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We’re quite often asked “What
does running the fan club involve?” Well, it involves a lot of hard work, dedication and time – all of which
are 100 per cent worth it! We thought we’d do a “Week In The Life” to show you some of the things
we get up to.
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Monday 27 November
7.15 am and the doorbell rings – it’s the postman
carrying a sack full of letters. We smilingly explain that we have just sent out an order form for the calendars and
he replies by saying that he’d better expect a busy week then! There is a huge pile of letters which take approximately
2 hours to open. Once they are all opened, the cheques need to be entered onto our accounts program, the credit cards
have to be authorised and checked.
The general correspondence
needs to be put in one pile, the Christmas cards that have arrived for Michael put in another pile, the changes of address
in yet another pile and the enquiries about joining in one more. Once that’s all done we then have to enter the
new members onto the computer, send the people renewing membership their cards and photo, write out the paying-in slips for
banking and answer general correspondence.
Tuesday 28 November
The doorbell goes again and it’s another huge load
of mail. Once again we plough through opening it all up and sorting it. We get a phone call from our printers
to say that the proof of On The Ball is ready for checking, so we go and collect that and check through it. At the same
time we approve the proof for Michael’s Christmas card to his fans and take a first look at the layout for the calendar.
This entails spending a couple of hours with the designer while he shows us a few ideas he has had. Then the calendar needs
to be sent to Michael for approval so we get that done and come back home and double check the On The Ball. We’re
happy with it – it looks good! Having had the calendar orders coming in we have to enter all the names and addresses
onto a database so we can print out labels to stick on the envelopes in which the calendars will be mailed out. Along
with orders for calendars there are many other items of merchandise requested so these need to be dealt with as well.
Wednesday 29 November
We thought by now the mail would be going down a little
– no way – more Christmas cards and parcels are now starting to arrive for Michael along with yet more calendar
orders! The second proof with the amendments arrives by fax and we sit down to read through it once more. We are
feeling quite excited today because tomorrow we have tickets to Gloria Hunniford’s Open House show – and guess
who the guest artist is – our Michael of course! Today Chris is working hard on the website redesign which means
sitting down with him and going through all the various changes and swapping ideas. We think it’s going to look
good and hopefully it will be easier to navigate.
Friday 1 December
We heard that Michael had approved the calendar – great – now we could get it printed so that we
could fulfil all the orders as soon as possible. At Michael’s suggestion we also need to get a “year-at-a-glance”
poster calendar printed, which meant another trip down to the printing company to discuss layout etc.
The Christmas cards and presents were starting to roll in now. We know that within the next couple of weeks our
mail will be delivered “on the van” rather than by our regular postman – usually by the sackload!
Saturday 2 December
The post on Saturday is usually slightly less, but on this particular Saturday no such luck! Once the mail has been opened
there is a chance to spend some time at the computer catching up with sending out new membership cards and photos to people
who are renewing, and sorting out membership packs for all the people who want to enrol people for their Christmas present.
Sunday 3 December
After a quick check of e-mail messages we decide to have a day of rest. Well, it’s a nice thought but then we suddenly
remember all the housework, shopping, washing and ironing that hasn’t been done all week. Never mind, we’ll put
Michael’s Christmas CD on to help us along. Christmas? Did someone mention Christmas???
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