We should indeed be making it more affordable for young people to join. In fact I wrote to the President at the time to suggestion a lower rate for young people, but it was many years before it came to pass. Which is why I proposed a motion at the 2023 SGM, seconded by Nick James, not to increase the young person’s membership rate (as reported in the current Journal).
I was present at 2023 SGM when we voted not to increase the young person’s membership rate and I thought that this was a good thing at the time. Now with the proposed changes to the by-laws we, as membership, will not be able to do this and it is something that also worries me. I know that often not many people turn up to vote at these SGMs but I am sure if a rate change was contentious enough people would attend.
As far as honorary memberships go it seem to me that it looks a bit like fiddling at the edges of a bigger problem to do with the future survival of the BAA. Unless it becomes a financial burden I don’t see that this should be changed out of hand just because it appears as low hanging fruit. Perhaps the BAA needs to face up to larger structural problems. What is the major issue at stake? Is it that it can’t survive longterm on the money it raises through membership? Is it that membership will eventually decline because of its age profile? Is it that it is becoming too large to manage all the things it currently does?