National Mouse Club Members Facebook Group

The NMC Executive Committee, after discussion, have decided to halt the NMC Members group on Facebook. After a trial period of 18 months, the group has not added anything of value to the club, but has sometimes been a source of unrest, particularly for those involved with its content.
Whilst it is clear members like to chat among themselves in social media, there are other groups available for this, and the general opinions of people who have never attended a show or kept exhibition mice soon drift away from the aims of the NMC. Without constant monitoring it is not possible to maintain the standard we require if we are to be considered a serious club. None of our current officers have the time for such intensive monitoring, therefore we have decided for the time being to halt the group.
In 2019, 88% of new members also subscribed to NMC News. By 2022, this proportion is down to 25%. Some of this decline is no doubt due to the lack of shows during the pandemic, but shows have been happening again in 2022. We do need to look at the way we promote ourselves on line, but a chat room in Facebook has not proved successful.
I hope members will understand there was a good reason for halting the group, and be supportive of our decision, which is taken as a temporary measure till a better approach is devised.

NMC Officers

As you will see, we are currently without a Cup Secretary, but I am pleased to report we do have a candidate in the wings. I would urge anyone with the required three years’ membership to consider joining the Executive Committee. It does enhance your experience of a club to be among the decision makers, and the club is after all only as good as its members. It is particularly desirable, in my view, that we have a committee of active members who are also involved in the competition aspect—the main aspect of the NMC. These are the fanciers who are affected by any decisions we make, so deserve to have a say in what goes on.

NMC Judges

Another judge has been co-opted on to the judging panel, [log in to see names]. Always good to have another judge on the panel. Don’t forget, the three years’ membership also applies for potential judges, and it would be good to see more candidates for the panel.

Information Booklet

For years—though not as many years as my membership, as I remember it starting up—we have provided an information booklet to all new members. This has been updated regularly and contains useful details on husbandry and competition. Many of you will have one, most of you will have had one at some point. However, I have decided not to send this out to new members in future, for 3 reasons:
1. The NMC website is extremely comprehensive and contains most of the information which is in the booklet, and a lot more besides.
2. The cost of postage goes up at a rate of knots; it now costs £2.05 to send the Rules & Standards, Yearbook and two complementary issues of NMC News as a starter pack. If the info book is added this becomes £2.65.
3. People don’t read it or keep it. Quite often newer members ask questions which make it clear they haven’t read the information provided.
So the website is the answer for everything you need to learn about mice. But if you actually can find your info book hang on to it, it might be worth millions one day!
NMC Annual judges
The judges for the Annual will be [log in to see names] (Selfs & Satins) and [log in to see names] (Tans, Marked & AOVs). The full schedule will appear in the August issue.