NCT

[LLKH]

If this is posted in the wrong place, let me know where the right one is and I will transfer.

DH and I are joining an NCT antenatal class, but we note that the fee strongly steers us towards also taking membership for a year. However, £40 seems like a lot and they don't seem to explain what the benefits of this are. A look on their site only shows a few rather un-special-looking special offers.

It feels a bit like they want to ask for a donation without admitting as much. We know the NCT is a good cause, but if the membership fee is a donation, we'd rather they had asked for one directly.

Is it really worth springing the full £40 on top of the class fee?

I wasn't sure what the benefits of the membership was (other than giving you priority access to their "Nearly new Bun-fights sales") so I just didn't pay it.

Hi, I am one of the chairwomen of my local NCT branch. Paying the membership for NCT is just the same as giving to a chosen charity eg: like you might donate £40 a year to Oxfam or WaterAid or whoever. You don't really "get" anything for it, apart from a quarterly magazine and disocunts from the online shopping webssite. To me, this is quite clear from the website and I don't feel that this was ever "hidden" from me.

I pay my membership, because I feel quite strongly that the work that NCT does, at both branch and national level, is important work and have chosen to support them as a charity eg in campainging for better maternity provision, supporting homebirths (and I have a em CS!), paternity leave, premature care and so on. I used the Helplines and "experiences register" when DS was newborn, and the coffee mornings gave structure to the first few weeks and months of maternity leave. Of course, both these service are available to non-members though, but the helplines are funded by donations.

I didn't pay it, and having now met some of the local members, am fairly glad I didn't! The girls in our group that did pay haven't renewed.....

Having said that, I am aware that the local branch is struggling to fill various positions on their committee, so maybe they are finding it difficult to attract active members?

We did pay for it (like you, felt as if it was sort of expected), but as PS says, the only benefit (to us, if not to the charity) was early access to the nearly new sales. We didn't renew the membership when it expired.

If you don't feel like paying for it, I wouldn't.

with hindsight I would NOT have payed, you just get some shitty magazines and thats about it!

I think they used to have a very good cause, but things have progressed alot.

but its your £40!!

Having said all that, I have more than saved my membership fee with the priority access to the Nearly New Sales, which are really quite civilised if you have the priority access. Even better if you volunteer!

For many those "shitty magazines" are the only source of unbiased, evidence based information.

Others have mentioned some benefits of joining the nct but effectively your donation helps to support their current causes and man the helplines

Things that the NCT have campaigned for in the past are not having a pubic shave and enema and allowing your birth partner in the room.

Current campaigns include "one woman, one midwife".

Its upto you really. I've made lots of friends through the nct with the local groups that they run. Having said that all NCT services are open to everyone, you don't have to be a member.

They're good campaigns. We don't doubt that - but it wasn't the point.

I fear DW's concerns here are the fruit of my cynicism. It's the tactic of presenting "please make us a donation" (which I'd have been happy to do) as "please become a member" that I find a bit iffy, especially if the value of the "membership" to them is less than an equivalent donation because they'll spend some of it on sending paper spam. If it had been cast as a charity subscription, I'd have been OK with that too - but it is not presented this way. Hence the query as to whether there is any actual benefit. Thanks to all who replied.

I think they'll get no membership from us but a somewhat smaller separate donation.

• LLKH's H

NeanderChap I can see your point but it isn't spam. You usually receive a branch newsletter that will have articles about local events and services. Our last one had a good feature on the new delivery rooms at the Maternity hospital. You will also receive the national magazine 4 times a year.

Whilst I admit that the national magazine isn't what it was, still many nct members don't buy any other parenting magazines because the nct ones are so good.

It might be worth enquiring with your branch to see what services they offer. Some branches have lots of newsletters a year some just a few. Many also run local groups that you can start attending before you even have your baby.