Chasing the laggards

I despair. Council is again having to waste considerable time pursuing members who are in subscription default.
Treasurer Tim Price has today provided with everyone on council a list of eight names to pursue. You want the full picture then look at the year book count the number of council members and then multiply by eight.
Our challenge is to extract from them the Direct Debit mandates that were sent out before Christmas with a return deadline of January 14.
Human nature is such that people often put forms to one side, say they'll do it another day and then forget.
I'm sure this lies behind the reason why so many have – for the second year in occasions – failed to undertake the necessary change to their subscription payments.
What it means, however, is that your council is diverted from doing the things it should be doing as well as giving up our own time to pursue people who really should know better. This costs council members in their own pockets through telephone calls and the time taken to pursue people
I am sorely tempted to cut and paste the list the names. I won't do that on this occasion.
What I will say is that if you haven't filled out your Direct Debit then expect an e-mail and a phone call from a council member in the coming week or so.
If the form then isn't returned by April 25 your membership is at risk of being terminated and being excluded from the Year Book.
If you are one of the laggards, please help council by filling in the form you were sent before Christmas and returning it to treasurer, Tim Price.
For those who don't want to do Direct Debit, your sub can be paid by cheque but the amount due annually will increase next year.
For more information on why we have switched to Direct Debit go to
http://www.gaj.org.uk/contextra/TemplateParser.asp?sId=58&sItm=58&TopID=2