B.a.s.c. Agm.

finnbear270

Well-Known Member
Just back home from Stirling, had a good trip both ways, courtesy of Willie-Gunn (Dom), things would have been a lot more difficult without his kind help!& a very good evening spent in his company in a Moffat hostelry, followed by Griff's election to council,:lol: with I may say a goodly portion of votes!......... my own reason for being there has had what I view to be some succsess, I withdrew the motion for rule changes to allow internet accsess for the wider membership, in relation to AGM's & other matters, on condition it went to council, so I returned home..all the way home........ to the front door in fact! by Dom!:lol:
 
Hi all,
just a quick thank you to all who voted for me.
It was however a dissapointing turnout again,if you want change then a little effort is needed,.
My hat goes off to Steve & Willie-gunn, who drove 6-7hrs just to have his motion heard.
He put his point across well, probably not the outcome he was looking for,but nonetheless a success that it will be discussed at council level, I hope that we will be able to offer Steve an invite when it is discussed.

Just 1800 votes cast out of 127,000 that really is p*ss poor, that in itself sends a message to the BASC heirarchy "we dont care".

Again well done to Steve and Willie-gunn who made the effort.

regards
Griff
 
Griff,

Delighted that you got elected! I really thought the Troup bloke had somehow wangled his way in, but no.

I know you will be a breath of fresh air on the council and will follow your progress with interest. Give my regards to Mike Sherman and tell him I'll see him at the CLA. See you when the midgies have gone!!! :)
 
Griff

Congratulations again on making the Council - great to have you on there.

Like you, I was dumbfounded at how few members actually cast their vote. Given all the moans and complaints about the organisation I would have expected people to at least take the time to fill in one sheet of paper or go to a web page. IMHO if they can't be bothered to vote then I wouldn't waste time listening to their whinging. :evil: What really surprised me, though, was that no-one from Council made mention of the poor turnout - maybe that's something we'll read about in the minutes or the next magazine. Sadly it reinforced the point that efforts have to be made to re-connect to the membership, particularly in challenging times like these.

Kudos to Steve for his impromptu speech when his motion was discussed - nothing like having a microphone thrust at you unawares to quicken the heartbeat ;). His motion was a good one, and now that it's been raised at AGM it can be followed up in the magazine and in Council. The need for the Association to find every way to actively involve the membership has never been greater.

What I did like, and said to Steve on the way back, was that the Scottish Chairman (Alan Balfour) made a point of coming up and speaking to Steve and I at the beginning, despite the fact that we were not "suited and booted" like most of the attendees and we were most definitely not part of the in-crowd. Alan spent a good time chatting with us and thanking us for making the effort to attend. After the AGM both he and Peter Glenser then buttonholed Steve again to assure him that the intent behind his motion would not be forgotten or kicked into the long grass. Good on them for taking the time and making the effort.:tiphat:

My goal for next year's AGM is to get other Council members to speak with me - note to self, don't forget to pack the Toad of Toad Hall tweed suit!

Thanks to Steve for being great company on the long drive there and back, as well as introducing me to the best chippy in Moffat! Also for finding out that Moffat was home to ACM Hugh Dowding and that someone there has a real Spitfire parked in their front garden. For anyone passing, it's well worth a visit. Next time Steve we'll fit in some stalking and make a real road trip out of it.

Top marks again to Griff for making it onto Council and looking forward to hearing how things go.

willie_gunn
 
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Well done Griff, sorry I couldn't make it it was a case of the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak. Never mind you are in and I would like to think that a good number of the pathetically few votes that were cast came from members on here. Of course this does mean that your shell like will be awfully convenient :D

John
 
Griff first of all congrats on your apointment .Now may i ask will this be stalking related or every thing to do with BASC . As i did like you opinions on the legislation and was woundering if you would now have a say in its future direction.
 
If you deliberately schedule the AGM for the the 2nd week of June when most professional keepers are up to their eyes in work and then make the venue Stirling about the least accessible location possible for everyone else is it any major surprise that the turn out is abysmal? A cynic might conclude that there is method in the madness.

As for the low voting response, this is mostly due to the long standing rank and file dissatisfaction with the council and the generally accepted view from the ordinary membership that irrespective of their wishes the encumbant senior managemnet team at BASC will continue to run the organisation first and foremost as their own private members club and then secondly as a representative body for the subscription paying members.

Those of us who have been with WAGI then BASC have decades of indiffernce and discontentment under our belts. The fact that Neil has finally managed to get himself elected on what is hardly the most dynamic and awe inspiring of tickets with just 1800 votes cast quite rightly shows the level of apathy that abounds within the membership. Perhaps the events at Whitehaven and the subsequent political fall out that legitimate shooters will inevitably pay the price for and the increasing anti hunting and pseudo environmentalist pressure campaign on the use of lead will be enough to stir the interests of the total membership at some point and we have all them engaged with the various debates and agenda's.
Steve's motion to allow a wider selection of interaction methods to be employed should go a fair way to increasing that necessary membership engagement. As long as it doesn't get buried by the various council members jockeying for position.
 
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I should like to be included in amongst those, whose apathy has allowed this condition to flourish, a member since the W.A.G.B.I. sign hung in Watergate st Chester, I hope we all get the chance to wake up & smell the coffee................ it may already be late in the day.


p.s..... A thought that ocurred to me on the way home, no shooters.... NO B.A.S.C.!:(
 
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And back on topic. :)

I was going to post a plea for order, but frankly it's Sunday and I have better things to do, so the sikamalc approach it is. :D

Talasker, no more 'implying nothing' posts please.

Alex
 
Griff first of all congrats on your apointment .Now may i ask will this be stalking related or every thing to do with BASC . As i did like you opinions on the legislation and was woundering if you would now have a say in its future direction.

Choc,
Thanks!
I am stalker, and as a stalker would represent the best interest of stalkers within BASC, there are other areas within BASC that require input, so I would not be restricting myself to just Stalking related matters.
Will I have an influence on the future direction of BASC,I hope so, but I am only 1 council member out of 19(got to start somewhere)


Irwch,
thanks! Steve does have to be commended in his efforts along with Willie-Gunn, I can think of several others things I would prefer to be doing an a Sat afternoon(needlework-knitting etc).
There were some interesting comments about the lead ban and where that is progressing, and work that is going on behind the scenes after the shootings in Cumbria.
So not a lost afternoon.


Talasker,
I see your post was edited by CSL so will only be able to comment on the issues you seem to have.
Perhaps as a member(if you are) you could put forward a motion to change the date that would suit most, and venue that would appeal to all.
I doubt very much, no matter where that venue was or the date, it would suit all.
It was Scotland's turn this time around, and suited the Scots down to a tee.
Next time who knows, perhaps a suggestion by members could be addressed.
I can assure you that neither Steves or anybody elses proposals will get buried by council, if you have evidence of that happening perhaps you could forward those details to me, or better still, air them on open forum so that they cannot be buried.
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What is apparent, is the lack of information that is getting out to members, while David BASC posts regulaly on this forum he cannot do it all, it would be unreasonable to expect that he do so.
We can however help ourselves with the help of David ands others, get the info/message across.
The BASC website is available to ALL, even non members,perhaps with the help of Admin we could have a sticky that is updated weekly with the behind the scenes activity on what affects our sport.

I am going to enjoy my time as a council member, I may not be popular, I may not be always right, but I will be there..

regards
Griff
 
Well done Griff - I hope you are able to bring about much needed change at BASC, God knows it needs a wake up call. As an ex-member I'll be watching with interest. As an aside to the vocal but apathetic membership - I did vote before cancelling my direct debit.:)
 
Neil

Tis true Alex saw fit to edit my post. C'est la guerre!

Whilst it would be fool hardy to try and please everyone, an endeavour guaranteed to fail if ever there was one. There are better dates in the calender and better locations. Why not choose the day before the CLA at the CLA venue. If the CLA can attract 130K+ visitors over the 3 days thy must be getting something right. Or why not the NEC Birmingham in Feb or March you can't get any more central and February would mean that most BASC members wouldn't be 100% tied to the day job. Plus there are loads of different transport options available in regards to travel arrangement and finding accommodation shouldn't be a major obstacle if needed.

Pardon my french but "stuff the scots" and their time around. Look at the population and membership demographics. If you want attendance you go where the bulk of you members are located, not some god forsaken scottish hillside just be'cos its their turn.

For those that have been around the workings of councils and committees for any length of time would realise there are many ways to "bog down" rather than bury a topic that would appear quite innocuous to the unenlightened and unaware. Only time will tell whether the will is a strong as the voice.

As for the need to broadcast the news louder and further, reliance on the internet is obviously not going to work. You only have to look at the top half dozen shooting related web sites to see the same old names reappearing time after time. I would have at a guess that less than a 1/2 of BASC's membership bother to read their in house web site, and less than a 1/3 bother to read any forums.

Regular and repeated low cost regional and national mailings with decent copy and content and constant reminders that additional news, information on issues, articles are available on the in house web site is the only way to win the communication battle and increase membership participation rather than costly glossy quarterly magazines, with highly priced advertising but little worthwhile and meaningful content.

I am sure that none of those that voted you on to the council did so in order for you to win a popularity contest, the same does for you being 100%. What they voted you on there for was to deliver some changes they feel are long over due. Changes in culture, changes in management style and changes in management full stop. As a single voice amongst 19 whether those changes can be achieve only time will tell.

I hope you find the next few years enjoyable, I bet you'll find them frustrating.
 
I'd say more of a realist. with an good understanding of how the politics and the personal agendas impact upon the power struggles that permeate through every single council and committee.

Naivety is not a trait that makes for success. :rolleyes:

Still at least I didn't get a mate to drive for 7 hours so that I could shake a few hands, smile a few smiles and nod a few nods to acquaintance and stranger alike before saying a few well chosen words, then see those words swallowed into the chasm that is council, then come home again, and then tell the world of my adventure.

Fair play to ya Steve , you're a better man than me. :rolleyes:
 
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Talasker said:
As for the need to broadcast the news louder and further, reliance on the internet is obviously not going to work. You only have to look at the top half dozen shooting related web sites to see the same old names reappearing time after time. I would have at a guess that less than a 1/2 of BASC's membership bother to read their in house web site, and less than a 1/3 bother to read any forums.

If the voting/AGM process was online, easy and accessible then people would have a reason to visit. To an extent, the success of a website is a case of build something useful and they will come. A good example would be the recent MP lobbying page on the BASC site together with the marketing of it. I would be willing to bet traffic to the site went up significantly pre election and most probably again post Cumbria.

I would also like to submit that the continual negative and cynical attitude towards BASC and it's representatives is part of the general problem. I really don't know what there is to achieve from it, other than propagating some kind of self fulfilling prophecy. Undermining and trying to subvert members trust in elected representatives who are actively trying to drive change for the better serves no purpose whatsoever and is, quite frankly, unwelcome on this forum.

Griff was elected and fair play to him. Driving change is never easy and requires support from the members - this does not include snippy, acerbic and unhelpful comments posted on our forum. :)

Alex
 
Alex

If they can't be arsed to get involved in a postal vote , what makes you think they will be arsed to get involved with an online vote. Whilst I'm sure th BASC site traffic figures increased just before the election, with the news of the lead debate, and after Whitehaven, I doubt if more than 33% of the membership have bothered to look at the site more than 1 or 2 times in 12 months.

As for the general problem being exasperated by the continual cynicism and negativity posted on here and elsewhere. I think much of the problem likes with the fact that the detractors are far more vocal in voicing their views than those who are content. Hence what may at first appear to be an imbalance of views posted. I don't believe that anyones trust is being subverted and to suggest that a few posts on here could sway anybody is hardly respectfull. Least of all to those that were inclined to vote.

Neil has finally been elected. If there is one thing that has become perfectly clear to all is BASC's long standing disregard for its members views, I still remember that day the gamekeepers walked off the council, and the National Pigeon Shooting weekend debarcle. Therefore any change that is to be achieved has to come from within BASC. That requires majority support from the council, and acceptance from the senior management team.
 
Any member of this forum who gets elected to the BASC council to drive for a change for the common shooting man deserves respect.
I like many others saw our keepering comittee wipped-in, our foreshores made lead free with little fight, our game rearing code messed with and now the lead comittee stitch up. It is not what I want from a professional body that is supposed to represent my profession and sport. I hope they listen to new council members. I have made my views known to BASC - -no reply.
Surely constructive criticism should be welcomed or is it do not talk of the elephant in the room.
 
Still at least I didn't get a mate to drive for 7 hours so that I could shake a few hands, smile a few smiles and nod a few nods to acquaintance and stranger alike before saying a few well chosen words, then see those words swallowed into the chasm that is council, then come home again, and then tell the world of my adventure.

Fair play to ya Steve , you're a better man than me. :rolleyes:

I see Talasker has gone, courtesy of sikamalc and csl.

But I have a sneaky suspicion that he might still be looking at the site.

If so, let me just say Talasker, you're right....Steve is a better man than you.:D

willie_gunn
 
Another bun fight as a distraction, maybe someone should put up a post that if about the BASC election success rather than more tantrums.

Griff, well played in getting elected I know it was not the first time you have tried to change from within and I respect you for giving time and effort to hopefully amend a few things.

I hope you do not get frustrated with the workings of cliques and councils as I would. I am the worst kind, and ex member, who went to Arran, went to Blair Atholl range days and the game fairs, paid my money and then was asked for more and more and more and more.

i have an open mind however and if you are one of use then maybe things can turn.

I hope to read more postitive news regarding BASC in the future.
 
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