In its 75 Anniversary year the Club is doing well!
This newsletter brings members up to date on a number of matters. First there is some important advice about Club Constitutional Changes and some works shortly to impact Kingsbridge.
Back in March, at the Club’s AGM, those present agreed to alter the Club’s Constitution and also agreed a Health and Safety Policy as part of those changes. Attached, as Appendices to this Newsletter, are the Minutes of this meeting including the Health and Safety Policy, this document is on the Club’s website and can be found by scrolling to the bottom of the Home Page and clicking on it. So, you have no excuse not to read it.
Of course, for those who came to the AGM none of the outcomes will be a surprise. One of the alterations, that is largely by way of a clarification, relates to how matters about constitutional change are handled compared with rules about fishing. It is burdensome in terms of administration to call an AGM simply to alter the rules of fishing [plainly if there is a controversial change we can talk about it at an AGM and this rule change does not stop this]. It remains, however, entirely appropriate to change rules relating to the Constitution by inviting members to vote at an AGM. The Constitution now makes this clear. The section in the Constitution on winding up the Club also has been amended to provide greater clarity; not that it is something I would ever want to deal with. The Club also now has set quorate numbers for committee meetings and AGMs too.
For those who read the Agenda of the AGM, but did not attend, nothing happened by way of surprises. However, you did miss an excellent talk by Steve Oliver about the release of Eurasian beavers locally. [He was very convincing; however, the Club has decided to object to the proposed release for a number of important reasons and pointed out that this ‘plan or project’ would be likely to fail an appropriate assessment under the Habitats Regulations].
You will see from the AGM Minutes that there were items on the Club’s forward plans for the year; and we have been getting on with all of these. As you know it is the Club’s 75th Anniversary and to celebrate this we are getting on and doing stuff to make the Club better. For any amateur club it is important that there is real commitment and ours is no exception.
In many respects the most important advance has been the creation of a new website, updating the software and revising its look and feel. The ability to purchase membership and related products is far smoother now. We also can add and alter items online far more easily, so this newsletter can be posted in a fraction of the time it would have taken a year ago. In this respect the Club is hugely grateful to James Nash for the time he has given to its development. So, members please use this facility. It has, for example, got a Blog Section now with regular input from the Club’s new Media Officer Gordon Wray.
The Website also has a regularly updated version of the membership book with the alterations since the last print run in red, so you have no excuse about keeping up to date. It is available as a PDF so you can easily copy it. It is a problem that membership book print runs in December frequently means the book is out of date by the following April in some way or other.
The Club has agreed with Whitemoor Lakes to pay for the rights for Club members to fish between October and March (inclusive). The Club and the Fishery will keep this under review, but it is a popular place to fish, and it is plainly a good opportunity for local members.
The Club has finished the construction of a new hut at Winterborne Zelston and removed the old one which was well past its use-by date. And with this work achieved the Club is moving forward to Kingsbridge to carry out some work there.
On the 7 Septemberwork will commence on building two platforms for the less ableat pegs 11 and 12 next to the car park at Packhorse and at the same time two disabled person parking spaces will be allocated adjacent to peg 12.This work is likely to take several days. Naturally, whilst the work is going on much of the car park area will be out of action so parking will need to take place in the old car park. I intend to be there for the duration of the work and those who will also be present promise to be as helpful as possible. [There is a reminder of this work on the Kingsbridge Noticeboard and on a tree adjacent to Peg 12]. However, there is bound to be some disruption for the greater part of that week. As a preliminary, some of the bank-side vegetation will need to be removed but this should not cause any great disturbance other than in the swims.
This work at Kingsbridge is being funded, in part, as a result of a successful grant application the Club submitted via the Angling Trust to the Fisheries Improvement Programme, and aided by the Environment Agency. The local Environment Agency staff from the Blandford Office were really helpful at the pre-application stage in giving advice which included a site visit. The grant taps into rod licence money and is a nationwide initiative. The Environment Agency is reinvesting about £1.1M in projects to support clubs, fisheries and other partners to improve local fish stocks and angling opportunities and initially is making £820k available to support projects, most of which are developed and delivered by angling clubs and other partners. Interestingly, the EA has been able to increase the amount available over recent years due to the savings (£320k) from stopping the production of picture licence cards.
In addition, on the list of work to do at Kingsbridge, is a planned thinning out of trees around Wellington and Widgeon and also removing those likely to fall in the lakes. The work has been agreed with the Club’s Landlord has no been approved by the Forestry Commission by the issue of a felling licence. As there will be chunky specialist machinery on site there is bound to be disruption. There are approximately 85 stems to be removed and when these are being cut the two lakes will need to be closed. Indeed, when the lorries come to take away the logs the whole Kingsbridge complex will need to be closed. So, watch out for notices on the Kingsbridge noticeboard and more electronic correspondence from the Club.
AGM Appendix is available below to view/download.
