Upgrade your bank current account to one that gives you free £5 per month - I did and there you have your donation and a free gallon of petrol every month too, well near enough a gallon

Sorry, I really don't see why this is such an issue. If you don't wish to donate to the site then that's entirely your choice, but I don't understand the need to have a go at the team over this. Other than the Members Section, all parts of the site are still open for everyone to view, it's just that we've restricted access for people to post in certain sections. Many sites don't even give you this level of access to technical areas.

None of the donations are used for the sites hosting, myself and Scott are currently paying out £23 a month - each - from our own pockets to cover the hosting of this site and the new sister site st-rs.co.uk

Given this, I don't think it's that unreasonable for anyone who enjoys the site and/or feels that they've saved much more than that through advice to give a little back. Some of the other things we've done over the years have cost a lot and couldn't have been done without the help of the members. For example, the flags for the shows cost over £500, the gazebo - which is on it's last legs and will need replaced soon - £100, and the graphics work for the merchandise over £150. There's also all the software upgrades for the new site which cost over £200.

It's not a case of the money just going into the teams pockets, and that we're not contributing towards the site ourselves!

everyone to his own. I think I'd pay the fee just to browse the grid girls

Jokes apart, I think the fee is very reasonable as others have already said. Maybe now you have the big picture lukamon. Never judge ANYTHING in life before you are certain about things though

Pay it, don't pay it, it makes no odds to us Lukamon..............

TOP SITE btw guys

I chose to pay purely because of the amount of help i have had from the people here and although i dont contribute much post wise, i still find myself on here each day. Example of help gained - My side light bulb went and not being very technical i failed massively at trying to replace the bulb. A quick search on here and i found the answer to my woes.

Great site guys, keep up the good work.

I've seen so many threads saying this in a slightly different way.

To add some bits and bobs to all that everyones said.

I was indeed out of a job for 6 months back in 2009. I went from earning a very good wage to getting £52 pounds a week. I assure you this was far short of covering my own debt, before anything else. Without Sarah my would now have someone elses name on the log book and without Chris, this site would have been shut down for 6 months and wouldn't be the place it is today.

As Chris pointed out, we split the hosting 50/50 for FFST and ST-RS. I had to make the step of trying to get funds in to cover the software prices, yearly website address and new equipment for shows. This does not come cheap.

I am a strong believer that the information on this site farrrr out weighs the value of £5 in return. Just through following steve's top tips alone will save you more than that. As for the technical sections and knowledge on here. That could save you much more cash if you ever had a problem. I know this site has saved me hundreds through the year and through disputs such as my £250 alloy being buckled when purchased, using the sites name made them replace it. Excellent.

I don't have an , much like Dave with his Mito, Rob with his Mazda MPS etc etc. It doesn't mean you can't still be part of the site and enjoy being around and the people here. I'm still sure if you had a problem with your current car, this site would help you, if not point you in the right direction.

I don't think I need to go on anymore. £5 is lifetime membership on FFST and 1 year on ST-RS. Members tend to donate once per year to help out... this I don't ask them to do but they enjoy being here so it helps both ways.

Thanks to all the members who have posted up, it's great to know you guys are enjoying it. I take all e-mails or pm's seriously and always reply honestly. If you have any problems/questions you are more than welcome to e-mail me on scotty@fordfiestast.co.uk.

Chee

Scotty

You also save time in fitting new parts, searching for items and getting the best prices for items, so the money you save on items you use to pay for the messily £5 a year to keep the site going.

The site is very useful and is a great site

I love this site great people great info