full adult membership got you one share in the society, each and every member would only ever have one share, it was the very essence of the sales pitch to own a share. (To then own the club)
Any ongoing fees were for the maintenance of benefits,, (rarely delivered and often changed as club realised they carried the cost of benefits which was then changed)
even the initial switch to monthly standing order deposits was to allow payment towards a full adult membership . As the Society board were given targets by the then club board to grow membership to viable numbers..
many opted away from the benefits (which have been vaguely delivered since and to date) to use monthlies to join up family members etc to grow membership numbers.
If I had the energy I’d contest the recent board’s interpretation that the switch to monthlies years back didn’t entitle adult members life ownership of their single society share when meeting the adult membership fee, but tbh they’ve pitched their work and got their votes. Good luck to them
It’ll be interesting to see the actual impact of the policy , on published membership numbers going forward when they roll out the cancellations