A membership card that knows whether it is still valid
The card lives in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. It works on the bank with no signal, it renews itself when the member pays, and it stops working when they do not. Nothing to print, nothing to post, nothing to laminate.
The problem is not the card. It is the bank check.
A water keeper on the river at seven in the morning needs to know one thing: is this person paid up this year? The current answer is a laminated card that could be three years old, a photo of one on a phone, or a name the keeper is fairly sure was on the list in March.
Plastic cards cost real money to print and post every year, arrive weeks after the subs are paid, and are the first thing to go missing. And none of that tells anyone on the riverbank whether the membership behind the card is still current.
How the cards work
- 1
The member adds it to their wallet once
When they join or renew they get a link. One tap adds the club’s card, with their photo and membership type, to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. No app to install, no login.
- 2
It works with no signal
The card is on the phone, not on a website. On a stretch of river with no coverage it opens like a boarding pass. The current year is colour-coded so a keeper can read it from a few feet away.
- 3
It renews itself
When the member pays for the new year, the card updates on its own. Nobody sends anything out. The colour changes and the new season shows.
- 4
It stops working when the membership does
A lapsed member’s card shows as expired. The keeper does not need a list, and the club does not need an awkward conversation about a card that looks fine but is not.
On the river at Trim, Athboy & District
Our own club has around 260 members across the Boyne and its tributaries. The keepers check a phone, not a list, and a member who joins at the AGM has a working card before they leave the hall. Members who would rather have something printed can still be given one; the wallet card is the one that stays right.
- Photo on the card, so it belongs to the person holding it
- Year colours: a keeper knows at a glance which season the card is for
- A field view for keepers to look up a member on the spot
What committees ask us
- What if a member does not have a smartphone?
- The club can print a card for them from the same record. The wallet card is the default because it keeps itself right, but nobody is locked out for not having a phone.
- Does the keeper need an app?
- No. The keeper looks at the member’s card, the same as they would a plastic one. Keepers who want to look someone up have a simple field view built for gloved hands and bright light.
- Do the cards work for juniors and families?
- Yes. Family memberships link the records, and junior members are handled with the consent rules a club is supposed to follow, including what happens with their photos.