Question 6 - For the new candidates

[richlay]

I would like to know two things from the guys that have not yet served on the committee.

1, what is your impression of the GAGB from outside of the committee looking in?

2, what do you envisage being on the committee would involve for you personally, not really thinking about a specific role but being part of the team?

[Antreid]

Hi Rich - thanks for the question. I don't feel it's any different and don't feel like I am on the outside - I've organised CITOs for GAGB, for example, and written for Seeker. I'd like to think other members of GAGB who are not elected feel the same as me - we elect the committee to represent us and provide focus, as members we don't expect to sit back and be treated like guests!

As a committee member I would take this point of view further and actively encourage all folks - members, committee or otherwise - to help new cachers, new owners, outsiders, to understand caching, join in, and help our loose community to shape our past-time they way we want it. Whether or not I am involved with Seeker, for example, I'll try to encourage folk to write in with their contributions - help, advice, places to go and lovely memories of what caching meant to you in the past...? I'd be someone who wants to say 'yes' to new ideas and wants to help make new plans work...

Ant

[Jackie Fox]

My impression of the GAGB for a long time was what do they do, do they do anything but now having looked at the site more in the last year and speaking to members I see them as representatives of UK caching within the wider caching community. They keep the landowner database up to date and spread the work about caching but as I said before they need to get the word out more about what they do.

I see being on the committee as giving more of my time to the hobby I love which cant be a bad thing. Willing to do any role I am given and look forward to maybe being part of the GAGB team.

[Griff Grof]

Thanks for the questions. I always viewed the GAGB as a body which represents caching in the UK; for me, I saw negotiating land agreements as one of their key roles. I think, as Antreid has said, everyone off the committee should ideally feel like they're a big part of the GAGB, rather than feeling on the outside. The whole GAGB community should feel like they can organise events, contribute to Seeker, spread the word and help in any other way they can. One of our main tasks will be to make the GAGB feel more open. That's not to say it hasn't been, otherwise we wouldn't have some people writing for Seeker and organising CITO events etc. There's simply a bit more work to be done in order to fully achieve this vision.

I now question why I didn't try to get involved more in the past, in a similar way to how others haven't. I think it's because I've left it largely to the committee, sure, I've written an article or two for Seeker, and participated in Q&A in the past, but it's sort of ended there. I would love for people to feel the complete opposite, to feel like they are part of a wider committee. If elected, I'd enthusiastically and ambitiously try to help achieve this as part of the committee.

This leads on to the second question. Personally, I would love to work as a team and develop my organisational skills. I think communication amongst us and the wider community would be key - I hope we'd be able to help each other out whenever needed! :)

[abiherts]

I've always thought of the gagb as the guys who represent geocaching in the UK and who negotiate landowner agreements. I've come to realise recently that there is a lot more to the association than I realised.

Being a part of the gagb would for me further my obsession of the hobby and allow me to assist other people with their caching needs. Being on the gagb will also assist my team skills and further my cv.

[richlay]

Thanks for nobody giving me too much stick for my clumsy asking of the question!

[twoofnine]

1. I always looked upon GAGB as an association representing geocachers in Great Britain. Geocaching.com (Groundspeak) is essentially a USA centric organisation and organisations like GAGB outside of the USA are essential as local customs and regulations may differ.

Primarily I saw this as a central organisation that could interface with cachers and landowners and other organisations to promote good practice. I hasten to add that I do not mean I saw it as the ‘cache police’!

The GLAD database shows GAGB to be a responsible organisation and a good enough reason to support the association.

2. As part of the committee I would expect to do my part in dealing with enquiries. I see it as an opportunity to meet and talk with others interested in our hobby. It will give me more experience and I can share some of mine too.