30th March 2023, NEW MERGED CLUB

Following the recent Extraordinary General Meetings, the newly merged club, the Southdown & Hydneye Community Angling Club (SHCAC) officially came into being on the 1^st April 2023.

Annual membership of the new club will be on a rolling basis, administered via Clubmate, with membership for one year starting on the day one signs up and pays the annual subscription. Membership booklets will no longer be issued as members will receive a photo I.D. membership card.

As a condition of joining the new club, all members will need to supply a passport type photo online (not an actual photo but a photo taken on your phone or computer, using  the Clubmate App), so that our bailiffs can easily identify you.   We will also need an Email address and Mobile telephone number, as we will only communicate by email and / or text. Communication by post is far too costly and we do not have the resources to do it; also, it is too slow and labour intensive.

Southdown members, including those with discounted winter memberships,  having joined Southdown on a seasonal basis, will automatically become a member of the new club on the 1^st April and will need to renew their membership of the new club on or before 1^st May as all Southdown memberships from the current year will end on the 30^th April 2023. There are no plans for a discounted winter membership as membership of the SHCAS  will now be on a rolling basis and members get a full year’s membership from the date they join.

Hydneye members who will have joined  last year on a rolling basis, will automatically become a member of the new club on the 1^st April and will have to renew their membership to the SHCAC when their Hydneye membership expires. Many are up  for renewal immediately or over the next few weeks, although some will have weeks or even months still left on their Hydneye membership. They will be able to see the expiry date on their membership I.D. Card or by logging into their Clubmate account.

All SHCAC members will be encouraged to use Clubmate which affords much better interaction between the club and its membership. It also allows the club to be much better organised and easier to manage with the limited resources we have at our disposal. Clubmate will be a huge help in hopefully making the club  fully viable over the coming years. Hydneye has been using the system very successfully over the past year and the membership has mostly welcomed it. Some individuals have needed assistance and after that, most were very happy using it. We plan to hold workshops over the coming few weeks, to assist people in using Clubmate and setting it up,

Most Southdown members will have received an Email setting out the procedure to enrol in the new club and will already have a Clubmate account using their Email address for receipt of that Email as their user login and will just need to complete the account setup by clicking on the following link:

https://hydneyecommunityanglingclub.clubmate.co.uk/register

Also, here is another link to “Buying a Membership”

Buying A Membership Guide | Clubmate Help Centre

And another link for “Renewals”

Online member renewal process | Clubmate Help Centre

There is a lot of work still to be done in the coming weeks in terms of making information available to members. We plan to make all rules and regulations available to download from a new website which is currently being put together. This will include proper maps with as much detail as possible about the waters  and venues.

Most importantly, Clubmate is now up and running and ready to receive membership applications and renewals. If you have any problems, please contact the club via email at: contactshcac@gmail.com or visit Polegate Angling Centre.