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Re: What is it with the NRA?!
Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:52 am
by HeatherW762
MartinC wrote:I value my health too much to use the toilets on any of the ranges, they are nothing short of disgusting. They need jet washing from top to bottom and then re painting and keeping clean. It is nothing but the basics which I feel the NRA are missing the trick over.
Spend a fortune on restoring the clock tower by all means but how about getting the basics right first.
I for one am grateful for being a member of a Bisley Club that has first class facilities so I don't have to use the squalor that they provide for us.
Couple of points. We advertised for more ablution cleaners & got no applicants! Clock Tower repairs were paid for by donations not the NRA.
Heather
Re: What is it with the NRA?!
Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:58 am
by HeatherW762
dromia wrote:BTW Heather when is the next managers meeting?
In my diary for tomorrow but things get cancelled at short notice during the Imperial. The next scheduled meeting is two weeks tomorrow.
Heather
Re: What is it with the NRA?!
Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:18 am
by dromia
Thanks Heather.
Re: What is it with the NRA?!
Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:28 am
by HeatherW762
targetman wrote:"Membership static? If so, I think it would be wrong to then hit that loyal membership with an increase in fees. But is that not a British disease? Times are tough, charge more. Numbers fall, charge more again to make up for it. Numbers fall further, it all goes down the pan....."
Sim...the very point I was making.....the trouble with slashing the fees is that revenue decreases at a sharp rate whilst the long term objective of more members is just that, long term.
The NRA are like a lot businesses, strapped for cash and unable to improve or expand, the cost of borrowing is astronomic, despite whatever the Bank Rate might be, and really the NRA are in the position of not being able to move forward whilst gradually moving backwards.
The latest changes have been very hard on some people and I suspect will have very little effect on the trading state of the NRA as a whole, it is mearly a holding position.
I have noticed since the changes that the invoicing to my Club for range fees has gone backwards, I am now getting invoices in July for shoots held in May, whereas last year the invoices came in within 2 weeks of the date of range use. A small matter but sadly indicitive of the way things were 4 or 5 years ago.
Our membership numbers are increasing at around 600 new members a year. We lose around 250 on renewal so net gain 350 ish.
I have a few 'irons in the fire' that I hope will greatly increase our membership from next year - so watch this space
Heather
Re: What is it with the NRA?!
Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:48 am
by dromia
I look forward to them as the NRA having wide membership appeal beyond Bisley shooters is the key to its future.
Re: What is it with the NRA?!
Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:34 am
by Mike357
dromia wrote:I look forward to them as the NRA having wide membership appeal beyond Bisley shooters is the key to its future.
Here here!
Re: What is it with the NRA?!
Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 1:17 pm
by Chuck
I value my health too much to use the toilets on any of the ranges, they are nothing short of disgusting. They need jet washing from top to bottom and then re painting and keeping clean. It is nothing but the basics which I feel the NRA are missing the trick over.
Err ...YES, OK but surely that is down to the filthy habits of some shooters who seem to have no sense of hygeine or decency. Crap coverd bogs are down to the USERS not the range staff..(who OK should be cleaning them, but you know what i mean)
I have refused many invites to go there on grounds of distance , crap accommodation and stories told of arrogant stuck up snobby twats who think the place is for them, nothing in any similar threads to this tells me otherwise.
Then again the fact the UK has ONE shooting center (as such) is a disgrace.
Re: What is it with the NRA?!
Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 5:27 pm
by targetman
"How on earth did it get to this stage?"
Sim.....sadly this is an historic problem.....no names no pack drill but basically somebody "misused" the NRA funds whilst the the other members of the committee were "looking the other way".......recovery has been virtually non existant.....but there is a very nice Clay Shooting Range....
Re: What is it with the NRA?!
Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:13 pm
by essexboy
To stop myself continually typing
all I will say about the clay ground scenario is why nobody went in front of the beak is beyond me and I would love to see the contracts drawn up.
A message to Heather, how about some covered shooting benches at 600&1000 as on 100 ( as paid for by others)
As for the aracnahuts (bogs) do what I did, join an on-site club then you get toilets/showers and all the home comforts
Re: What is it with the NRA?!
Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:32 pm
by SloeginBill
Couple of points. We advertised for more ablution cleaners & got no applicants!
Can I ask if you advertised an hourly rate with the job and if so what it was? I know that surrey in general is an affluent area but I can't believe that there is no-one that wanted the job unless it was minimum wage.
I went to bisley for only the second ever time a couple of weeks back and so dont have a lot to compare with but the place has a very "unique" feel.The static toilets at Melville and the bottom of the clay range were ok in a touch nothing and get out ASAP sort of way but the portaloos in the Siberia car park we're overflowing out the pan and totally empty of flush/ wash water ( i only know that as the pumps are foot operated).They didnt need cleaning , they needed replacing under the hire contract terms so who is supposed to be managing that? A well chosen tree and wash up with hand wipes in the car was a far more preferable option.