Tell us what you think about your club!
As we welcome in 2025 we’d like to hear what you think about your club. Our 2021 membership survey really helped shape the membership package that we have today. Your merchandise suggestions and ideas help us understand what we already do that you like, and what you would like us to produce. Your feedback also helps us know what events you’d like in the future, website features you’d like to see etc. Your responses also help us understand how best to run the club. With inflation affecting us all, your input helps us understand how the cost of living might impact you and the club, and how you think we might meet the challenges ahead of us.
So, please take a few minutes to participate in our membership survey, which is open to all current members of Fanderson until the end of January.
It’s also time for you to elect your chairman for the next five years, although no club members were nominated by the Christmas Eve deadline. Nick Williams (the incumbent) is standing again, and it’s important that we understand whether you support him or not.
Nick says “I was surprised last summer to discover that I am the club’s longest serving chairman. Having contributed to Fanderson’s success for 35 years, I’m standing once again to be your club chairman.
When I became Secretary in 1990, I immediately set about ways to make database maintenance and preparing for mailings easier. I also worked closely with the then chairman to bring a more formal, productive structure to committee meetings and records of those meetings. I was asked to take on the additional responsibility of Treasury in 1994, when the club’s finances were in a perilous state. I had a plan to turn the situation around and by 1995 all debts had been paid and we were consistently back in the black. I introduced the card payment facility, and brought in elementary management information to help the committee make informed decisions.
When I became Chairman in 2007, membership numbers were in serious decline. Members told us that sporadic magazine mailings and website updates were giving the impression that the club was closing. The plan was to get the magazine back on a regular schedule and have a website that would be an immediate port of call for anyone who wanted information, news, to buy merchandise or to contact the club. By giving a new, inclusive, direction for FAB we had more members contributing to our club magazine. Membership numbers (and, crucially, membership renewals) immediately stabilised and then started to increase again.
I don’t have an encyclopaedic recall of every Anderson fact and figure, but I don’t think that’s the role of a Chairman. I have guided and supported your committee, the club and its members well for 17 years. I’ve had to make some tough decisions but, where possible, aim to include members’ comments and ideas in a creative solution that will work. That’s why the results of the last survey were so important in re-shaping the membership package in the face of rapidly increasing costs. I’ve never underestimated or taken for granted the responsibility that this position demands. I’ve never been afraid to stand up and do the right thing for the club and its members – even on occasion that it’s made me unpopular with a minority. That said, I believe I’ve been a positive ambassador for the club, maintaining great relationships with existing partners and building relationships with new ones.
Fanderson has been one of the very best fan clubs for the last 44 years. I intend that we keep everything that’s made it great, though I’ve always got my eye on the future and what’s coming around the corner. I’m incredibly proud of all we’ve achieved in my time, and relish the opportunity to continue. I hope you’ll show your support by voting for me.”
“A huge THANK YOU from the Actors’ Benevolent Fund (ABF) to all Fanderson members who have kindly donated to support the work of the ABF. The trustees of the ABF are very grateful for your support which will enable us to help more actors and stage managers in need.
