Website Changes and Updates to Members Database

Having taken over from Mike Hamilton back in April I wasted no time updating the website.  To those among you who are keen eyed or interested I have upgraded the system from an out of date MS Frontpage editor to a more current WordPress site.  This new system has more powerful software which enables a plethora of options we can choose from.

One of these we have been trialling is a members section which we are going to roll-out to the members very soon. Many thanks to James Myers, Robert Gilmore, Tim Young and Peter Melling for being my beta testers.  This trial is more or less complete and in the coming days you should receive an automated email from the site.

Having a logon on the website has a number of key benefits including members only content, mailing lists and forums but primarily that the members’ database is held on a dedicated encrypted server in the UK, and is visible and editable by the members themselves. This aims to give you full access and control of your account information (GDPR). The committee members will then be able to download the relevant information from the website when they need it for association business.

At the January committee meeting we agreed that we will retire the old database in favour of the new online members system so in the next few days you should get an email to invite you to set up your username and password with all the necessary instructions. The details we have on record, included in the insert with this edition, will be imported so you should not have to make any changes provided these are correct.

If you do not have an email address then we will simply maintain your details on our system.

Please take a minute to check out the new site, you can register for events, order your regalia, read and comment on articles, and interact with other members.  More functionality will be coming soon, and if there’s anything you would like to see please let me know in the comments below.