Club news

At the last committee meeting we reviewed the membership fees for next year, this time we faced some difficult decisions as the standard membership fee since the club started in 2011 has been £5.

Since then all the club costs have raised substantially and we as a club are offering members a lot more as we have grown and adapted.

The club is all managed and run by volunteers who put in a lot of time for free, to the club to make it successful, and our membership fee being low has been a core value to making running accessible to all.

When we started the club the England Athletic fee for members was also £5, for next year this has risen year on year to £23, representing a 15% increase from the current £20.

In the last three years for example the cost of storage of the club has risen from £113 to £235 per month The club mailing system (Mail Chimp) our costs have risen from £100 to £119 per month in two years.

We have introduced new initiatives in the club like run leads tops, free first aid courses for our volunteers to keep you safer.

Alongside this we have also faced new costs for the club, like Lloyd’s bank have introduced charges for the Community Bank account we have. Love Admin who manages membership and payments collection are from 1 November introducing a new 30p per transaction on top of what they currently charge, this is still one of the lowest fees in the market, and kept lower as we use the Direct Debit process for collections, this change alone will cost the club around an extra £1,280 per year.

We do have some funds in the club bank account, but these are reducing and the committee has the duty to look to the longer term financial health of the club.

So the committee have decided that for Standard membership there will be increase in membership fees for the 2026/2027 membership fees as outlined below:

• £7.00 = 2026/27 Standard Membership – Redway Runners
• £31.25 = 2026/27 Standard Membership with First Claim England Athletics – Redway Runners *
• £7.00 = 2026/27 Standard Membership with Second Claim England Athletics – Redway Runners
• £24.25 = Add England Athletics to existing membership *

There were several options we could have considered to reduce costs, like to stop offering the weekly track sessions (the club pays the weekly track hire cost of £35) or to not take part in the things like the Cross Country season (saving £500) or to reduce the amount that we donate to the club charity of the year scheme from events that we hold. But this was not an option that we would want to progress.

So we apologies that we must increase the membership fees, but still believe that just £7 a year for membership offers fantastic value with the club offering over 35 runs most weeks, exclusive events for you to take part in like Beat the Barge, Memorial run, etc. plus all the other benefits you get for being a member.

All for the price of a couple of cuppas a year

Any questions or concerns please mail us at: rr@redwayrunners.com

* Membership that includes England Athletics affiliation the extra is the amount that it costs us to collect this part of the fee.