Dragging a smallbore club into the 21st century...

[Gaz]

There was a rifle club in (iirc) Essex which, reading between the lines of the local news coverage, was in much the same state. The coup failed when the existing committee dug their heels in, cancelled the modernising members' memberships (seemingly ignoring the effect on FACs etc...) and then started shouting about a takeover plot.

Unfortunately I can't find the news reports, but they did get posted on here maybe about a year ago.

[dromia]

Standing for election for committee and officer posts isn't a coup.

At the end of the day member run clubs appoint the management committee through a democratic process. As such the membership gets the governance they deserve. If the membership think it is fine for there committee to behave in such a manner and leave such people in place then that is how the club will be run.

[DL.]

Unfortunately I can't find the news reports, but they did get posted on here maybe about a year ago.

If you search Basildon you'll find it.

[TattooedGun]

www.full-bore.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=8898

Here is that thread..

[Blackstuff]

Standing for election for committee and officer posts isn't a coup.

Depends which side of the committee election you're on :lol: It was certainly treated that way by the committees in the 2 attempts i've witnessed

At the end of the day member run clubs appoint the management committee through a democratic process. As such the membership gets the governance they deserve. If the membership think it is fine for there committee to behave in such a manner and leave such people in place then that is how the club will be run.

Agreed. Unfortunately running a club is more often than not a thankless task and the people in charge are frequently just the only ones that can be bothered to do so, which doesn't necessarily lead to 'best' people doing the job. But then if they're the only ones that have thrown their hat in the ring, why shouldn't they run it how they want. Its a tricky situation if all you want to do is go shooting!

[dromia]

Absolutely, as I said the club gets what it deserves. If the membership are not prepared to put in the time and effort then the club will reflect that.

I hardly shoot at the club I am chairman of, it is indeed a thankless task, but at the end of the day people need to put up or shut up.

[TattooedGun]

Therein lies the crux. Many members just want to turn up and shoot.

Many of these members will try and play the system and WILL take the pish.

If YOU want to further YOUR sport, and the disciplines you follow, then it might be time to get involved.

Nobody wants the responsibility. Nobody wants to give up their free time to run a club and miss out on other fun things they could be doing. But if you want something doing right, unfortunately you gotta roll up your sleeves and get it done yourself...

[Tiff]

Nobody wants to give up their free time to run a club and miss out on other fun things they could be doing. But if you want something doing right, unfortunately you gotta roll up your sleeves and get it done yourself...

It not so much a coup, more a case of overthrowing a couple of ancient dictators - a revolution if you will...

The half of the club that don't want to rock the boat, is not formed so much out of apathy but fear of reprisals from the top. They are all more than willing to help modernise, once they know it is safe to do so. Combined with the 1/4 that want progress I think it should be possible.

"National Governing Body Advice on the Design, Construction and Maintenance of Target Shooting Ranges".

Got a link to the document...?

It's currently sold for about £30 by the NSRA/NRA (in essence a more applicable version of JSP 403), however by spring next year should be available for free download

In essence after spending a few hours digesting it, it lays out in black and white the club is in a dire position legally should something go wrong...So change is now hopefully inevitable.

That being said any other articles that reenforce the point or other ideas would be really appreciated.

Tiff

[Chapuis]

I belong to quite a vibrant club that has its own full bore 100 yard range. In the last 10 years we have moved the club on somewhat from it's stagnated position increasing the membership from less than 50 to its current 130 members. We have renewed our lease agreement for another 25 years and have replaced the club buildings. Financially we are in a stable position and we continue to move forward making further improvements to the club facilities and equipment.

Some years ago we took the decision to raise the profile of the club and to actively promote the club at every opportunity rather than skulk away in a cellar. We have also encouraged the use of our range by youth organisations, cadet forces and a local school. We have taken great trouble to engage fully with the local community At every meeting be it committee or AGM we have welcomed club members to become more actively involved and to take over if they wish. We have also encouraged women and younger members but so far success in this area has been only marginal but things are looking promising.

All this has been done by the club stalwarts very few of whom are under 50 years of age, in fact several are closer to seventy than 50. This bunch of old farts have made this a very happy successful club full of fresh ideas but we are all only too willing to surrender to the younger members if they would like to carry out a coup.

[Tiff]

Well the dust has barely settled, but thought I'd add a brief update for those interested in how things went at the meeting this evening.

Firstly I'd like to publicly thank Chapuis for his significant help regarding fire safety legislation and hopefully the committee will take action soon.

In essence, the meeting tonight was entertaining....
I printed off some of the relevant guidelines/legislation for range & fire safety and handed them out before it started. The look of sheer bewilderment on many of the members faces was amusing.

There was the usual "I've been here for 60 years, what right have you got to ask us to change now" & "if you go and leave the area with work in 6 months, why should we change anything".

A couple of committee members took offense that I'd been quietly looking into things behind the scenes - something I unfortunately had to do, after publicly asking to see the range safety certificate & range orders etc (not unreasonable as an RCO...) and being told not to worry about them, they exisit somewhere. A situation I still can't get my head round!

The good news is they have formed a private sub committee to look into the range saftey aspect, including getting the lead levels monitored (any ideas on who could do this?). The vice chairman will look into getting a fire risk assessment done by a retired fire officer he knows.

Plus there will be a new nights shooting introduced in January to coach beginners, with new members being actively sought - a big positive change!

The downside is in the meantime it carries on as usual, with no known copy of the range saftey certificate in existance, significant breaches of the fire code and about 18 out of 20 points on the NRA/NRSA indoor range inspection sheet currently being breached. I'm certainly not happy RCO'ing for the club untill this is resolved, since I simply cannot see how our NSRA insurance is valid?

I'm hoping the seriousness of the situation will sink in with most of the committee (some are unfortunately lost causes) in the next couple of weeks.

Tiff