Registered County Association of the NSRA   

1990 to 1999
 

 
May 1992 AGM of the Ayrshire Target Shooting Association held at the Stanecastle Hotel, Irvine. 
The Secretary welcomed all to the 62nd AGM and in the absence of a Chairman requested the Vice-Chairman to take the  meeting.
The Chair opened the meeting and queried the position of the minutes.
The minutes of the 61st AGM had been circulated and no comments passed to the Secretary.
Acceptance of the minutes was proposed and seconded .
The Stewarton representative considered that whilst all present were aware of the details around the resignation of the County Coach at the last AGM, it was possible that, after a few years had passed, the minutes could be read that the query from him had prompted the County Coach's resignation.

It is therefore recorded that the cause of the County Coach's at the last AGM was due to intense harassement over the conditions of the Primary Coaches course and the changes introduced by the NSRA as the course proceeded.
Some background to these happenings is contained in the County Coach's report to that and to this AGM.
The Secretary's report touched upon the loss of the Chairman and the Match Secretary in the first part of last year with only the Match Secretary being replaced.
It went on to precis the struggle that Ardeer had to prevent their club premises from being demolished and to establish a future for the club. Review of the position with the NSRA found that the loss of membership had caused the NSRA to introduce a basic membership grade at a reduced fee.

This had made membership of the NSRA more attractive but was still far short of the position before the change of policy was put in place. This led to an account of the coaching position in the County and the reduction in the recognition of J.F. Whitelaw from a Coach Educator to a Primary Coach.
Emphasis that this was purely a local decision.
The Secretary ran over the competitions results for the year which included the gaining of a British Record of 1682 ex 1800 for the Standard Pistol County Competition.

The Secretary put forward his personal belief that the County must concentrate on making the sport of target shooting more attractive to more people in order to gain an increased membership and revenue to improve all facilities.
This would be his theme for the coming year if re-elected.To conclude, the Secretary expressed his wish that the next year would be his last as Secretary and that some new blood could be found to keep the Association moving forward into the future.
Thanks were expressed to the regular Council members; without their help the Secretary would not have been able to have completed the last year.
The Treasurer circulated her report, copy attached, which detailed a reduced income and a reduced expenditure for the year.
Overall the difference between total income and total expenditure was £5.28 for the current year.
The acceptance of the Treasurer's Report was proposed and seconded seconded .
It was also proposed that the Auditor should receive a bottle of whisky as before. This was approved.

The County Coach outlined the growth of junior activities through the year to attract a greater number of juniors into the sport.
This was particlarly evident through the Junior Shoulder-to-shoulder Competition which could attract clubs from outside the County.
A Primary Coaches Course has been organised to commence in July 1992 in conjunction with the SPA.
Grant availability will be advised to all clubs as soon as the information has been verified. He reported that the training development in the county through the year had been slower than he would have liked.

However as distracting factors were being resolved, he anticipated that the programme could be caught up.
One particular aspect item that had fallen behind was that of the Primary Coaches meeting. 
The County Coach intended to remedy this in the near future.

Involvement with the SPA has led to the County Coach taking a tour of duty as Team Manager for the Scottish Pistol Team at  Dortmund in March and subsequently running a Range Officer course at Arbroath.
In conclusion the County Coach thanked the Council for its support through the last year and pledged his endeavour to improve the standard of shooting in Ayrshire if re-elected. 

TL proposed that the current Auditor be re-elected if willing to continue.
The Treasurer confirmed that the Manager of the Newmilms Branch of the Clydesdale Bank was willing to continue as auditor.
The Secretary proposed that the annual subscriptions should remain as they were for the last year. This proposal was seconded.
The Chair queried the Treasurer's view on any need to increase the fees. The Treasurer did not foresee any unusual expenditure for the coming year and accordingly felt that there was no need to look to increase the fees. There was no alternative proposal.

The changes to the Constitution, set out in the Agenda, were discussed at length.
Acceptance of the proposals was proposed and seconded.
The Secretary undertook the action to modify the Constitution.
A Proposal that the County Coach should be divorced from any specific club was discussed.
The general feeling was that the spirit of the proposal was sound but the practicalities failed on the potential need for the County Coach to have a FAC.

The principle of member clubs offering discretionary honary membership to the County Coach was considered to be sound and was recommended to all clubs.
The proposal that the league teams should be reduced from teams of five to teams of four was proposed and seconded.
This change will be taken forward into the Winter Competitions.
The County Coach proposed that the County should have a badge that would identify County team members as well as providing County identification across all member clubs.
Detailed discussion broadened the proposal into a need for a County emblem that could be utilised on badges, competition awards and other items .e.g. key fobs.
AP was actioned to proceed to obtain sample emblems for the next County meeting. a) The Secretary recognised that the rifle discipline had a competition focal point with a Rifle Captain in position but the pistol discipline lacked a similar focus.
All representatives were requested to seek a suitable member for the Pistol Captain. b) The County representation at the NSRA was considered by the majority of those present to be a waste of time and not worth the difficulties involved in achieving travel at the limited expense rate.
No representation will be in place for this year.
 

19th May 1993 at the ALERT Offices, 16 Smith Street, Ayr.
The minutes of the 62nd AGM had been circulated and no comments had been passed to the Secretary.
However the Chairman wished to record that he had noted that in the "Election of Offices" the verb "was" had been omitted in the record of the election.
With that one change the acceptance of the minutes was proposed and seconded.
The Secretary's report touched upon the success of the new competitions introduced during the year and on the continuing disappointments of little support for the County events.
Separately the Secretary highlighted the training activities of the County Coach and the opportunities that these have provided to the County. A hope that the County would maximise on these opportunities was expressed.
The Secretary repeated his belief that the role of the Secretary for the County should be changed every 5 years and that he still hoped that someone would come forward to take-over the position.
The Treasurer tabled a small report at the conclusion of a quiet year.
The audited accounts were presented and the Treasurer took the meeting through the balance sheet.

Specific points were:-

 a) an increase in income from competitions
 b) new income from the coaching courses

In respect of the increase in income from competitions the increase was determined to be from new competitions with the established competitions showing no increase in support.
The Chair pointed out that next year there should be even more income from the coaching side with an expansion of the current number of courses.

The meeting was advised that the ATC & Ardeer may be looking for another RO course later in the year.
Acceptance of the audited accounts was proposed and seconded.
The Treasurer sought and gained approval for the auditor to be presented with the usual liquid thank you.
The County Coach detailed the courses completed during the year as two Primary Coaches and one Range Officers courses.
With the achievements established the County Coach went on to question whether the County really did require a County Coach.
Concluding that the County now has considerable expertise within its clubs but is not making use of it the County Coach looked forward to a greater use of the coaching function and courses.
The Secretary raised the issue that there is a demand for courses on ballistics, firearm operation, etc. and these may be the missing link for bringing forward club members.

It was felt that a calendar of training events would be useful and advised that at, the last meeting of the shooting bodies, the Sports Council requested the Shooting Federation's programme but, of those present, only the SPA was able to make the presentation.
Within the SPA we hold the only County affiliation and were the first County to take the Primary Coaches and the first to rewrite that course to make it more shooter friendly.
The Chairman proposed that the current auditor be re-elected.
The Treasurer confirmed that the Clydesdale Bank manager was willing to continue but it should be noted that he retires in this coming year. The proposal was seconded.  It was agreed that the  usual liquid recompense should be made.

The Chair pointed out that this year there would be a good income from coaching and proposed that there should be no change in the subscriptions.  It was queried whether the proposed coaching would include a County Pistol squad to which the County Coach affirmed that there would be and outlined a scheme to have some tiers  of squads. 

Debate on income sources and grant positions followed with the County Coach stating that the Association's coaching fees were not important. 
A proposal that there should be no change in the level of subscriptions was seconded. The Secretary was called upon to state the fee levels and advised:

 *Full Affiliation for Clubs of > 10 members-----£20.00
 * Full Affiliation for Clubs of < 10 members----£10.00
 * Full Affiliation for Junior Clubs(up to 22yrs)--£10.00
 

Associate Membership fee level was discussed with an initial proposal of £5.00 but with no seconder a proposal of £3.00 gained a seconder and prevailed.
It was requested that Junior Affiliation should be considered at a later date.
Secretary queried the position in respect of correcting the wording on the County Badge. 
It was advised that there were still centres available at the engravers and the corrections would be carried out as soon as the current order was used.

The County Coach raised the issue of the cloth badges confessing that the template had not been retrieved from the initial badge supplier and that it was considered that cheaper badges could be obtained from a manufacturer in Galston.

A query was raised as to whether badges would be given to the Juniors shooting for the County. 
The Secretary pointed out that this subject had been dealt with at earlier meetings and the action, if needed, should be resolved at a Council meeting.
The Secretary was requested to contact the Rifle Captain to determine whether a County Team could be put in place at short notice. A letter from I.Thomson requesting consideration of the commitments of Ayrshire members shooting for Scotland when fixing County events. 
CC advised that he had a forward listing of national events and would be pleased to assist in the fixing of County dates to avoid conflicts. 

The problem of clashes with other competitions was raised but after some discussion it was concluded that until there is a national database for all competitions some clashing was inevitable. 

As a further point it was considered that the County should run the meetings with RO's and Captains to permit coaching to be undertaken separately but alongside the competition.

The Secretary proposed that the County should consider the possibility of replacing the NSRA representative by a PR position.

This proposal was seconded by WTC.

                  
18th MAY 1994 AGM of the AYRSHIRE TARGET SHOOTING ASSOCIATION AT THE ALERT OFFICES, 16 SMITH STREET, AYR
The minutes of the 63rd AGM had been circulated and no comments had been passed to the Secretary. 
Acceptance of the minutes was proposed GI and seconded JMcC.

The Secretary's report set out how the Council had continued to provide additional competitions and coaching in line with the stated demands of the membership. 
Regrettably the membership was not backing up its views by supporting the new events.
On the organisational front, the number of resignations of Officers in this period had posed a problem which was offset by the club secretaries accepting additional work and some activities being curtailed.
The major concern was the loss of the Treasurer but the main disruption was caused by a trumped up firearm charge which placed him on the side-lines just when the competitions were at full speed. 

However a new very active Chairman had been obtained and GI was now providing a very positive lead to the County.
Touching upon a new inter-county competition the Secretary recorded the efforts of the last Rifle Captain to establish competitions outside the County. 
This led on to advise that it had been hoped to advise the AGM that Ayr's Outdoor range had been approved but an inspection had raise some problems which had been challenged.

In respect of the way forward the Secretary queried the representation provided by the current Council and the lack of competition to replace the individual members which suggested that most members were apathetically happy with what was being decided on their behalf. 
Finally the Secretary advised that his personal position did not, in his opinion, permit him to continue properly and offered his resignation with the reasons why the AGM should accept it. 

The Chairman and Council members were thanked for their support through the year.
The Chairman was able to advise that he had received notification today that the Ayr range at St Murray's Quarry had been granted a licence without any qualifications. 
Apparently Major Getley had been totally over-ruled by W. O. Turner at Warminster.
In the absence of a Treasurer the Secretary provided a financial appraisal of the County's position. 
This appraisal indicated that the funds lost approximately £150 over the year despite increased revenue from competitions and coaching of £325.  £350 of the difference was detailed as lying in the three items of targets, key rings and badges and the increased cost of engraving plus medals.

Pointing out that the analysis provided was lower than the bank books by £24.73p it was considered that there was no need to increase the affiliation fees if the competitions were supported but if they were not an increase of £10 would be needed. 
A full financial report is filed and available for inspection.
On conclusion of the report IT queried the cost of the NSRA affiliation and the advantages it provided. 
The Secretary considered that the only values of NSRA affiliation are the insurance for the Association and the recognition of the national body. 

WTC pointed out that the current County badges would become a collectors item since the inscription would be corrected for the next batch. In the absence of a County Coach the Secretary reported his view of the coaching situation through his position as an active coach. 
Initially the report outlined the move towards NVQ requirement for all official positions and exhorted all those looking to play a part in the future to seriously consider taking up a course. 

It was considered that coaching through the County was now fragmented and needed the qualified coaches to be more challenged in order to improve both their and the County's standards. 
It was felt that this problem lay with the members of the clubs and the Council could do little about it.
The chairman commented that coaching in the County did not have credibility with the members and deserved better.

Honorary President: IT queried the activeness of G. Davies at this time.
In the subsequent discussion it was underlined that the positions of President and Vice- Presidents were one's recognising past contributions to the sport. 
GI proposed that the status quo should hold for the positions of President and Vice-president. 
This proposal was seconded by WIDT.
NSRA Representative: There were no nominations. 
The Secretary considered that the position should be re-titled County Representative with the object of achieving representation on the various associations. 

It was considered that the person for this position would  probably have to be retired to have time to make the meetings!

County Coach : There were no nominations. 
CF stated that he would arrange a meeting of the Primary Coaches in August everything being equal.
To follow the Treasurer arranging the accounts to suit his convenience in respect of location and conditions.
Discussion on the subscriptions initially was based on the need to maintain competition revenue through the County. 
The Chairman pursued the lack of Dundonald involvement in the competitions and was advised that  that club had a full timetable of events somewhat dissimilar to those of the County.

WTC advised that the County may have two more Cadet Troops joining this year to expand the numbers looking to take part in the competitions. 
As another revenue raising item the Chair advised that Open Days were under consideration and queried the experience of the representatives. 
TL confirmed that an Open Day produced a good input charging £6.00 per head. 
Ayr were noted to charge £12.00 per head, Stewarton £5.00 per head and Ardeer £3.00 per head. 
It was considered that £3.00 per head was a bit low.

Following reflection of this discussion WIDT proposed an increase of 50% on the Affiliation Fees to at least approach the costs of the fees the County pays for affiliation to the major Sport Associations. 
This proposal was clarified as:- £30.00 for full association; £15.00 full association for clubs with less than 10 members and Junior Clubs and £4.50 for associated member. 

Prior to obtaining a seconder WIDT removed the associate member content from the proposal to permit further consideration of the fee against the stated benefits.  JD seconded the modified proposal, 
There were no other proposals.
After outlining the benefits of Associate membership as 50p off all County competitions, copies of minutes through the Club secretaries, direct notice of County competitions and a credit card sized membership card,

GI proposed an associated member's fee of £5.00.  This was seconded by PR. 
Discussion of family membership followed and various formats were mooted. 
Finally TL proposed that the Family Associate membership should be twice the single membership fee, seconded by PR. 

WTC queried the presentation of the membership card and was advised that that item rested with Council.
Junior Affiliation was considered but was felt not to be warranted at this time. 
Changes to Constitution No proposal had been put to the Secretary.
The Secretary raised the situation on the Sweepstake competitions whereby some of the classes had no more than two competitors. 

It was agreed that the payments should be made as set out in the rules.
BT proposed a vote of thanks to the Secretary for the work undertaken to enable the AGM to take place. 
This was seconded by the Chair.
The Chair and the Secretary expressed their thanks to Alert and PR for the premises and the coffee.
 

17th MAY 1995 AGM of the AYRSHIRE TARGET SHOOTING ASSOCIATION AT THE ALERT OFFICES, SMITH STREET, AYR.

The Chairman welcomed all to the meeting and thanked the committee and all the officers by name for their services over the last year. 
The prize giving then followed for all the competitions completed over the year.

With all prizes distributed by the Chairman the meeting was called to order for the AGM business.
The minutes of the 64th AGM had been circulated and no comments had been passed to the Secretary. 
Acceptance of the minutes was proposed by WTC and seconded by IRR.
The Secretary's report set out that the Council completed the year at full strength, a fact that permitted outstanding factors and those arising during the year to be resolved quickly and fairly. 
The competition side once again proved to be controversial with a few complaints of there being too many cards to shoot this year. 
A change to the method of scoring has provide more flexibility in the number of rounds but it remains doubtful as to whether an exact compromise will ever be achieved.

The Inter-county event for the rifle shooters had to be cancelled at the last minute due to the range being lost to a developer. 
Offers of access to the two Ayrshire ranges have been promoted to the organisers and a response is awaited. 
This raised the issue of the lack of certificated rifle based range officers in respect of controlling the ranges and the fact that the County could not consider running an Open Rifle event at the current time.

Finally the Secretary that he had now secured a new position in Scotland but that the commitment involved would significantly limit the time available to undertake County duties. 
Accordingly the Secretary offered his resignation due to an inability to retain his commitment to the County and strongly urged the County to find someone-else for the position. 
Should the County not accept his resignation the Secretary advised that a lot more support will be necessary to permit the year to be completed.
The Chairman and members of the Council were thanked for their support through the year.
The Treasurer apologised for his late arrival to the meeting. 
In his report the Treasurer pointed out that last year's accounts were completed by the Secretary which he had reconciled to £7.00 to the advantage of the County. 
The audit of those accounts had not been completed by the nominated person but the Treasurer considered that they had been audited to a level that permitted him to be confident over the figures to the end of May 1995. 
At the end of May the final account was calculated to be £598.84 which is £40 less than last year's figure. 
Bemoaning the fact that the County has no set date for the closing of the accounts, the Treasurer proposed that the accounts are closed at the end of May each year. 

The figures presented recognised:
                *              No affiliation of Dundonald
                *              Fees from the Intercounty returned
                *              Cash from recent Pistol event included
                *              9 sets of fees from the Range Controllers course outstanding
                *              Outstanding competition fees still to be collected
 

The prime activity through this year was advised to be that of determining whether a Range Officer had to be present for each and every course of fire. 
Eventually it was believed to be resolved that a Range Officer had to be in place for Open events and where range rules demanded.
Other than that it was regretted that there had been little change in shooters' attitudes to coaching so that the activity is probably plateau-ing at this time.
It was proposed by PR that the auditor should be nominated by the Treasurer seconded by SS. 
Later in the meeting the Treasurer advised that Mr J.M. Taylor of Paisley had agreed to audit the accounts and will do both sets for 1994 and 1995.

The Treasurer pointed out that the County has held its position over the year and with the Open Pistol event it is expected that there will be sufficient income to avoid raising the subscriptions above the current levels. 
The Secretary outlined the fee levels of last year. 
WTC queried the content of family affiliation and was advised parents plus bairns. 
WTC proposed the retention of the status quo seconded JMcB. 
No counter proposals were tabled.

No proposal had been put to the Secretary.
PR introduced Stewart Lindsay, secretary of the UKPSA, to the meeting and advised that the Ayr club is associated to the UKPSA.  Representation of the County in practical pistol aspects will be through Ayr as an extension of the County's interests. 
It was considered that a start had been made in this new discipline by one round of the national championship being run on the St Murray's Quarry range as well as the additional interest arising from the newly associated Southannan club.

McCIRRICK CUP
 

The Secretary introduced this subject as an opportunity for the County to consider extending its area of interests and requested KRH to address the meeting on the McCirrick Cup. 
KRH provided a full account of his activities in the County and advised that the McCirrick Cup presented before the meeting was for a full-bore rifle competition within the Ayrshire boundary and was last shot for in competition in 1975. 
In respect of the background KRH advised that 15 years ago he became disenchanted with the SPA and since then he had watched a lot of money and invaluable trophies become sidelined. 
In KRH's view the trophies belong to the County Association and that view has been shared by the trustees of the McCirrick Cup. 
Accordingly the McCirrick Cup, by the agreement of the trustees, may be loaned to the County on a year by year basis but it must be shot for year by year in a service rifle event. 
It was suggested that the competition should be over a range of 200 yards plus and preferably more than 300 yards. 
After the first year's shoot it was considered that the trophy would essentially become the County's. 
The Secretary queried whether a full-bore rifle event based on Swinger type target rifles would be acceptable. 
It was felt that the definition of service rifles could be sufficiently wide. 
PR stated that he could put a course of fire together for the cup.  
The Chair considered that there were enough people in the County interested in the outlined competition for the interest in the McCirrick cup to go forward.
IR advised that as of last Friday the situation within the ATC units had been fully resolved and the situation was back to what it used to be.
The Chair wished to record the meeting's thanks to PR for the ALERT facility.