"Times are hard!  Why should our members continue to pay subs to BABS?" Some of you have been asking, so let's try to answer the question.

Firstly, throughout the past year, BABS has strived to keep our craft and the barbershop culture alive and thriving, as far as possible, by the range of online activities it has put on, ranging from Directors Academy, BABSLearn!, BABSLive!, Council Members' meetings, SingSeptember and so on. In some of these, BABS has been a world leader and we are now proud to have gained overseas members as a direct result of last year's activities.

We have continued to plan for a time when we can sing together again, negotiating with and booking venues, so we can hit the ground running, when the time comes.

So what do you get for your BABS subscription? 

• Convention: We hope we will soon be singing together again at Convention. Convention is for all barbershoppers, not just for the top ten choruses, although most of our clubs compete each year. It really isn't about the winning but the taking part. You will have the most tremendous fun, just being with up to two thousand other barbershoppers, singing tags in the bar and around the town. The chorus competition encompasses divisional competitions to encourage choruses of all standards to take part.
• Harmony College: Every year BABS members from all over the UK come to Harmony College. Indeed, many enjoy the Harmony College experience even more than Convention, with some attending year after year. BABS brings in top quality educators offering a range of educational streams including chorus singing, quartet singing, chorus directing, personal singing development and more. It's for old and new barbershoppers alike!
• Directors Academy: for educating clubs' front line directors, aspiring directors and members of the music team, and giving them the opportunity of networking with each other.
• Quartet Coaching Days; not only for those who want to try quartetting for the first time but for the experienced quartets as well
• Regional Events: encouraging and supporting clubs to get together for fun and networking in a non competitive environment
• Support with Learn to Sing Courses: BABS provides financial support and promotional and marketing support for the running of recruitment events to boost club growth
• Educational Grants: members can apply for financial support from BABS Charity to take part in some of the above
• Assistance with the sourcing of barbershop arrangements and obtaining copyright approval
• Membership of the Barbershop Harmony Society in the USA: which gives 25% discount on all their products including sheet music.
• Insurance: your club and its assets are insured, with public liability included, all within your BABS subs. One of our clubs lost all of its risers in a fire at their rehearsal venue recently, and were able to claim on their insurance.
• Membership of Making Music (a UK wide music organisation) which lobbies government on behalf of choral singers and music groups, and who also provide a range of services and training.
• A hard-working group of Trustees and volunteers who work tirelessly every week, without pay, to ensure that British Barbershop is as good as it can be! 

By being a member of an organisation like BABS a club can offer all the above to new members they are trying to attract. BABS can reasonably claim that it provides more for its members than any other amateur music organisation in the UK.

BABS couldn't achieve what it does, if it didn’t have the support and subscriptions from a significant number of clubs (and a lot of help from an army of talented volunteers). If BABS didn't exist, none of the above would happen.

The annual individual subscription to be a member of BABS is less than a pound a week, just a small proportion of the subs members pay to their club. Apart from financing these services, a substantial proportion of subscriptions enables BABS to claim £20,000 in Gift Aid each year which is used to promote barbershop through BABS Charity grants.

For such a small amount, we hope club members will believe what BABS offers makes it a charity worth supporting whether they are active participants or not.