HOG Rally withdraws from Bisley

[kennyc]

I imagine they have been getting the venue for a 'song' over the last few years and didn't like the thought of paying the 'going rate'...

now you see, this is the attitude that leads to town centre shops being empty, because people can't acccept that some income is better than none, and insist on holding out for what they think is the "going rate" the HOG rally is one of the few times that Bisley is truly full, you see hundreds of people wandering around looking for places to spend their money, and at the same time getting a look at the world of the shooter in a good light! what ever the cause of the cancellation I would like to think that there will be an explanation, and if it is because someone tried to screw the price up too high (or down too low!) then at least someone will have the courtesy to apologise for the loss of income. there is usually a hot rod event on the week before/after the HOG ralley, it is my understanding that some of the extra facilities are shared between the two to reduce costs, does this mean that the Hot rod weekend is off as well? if so then the knock on effect could be very costly!

[The Cupcake Kid]

I think without knowing how the negotiations went, it's very difficult to comment. Hopefully after March 1st we might know some of the background?

The only thing I would say, however, is that clearly Bisley needs to be run as a profitable business and steps have been taken to ensure it is and will continue to be. I do not agree that "some income is better than none". If you sell your product at a massive discount just to get some revenue and a smaller profit than your business model dictates, you are setting a very unhealthy precedent and your future customers will expect you to do the same for them. That's a downward spiral, right there.

I would hope Bisley are actively looking for new customers to rent their venue to and if they find something to replace the HOG rally which brings in more money for the same or less disruption, what will we all say then?

[Gaz]

I would hope Bisley are actively looking for new customers to rent their venue to and if they find something to replace the HOG rally which brings in more money for the same or less disruption, what will we all say then?

"Go on then"

The HOG rally, on the face of it, seems to have been a guaranteed healthy income stream with few overheads for the NRA. That they've managed to kill it off, apparently by wanting to jack up the fees, is the height of stupidity. We're not talking about a huge event with high overheads for the NRA; we're talking about substantial campsite income plus some cleaning at the end - and not even much of that, by all accounts.

Let's not even go into the positive window the event afforded both sides; we see bikers are cool, bikers get to see shooting and possibly even be tempted into taking it up.

To quote the NRA Treasurer, "We all need to remember that a pound paid into the NRA is a pound available to sustain our sport; one that is not spent is a drain on our sport."

[Gaz]

Meanwhile, whereabouts can I find the NRA's accounts for the last financial year? Had a quick poke around the website but we all know how useful that is if you want to actually find something specific that isn't on the front page...

[Steve E]

Meanwhile, whereabouts can I find the NRA's accounts for the last financial year? Had a quick poke around the website but we all know how useful that is if you want to actually find something specific that isn't on the front page...

The NRA being a charity has to post its accounts with the charities commission, good luck trying to find them though or getting the commission to reveal them to you.

[Gaz]

After some very creative Googling I found the accounts for FY2012 here: http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Ac ... 31_E_C.pdf

Not got time to poke through them at the mo, but hopefully will do this evening.

[rox]

After some very simple Googling I found this:

http://www.nra.org.uk/common/files/news ... counts.pdf

Probably a bit more reliable than sources from Facebook. Not much more informative though.

..

[Gaz]

Can't view the detailed figures because NSC Ltd do all the commercial trading, whereas the NRA's accounts only have a summary of commercial ops because it's the charitable arm. I might cough up the quid needed for the full accounts and see what those turn up about the HOG rally income/expenditure.

The NRA accounts do show that NSC Ltd posted a net loss of £118,000 on turnover of £2.067m for FY2012. But, without seeing the full breakdown it's hard to comment on what that actually means.

[Matt]

Shame they're pulling out as it was always great to see them on site....... Hopefully something can be done to resolve the situation as a few tents and a few accountants who've fallen out of a HD clothing catalogue can only be a good thing to bring money and people into the arena.....

[mag41uk]

I looked through those accounts and noticed the quite considerable jump in Professional fees from 2011 to 2012.

Tony