NRA Journal - Summer 2003 - National Rifle Association

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SPRING GENERAL MEETING - 29 MARCH 2003Notes:1 Reported speech is shown in “quotation marks”,records of discussion are shown in normal typefaceand notes to aid the reader are shown in italics.2 Copies of the complete transcript of proceedings,compiled from contemporaneous tapes and notes, areavailable on request from the Secretary to Council.Speech by John Jackman, Chairman of CouncilIntroduction“Good evening and thank you for coming.Firstly, please pause a moment in thought for ourmembers in the reserve and permanent forces in Iraq.Thank you.I should like to introduce those who have joined me onthe dais, as some will be unknown to you.Bob Fishwick - Bob joined us at the beginning of Januaryas Secretary to the Council.Michael Walton - elected to Council in 2001 was electedChairman of the Finance and General PurposesCommittee last August.Philip Currie FCA - elected as Honorary Treasurer lastSeptember. Philip had a brief commission with the RoyalMarines, but is not a shooter himself. He bringsindependence to the role.Michael Blythe FCA - our Finance Manager, whom youknow.Charles Brooks who was elected as Vice Chairman ofCouncil last September.Charles Oliver-Bellasis who was elected to Council lastyear and appointed Chairman of National ShootingCentre Limited last October.Colin O’Brien who you know as Chairman of theShooting Committee.Martin Farnan, previously Shooting Manager, who wasappointed Director of Shooting last August.Lastly, I am very pleased to welcome Jeremy Staples asManaging Director of the National Shooting Centre,Bisley. Jeremy is a chartered surveyor with commercialexperience and his priority will be management of theEstate and developing activities, particularly newsources of income.”The Secretary to the Council read the Notice conveningthe meeting from page 9 of the Winter Journal.“This evening, the meeting will be in three parts.Firstly, I shall deal with the accounts and finances andtake questions.Secondly, I will make a statement on certain Associationaffairs and take questionsLastly, I shall introduce the Special Resolutions. I shallask Robin Pizer and Peter Hobson to make a presentation42in relation to their proposed Amendments dated 9March. Following this I shall take questions.Finally, I shall submit the proposed Amendments,followed by the Resolutions dated 10 February 2003. Iemphasise that the proposed Resolutions have beenmade only after 18 months of consultation of what isrequired, including by Council on no less than fiveoccasions. Of course, with the diverse interests anddesires of members, let us not pretend that the proposalshave been unanimously accepted and not be surprisedat this. It would be wrong to say that there is only oneway of proceeding. However, the fact is that the finalproposals have been well thought through and coordinatedand take into account the requirements of theCharities Act. They have been overwhelminglysupported and that is why they will be put to you today.”Financial PositionThe following is a summary of the Chairman’s further remarkson the Financial Statements, picking up the salient points.“It is appreciated that the format of the annual, audited,Financial Statements (as now required by the CharityCommission) has become cumbersome and I havetherefore tabled a simplified statement of the operatingresult which shows the significant features making upthe operating surplus of £122,223 (copied on page 48). Theoperating surplus has gone towards reducing bankborrowings.The key point on the balance sheet is the effect of our refinancingby way of medium term loans of £1,261,818over initially ten, now nine, years. As a consequence ofthis and a standby overdraft facility we now have asecure working capital with which to manage our dayto day affairs. There was a surplus of current assets of£119,456 at the end of last September. I should also drawattention to the figure of Deferred Income shown in theaccounts, namely, £2,065,298, reference note 15 in thepublished Financial Statements. The larger part of thisis the balance of the Lottery Grant arranged throughSport England. Each year, part of this is, and will be,amortised and set off against the depreciation which wewould otherwise have to charge for the Clay Ranges,buildings and equipment and the extension to theMelville Pistol Range.Now that capital projects, associated with theCommonwealth Games, have been completed we haveprovided you with a statement of capital expenditureover the last three years. (For those not present and whorequire a copy, please request from the Secretary.)I shall now pick up a few points.”The Clay Target Range“A year ago today I highlighted how management ofthe Clay Target Range was a new venture for us.Projections had been made, but none of us now in officehad any illusions that it would be an easy task to manageit. Last year was its first full year of trading and it hadto support the Commonwealth Games.
The result last year, after the net depreciation charge of£14,577, rent of £18,000 paid to the NRA and a share ofinterest charges of £21,600, was a loss of some £17,500.However, the director, Sarah Bunch and her colleaguesshould be congratulated and thanked for the significantprogress achieved during this first full year, for thedevelopment of a members’ club and for the outrightsuccess of holding the Clay Target events for the Games.In the current year our budget is to make a profit of about£17,000 which will go straight towards repaying ourborrowings. In the first five months of the currentfinancial year, and with careful management, the resultsare on track to achieve this.Following receipt of grants from Sport England, the NRAinvestment in the clays is just over £400,000, includingassociated legal fees. We are determined to seek a goodreturn, over time.”The Bank“Our Honorary Treasurer, Philip Currie, has now takenover from me the lead role in overseeing ourarrangements with Barclays. I am pleased to say ourrelationship is as firm as it could be and I am pleased toreport that our loan interest will be reduced very shortlyby a further ¼% to become 1½% over base – a fine rateand a further saving in costs.”The Current Year“As reported previously, our target surplus, this year,is £200,000. We believe it is achievable. It was envisagedthat we might have our two new senior positions filledby the beginning of this financial year. The fact that wehave not done so means two things. Firstly, we havebeen delayed in moving ahead with some desired newdevelopments, but on the other hand, there has been asaving of costs against our budget. During the last fewmonths I and we owe our thanks to Sandy Ewing, anumber of Council and Committee Members and to ourstaff for keeping things moving. At the moment we areon target for a surplus, but we must not too readilyanticipate it, as events can overtake us. However, thesurplus will be used to further repay our bankborrowings.As I said, a year ago, we do recognise the burden of costto shooters from our borrowings. From my study of thelast ten years and to give you a better idea, it wouldhave been wise to have achieved surpluses, rather thanthe operating deficits, which occurred in all but one year.Thus our reserves of cash were sapped. If we hadbudgeted and achieved surpluses of, say, £50,000 pa –which was a small percentage of our assets - we wouldhave been better off by towards £½m. It would havemeant, however, higher prices on our key income sourcesof about 8% -12% over those years - which we have topay now. Having borrowed to finance the runawayexpenditure from 1997 to 2001, our prices have beenfurther increased by some 12% to repay our debt andadditionally a surcharge, which is currently 8%, to paythe bank interest. This is now history, but I am notunhopeful that prices to shooters might now reduce inreal terms provided we maintain and increase ouractivities, which we plan to do.Barring accidents, we shall further reduce the surchargethis next autumn to reflect reduced borrowings.”Capital Expenditure“Capital expenditure is still being curtailed. The mainproject in hand, I mentioned last year, is to improveaccess to and parking at about 300 yards at the east endof Century by building a road along the old Wharncliffetramway just inside our boundary to Short Siberia witha spur to Century. This will give better access to shortrange shooting, especially when reverse echelon is inplace. It would be good if this could be financed by oneor more donations and we are turning our minds to this,but it is planned to go ahead, in any case, subject toPlanning Consent and reasonable contractors’ tenders.We are very aware that the loss of our Short Range onwhich, I regret, some monies were spent abortively, ismissed by many of our shooters. It is effectivelyunusable. There are a number of members and shootingdisciplines which need a short range. You may recallthat a plan was hatched to build one to the west ofStickledown. After initial cost was incurred it wasdiscovered that there is much wartime unexplodedordnance which would have to be cleared. Altogether,I am informed that to build a small 200 yards range couldcost up to over £200,000. Such a project would need agenerous benefactor and no further work on it is beingdone at the present time, particularly until we can seethe benefits of the work at the east of Century and Siberia.May I now please take questions restricted to theaccounts and to my financial statement?”There were none.“I now move on to other developments.”Management Changes“As I said, in my letter to you of 10 February relating togovernance of the NRA, the making of managementchanges is within the remit and powers of the Councilacting as Trustees. Following adoption of the so-called‘Bisley Ltd’ report last September, we have beengradually making the changes.”The Secretary – Bob Fishwick“We welcome Bob Fishwick. He will fulfil a new role,which, ironically, is not far different from that of theoriginal secretaries of the NRA. He is chief officer of theNRA for the Council and his remit is to encouragemembership, promote target shooting, particularly awayfrom Bisley and, with me, as Chairman, to develop ourPublic Relations, all under the direction of Council. Hewill work closely with the Membership Committeewhich, we hope, will incorporate input from our regionalrepresentative members of Council. Although Council’ssenior official, he will not be directly involved in therunning of Bisley. As members, your main point ofcontact is Bob Fishwick for all else other than, ordinarily,your requirements at Bisley. He is supported by Heather43
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Page 27 and 28: The team at the Foxhunters Return.S
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Page 46 and 47: Webb, the Membership Secretary, and
Page 48 and 49: Proposed AmendmentsThe Chairman ask
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Page 60 and 61: THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH RIFLE CLUB
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Page 66: MEMBERS’ PAGEPete Bloom FundAs ma

NRA Journal - Summer 2003 - National Rifle Association

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