A change of ownership for the website

(May 2011)

This website, ilkleychoral.org.uk (which is also known as the domain name), first went live on 27th August 2006. My wife, Lynn and I had been researching choral websites for some twelve months prior to that date. Lynn, who at that time was your secretary, put it to the committee that a website could be very useful to the Society for advertising and promotional purposes. I had been building websites since 1995 both at work and for other charitable organisations. On my suggestion Lynn offered my services to build and maintain a website for Ilkley Choral Society. This was accepted by the committee.

The original arrangement was that I would manage and maintain the site but that the Society would pay the bi-annual subscription. (The princely sum of c£10 per two years). It was always my belief that as the society paid for the name then it was their property. A recent letter from the chairman states, quite categorically however, that the domain name does, in fact, belong to me.

At face value this simply means that there has been a change of ownership but it goes a little deeper than that.

Initially, this gave me some problems:

1: I do not have a choir of my own.

2: If I had one where would I keep it?

3: How would I feed it?

The answer was simple. For more than five years I have been writing for you, the MEMBERS of Ilkley Choral Society. The site (domain name) rightfully belongs to you and I present it to you with the greatest of pleasure. I am fully prepared to continue managing, maintaining and financing it but using your feedback and input to decide the content and how that content should be displayed.

It was my original intention to end my activities with the website at the end of the 2009-10 season partly due to my illness but mainly because of a lack of input to the content from within the society. The site had become "stagnant". It should, by now, have been generating at least a little income for the society but this is no nearer than it was five years ago.

Now, however, with close to one hundred people having the opportunity to offer some input then we may finally get the site off the ground. I have given the original site a "coat of paint" to brighten it up a little and give us a starting point. Now it is up to you to advise me on what you would like to see on your own website. Photographs (or pictures or diagrams) are the quickest way to add interest to a "text-heavy" site. It has oft been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. …and it is much quicker and easier to add a picture than to type a thousand words!

I can be contacted wherever you see the WEBMASTER link on the website. Simply click the link and e-mail me. Your e-mail address will NEVER be published.

NB: Please remember that your e-mail window may open BEHIND the website window so always check this if the e-mail window appears not to have opened. (This can depend on how your computer is set up).

At this point nothing about the content of the site or how it is displayed is cast in stone. It is for each and any of you to decide what path we should take. There are, however, two points that I would ask you to consider:

1: I would like to see the Society Logo retain its place centre-stage on the front page. It is a superb logo in my humble opinion and it says what it is meant to say.

2: In the two years since I was first taken ill one word has constantly come to the fore whenever I think of Ilkley Choral Society. COMMUNITY.

Both Lynn and I have been humbled by the number of well-wishers from amongst you and that, in itself, gives a community impression. There is also the wider view of where you feel that the society fits within the Ilkley community as a whole. It is your society, Ilkley (in many cases) is your home and now you have your own website. Bring these factors together and I'm sure that, between us, we can build a website to be proud of.

Let's go to it.

 

Thank you once again from Lynn and I.

…and now, finally;

 

Hello! …and welcome to your very own website.

Here are just a couple of questions that may set you thinking on the kind of content that you might like to see on the site.

1: Many of you may have friends and/or relatives in far away places. Do you have pictures or stories pertaining to either the society or the choral world in general that those people may be interested in?

2: Do you know of past members that have moved away that may like similar information to (1) above?

3: What would you like to tell local people about the society that they may not know?

More next time I write

Watch this page

 

Sincerely

Gordon (McDonald)