I believe the original adopted club policy was patterned after ANA guidelines of requiring back dues to preserve a members old membership number.

Example; If a CCGTCC member had CH-XXX number and dropped out and decided to rejoin the club in the year 2026 would he/she be given back the original CH number which would give the impression to others that he/she has been a member for 30+years? Simple solution would be to asterisk the old number to reflect non-continuous membership.