National Union of British Anglers (NUBA)

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keora

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What do forum members think of NUBA, which has recently been set up by Alan Suttie ?

I've got some misgivings about NUBA. Anglers are asked to pay to join the association, yet there is no constitution and no method of electing club officials.Is it just a one person operation? And what happens to any remaining money if NUBA isn't a success and fails?

I can seeAlanis genuine in his beliefthat angling needsa pressure group, yet his published correspondance withMartin Salter MP seems too confrontational.

I'd have thought the well established Angling Alliance, which is composed of various angling bodies plus fishing tackle manufacturers, would have more influence if they formed a pressure group.
 
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Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)

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Seems to have lost a little of it's momentum since it's inception.

I take my hat off to Mr Suttie for his enthusiam but my doubts as to how effective NUBA was going to be was born out by the very ill advised letter sent to MPs a little while back.

The route for a unified body for angling is for the time being via FACT.I recall Mike Heylin saying a little while back that some news might be forthcoming from its constituent bodies as to some steps to unification butI have heard little since.Mike?
 
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The Monk

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Ah yes FACT, fortunately we have people like Mike to carry the torch
 
Peter Jacobs

Peter Jacobs

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"Anglers are asked to pay to join the association"

Whereas FACT seemingly receive their funding from other organisations that we anglers pay a subscription to be members of.

I would be far happier with FACT if they were to open their membership to Individual Anglers.

Has anyone visited the FACT website recently?
 
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keora

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I've looked at the FACT website.

Fishing and Angling Conservation Trust

www.factuk.co.uk

There's a number of different organisations supporting FACT, and to meit seems that it's more likely to last than NUBA.
 
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Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)

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No good lasting though Keith if it achieves nothing.The website gives the impression that nothing much seems to be happening.

I think the SAA seems to be very active within FACT and is pressing for greater unification.I am in the process of joining the SAA in the hope that via it, I can asist in someway in establishing the unified body we desperately need.
 
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ChrisM (ACA)

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I posted this on another thread, but as this one is more appropriate for my thoughts/comments, I've copied & pasted....

The concept of NUBA was a good one, shame it has been poorly executed in some ways (Alan Suttie states he's not a fan of committees, but surely a union is run by its members for its members, hence you're gonna need some form of committee) Although I was never too keen of the (what I saw as unecessary) inclusion of 'British' in the title. British AND National in the same title of an organisations does conjur up certain images for me, and you only need one, either British OR National, to include both is overkill IMO. I think a better name would have been simply the NUA. Despite that I did join and in all honesty don't thik I could have done as well as Alan has, shame that due to some unfortunate circumstances it seems to have fizzled out for the time being.
 
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"One step at a time PJ perhaps?"

Sadly Nigel, FACT seem to be taking some pretty small steps.

We debated this back in March/April and FACT finally came out with a website. This seems to have not been updated sine early August(?) and some of the data comes from early February 2006.

Until and unless some of the 'supporting' organisations declare just how much of the members annual subscriptions they are 'donating' to FACT, (without at least canvassing the membership for consensus) then I am going to with hold any further membership payments.

The fact of the matter (sic) is that FACT [and the supporting bodies] need to open the books to those of us who are members!
 
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Wolfman Woody

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I'm afraid I have become as cynical as yourself now Peter regarding FACT. This might be partly due to the FACT that Mike has his fingers in far too many pies, in my opinion, eg: his own club, the River Colne Fisheries Consultative, the Thames Fisheries Consultative Council, RFERAC, the BTFC, the SAA, and last but not least FACT. Where or how does he divide his time?

Edit: I see on their site that the last press Release isfrom February. No mention of the big challenge in the spring and summer about canoeists?





The only group I am interested in is the ACA.

As for NUBA. It seemed a good idea and for £3 you could be a member for three years and still have change from a tenner, not bad then. But as it has been pointed out, no constitution (?), no overseeing committee (?), therefore no accounts (?). TOO many questions.
 
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Phil Hackett The common Boastful Expert :-)

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Woody, as I know you know Mike, have you asked him?

If not, I suggest you do because I find your comments not helpful, and bordering on defamatory attack on him.

And for the record Jeff

Here’s an inventory of what I’m involved in as I write

SAA

Two angling clubs locally

Local Park group (chair)

Local Community partnership (sec)

Community worker/advice worker

Drafter for the responses to regeneration consultations local and government

Researcher on matters for the community stuff

East Manchester Community Network

Manchester Community Network

Irwell Valley project

Tree Warden scheme (local tree warden)

Manchester Branch of the CPRE (planning officer)

Community consultant on Environmental and Ecological issues

Now I don’t have a problem balancing all of these diverse roles and getting out fishing 3 days a week, so why should Mike be any different?
 
Peter Jacobs

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Phil,

Hardly 'defamatory' by any known definition of the word.

To defame: to harm the reputation of by libel or slander.

Jeff has simply stated his opinion, which is not defamatory!


Regarding FACT, Mike came on to FM a few months ago stating that his organisation was going to be far more open and informative to all anglers. Since then, and the launching of their website, it appears as if not too much has happened.

Given the relative secrecy that FACT seem to work within, (and the lack of information regarding their income) then they have to realise that the website is their only vehicle with which they can contact ordinary anglers, who in the final analysis are those that they should be seeking to represent, if of course they want our support!
 
Emmo (Angling Trust)

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I was unsure of whether NUBA was/is good idea or not, (the alternative to promote one of the existing orgaisations to the Primary choice for all).

Because everyone has thier own idea of which organisation this should be I cannot see it happening, shame.

I did join the NUBA but apart from receiving a membership card nothing else by the way of fresh information or action so far.

Still living in hope that we can become a unified body for the benefit of all anglers whatever the chosen quarry.

emmo.
 
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Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)

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You can only back a horse thatis running in the race.That FACT is the only runner in this particularrace at the momentis the difficulty.I understand from when this last issue was debated that Mike Heylin and the SAA were the front runners in trying to turn it from an umbrella organisation into something more coherent which would one day turn into the single membership organisation that Peter,myself and almostalmost everybody elsebelieves necessary.Mike stressed patience but I would be very interested to hear from Mike for an update to see whether his efforts are being thwarted by vested interests in the other FACT bodies and what future he saw in FACT.

If there is no future then it is incumbent on somebody, perhaps the SAA, to break the consensus and forge ahead on their own to create a single body representing all anglers which would see the other bodies wither on the vine.NUBA got 3000 members from a standing start so the appetite is there although I do not think we can afford another false dawn from an organisation promising too much like NUBA has done.

I do not know Mike personally and cannot comment on how effective he is butI take Woodies point.You can be stretched too thinly but perhaps if others, andI include myself, were to get involved Mike would have to do less.He might simply enjoy it of course.
 
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John H Member of THE C.S.G.. & The A.T.

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Any member of NAFACcan log onto the members section of its web site and download all the latest angling/fisheries information/legislation. Quarterly meetings/AGM's are open to all members as are those of all other partners in FACT

Election of officers and committees places are open to all members, unlike theNUBA who does not appear to be in favour of democracy, well Mr Suttie isn't, I'm not sure how the membership feels on having a voice/vote

Sadly people such as Mike (SAA) and the late Terry Mansbridge of NAFAC, all too often put their own health and family lifeat risk because others always expect someone else to do the work for them

Anyone wanting current angling/fisheries inews should make the NAFAC NEWSsection their first port of call, members and non members alike. A thoroughly professional site. Just plain fact, no rantsand fiction.
 
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The Monk

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I do not know Mike personally and cannot comment on how effective he is butI take Woodies point.You can be stretched too thinly but perhaps if others, andI include myself, were to get involved Mike would have to do less.He might simply enjoy it of course.

yes very true I`ve had the great privillage to work along side Mike Heylin and others at the SAA , Mike is a professiopnal who ogffers his services free to angling asnd he does an exceptional job, we all need to support Mike and people like him of course and i really think angling would be struggling without such people.
 
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Wolfman Woody

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"Now I don’t have a problem balancing all of these diverse roles and getting out fishing 3 days a week, so why should Mike be any different?"

Because, Phil, it was just over one year ago that Mike was complaining that he had so much voluntary work to do, he had no time at all to go fishing. That, and other things I noticed, prompted this article begging others to take an active role. Since then Mike has taken on two more voluntary roles.

I'm not saying or implying that Mike is not doing his job or that he doesn't care about angling because clearly he does, but is he contributing 100%. With so many roles to fulfill and a full time job on top I don't see how he can dedicate himself to any one function in particular for too long.

And thanks for the reminder John, Mike also sits on the NAFAC council as well.

Not pointing any fingers, but the problem some people have is that they are "committee happy". I have seen it many times before, none more so than with local Councillors and MPs. They must serve on as many committees as they can in order to prove they exist - or is it the fact that they just like attending "meetings bloody meetings" ( to paraphrase John Cleese).

At the end of the day, if they were truthful with themselves, they might be better off not being on some of them for all the achieve and maybe there are others on those same committees who would wish they weren't on them as more could be done with out them being there. When I worked with the Sports Council in Tameside we had two Councillors (Labour) who only came to main meetings to block any proposals to give away grants. Other than that their contribution was ZERO and I have never wished death to befall anyone more so in my life before.
 
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The Monk

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Nice article Jeff I missed that one

I think on committee work with angling bodies, I too have sat on many committees at the same time, both national and local, it eventually started to take over my life so I stepped down from most of them, you do however gain specialist knowledge from this kind of involvement and gain a better understanding of how things work and because of the experience you gain, committees do benefit from your input. Some people become specialists at multi committee work and benefit the committee to which they serve, they cope with the workload because essentially they break the workload down into smaller amounts and detail with each position with time managed timescales and they achieve these commitments because of this. ie A committee may require 2 hours per month, B committee 4 hours per month et al, I expect Mike works along similar lines, he certainly does an exceptional job and encourages others also, Mikes been at it a long time and it amazes me how Mike and others never seem to burn themselves out, they just keep going, sadly we don't have enough Mikes, I think we need to clone him
 
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ChrisM (ACA)

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Hey, Woody.... Tameside! I was born & brought up there! small world on t'internet!
 
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