Apologies for this long post, but there was a lot to pack in.

As a committee we try and communicate with our membership as quickly as possible when we have news to share and we do this mainly through three channels: 
• The club website
• E-mail
• The club Facebook page
We also occasionally use the “postman/postwoman”, but this by comparison to the other channels is time consuming, slow and expensive. 

The new online membership system, Clubmate, has an e-mail system built in to it whereby we can easily e-mail individuals, targeted groups or the whole membership and we would like to use this facility much more in the future. To do so effectively we need help from you to ensure that the system is up to date and correct. Please can you check your details on the system, even if you haven’t used it to renew your membership yourself, to ensure that your details, especially e-mail address and contact phone number, are up to date and correct. 

If you are an existing DDAS member and haven’t logged into the system before use the e-mail you supplied on the membership application form as the User ID and you will be taken thru the password change and verification process. The link to the Clubmate login web page is below. Once signed in click the “cogs” icon in the top right corner, click “My Profile” from the drop down list and then click Profile (one of the blue links top and centre of the screen. Check your details, update where necessary and save the changes. Please do not go thru the registration process as you will create a duplicate member on the system.  

Clubmate web page link - https://app.clubmate.co.uk/Account/Login 

We are keeping track of members who appear to have no online presence, or at least no e-mail, and making provision for them in our communications. 

At present we are only using Clubmate for memberships, but it has a whole host of other facilities that we can make use of in the future, e.g. match bookings, guest tickets, a bailiff app, special event bookings, communication, an event diary and many more. Using the system will make it much easier to run the club effectively and reduce the effort required at this time of year on our overworked Membership Secretary (Paul “Whisky” Haigh).
So please check your details and update them if needed.

We are aware that some people have had problems with the new system; we are sorting them out as quickly as possible and where necessary monies are being refunded. Please bear with us it’s new to us too and we are learning as well. This renewal year may be a bit painful, but going forward it should be a lot easier and quicker. The tools that the system gives us to run the club in a better way in the future will be worth the small amount of pain we are taking at the moment.    

One last reminder, if you are paying by Paypal please don’t forget to complete and send the Membership Application Form (MAF) to the Membership Secretary as well.  

Gary Biles (Club Secretary) & Paul Haigh (Membership Secretary)