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Cad Monkey wrote:

Cj10 wrote:John,

If every TSO was to take such a narrow interpretation of the agreement the NRA has with the MOD on civilian RCO use of FFAs we would not be able to use any such ranges across the country.

Even other local military personnel believe this TSO has got it wrong, but he won't change his decision.

We've not gone through Mercer this time, based on lessons learnt, and have communicated directly with the Trustees. The Defence Land Range Safety Committee has historically been content with the NRA RCO qualification being appropriate for FFAs, in the circumstances I have previously described. Hopefully both bodies will be able to move this forward.

Ceri

Ceri
This is an item that needs to be addressed and resolved between the NRA and the MOD. IMO having representatives from individual shooting clubs directly banging on the door of the trustees will not help our situation. In addition your continuous reference of the NRA as ‘Mercer’ is only going to make matters worse and do nothing to progress matters in the right direction. Like it or not the NRA is the association that represents our sport in these matters and has direct communication with the relevant personnel in the MOD. The bottom line is if we want the NRA to assist us and hopefully rectify the situation then we need to work together.
We must also realise that we as civilians are in a privilege position to have the use of these ranges. In addition as ‘civilian’ shooters we are way down in the list of the MOD’s priorities and any matters that do arise will take time to resolve, BUT we must learn to be patient. This situation will not be rectified overnight and whilst I agree that we have to keep the pressure on and keep such matters in the public eye, we must also conduct ourselves in more professional manner, airing our personal feelings in the public domain will not help our plight and will not go unnoticed by those who could be assisting us.
Dave

Dave

As a Grove member you should be aware of the face to face meeting the Committee had with Mr Mercer in February of this year. This arose directly as a result of the letter we sent to the NRA last year, and published in this thread. You will note Mr Mercer's response, also published.

Since February, Mr Mercer has failed to deliver on any of the undertakings he gave at the meeting, despite several reminder emails to him. As you will see from the initial Grove letter to him we stated we would share the highlights of our experience with his organisation publicly, to stimulate debate on the return clubs get for their enforced annual investment into the NRA. I understand the NRA General Secretary post attracts a near six figure salary. Should he not be accountable where he and/or his people have fallen well short of the service standard the NRA has committed to provide?

My view is absolutely, particularly where he has failed to deliver personally, as is in this case. What is your view? (Co-incidentally, people close to the NRA advised me to contact the Trustees directly. That is very telling, is it not?)

As for leaving the NRA to represent us over the issues described in the Grove's original letter, rather than engage directly with the MOD I agree, if that representative is effective in dealing with local issues.

The. Grove has engaged Landmarc locally over a number of issues and we are the only club in the region both permitted to have people aged under 18 on MOD ranges and to have an agreement to use a specific calibre on one MOD range. Most recently we've also managed to extract written confirmation of the rationale for withdrawing Robins Lodge and Great Carr, from the TSO concerned. If I understand correctly the NRA would not review this particular issue until such notification was received.

Has the Grove been afforded an effective, professional customer service by the NRA? You tell me!

Ceri




Sent from my boing

Ceri
I acknowledge your response and duly note its comments. I think we all know how frustrating it is having to rely on a third party to act on our behalf especially when we have no direct input on such matters and I totally understand and agree with your sentiments. However, I cannot help but think that some of the recent postings made on this forum will only hinder any progress that we hope to make on such issues and they certainly do nothing to develop the relationship that the NRA has with the various clubs that the general shooting community belong to.
We recently had a golden opportunity to place a very active member of the shooting community onto the general council of the NRA. This particular person is somebody who regularly contributes on the various shooting forums including this one and indeed this topic and I can’t help but think that we missed our chance to install a little change which I’m in no doubt would have benefited us all and gave us a voice from within. Maybe next time we take this opportunity and vote accordingly.
Dave

Dave ,

Rightly or wrongly I take a very hard nosed and simplistic view of how the relationship between clubs and NRA should be.

We are the customer, the NRA is the service provider.

Mr Mercer was brought in to put the NRA on a more solid commercial footing. Businesses who treat their customers as irritations or distractions fail, some more slowly than others.

As for the General Council elections I completely agree about the lost opportunity in not electing the individual I believe you are referring to. I am no longer eligible to vote though, as I ended my individual NRA membership like a number of other people.

Ceri


.

Stay outside. Whinge, moan. Abdicate all power to do something about your complaints. Why should the NRA help you? You are not a member.

Fred

FredB wrote:Stay outside. Whinge, moan. Abdicate all power to do something about your complaints. Why should the NRA help you? You are not a member.

Fred

Fred,

Not sure you've read this entire thread?

Where have I contacted the NRA in any capacity other than a committee member of a NRA affiliated club. This affiliation costs in excess of £3000 per year and should entitle the club concerned to a reasonable standard of service from the NRA.

Ceri

FredB wrote:Stay outside. Whinge, moan. Abdicate all power to do something about your complaints. Why should the NRA help you? You are not a member.

Fred

Before posting please read the thread so you at least know what is going on.

FredB wrote:
Stay outside. Whinge, moan. Abdicate all power to do something about your complaints. Why should the NRA help you? You are not a member.

Fred


Before posting please read the thread so you at least know what is going on.

_________________
C-

http://www.danskgevaer.com

:lol: :lol: :lol:

FredB wrote:Stay outside. Whinge, moan. Abdicate all power to do something about your complaints. Why should the NRA help you? You are not a member.

Fred

The NRA should work for the good and betterment of ALL shooting in the uk , otherwise what is the use of a NATIONAL rifle association ?

I haven't been a member for a lot of years now because it is a festering cess pool of self service and incompetence (in my opinion)

Nothing I've seen recently has spured me to change that opinion (and lord knows I want to , I really want to!)

I had read the entire topic. It advocates running away when not satisfied with the service provided by the NRA, especially to clubs using military ranges. Then, continue to criticise from outside. This accomplishes nothing: staying inside, getting more involved, voting---yes I know that we didn't get all the right people this time---- and changing the NRA: this will achieve something. Andrew Mercer and his team have turned round the finances of the NRA---give him credit for what he has done, but, by all means crticise his failure---from inside, where your concerns will be more effective.
Fred

FredB wrote:I had read the entire topic. It advocates running away when not satisfied with the service provided by the NRA, especially to clubs using military ranges. Then, continue to criticise from outside. This accomplishes nothing: staying inside, getting more involved, voting---yes I know that we didn't get all the right people this time---- and changing the NRA: this will achieve something. Andrew Mercer and his team have turned round the finances of the NRA---give him credit for what he has done, but, by all means crticise his failure---from inside, where your concerns will be more effective.
Fred

...and when we can't get hold of him? When he does not turn up as promised? When he does not keep his promises?

Then different action has to be taken in order to get a result. Don't you think?