Dear Shakuhachi-Friends,

Most ESS members will by now have received an e-mail requesting payment
of renewal of ESS membership fees for 2009. Some members have
questioned the authenticity of this, coming without prior announcement.

The lack of prior announcement is a slight administrative glitch, but
the request for renewal (via PayPal, with fees €20 or £20, concession
€10 or £10) is genuine.

At the Annual General Meetings in 2007 and 2008 the time for payment of
fees was discussed, and the Committee continued discussions. In order
to bring payments into line with calendar years, it was decided that
people who had paid mid-2007 would be deemed to be paid-up members
until the end of 2008, with renewals due at the beginning of 2009. The
time has now come...

The choice was made to use PayPal, because this provides a unified
method for all members, irrespective of country and residence and
banking system. Otherwise we would have a chaos of cheques, national
and international transfers etc, some of which would not be acceptable
for the ESS account.

I trust that this clarifies matters. Please pay promptly - we need your
support!

Best regards,

Jim Franklin
Chairperson, ESS