BAFM CHAIRMAN - MICHAEL FAYLE - SPRING 2012
The It is with very great pleasure that I have this opportunity to speak to you directly for the first time since I was appointed Chairman. I have been Chairman of the Friends of Manx National Heritage for a number of years and I am, hardly surprisingly, a passionate supporter of the work that Friends groups do to support museums, galleries, historic buildings and heritage sites.
In the few short weeks that I have been Chairman of BAFM I have met a number of members through the Council, the area coordinators and, of course, the AGM. I have found myself asking a number of questions about the organisation; I very much doubt that they are questions that have been asked for the first time, but I am equally sure that they are worth asking again.
What is BAFM for? What do we do for the members? Are we communicating well internally? How should we be communicating externally? These few questions, amongst others, are fundamental in defining the direction BAFM should be taking.
Answering those questions is a two-way conversation between the officers and Council, who I believe, should lead the debate and the members who need to make their views known. It would be presumptuous of me to suggest that I have the answers, but I do have some views - I might say some strong views. However, before I give an indication to you of where I think our directions lies, I would like to take a few short words to let you know some of the things I have embarked upon to date.
One of the first things I did was to make sure that everyone who wants to contact me can do so. Postal communication is not inexpensive, but the internet is (almost) free, and in a break with recent tradition, I made all of my personal contact details freely available on the BAFM web site - you can all find them there and I would encourage you to use them. Remarkably, that has already lead to two independent contacts from the BBC looking for our reaction to museum related stories and welcome exposure on the BBC web site.
I have also contacted and visited other bodies to explore how we may have common interests and ‘fit’ into the heritage landscape. The Arts Council is very keen to have input from BAFM, as a significant representative of Friends and Volunteers. The Churches Conservation Trust, a body supporting churches no longer in active use as places of worship, is very interested in working together to help them to support their Friends groups. The Heritage Alliance, representing a forum and voice for national bodies in the heritage sector is very keen that we add an important dimension to their work to represent the importance of the heritage assets of the country to government, local government and to public debate.
I conclude from these limited, but valuable exchanges, that BAFM has much to gain for the benefit of its members and much to give to others, by actively developing links with like-minded organisations.
It is important that I acknowledge that nothing I have said should be taken to suggest that these elements have been absent in BAFM’s work to date. What I do say, is that it is now time to articulate a clear manifesto for the next three to five years, to make it accessible to all members and to inspire members to strive to achieve our aims.
At the time of writing, the Council has not had an opportunity to debate and agree my proposals. Accordingly, I cannot set out those plans and objectives now. Nonetheless, it is important that I set out some of the areas I believe to be high priorities.
Our membership is very substantial, but at around 350 groups, we represent no more than 20% of the possible membership in the country. I have to ask what we need to do to be relevant to the other 80%. I would expect us to work hard to expand our coverage.
Our key communications tool is the Journal. I have had many members tell me how much they value it and I fully acknowledge the value it brings for members. But my challenge is this - can we make the Journal a publication that non-members would also willingly read? In similar vein I would challenge the ambitions we have to actively manage and develop the distribution channels for the Journal?
I easily fall into the trap of conflating friends and volunteers. Let me say that I fully understand that not all friends are volunteers, nor indeed, that not all volunteers are friends. They may indeed be both, but each have their own important contribution to make. BAFM was part of a group that developed the very impressive Volunteer Manual. It is a significant piece of work and I strongly believe that we should build on that work to become a leader in advising groups set up or manage volunteer groups where help is sought. This process is as important to the recipient of volunteer help as it is to those giving their time. A straw poll of very limited nature shows how significant this part of our members contribution is - taking only the South East (Western Counties) area as an example, over 30,000 volunteer hours were recorded last year. On a national scale, irrespective of whether they are BAFM members or not, this becomes a very large number indeed and part of a message that BAFM should be very proud to publicise and help develop at a time when the need is at its greatest.
What comes next? With the blessing of the Council I will plan to publish a more detailed road map. I would encourage you to read it and give feedback so that we can refine it and really up our game. I am very excited by the potential within BAFM and that potential has been as a result of many members who have been closely involved for a long time. I very much hope I can live up to their efforts and take BAFM forward to a confident and valuable future.
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