NSRA Obligatory membership Proposal

[RobinC]

There is a new proposal from the NSRA to make individual membership of the NSRA compulsory for all shooters, and controlled through the clubs, so all NSRA clubs will have to collect and pay the fee per shooter. It proposes that all shooters must pay the proposed minimum Bronze annual fee of £35 per person per annum.

There is a link to the proposal on a post on www.stirton.com forum, I have it on PDF but I can't download it to here, or find it on the NSRA website, its in a document presented to the shooting council.

Have Fun
Robin

[Unframed Dave]

Is this being voted upon at the next agm?

Personally, I couldn't support this idea.

Dave

[zooma]

There is a new proposal from the NSRA to make individual membership of the NSRA compulsory for all shooters, and controlled through the clubs, so all NSRA clubs will have to collect and pay the fee per shooter. It proposes that all shooters must pay the proposed minimum Bronze annual fee of £35 per person per annum.

There is a link to the proposal on a post on www.stirton.com forum, I have it on PDF but I can't download it to here, or find it on the NSRA website, its in a document presented to the shooting council.

Have Fun
Robin

Will this be in addition to the fees that the clubs have to pay every year ?

Let's hope not - its hard enough trying to get new members to take up the sport (or existing ones not to quit for a new interest) without making it more expensive.

Most small clubs (ours for sure) only change enough to pay the rent and the NSRA annual affiliation fee (to keep us insured) so any increase would be a bigger cost to the club members each year.

Unless the NSRA is hard up and desperate for an extra income this must be seen a huge mistake and will do nothing to promote or encourage the sport.

Is the NSRA struggling financially?

[Unframed Dave]

What he said.

Dave

[Hemmers]

Is this being voted upon at the next agm?

Personally, I couldn't support this idea.

Dave

No. The document being circulated was shown to the Shooting Council for comment with a view to consulting on it through 2020. It is not up for vote any time soon.

Will this be in addition to the fees that the clubs have to pay every year ?

Let's hope not - its hard enough trying to get new members to take up the sport (or existing ones not to quit for a new interest) without making it more expensive.

Most small clubs (ours for sure) only change enough to pay the rent and the NSRA annual affiliation fee (to keep us insured) so any increase would be a bigger cost to the club members each year.

Unless the NSRA is hard up and desperate for an extra income this must be seen a huge mistake and will do nothing to promote or encourage the sport.

Is the NSRA struggling financially?

The NSRA has a falling membership and falling competition entries. They're just barely breaking even but can't afford things like replacement/refurbishment of equipment at the Lord Roberts Centre or Aldersley. They have maybe 10years before they collapse in on themselves. A major restructure is inevitable, and it's better that it happens sooner rather than later.

This is in part their own fault through a variety of shortcomings and failures to modernise, but there is also a curiously prevalent view that people do not need to support their Governing Body. NRA and NSRA affiliated clubs have ~52,000 members but only 10,000 have joined the NRA and 5,000 the NSRA. The other 35,000 are presumably quite happy for their sport to be banned.

Given the threats facing the sport, it's curious that more than half of club shooters don't see any value in joining their representative bodies. They only have themselves to blame when the next round of legislation rears its ugly head.

This is one option to collect income differently, via membership subscription rather than the current system of Club/County affiliations and individual "direct" memberships. The current proposal is that Club Affiliation would be something nominal like a pound.

The current scenario is a situation unique to Shooting and borne of our diversity (Clays/Fullbore/Smallbore/Air/etc). Most sports have a monopoly. If you join an Archery club, £47 of your membership fee goes straight to ArcheryGB - you don't get a choice whether you join the NGB or not. Gliding clubs collect membership for the BGA and this is basically common for every other sport. No pay, no play.

I'm fully in support of this in principle. If you are not a member of a governing body (I don't care if it's the NRA, NSRA, BASC or CPSA) then you're not supporting the sport. And you're not insured. Which is idiotic. If you can't chip in £30/yr to support the sport then you can't afford to shoot. It is absolutely right that we should move to a model where participation is the default (just like every other sport). Rifle clubs are dirt cheap compared to most sports but in my experience people are usually put off by cold facilities and grubby toilets rather than twenty quid either way. The sport is a victim of a self-imposed race to the bottom.

I certainly have a number of implementation concerns, regarding the tiers, at what point clubs join people up (presumably when they become full members not probationers) and other aspects like FT - most FT clubs affiliate to the NSRA for insurance but the discipline is adminstered by the BFTA, so the NSRA should not be trying to collect the full whack from FT shooters. They would also need some sort of recognition so that NRA members can be opted out. But one way or the other you should be a member of the NRA or NSRA.

[Unframed Dave]

Could those who have commented declare their position relating to the NSRA please. Just so we know who we are discussing this with.

I am a club chairman with affiliation. Our club makes zero profit, our membership pays primarily for the use of the hall, NSRA affiliation, and equipment.

If I were to ask members for a further payment, my prediction is that the club would lose so many members, it would close.

Will a nominal annual fee of one pound pay for the current benefit of club insurance?

The fact that I am not an affiliate of the organisation nor member of BASC absolutely does not mean that I do not support our sport.

Not living within a half days drive of Bisley nor shooting firearms does mean that my benefit from NSRA affiliation would be significantly less than some.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to use Bisley's facilities, but until teleportation is a reality, I can't.

Dave

[RobF]

Sorry I missed this...

I've posted a link to the document in this thread.

http://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread....58#post7782858

[Steyr]

I cant think of a worse scenario than the NSRA being in charge.
God help us all

[Powderfinger]

There is an NSRA EGM this month but this item does not seem to be on the agenda. Like Hemmers says, it seems to be a proposal for next year.
I agree that the NSRA is in decline and has little future unless something radical changes.
But I disagree with what I understand is the proposal. It would cause more problems than it solves.
The best hope for the NSRA is a takeover of its assets and role by the NRA. A merger was discussed about ten years ago but the CPSA were brought into it and that would never have been an easy fit.
I am a member of NSRA and have attended NSRA AGMs.