NIPA News Update - early February 2022

[willie reynolds]

Northern Ireland Provincial Amalgamation of Racing Pigeon Societies - Secretary`s Report 2022

Season 2020 and 2021 have been two very difficult year`s for our Sport and our Organisation the NIPA 2020 we had the uncertainty of Covid and in 2021 again Covid was still present with the added difficulties of Brexit and Bird Flu. Thankfully with the assistance of many we made progress and your season commenced one week later than anticipated and continued through the season.

On your behalf I wish to thank the following people for taking the time and interest to assist and pointing us in the right direction. Firstly, our MLA`S at Stormont Mr John O`Dowd and Mr Johnnie Buckley, the TD`S in the Irish Republic we are all indebted to these men. The Staff at Dublin Port for arranging the proper paperwork required ref to Brexit which made our passage to Great Britain and France go without any problems. These people require a BIG THANK YOU from us all.

The Staff at the RPRA especially Ian Evans for all the assistance given to us in Northern Ireland, it must have been a nightmare taking into account the many problems and difficulties being placed on our pigeon friends in GB. The Staff at DAERA and especially Jim Blee and his team for sorting out the problems regarding our General Licence. No organisation in Northern Ireland can race pigeons without this licence being in place.

Now to thank members and staff of our own organisation and I hope I do not leave anyone out. All of the following did outstanding work for the NIPA and our sport.

Mr Jim Ramsay for his outstanding contribution with DAERA attending many of their Zoom meetings and always doing his very best for the NIPA and our Sport. Mr Paul Howard for his sterling work with Dublin Port. He was receiving a lot of conflicting advice he kept at it until he made contact with an official at the Port who knew his job and sorted us out.

The Secretary of the Irish National Flying Club Mr Trevor Topping and Robert who are always very helpful to me and their advice is always appreciated. Mr David Mawhinney our President who liaised with our MLA Mr Johnnie Buckley, Mr Greg O`Dowd NIPA Committee member for Section E Who Liaised with MLA Mr John O`Dowd. David and Greg`s assistance to me and to you all is very much appreciated.

Mr Paddy McNeice for his outstanding work in arranging permission to release our pigeons at all release sites especially with COVID 19 being present. Mr Cormac 0`Hare and Mr Sam Briggs for all their assistance with the RPRA. All the above did a magnificent job, for each, and every one of us.

At the start of our season no one envisaged the problems we would encounter with our young birds, and no one has the answer, hopefully there will be better times ahead for our 2022 young birds.

We have to look forward to our 2022 Season with some optimism, we are in a better place now than this time last year, yes there are still problems mainly the Bird Flu, it is still around but it seems to be fading, hopefully it does not raise its head again and the General licence is in place for April 2022

There does not seem to be any further problems with Brexit and COVID 19, looks like we will just have to live with it.

Regarding your proposed race programmes for 2022, you are aware of the 2022 Old Bird Programme and the commencement date. Your young bird programme is still to be finalised, you will receive voting papers for 4 different race programmes please complete and return by 12th February 2022. I will forward you with two sets of forms please use only one and keep the other in case there has to be a second ballot.

You will be shortly receive our accounts for 2021. The first thing I must point out to you that the accounts are made up to 57 weeks to the end of November and not 52 weeks to the end of October. This will sort itself out at the next Audit.

Everyone was expecting a poor set of accounts due to the poor racing we had and the drastic cut in the number of pigeons being convoyed reducing our income. Thankfully this did not happen, and I present to you a set of accounts which I hope you will be happy with. The NIPA Capital Account increased by £26,453.00stg to a total of £687,957.72

For 2022 you will not have income from Furlough you will not have or have a much-reduced BANK Interest due to two years interest being credited this year and income from other sources are not guaranteed.

I have shown you the figures on the accounts for 2019, 2020 and 2021 so as you can make a valid comparison; you cannot compare 2021 against 2020 you must compare 2021 against 2019 you will not be surprised to see that income has fallen in 2021 against 2019, will it continue to fall this year? I believe it may.

I would like to point out to you one set of figures and give you an explanation.

Regarding the Secretary`s and Assistant Secretary`s wages which do show a huge increase however you must take into account that we received 57 weeks’ pay in this audit not 52 as normal and this will sort itself out at the end of the next Audit, myself and Gregory received an increase of around 4/5% just the same as all other employees a total of approx. £200/£250.00 per year plus there is a shortfall of wages paid in 2020 from 2019, this has now been rectified by the accountants.

Your committee will have to agree a way forward for our organisation these set of figures may delay in them making difficult decisions, but it will only be short delay and you as club`s and sections should be putting idea`s forward.

Membership is falling and it will continue to fall. The number of pigeons being sent to races looks likely to decrease and continue to do so. Diesel is up by 45p per litre and may continue to increase. Transport drivers’ wages will have to increase and as you are also aware there is a shortage of Drivers. It simply does not make economic sense to have six transporters on the road collecting from 12,000 to 15,000 pigeons. Changes will have to be made in the future and they will not be popular. These problems will have to be addressed, there is no point burying your head in the sand they simply will not go away.

You all will have a set of accounts in your hand in the next few days and the Secretary’s Report will be online. Please feel free to send me any query you have in writing or by email and I will do my utmost to give you an explanation

Before I finish my report, I would like to thank every sponsor who sponsored the NIPA in its 75 plus one year very much appreciated. Also, to everyone who donated young birds for our presentation to the Ladies at Ladies Night and to any young fancier who attended. We were able to spend £52.00 on each lady and each young fancier had either a free or subsidised ticket plus a presentation of £20.00 each. A big thank you to the non-members of our organisation who donated to this

In concluding my 45th Secretary report there are many people I sincerely wish to thank in assisting me over the years, unfortunately many have passed on and I will always be indebted to them for the service and commitment they so freely gave to our Organisation.

All members of your committee for their time and doing their utmost for you as a member to enjoy your racing very much appreciated. All club secretary`s who carry out their duties in the running of your club and this organisation an essential part of your club and probably does not receive the thanks deserved. Your transport manager Paul Howard, the work this man does to keep the fleet of lorries on the road is second to none. He is always polite does everything required of him in what is a most demanding job and at the moment he is preparing your new transporter and I would hope part of it will be completed by the beginning of the season. Your Convoyer Paddy McNeice I have every confidence in him to look after your pigeons on site and to get them safely there a very difficult position to satisfy everyone. Your Race Controller Jim Ramsey the most difficult job to do in this organisation, and I can speak from experience it takes over your whole life. Jim puts an enormous amount of time into his position, and I work with him throughout the week, I really don’t think that many of you know how demanding this position is. I personally would never take it on again and to those who ask me does Jim get a line of flight forecast I can confirm yes as well as contacting almost all organisations on release day

Your transport drivers many have been with us quite a while a few are relatively new. It is a demanding job and I personally would like to thank them for everything they do. Your President, Vice Presidents, Chairman and RPRA councillors all do a terrific job at carrying out their responsibilities. I also would like to thank Mr Joey Vage for his assistance with the results. Mr Diamond Carson, Mr David West and Mr George McDowell for their assistance to me and the NIPA. I sincerely hope you all enjoy a wonderful season in 2022. Regards Fred Russell Sec NIPA.

Ps No AGM will be held in 2022 due to COVID-19 Restrictions. All current office holders/officials will retain their respective posts until the next A.G.M. Paddy Murray, Section F now becomes President of the NIPA for the next 2-year term, former President David Mawhinney moves to life Vice President and will be welcome to attend any future meetings, some attend and some don’t and they have a wealth of knowledge and experience. I understand in Sect C Gary Morton was voted as a replacement for William McClelland.

The Club Fee has increased by £3.00 to £34.00, and the Individual Membership fee has been increased by £2.00 to £36.00.

Before I move on to more general items, I would like to thank all those members and clubs that provided both news and results to the press teams, and we need to thank as well, all the publications that published the news column especially BHW, RP and News Letter each Wednesday as part of Farming Life. From my own point of view the Newsletter published 100 pages on news and photos this for the second year, with approx. 85 of those devoted solely to the Mighty NIPA. In the last racing season, the NIPA Column was supplied to Elimar Pigeons and the display of both news and results is fantastic, as no doubt a few have noticed. Despite ill health Steve McGarry got as much done as was possible in the circumstances, well done to him. It has probably not been noticed but the fee paid to the scribes has not changed since 2014. Time flies, maybe its time for an increase?

Over the course of a single week I would seldom have a full day off, that’s my choice I suppose I have been doing this sort of work for so long, during racing the exact hours would be hard to count starting on a Saturday evening and then all day Sunday & Monday to meet publication deadlines. In recent times I have been getting help locally and I many times wonder, how did I ever get so much done by myself? At one time I supplied a column to at least 11 publications locally, those days are long gone and very few local newspapers are now interested in running pigeon news. That’s the reason why we must protect and support the ones that still provide space for our great Sport of Pigeon Racing.

Zoom Meeting items raised and coming back up will include Crates, Accounts, Transport now and in the future. Plan is needed for collection’s and to maybe assist the ever-growing older generation, cost a helper on designated routes. Future without long time secretary Fred Russell after retirement was another item mentioned in passing. Need plan set in place on the roles required for the running of the organization. Administration would no doubt include, youth, and ability to use the modern technology including general use of computer programmes, website updates, results, and use of mobile phone to message and receive emails etc.

The future plan for Race Results, uploaded to the main result is under discussion, the RPRA one is perfect despite slightly difficult to operate. Plenty of back up available at RPRA with their team of experts, and also in the future, progress with race entry payments on a bank transfer and records kept on computer. It will flag up non-payment etc automatically and provide running totals etc at both local Club and Nat Race Centre. This is for the future, not immediate change, the annual membership fees could come under this as well.

Meetings called with an agenda to be followed by publication of minutes. All aspect of the running of the organization to be costed, both during racing and then the off-season. Good idea the suggestion to keep a better record of race crates delivered and collected at clubs, it would be helpful if clubs were able to get their own crates back, if at all possible.

Stationary cost is under review and about time too considering the costs. Some items in the pack are long time out of date and no longer required, I think the clubs are going to be encouraged to fill the Race Result form which can be downloaded and then sent back to NIPA. Some clubs might need assistance to carry out this task, the Result Book will not then be required in the Stationary Pack. Although costly, I think they intend to continue with the Race Book which has all the Rules and entry Forms for the Nationals, to off-set this, revenue could maybe be raised from sponsors and that opportunity is also available from the Website. Maybe in the future entry forms will be available on download, that’s probably the way forward.

Reserve Delegates proposed by Billy Seaton should be put forward to an AGM as a Resolution, we had them in the past and no reason not to have them again. If this requirement is good enough for the RPRA it should be good enough for the NIPA to ensure that for any meeting absence the position for that meeting can be filled by a Reserve Committee member for that area.

I think it has been agreed to provide a sample of race crate made along the lines of what was done in the early days, joiner made and not pinned together by a handy-man. At the same time look at the modern system especially the aluminium type crate to observe how they provide water and feeding. We have still to get feed-back on the benefit of curtains and the temperature and air supply inside the various transporters. This is all part and parcel of the welfare of the birds, a big subject when it is really warm outside. Another Zoom meeting is due next week, main discussion will be Transport items, and everything associated plus probably charges. Willie Reynolds PO.