Our annual festive dinner will be on 9 December (instead of our usual in-person meetup that was scheduled for that night). Please RSVP asap so that we can get a table booked in plenty of time. (Please let me know if you want to join us but are concerned about the cost. There are group funds available that can be used to make sure everyone who wants to come can.)
Since the Friars Wynd no longer serves food, we'll need to find another venue. Options so far include the Allan Park, Fletcher's or the Meadowpark, which all have festive menus: £30 for 2 courses or £38/£40 for 3 courses. (Fletcher's appears to only have a 3-course option.) The Allan Park is currently leading based on location and menu options but do let me know if you have any objections or other suggestions!
Finances - We've had some new people joining the group recently so I thought this was a good time for a quick update on finances and, in particular, other ways to pay to avoid the additional Meetup fees on online meetups. Over the past year, the money collected from people attending meetups has covered both our Meetup subscription (which allows us to host the group on the Meetup website) and our Zoom subscription (which we use for online Meetups) with a little bit left over. See below for more details of why we collect event fees, what they cover and how you can pay in advance.
Meetup has recently significantly increased their subscription prices so we are likely to be moving to another online home sometime in the next six months (before our next subscription renewal is due). I'm currently researching options and will run a survey next year to get feedback but let me know if you have any suggestions in the meantime.
Happy crafting!
Susan
Finances
Last year, Meetup changed how it charges and started charging transaction fees on top of our online event fees, as well as the subscription fee that I already pay to be able to host the group on the Meetup site.
Our online event fees are £1 per meeting but Meetup charge £1.57 when you RSVP. 57p of this goes directly to Meetup and £1 (minus PayPal fees) comes to the group. In-person event fees don't go through Meetup or PayPal so are still £1 per meeting, all of which comes to the group.
As an alternative to paying the higher online fees (or for convenience when meeting in person) I'm happy for people to pay me directly via PayPal. To do this, send me payment via PayPal (susan@yellowgingerdesigns.co.uk) in advance of the events with a note of your Meetup name and I will sign you up to events. If you attend in-person events as well, I can use your online payment for these too or I'm happy to accept cash at events instead. When I sign you up, you will get notifications from Meetup in the usual way about events that you're planning to attend. To make it easier for me to manage, please pay for a batch of events rather than one at a time and I'll keep track of how many you've attended and let you know when you're due to pay more. A number of group members already pay this way and it's been working well.
I also don't want the event fees to be a barrier to participating in the group so do let me know if they are an issue for you (with or without the new fees). There's usually money in the kitty which can be used to subsidise fees.
Why do I charge for events and where does the money go?
In order to host the group on Meetup, I pay a regular subscription fee every 6 months. Depending on exchange rates at the time, it now costs around £165 (so around £28 per month - up from £16 per month last year). For that money, we can organise events through the Meetup site that Meetup will advertise to people looking for crafty groups in our area or online. Until now, Meetup has been a good way for us to organise and has resulted in a steady stream of new members, which has helped to keep the group going. It's presumably how most of you reading this found us at all. However, the new fees are very high for what we actually get from Meetup, which is why we will be looking for a new home next year.
I also have a Zoom subscription to host the group's online events, which costs around £150 a year and which is also paid for out of event fees.
Let me know if you have any questions about group finances. I want to be as transparent as possible so I'm always happy to answer questions about how much we've taken in, how much we've spent or how much is currently in the kitty (~£50 as of 1 November).
Other dates for your diary
Events in bold are those that we will definitely be attending as a group and I'll add links to the relevant Meetup events when they're live. Other events are listed for information but let me know if you'd be interested in attending as a group. Similarly, email me at susan@yellowgingerdesigns.co.uk with details of other crafty events or exhibitions in central Scotland and I'll add them to the list.
- From 4 May: Kimono: From Kyoto to Catwalk, Dundee.
- 31 July to 10 November: Embroidered Excellence: Treasures from the RSN Collection, Stirling.
- Opens 1 November: The Dundee Tapestry, Dundee.
- 11 to 17 November: Craft Week Scotland, various.
- 25 October to 18 January: Stitched: Scotland's Embroidered Art, Edinburgh
- 9 December: Our festive dinner, venue TBC, Stirling. RSVP on Meetup.
- 22 March 2025: Scottish Wool Producers Showcase, Perth.
- 4-5 April 2025: Woolly Good Gathering, Edinburgh.
- 30-31 May 2025: Tangled Galashiels, Galashiels.
Our November meetups
Remember to RSVP on Meetup!
- 4, 18 November: Zoom
- 11, 25 November: Friars Wynd, Stirling
