NIPA Meeting Report - 29/11/17 & 19/12/17

[willie reynolds]

NIPA Committee Meeting 29/11/17

On a cold winter night with ice and frost forecast it was no surprise a few member’s, especially from the longer distance were missing, however all outstanding business was conducted and several decisions made. Remember this is not the minutes, just a report as I see it.

Chairman Ken Wilkinson opened the meeting and asked Fred to read the minutes of the previous meeting held in Dromore on Tuesday 17th October, he gave an extensive report on the Titanic appeal the club had both their Secretary Eddie Gilliland and Chairman Michael Atcheson present. The main dispute surrounded the spreading of birds in the Fermoy/5 Bird young bird event, NIPA said the rules were not observed while Titanic said they done their best to carry out the rule.

It was the unanimous decision of the NIPA Committee to disallow Titanic`s appeal , however the previous decision to suspend all members for the 1st 6 old bird races has been amended to Titanic club be Banned from racing / competing with the NIPA for the 1st 6 weeks of Old bird racing in 2018 as per NIPA rule 13 B.

All members who competed in the Fermoy and Fermoy 5 bird races are still disqualified, the Titanic club have the right of appeal to the Irish Region of the RPRA within 21 days of this meeting.
Titanic in turn appealed the NIPA decision and at the Irish Region RPRA meeting last Saturday the NIPA decision was upheld. To make the 5B Classic totally fair for the entire membership it is necessary to insist all members birds are spread over all the race crates, and not having all the five bird entry for individual members in one crate.

Member clubs will be asked to submit the Base Station numbers on the ETS equipment they intend to use for club racing in 2018, no club will be permitted to use more that, one each of the various ETS Units ie. Unikon, Bricon, Benzing, Tauris, Tipes etc. Looks like there will be more checks in place for racing in 2018, both at club marking and checking and then the paperwork that is returned to NIPA HQ for completing the result. Details on the Basket List and Arrival list will have to match up.

Fancier of the Year will be getting looked at for the number of races flown and maybe worked out over time and distance as the Average Cups etc. The next Committee Meeting for Tuesday 19th December will be looking at all the resolutions for the AGM Agenda, the Balance Sheet and Race Programmes. Pressure is still on to reduce the number of Centres, possibly one for each Section when that can be done. New club Abby Social have been accepted for the Belfast Area.

A big discussion was had regarding the Accounts and on what the money was spent on each season, some feedback from the membership was not a correct understanding of what exactly was going on and there has been some concern for the last number of months, on the views published on Social Media that were untrue. Some organizations have rules in the Rule Book to deal with these problems and it will be no surprise if the NIPA, also go this way in the future. Do remember this report is not the minutes of the meeting, just my reading of discussions at the meeting. Prior to the next Committee Meeting a select Committee will go through the Rule Book with a view to publish a list of changes and adjustments.

An NIPA Sect B Meeting has been arranged to take place in the Ballymena & Dist HPS Clubrooms on Thursday 14th December at 8.00pm sharp. Only Club Delegates will be eligible to vote on the business of the meeting. Members will hear the latest update from the NIPA and any decisions made will go forward to the NIPA Committee for consideration re the NIPA Agenda for the AGM. Sect B will select 4 members for the Committee, an item listed already for the AGM is to reduce that to two members. A meeting is to take place to review the contents of the Rule Book, clubs should bring forward any rules that need adjusted or deleted, and any new ones for consideration.

Congratulations to Sammy Thompson from the Coleraine & Co Derry being installed as Patron of the NIPA in the week of his 90th Birthday, many congratulations Sammy.

HOMER. Willie Reynolds

Obituary Drew Frazer -

It is with deep regret and sincere sadness that I inform the fancy of the sad passing recently of Mr Andrew Frazer better known to all his friends as Drew. Drew was the figurehead in the Frazer Feeds business based in Banbridge and fanciers from far and near always enjoyed his banter and craic when visiting the mill for their corn etc. Drew was old school, and his approach to the public was to be as helpful as was possible. Sincere condolences to the entire Frazer Family circle. Steve McGarry.

[willie reynolds]

The most recent Committee meeting on Tuesday 19th December did not finish until 11.00pm due to a lot of major work on the Rule Book. It did not help that the special meeting to be held one week earlier was cancelled due to the weather. Due to the detailed text which I don’t have it will not be possible for me at this stage to report on same, I can tell you there are many changes. There was in-put from meetings held by Sect B, Sect C, Sect D and Sect E and additions from the NIPA Committee. I will report on the proposed changes later and the next meeting due in the early days of January will finalise the Statement of Accounts. Plenty coming up, the AGM is marked down for Saturday 10th February 2018. Happy New Year to one and all, hope you all record many winners.