THE FINAL FRONTIER
This is the last in my series so I’m going to bring in a few little items that I think you should consider doing for your club and its members. The first thing is to get yourself educated.
By that I mean examine your own role in the club and see how you can gain extra information to improve yourself. For example, if you are the secretary why not look at going to night school to improve your letter writing and general use of English? Or, if you are the fisheries officer, why not enrol into the Institute of Fisheries Management with one of their courses? This can improve your club’s fisheries and will benefit everyone in the club in time. And treasurers, why not attend a book-keeping course?
The first excuse for not doing so is “I put enough time into this club as it is and I want to spend more time fishing.” I can sympathise with that view, but I heard an old Irish saying some years ago – “It’s no waste of time to edge a tool.” This means that if you spare a little time to sharpen up your knowledge (the ‘tool’), you will then carry out your work a lot more quickly. The club can maybe go halves with you or fund the expenses entirely, that is up to them, but they are going to benefit from the results later on.
 Disabled swims can be costly but help is at hand! -Photo courtesy of Dr. Alan Butterworth, Environment Agency. |
DISABLED AND JUNIOR ANGLERS
I have included this due to the threads recently started on FM concerning disabled anglers. One of the fair points made was that there should be some consistency amongst clubs. The same applies to juniors as well.
If you want consistency, follow the Environment Agency’s policy, that way there is no confusion. In our old club, a disabled angler had to produce his disability card (or a photocopy of it), and no-one minded doing so. It has to be done at the Post Office when purchasing a Licence anyway. There was also discussion (introduced by me) on the threads about the degree of disability and whether this impinges on the angler’s ability to enjoy the full benefits of the fishery. That’s a further matter for you to work on.
With juniors there is little you can do to check what age they are, short of asking for their birth certificate. They can only lie about their age for a year or so anyway, after which they will soon reach the age of a senior. What I suggest is that up to the age of 12 they get a free card and between 12 and 16 they get a concessionary ticket, just like the licence. You may also lay down certain rules for your juniors. For example, stating that they must always be accompanied by a senior member. This is entirely up to you, as is the concessionary price you charge.
What I will say is this, consider the worst possible disablement (talk to a disabled angler/member) and build swims that they can use, it’s law from this year anyway. The EA might be able to help you with this as they did in Windsor last year. The EA have also built several disabled swims along the Jubilee River. It’s a costly business as the swims need extra features, but there’s nothing to stop other anglers using the swim until a disabled angler requires it.
Don’t stop at the swims either, also consider the pathways. I remember taking one wheelchair-bound angler along the Thames on a path which has a very hard compressed gravel surface. It was absolute murder for him since he insisted on propelling himself and after 150 yards his hands were raw. As we came out of the car park, on another portion of the path on Council land, the angle caused his wheelchair to almost run amok. Something a walking person wouldn’t think about.
 A good fisheries officer (Mick Rowan here) gets stuck in |
WORK PARTIES
Isn’t it marvellous? You see all of these anglers who would gladly spend every waking hour by the waterside, until the day you call a work party. Then where are they? There’s always the usual 3 or 4, or if your club is lucky, around 10. Most members however, get away without doing a stroke of work. In order to encourage volunteers, have refreshments provided. Why not a barbequed lunch and a few beers after the work has been completed? (Can’t have drunken workers now.)
Something I did once was to collect prisoners from the local Young Offenders Institute. Normally they will let out 3 or 4 of their very best, well-behaved lads for a day. Believe me, they work very hard indeed. You provide them with lunch, but NO BEER and NO DRUGS. You’ll need to get in contact with the local prison and convince them that you are doing something worthwhile for the local community. We enjoyed having the lads and it allowed us to see another side to them, remembering of course, that these are the best behaved.
Last of all, you can introduce a levy on all senior members. Note please – “senior” as I wouldn’t expect the elderly, juniors, or the disabled to attend a work party. They are of course, free to join in if they wish. The levy can be a £ 10 or £ 15 addition to the normal subscription fee. You can also get it back off next year’s subscription if you attend a work party. It’s a good incentive to go along and help out, whilst such small sums are not going to dissuade anglers to join, even if they are prepared to pay extra rather than work.
So what happens to the money the levy raises? It goes towards better tools for those who do turn up. Furthermore, you can use it to hire heavy lifting equipment and loaders, excavators, that kind of thing. One small Kubota or Bobcat can lift the equivalent of 10 men. Also hire an experienced driver as he will do the job in a lot less time. You still need the volunteers to help direct and guide the driver but this is a far better way of working. Believe me, those who turn up really do appreciate it.
One very important detail to remember – get Employers Liability Insurance for your club. You need it.
 Hire an experienced driver who can save you time |
MEETINGS
How well attended are they? I bet it’s the same with most clubs where you are very lucky if as many as 10% turn up at the AGM. How do you encourage more to come along?
A free bar would be a good idea, but some might see that as a waste of club funds. However, providing refreshments, sandwiches and the like is a good idea and the wives might be willing to help there. Or perhaps invite a celebrity angler in to give a talk. Choose your date carefully however, as I have seen one with Bob Nudd as the guest speaker and hardly anyone turned up. No-one realised there was a big match on the box that day, but it gave the rest of us a chance to have a comfy chat with Bob and his wife Bernie – and everyone won a prize!
I believe the key to successful meetings is to have them all worked out beforehand. In terms of what is going to be said, there should be no surprises. You don’t want the officers around the top table forming a huddle to discuss some detail. I have seen it happen far too often and it results in other members thinking they’re being ignored. Plan the room layout beforehand. Locate the tables or chairs centrally and as close to the front table as possible. You don’t want members at the far end where they can’t hear properly, otherwise they start their own meetings.
Keep the agenda moving, this is one occasion when the Chairman of the club has a real part to play. He must ensure that discussions do not get bogged down, and that as many different views are expressed as possible – not all from his mates either! If there is a proposal it should be minuted along with the proposer’s and seconder’s name. If there are any amendments to the proposal, they too, should be taken down and when it comes to the vote the amendment is taken FIRST.
It might seem strange, but that is the protocol of a meeting. Only if the amendment fails, does the original proposal get voted on. If the amendment stands, you needn’t take the original proposal because it is deemed to have been superseded by the amendment. It gets complicated now, especially when there are several amendments as they are taken in reverse order – the last amendment first etc. back to the original proposal. Again, it’s another reason for the need of a good Chairman (or perhaps Chairperson?)
The only point I can add to this is TAKE MINUTES.
The end is nigh!
That’s about all I am going to say. It’s been interesting putting all this down and I hope that someone, sometime will benefit from it all. Just using the notes alone won’t give you a perfect club or a successful one, it takes perseverance and damned hard work. For those of you who have read these features but never get involved in running a club, then be grateful that someone is. It’s not very often they’ll get thanked for it.
Good luck my friends and I really do wish you well!
