Caerphilly & District Angling Association
Customer Story
KEY BENEFITS
Increased memberships by 60%, socially distanced bailiffing and members can pay online 24/7.
Caerphilly & District Angling Association - Our Story
The Caerphilly & District Angling Association was formed over seventy years ago in the late 1940s and has been providing local fishing in the Caerphilly area ever since. Our largest and most popular water is Caerphilly Castle moat, but we also have access to Castle View Lake, Semtex Lake Brynmawr, the River Rhymney and the River Wye at Wyesham.
Caerphilly Castle moat is situated in the town centre of Caerphilly with the stunning backdrop of a 13th-century castle. The moat is around 30 acres in size and has three areas for fishing: the North lake, South lake and Front lake. Stock is around 300 carp with a mixture of commons and mirrors up to 27lb/10oz with around fifty fish over 20lb at present.
Due to a recent surge in membership sales, our membership is currently full. Members will be allowed to renew on 1st June 2021, if spaces become available we will then offer those spaces to new members.
COVID-19 restrictions made us reevaluate the way we operated.
Before we got started with Clubmate, our memberships were being sold through a tackle shop. It was fine for a while but we started to notice that it made things difficult for members outside of the area or people that weren’t able to get to the tackle shop during its opening hours.
When the initial COVID-19 restrictions were imposed on angling, the Angling Trust and Angling Cymru gave fishing clubs and venues certain requirements that they had to meet before returning to angling after lockdown.
One of which was contactless payments, which we couldn’t facilitate at the time. Another thing that we needed to consider was how our bailiffs could check member details while maintaining social distancing, as they would have to physically come into contact with members and check their paperwork to check that they had a membership.
We wanted our members to be able to return to fishing as soon as possible, so our top priority was making sure we could follow all of the guidelines to keep our members safe. After realising we didn’t have the tools in place to help us meet these guidelines, it became clear that we needed a system that allowed us to accept payments online and enabled our bailiffs to check member details safely and without putting anyone’s health at risk
Why did we choose Clubmate?
Naturally, we were a little cautious about getting started. It was a complete change from our traditional way of doing things, not only for our members but for our volunteers too. Whatever solution we chose, it had to be simple for our members and committee to use.
The logistics of changing from our existing system seemed complicated at first glance and we were unsure whether it would be a welcome change or not!
Our search for a suitable club management software was a fairly short one. Many clubs in our local area were already using Clubmate and the feedback from them was very positive. It made us feel at ease knowing that there were already a lot of clubs that were using Clubmate and reaping the benefits; it felt like less of a risk.
Additionally, after speaking with the guys at Clubmate any worries we had about getting started were quickly eased. They assured us it would be a simple setup process, and it was! We felt supported and listened to from the very beginning which was important to us – any initial queries we had were answered quickly with straightforward, clear answers.
Now it’s easy for us to follow the rules and keep everyone safe.
Our members are now able to make contactless payments safely and securely using their online portal, and they’re no longer restricted to visiting the tackle shop when they want to buy something. We’ve even noticed an increase in our membership base because of how easy it is to purchase memberships online with Clubmate; to the point where we’ve had to close our membership as a result of the high demand – which hasn’t happened before! When we looked at the numbers, we saw that Clubmate helped us grow our membership by over 60%, which was a much-needed boost during what’s been a difficult year for everyone.
Our bailiffs now have the ability to review real-time member information while maintaining social distancing on the bank. Fishing is an important part of our local community, and thanks to Clubmate we’ve been able to operate safely post-lockdown and keep our club going.
Most importantly, the feedback from our members has been great. They’ve found it much easier to manage everything from their smartphones, instead of making non-essential trips to different tackle shops to buy tickets during the current lockdown.
“As an older angler who isn’t keen on venturing out to the tackle shop due to Covid, Clubmate has been a godsend. It allowed me to buy my season ticket from the comfort of my own home and the whole process was really straightforward, even for a technophobe like me! Ticket sorted in less than 5 minutes. I’m so glad our club put this in place for the members, seems like perfect timing given the current situation we’re all dealing with.”
– Thomas, a member of Caerphilly & District Angling Association.
It’s what angling clubs have needed for a long time.
I would recommend Clubmate to any angling club – especially in the wake of COVID-19. We’ve all got to do our bit to keep our members and volunteers safe, and their software offers a simple way to do just that. COVID-19 aside, it’s what angling clubs have needed for a long time. Our only regret is that we didn’t get started sooner.
If you’d like to learn more about Clubmate and how it could benefit your fishing club, please get in touch (we don’t bite!):
E: hello@clubmate.co.uk
Tel: 0333 987 4677
CLUB NAME
Caerphilly & District Angling Association
CLUB MEMBERS
500+ members
CLUB WATERS
Caerphilly Castle moat, Castle View Lake, Semtex Lake Brynmawr, River Rhymney, River Wye at Wyesham.
MAIN CONTACTS
Owain Rees
WEBSITE
KEY CHALLENGES
Following COVID-19 Guidelines
Unable to collect contactless payments
Being open to join 24/7
Restricted to selling memberships through tackle shops only
Limited communication with members
Growing the club