Mar 2016

The Inhouse Magazine of the Association of Intervarsity clubs

Sharing news and best practice from around the regions

Providing a forum for discussion of issues affecting aIVC

Web:

To post reviews of events, photographs etc that might appeal to prospective members –a low cost marketing solution for all clubs

Our closed group for discussing issues relevant to IVC

e-mail Nick, our National Development Officer at if you would like to be added to the group

Contents

UPDATING YOUR CLUB DETAILS

CHAIRMANS CHAT

Conference 2016

Regional Gatherings 2016

REPLACEMENT FOR ACTIVITY EXCHANGE

FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

London & Birmingham IVC in India

IMPROVEMENTS IN FUNCTIONALITY OF CURRENT WEB SITE

MEMBERSHIP NUMBERS

SHARING OF EVENTS

APPEAL FOR NEWSLINES CONTRIBUTIONS

AIVC COMMITTEE 2015 -2016

UPDATING YOUR CLUB DETAILS

PLEASE HELP US TO STAY IN TOUCH.

TO UPDATE YOUR CLUB DETAILS PLEASE CONTACT THE WEB MASTER BOB CLIFFORD ON WHENEVER YOU CLUB OFFICERS CHANGE.

A page has been added under the HOME section of the AIVC web site titled “Club Contacts List” where you can find basic contact details for clubs in the Association. Please check this information and let Bob Clifford know of any changes ().

CHAIRMANS CHAT

Hilary Brown(Birmingham IVC)

Welcome to this edition of Newslines.

Conference 2016

Book the date in your diary now! - 8-10 July 2016.

Cambridgeshire IVC will be hosting the Conference for 2016.

The Committee visited Cambridge in February and had a tour of the venues.

The Saturday dinner / dance will be held at Homerton Hall - think Harry Potter and you will have a good picture of the place. A very spectacular venue. We are planning to have a live piano recital, and hope that the weather will enable us to make full use of the splendid gardens.

The AGM will be held on the Saturday and completed on that day. It will be at the Faculty of Education next door to Homerton Hall.

There are lots of interesting activities planned:-

For those arriving on Friday, " Cambridge Big Weekend " will be in full swing on Parkers Piece - music events, beer tent and food stalls.

Cambridge IVC will be organising a variety of events on Sunday for delegates, but there will also be events on the Saturday for those who are attending as guests.

Details will follow confirming booking arrangements, accommodation options, and costs.

Don't miss it!

I would like to thank Brenda Field and Ann Waterman for organising things and arranging our tours.

Thank you also to all of Cambridge IVC who kindly let Pete and I join your Mexican Party on the Saturday evening, and Rob and Sarah for being such hospitable hosts. We had a very enjoyable weekend.

Regional Gatherings 2016

The next Regional Gathering will be held in Swanwick near Southampton on Sunday 3 April 2016.

Details are on the AIVC website and in the Events Bulletin circulated earlier in March 2016.

I hope that our southern club members will attend. Other clubs are of course also welcome to join us.

An outline agenda can be found on the website, under the National Events tab, Events Diary.

Please give consideration within your clubs to discussion topics and come along to share your views with other members.

If you have any pressing topics that you would like to discuss but are unable to attend please let me know so that they can be included in the discussions.

BOOK BY SUN 27TH MARCH WITH HILARY

REPLACEMENT FOR ACTIVITY EXCHANGE

As I am sure you are all aware by now, Activity Exchange is no more.

AE provided several important functions, namely

  • Ability for clubs to share events
  • A source of information regarding club membership nos and contact details
  • Providing basic web publicity
  • Was used by some clubs as there web prescence

As an interim measure, whilst considering our options, aIVC have taken up Bob Clifford’s (Active Hampshire) offer of the use of Agoria/Activity Forum as a replacement. This is provided free by his Company –Activity Forum Ltd.

aIVC are considering several alternatives as a replacement - Agoria(this system), Meetup and a proposed new system from Nimur Ltd.

The spec from Nimur Ltd can be found on the website under the National Events/Activity Exchange replacement tab.

To assist in the decision making process we have drawn up an analysis of the features/our requirements of each system. This can also be found on the website in the same location as the Nimur spec.

All clubs are encouraged to read this and send their comments to myself at . These will be included in the analysis so that a considered decision can be made as to the way forward.

FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

London & Birmingham IVC in India

Ann Jones LIVC

The IVC trip to India, I think can be said, was enjoyed by all. For me it was my first time in India and despite being used to the hustle and bustle of London I was nonetheless somewhat unnerved by the noise & traffic of Indian towns & cities. However, I soon got used to it and found that the best way was not to worry about the traffic, but to let the traffic worry about you. It seems to have worked - I’ve got home in one piece!!

I also soon got the hang of bargaining. The trick is never to express an interest in any goods and if you are approached and do want something– just say no enough times & the trader will eventually come down to his bottom price.

Our trip was one of contrasts from the picturesque and historic Fort Kochi, the tranquillity of the backwaters at Kumarakon, the spectacular scenery and plants of the Munar region to the chilled out atmosphere of the beaches on the Arabian sea. Texting home to say I was enjoying a cocktail and sunset on the beach in the middle of Februrary was indeed a pleasure.

For me two of the most interesting experiences were an elephant ride and trips on the Indian railways.

The railways are from another era, what with their pantry carriages, ladies only carriages and old fashioned leather seats in the air conditioned carriages. The expresss trains go so fast that people stand by open doors. A word of warning in case you ever find yourself travelling on Indian railways to cross to another platform - be sure to take the foot over bridge (no not a typo) rather than crossing the line as some of the locals do! British Rail, no I mean Virgin, aren’t so bad after all.

As for the elephant ride, it was the getting on that was the problem. Some yoga sessions before hand would have helped, in the end I just had to stretch my legs and think of England!!

Watch out for the next exotic foreign trip and think about joining us.

Further highlights of this trip can be found on the aivc website under the IVC travellers tab.

IMPROVEMENTS IN FUNCTIONALITY OF CURRENT WEB SITE

Development work is currently underway in Agoria/Activity Forum to create services that are capable of replacing the address list features that were previously provided by Activity Exchange. This will allow club officers to update their clubs address and contact details and publish this information to other clubs. Watch this space. Instructions will distributed as and when functionality is completed.

In the meantime continue to notify the webmaster Bob at – with any officer updates.

MEMBERSHIP NUMBERS

Please also inform Bob of your membership numbers by either Dec 31st if you have a rolling year membership or by the end of your subscription year if you have a fixed membership period. This is required by the treasurer in order to draw up the budget for the following year and enables the treasure to send you the correct levy notice. Send to Bob who will update the website.

SHARING OF EVENTS

We will be seeking your views at the regional meetings on how interclub events should be publicised in the future. You can also express an opinion on the aIVC facebook group at the address below

In the meantime please send detailsof any interclub events to the National Events Coordinater – Peter Howe at who will add them to the website

APPEAL FOR NEWSLINES CONTRIBUTIONS

Without News, there would be no Newslines for your enjoyment and information. Apart from committee news I am dependant on you the reader for articles. Do please help to make Newslines lively and interesting by sending me your articles.

Suggested topics are:-

  • From our own correspondent – a report on an inter-club event that you attended
  • Blast from the past – interesting titbits from your historical bulletins
  • Marketing – how you go about this, what works, what doesn’t work
  • Events – Do you organise any novel events that might be of interest to other clubs. At one conference I heard of a story writing event but have forgotten the details.
  • AIVC future – what’s good about AIVC, what’s not so good
  • Issues around the age of club members – Are your club members on average under 40? How will you maintain this average age? What will you do viz a viz your membership when your reach 40. Is everybody pushing 60 and beyond? How do you feel about this? What are you doing to attract younger members? Should we be worried?

The above are just a few suggestions, don’t be limited by them.

Articles for publication should be sent to me, Ann, at

AIVC COMMITTEE 2015 -2016

Chair:
Hilary Brown(Birmingham IVC)
/ Web Master:
Bob Clifford(Active Hampshire)


Secretary:
Philip Allen(Sheffield IVC)

/ News Officer:
Ann Jones(London IVC)


Treasurer:
Sarah Davis (Cambridgeshire IVC)

/ National Development
and Publicity Officer:
Nick Wilkinson (Merseyside IVC)

National Events Co-Ordinator:
Peter Howe (Birmingham IVC)


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