During the past number of years the number of people attending 'senior' seminars have dropped severely. This, in my mind, is due to a number of reasons including: -

• The cost of accommodation has increased
• What were regular attendees, have stopped attending
• There is perception that they are organised with the 17-27 age groups in mind.

The trend has emerged that the majority of those attending the senior weekends are those of us who attend simply to support the organising committees. I feel that we are now in the position where we have to ask ourselves "Why?" and "What can we do to fix this situation?", before it gets to the point where we exhaust the enthusiasm of new or existing committees, or they make a large financial loss! It is simply not fair or practical to allow this to continue.

Alongside these senior seminars, "Youth Weekends" are successfully organised. Young pioneers under the age of 17 attend these weekends, along with a number of Pioneer members over 17, in the capacity of 'Group Leaders'. In effect, the people who attend the senior weekends, also attend the youth weekends, but in a different role. I also feel that most younger members do not make the transition from the youth weekend to the senior, as they feel it will not have the same atmosphere. Again, this is a great loss to both our association, and also to these members themselves.

There may be a solution…

Would it be better to amalgamate both weekends into one, by removing the upper age limit on the Youth Weekend? This way, we would eliminate the large financial risk to the organising committees, and also the burden on the shoulders of the dedicated members who attend all seminars. It would also help bridge the so-called generation gap between the young pioneers and the seasoned ones by allowing both of them to come together and may increase the number of seminars attended by recurring members.

This would also create an opportunity within the current NYC calendar to explore the idea of a new event. This I would suggest take the form of an activities day or weekend, comprising of activities such as Paintball, Go-karting, Water Sports, Night clubs, Concerts, etc. The lower age limit would be 18yrs, facilitating the organisers to include nightclubs or similar venues. I also think that this event should be open to friends of pioneers, as we must continue to build the relationships that exist between pioneers and non-pioneers. However, these non-pioneers must be approved by a local centre or region.

Where do we go to from here?

Before any decision can be made by the NYC and Board of Management, we must first gauge the general opinions of a number of groups: -

• People involved in organising previous committees,
• People who attend seminars, and
• People who for their own reasons, no longer attend.