2023-24 Annual Report – Membership & Clubs

This article forms part of a series of reports which accompany the 2023-24 BF Annual Report.      

Membership Overview 

BF’s individual total membership at the end of March 2024 was 11312 in comparison to 10939 in March 2023, 10092 in March 2022 and 6457 in March 2021. With a membership peak of 11,131 in October 2018, individual membership can now be considered recovered above pre-pandemic levels.

Financially, membership income ended at £489,914 this figure includes both individual and club membership. Cash sales taken for individual membership increased again during the year (£382,527 to £405,719) and 40% (£163,297) continues to be passed on to Home Nation Associations to support grass roots development.

The total number of BF affiliated clubs was 403 at the end of March 2024. Comparatively, March 2023 saw a total of 400, 396 in March 2022 and 382 in March 2021. The split across Home Nations remain broadly consistent.

The spread of membership types remains consistent with previous years’ figures, the Competitive category still being the largest category of membership:

Home Nation splits remain broadly consistent with previous years, both across the Home Nations and within membership categories:

U18s continue to make-up around 47% of the membership and, irrespective of age the gender gap remains around 68%/32% male to female.

Membership & Club Activities

Online Community Discussion Events continued throughout 2023-24 with 14 separate sessions held (excluding Learning Week) and over 250 sign ups across 88 clubs. The club admins and welfare officers sessions continue to be a regular feature and engage attendees on general topics such as funding, event supporter roles and safeguarding. Other discussion sessions continue to engage different members of our community (for example Referees, Event Organisers, Volunteers, Students, Community Groups) on a variety of topics such as Event Organisation, Ranking Schemes and Environmental Sustainability.

Additional information and discussion sessions ran during BF Learning Week 2023. Club and community sessions included ‘What is the GB League?’, ‘All things Sport80’, ‘Club Zone Session’ and ‘Completing Club and Competition Risk Assessments’, engaging over 50 BF members.

The Club Digest continued throughout the year providing BF affiliated clubs with information on a variety of topics including restarting fencing, funding opportunities and club volunteer training opportunities. The average open rate for digests within the year 2023-24 was 41.9%

2023-24 saw the second full GB League season, where clubs continued to take part with the addition of mini seasonal leagues in the 5-Hit and 15-Hit formats across each weapon. In the GB League, traditional boundaries of age groups and gender are removed, so that members (BF Recreational level or above) can fence each other and earn GB League points. Between October 2023 and March 2024, there were 93 individual GB League fixtures hosted across all six different formats (an increase from 60 in the previous season). Challenges with the platform (Playwaze) remain and work is underway to look at how these are addressed to improve the experience for league participants and club admins. The Made of Mettle awards scheme for GB League volunteers and supporters was delayed as we seek to address system issues with the platform in 2024-25.

The BF Community Awards continue to recognise some of the best clubs, coaches, fencers and volunteers for their contribution to fencing. Winners for the 2022-23 season were announced. The panel was made up of independent people working in the sports sector from Royal Yachting Association (RYA), British Horse Society (BHS) and Disability Sport Wales (DSW). Nominations for the 2023-24 season will open in Autumn 2024. Looking ahead to 2024-25 we will explore alternative ways to engage the community in the awards process.

Staff Changes 

2023-24 saw staff changes to the Membership Team. Hannah Gavin (Clubs and Development Officer) left BF. Evie Millar began the role of Events, Membership and Club Manager and Samantha Hepple is now Membership and Events Officer.

Looking Ahead to 2024-25 

Our additional focus areas over the upcoming months will be:

Members

• Expanding the Explore Fencing area of the website to provide more information for those new to the sport.
• Improving the new membership journey.
• Create more efficient and streamlined processes to respond to member queries.
• Broadening the areas covered by the Community Discussion and Listening events.

Clubs

• Supporting clubs to grow the sport through grassroots by focusing on improving access to resources regarding safeguarding & welfare.
• Developing inclusion opportunities for wheelchair fencing and beyond.
• Providing further Inclusion resources (DIAP) 

Click here for the full 2023-24 Annual Report.

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