richlay
12th November 2015, 11:47 PM
I've done a bit of caching in Scotland and in fact I'm sat in the Holiday Inn in Perth right now having just been to the earth cache in town. I've seen links in lots of Scottish caches to GAGB urban placement guidelines etc and I've spoken to lots of northern cachers that are fully engaged with what we do, so I'm not sure that suggesting an entire region has a view is correct.

I do not believe a campaign to change a perceived regional mindset is appropriate. We represent cachers in GB, Ireland and the Islands, really whether they think we should or not. We have had a stack of dealings with Scottish landowners over the couple of years that I have been involved and the Ayr mega was particularly successful for us in terms of new members and financially.

We ought to be showing our value better but first we need to develop our offer. We haven't had a new discount all year for example, there's a job for someone right away. Because of the inefficiencies of this committee we haven't developed GLAD as we might have, Seeker is a constant struggle. All those 3 will improve our offer to cachers all across our territory.

Griff Grof
13th November 2015, 04:08 PM
I agree with the points that others have raised. My ideas raised in Q2 (https://www.gagb.org.uk/forums/showthread.php?5634-Question-2-GAGB-awareness) are also apt in answering and hopefully solving this question :)

UKCACHEMAG
13th November 2015, 07:47 PM
Hard to put an answer on this. I feel for many reasons this year as a committee we have not achieved what we set out to do. I take a large element of responsibility in that.

We do need to find a new way to add value to caching from what the gagb offer.

I honestly don't have a concrete answer.

I hope I can be part of a team that work together to answer this and many other issues.

I see raising the profile of caching in general a key part of the answer.

abiherts
15th November 2015, 03:20 PM
I think we need to raise the profile of the gagb to all of the areas that we cover. Having not been to Scotland or met any Scottish cachers, I'm not personally aware that there was a difference of perception of the gagb by Scottish cachers.

I particularly liked Richlay ' response to this question and would fully support the team to make a difference to improve the perception of the gagb.

Maple Leaf
21st November 2015, 10:03 AM
It doesn't help when someone creates a Twitter account for geocaching in the UK and that promotes themselves as being 'Anti-GAGB'

329

(I don't know who is behind this Twitter account).

richlay
21st November 2015, 04:59 PM
Oh I do. Tim didn't do a particularly good job of cleansing his previous twitter history. One of the most pointless accounts I've come across.

Cache on Wheels
21st November 2015, 08:32 PM
:( I hadn't noticed the info - If One did not read the info about this, (like me) one could be mistaken for thinking it is an official Groundspeak account. (Like me)

Whoever took the screen shot, it says there are 120 followers of it, that you know.