Angling Trust – NOT selling membership data

Today I received a letter, signed by Mark Lloyd, but with Millets, Blacks and the ATR logo's at the bottom.

With the letter was a Specialist CARD which apparently entitles me to the great benefits afforded to ATr members.

The letter goes on; As direct users of outdoor products, members of the Angling Trust are hugely valuable to Blacks and Millets which is why they would like to reward your on-going custom with a discount card;

I did not sign up to the ATr's silly 'Fish For Free' scheme nor do I wish to shop at Blacks or Millets, or Angling Direct, too many local angling stores have gone bust already.

Overleaf on the letter the Millets/Blacks Terms and Conditions are given, and the envelope was franked with the Blacks logo, so it came direct from them not the ATr.

As far as I'm aware when I joined the ATr I did not sign up for it to sell on my personal information, unless it was hidden in its T&C

I once asked the ATr Chairman if it would be OK to advise members of the Specialist Angling Freshwater Group of a bait business a CSG member had started, I was told no because of the data protection act

Sorry about the Membership misspelling but I was so $loody angry

John,

I thought that you had left the ATr.

Stu

stu_the_blank said:

John,

I thought that you had left the ATr.

Stu

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Membership Expired 5th May 2011

I DO NOT intend renewing either.

That's a shame John, your forthright views will be missed. If the ATr is ever to achieve the status it requires, it will need to encompass all of us, whether we fit the mould or not.

Just had a quick look on the ATr website to see why I haven't been offered a discount card, couldn't find anything but I'm not the best in navigating the web.

However, there is a link to a typical very nice little video from Hugh Miles on the River Wye. If you like his style worth a few minutes.

Hi John
I'm sorry you received a piece of junk mail,I get effing hundreds.OK the ATr
may have been wrong to pass on your details to their sponsors but we live in a
sponsored world full of annoying adverts.
Our sport is the most vulnerable with numerous threats,we need the ATr and the
ATr needs you. But its your choice
Remember "The four oxen and the lion" by Aesop



Your brother of the angle

Beerweasel

beerweasel said:

Remember "The four oxen and the lion" by Aesop





Beerweasel

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Hell Beer how old do you think i am?

John
I would definately search out the T&C in relation to joining the ATr as it is highly illegal to sell on any acquired personal data without the express permission of the individual concerned.

The guys running this site for instance would only be too aware of the Data Protection Act and the massive and serious penalties for breaching it.

john m h said:

Membership Expired 5th May 2011

I DO NOT intend renewing either.

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Well said John...

Never has the saying "fiddling whilst Rome burns" been more apt!

The angling trust can only achieve a certain amount as its activites are limited by its budget.

If you look at their stated objectives:

The Angling Trust campaigns for:
Conservation
Protection of angling
Increased government and EA support for angling and fisheries
Control of nuisance predators
Co-ordinated action on poaching and fish theft
The Angling Trust delivers:
More quality coaches from diverse backgrounds
Angling education programmes
Increased opportunities to participate in angling
National and international competitions
Support for angling club development
The Angling Trust fights:
Pollution, over-abstraction and litter
Declining marine and freshwater fish stocks
Commercial overfishing
Habitat Degradation
Damaging barrages, weirs and hydropower schemes
Poaching and fish theft
Unlawful navigation
Spread of diseases and parasites
Access restrictions
Anti-angling campaigns

Now thats alot to tackle with only a couple of employees and a restricted budget - and I think theyre doing a pretty good job.
Remember that the RSPB was set up in the late 1880s by four women who were concerned about fledgling birds being left to starve in their nests because the parent birds were being shot to provide plumage for clothing. RSPB has become - imagine what the AT could become.

It is unrealistic to expect the Angling Trust to become an all singing all dancing organisation which can effectively tackle all issues - on a budget of less than a million a year. They need the money in through the door, and its not coming in quickly enough from anglers so commercial sponsorship is a good idea.

The AT is a fledgling organisation - and deserves support.


The Blacks/Millets link up has been floating about for the last 12 months now and the reward card will be no surprise to anyone who reads the news and updates the AT puts out.

yourinmyswim said:

The Blacks/Millets link up has been floating about for the last 12 months now and the reward card will be no surprise to anyone who reads the news and updates the AT puts out.

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Which ever way you look at it without your express permission either through ticking a "do you wish to receive etc etc" box or the permission taken as a condition of membership (and clearly set out as such in the details) then it is a breach of the Data Protection Act to forward your details onto a Third Party.

Yourinmyswim,
you come across as having something to do with ATr you keep touting for them, ,they are no better than all the other organizations,who promised us we will look after fishing interest,,the ACA was better on its own.

and im not rejoining £25 is fa too much,and in my club of 30 members only one is ATr member now,
says a lot

stikflote said:

£25 is fa too much

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What a sad state of affairs. 50p per week to support the only the only industry wide and campaigning organisation for angling. Lets compare the membership fee for a single adult.

English Heritage: £46
National Trust: £46
RSPB: £36
Canoe England: £32.75
LTA: £25

Shall we compare this to a day out

Thorpe Park: £39.60
Alton Towers: £39.60

It doesn't matter how little they charge, it will always be too much for some people. Without their input and representation of our sport, who is going to fight our corner. Whilst I don't feel they represent my interests (pleasure) as much as I would like, that will probably be the same response from everyone unless you are a match angler. I would like to see the focus shifted away from match fishing a little, but I cannot make my feelings known unless I am in the organisation and unless I am in the organisation, there is noone representing me.

Who would you like representing you on a national level? The RSPB etc or teh ATr?

The ATr isnt worth £25 simple as that.

It has poor management, Poor Relations, Poor Funding (bought on itself).

The ACA needs to reform outside of the ATr, and so do the groups that set up the ATr in the first place. I have worked at many angling shows this year, and the support for the ATr has been poor, but dont blame anglers for that, Blame the ATr for not getting the word across in the first place.

Were are these so called known anglers who were going to stand up and make the ATr all singing and dancing ????

Quick to put the Blame on Anglers, but not quick enough to take the blame or put things right.

It says it all when you look at the amount of members it has.

To compare the ATr to the RSPB etc etc, is clutching at straws, and other than subs, the RSPB dont have tackle to pay for do they.

Morespiders said:

Hell Beer how old do you think i am?

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Old enough to feature in a number of Mr Aesops stories

As for the ATr I'm a member because its all I have...but I'm seriously wondering whether to renew or not.

Surely not renewing because you don't think the ATr will succeed will be simply be selfulfilliing? in the absence of anything else we MUST give our support.Yes is has it's weaknesses but to expect any organisation of it's type to hit the road running is unrealistic especially after the apathy mixed with petty empire building of the years before.Keep the faith Skippy!

Nigel Connor said:

Surely not renewing because you don't think the ATr will succeed will be simply be selfulfilliing? in the absence of anything else we MUST give our support.Yes is has it's weaknesses but to expect any organisation of it's type to hit the road running is unrealistic especially after the apathy mixed with petty empire building of the years before.Keep the faith Skippy!

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Agreed, people need to give these things the chance to develope, tis nay good writing something off without at least giving it the chance to become better.

Trouble is the way things were brought about in the first place with the dragging down of the former ACA to build the then new ATr.mg: Seems folks still live in the past!.

Must admit, if I had any doubts as to why I was a member they were certainly wiped away a few days ago when I heard that the EA (YES, your Environment Agency who you pay your rod licence to) broke their promise not to develop any further hydroelectric plants on the Thames weirs until the Windsor one was completed and results fully evaluated. They are now open to tenders for thre more at Boveney, Boulters in Maidenhead, and Marlow weir.

The help and support I have so far received from Dr Alan Butterworth, who acts as the ATr's scientific advisor, has been tremendous and also Mark Lloyd has written his objections to the EA's Chief Executive and has come back to me with other suggestions. It's early days on this case, but I am glad I am a member and glad of that help so far.

TBH, if I thought that we could guarantee a win on this, nothing is certain in life anyway, I would be happy to pay twice as much to stop our fisheries from being killed off by these monstrous developments. However, what the ATr needs is more voices not less and with power, human power not hydropower, we can easily win a lot of these arguments. Don't wait until it's too late, no one could see this one coming, but I'm glad I was already a member to be able to do something about it.

BTW, don't put your trust in the Environment Agency just because you pay for a rod licence. The Fisheries Departments do a great job with your money, but they are just one tiny department. Over them sits thousand of bureaucrats who don't give a stuff about fish or clean water, they're only interested in abstraction and landfill licences and clean air or in this case, cheaper energy (so they think). As I have said before, the EA is this country's biggest DISORGANISATION.

yourinmyswim said:

The Blacks/Millets link up has been floating about for the last 12 months now and the reward card will be no surprise to anyone who reads the news and updates the AT puts out.

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The AT can put what it likes on its web site (or not in the case of Specialist Anglers) but they are not allowed to sell on my personal information without my say so.
The DVLA last year made almost £25m by the same methods, roughly £25pp

At that rate the AT wont need my membership money next year anyway.

Surely not renewing because you don't think the ATr will succeed will be simply be selfulfilliing? in the absence of anything else we MUST give our support.Yes is has it's weaknesses but to expect any organisation of it's type to hit the road running is unrealistic especially after the apathy mixed with petty empire building of the years before.Keep,

no we do not have join Nigel,we managed without them before,and they have had a bout three years or so to start getting it together,,no chance,we can manage with out them now