It is hard to tie down when the first Export Club was set-up in Scotland, however, in 1988 the first official UK Export Club’s newsletter listed 65 Clubs in the UK. This included three Scottish Clubs: North of Scotland Export Club, Fife Export Club, and Scottish Thistle.
The evidence suggests North of Scotland may well have been the first Export Club in Scotland, with records showing that in 1977 they had 100 members.
Other Clubs started to appear in the 1990’s. Lanarkshire Export Forum, Scottish Borders Export Club, and Tayside Export Forum, followed by Renfrewshire, Dumbartonshire, Ayrshire, Glasgow, and Highland, although not necessarily in that order. In 1998 Glasgow became the 100th Export Club in the UK, and that made a total of 12 affiliated Clubs or Forums in Scotland, including Dumfries & Galloway where a ‘Virtual Export Club’ had been introduced.
Export Clubs were not set-up under any strict rules and regulations. They had guidance from NECAC, the National Export Clubs Advisory Committee but, it was always left up to the local Committees to decide how their Club would operate best.
Edinburgh & Lothians developed a Business Plan, and the Scottish Borders produced a constitution, both of which were taken on board by NECAC,. These documents were used when setting up the Clubs in Ayrshire, Highland, and Glasgow..
Around 1996 the first Export Club co-ordinators, as opposed to secretaries, were introduced to take over more of the day-today running at a number of Clubs, thereby relieving the stress on the committee, many of whom were active Exporters who, quite understandable, were finding it hard to devote the time required to run the Club properly. The introduction of the co-ordinators must be considered a very successful innovation, and credit must be given to Edinburgh & Lothians which was the first Export Club in the UK to introduce a co-ordinator.
Most Export Clubs came about with encouragement and financial support from the local Chambers of Commerce, LEC and Regional Council. They were the results of successful co-operation between the private and public sectors. Initially, all Clubs had a Committee drawn mainly from the private sector, but getting Private Sector members to remain active on the committee, and the running of the Clubs has been difficult due to time constraints
At the 2003 conference in Inverness it was agreed SECG, the Scottish Export Club Group, which has always been best described as a loose association of Clubs and Forums, would benefit from the introduction of an Executive Co-ordinator, tasked to bring some order, cohesion, and co-ordination to the Clubs.
This Guide is therefore offered in the hope it will assist Club officials in the operation of their respective Clubs, and that it’s suggestions and ideas will help improve the quality of meetings, increase membership, and the return of private sector involvement in the running of all Clubs.
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