NIPA Agenda - AGM 10/02/24

[willie reynolds]

Northern Ireland Provincial Amalgamation of Racing Pigeon Societies –

The 2024 and 79th Annual General Meeting will take place in the Protestant Hall in Glenavy on Saturday 10th February commencing at 200pm sharp. Only Delegates can vote, or enter into the business of the meeting. All clubs must hold a meeting on the Resolutions and mandate their delegates on how to cast their vote. A letter of confirmation that each Delegate(s) club had held a club meeting to vote on Resolutions being produced at the AGM. No discussion on Resolutions.

Agenda will include 1. Minutes of last AGM. 2. Secretary Report. 3. Passing of Accounts. 4. Any other 2023 Business. 5, Election of Officers for 2024.

Secretary’s Report 2023/2024 –

It is now January, and a new season is only weeks away, hopefully the weather pattern for our new season is much better than 2023, which proved to be the wettest on record.

I have now received the final set of accounts and I will deal with them later in my report.

2023 was one the most difficult seasons to organise our sport, the weather pattern did not favour Saturday Racing for quite a few races. The Race Controller Jim Ramsay had to deal with the most difficult decisions week after week and in my opinion did a very good job, yes Friday Liberations are not suitable for everyone, Sunday liberations do also not suit everyone, If his information guides him to either of these two days, he has no other option but to go with it.

I sincerely wish to thank him for all his assistance to the Nipa in 2023 and hopefully 2024 turns out to be much better than 2023.
Your Transport Manager Paul Howard also had a very busy and most difficult season to organise so you all could enjoy your racing. Paul completed our refurbished rigid Transporter and did a magnificent job.We are all very much pleased with it, and it should last you all for another 20 years plus. Paul also purchased a replacement Artic, it really looks wonderful inside and out, very modern, and up to date and again should last for another 20 years.

Paul also at very often short notice had to put in place a team of Drivers, to drive and collect our pigeons and transport them to the release site, he never failed us.Paul also did a magnificent job in maintaining our fleet of lorries. On behalf of us all I wish to thank him and his team of drivers for their assistance in 2023.

Many of you will be aware that our Convoyer Mr Paddy McNeice had a Heart Attack the day after Ladies Night. Thankfully he is making a good recovery, and we all wish him well.

Sadley our committee member and friend John Parr passed away suddenly just a few weeks ago, he will be much missed by all in the Portadown area. Also, during the year, we lost a real character in our sport Stephen McGarry, we will miss his presence and his humour. He will be greatly missed by many in our Sport.

The NIPA could not to continue to operate without the assistance of all Committee members, Club Secretaries , Club Treasures , my assistant Secretary and many more.

On behalf of all the members I wish to thank you all for your time it is very much appreciated especially by me.
All club`s will have received the Nipa Accounts for 2023 and as before if you have any query please do not hesitate in contacting me. The General Account of the NIPA thankfully stayed in Credit however the Surplus fell sharply from, £19,908 to £7,349.00. The NIPA Committee have agreed to hold the price of membership fee for 2023 and with the loss of members the income fell by approx. £1,624.00, with the addition of a few new club`s this income increased by approx. £172.00. Unfortunately, we have lost up to the moment 3 clubs, Castledawson (their members are amalgamating with Cookstown. Coleraine and County Derry (their members are amalgamating with Coleraine Premier), and finally Kingswood HPS who had only two members left in the NIPA have decided to resign from the NIPA.

Polls and prize money increased by over £12,000,00. The surplus on sale of ETS, Rubbers, seals, cardboard fell by over £9,500.00 and prize money not claimed for 2022 fell by approx. £400.00 from the year before.
On the expenditure side most headings remained similar as last season, with the exception of a new heading of Legal and Professional fees of £1,105.00. This was the amount it took to defend a court case taken against the NIPA.
For 2024 the NIPA is having to update its programming of producing National Etc Results, the hardware will have to be replaced, the Licence will have to be Replaced, the Printer will have to be replaced, the new software will have to be installed At the moment we are 95% completed, this will cost around £4,000.00.

A few members on social media complained about the condition of the Weekly Diplomas, I know they were not up to our usual standard, the Hardware and Software completely fell apart it is now over 20 years old and is no longer supported by its original designers, hence the purchase of a new update which will correct the problem for 2024.

The Transport account for 2023 is a bit more challenging to explain it is not as bad as it looks.
One of the most frequent questions I am asked, why does the NIPA require such a healthy bank account. When you examine your balance sheet you will see how much cash was spent replacing assets. £90,265.00 on Transporters, £140,76.00 on replacing crates a total of £104,341.00. This equivalent in surcharging every member by around £100.00 each on top of your normal fees, I can just hear the key board warriors going crazy on social media.

The income from each NIPA Section totalled an increase of around £3,300.00 very much welcomed. The income from other transport charges also rose by around £2,600.00.
However on the expenditure Drivers wages and Race expenses rose by £2000, they were awarded an increase, Toll Bridge charges up by £400.00. Fuel & oil down by approx. £113,00.00, Insurance up by approx. £2,500.00 your purchases would automatically rise your premiums as well as insurance rates.

Moving higher, Freight to Channel races up by almost £3,000.00 a figure we will have to look at. Vehicle maintenance Tyres and Parts up by almost £2,500.00 I will give you a brief break down.
Vehicle Maintenance £7,210.00, Parts £7,389.64, Tyres £3,859.00, Mis £46.00. Crate repairs up by £500.00, Garage rent similar.
Now you will see the depreciation kicking in Transporters up by around £16,000.00, crates being depreciated for the very first time £9,915.00. This all shows on paper a deficit of £313,30.87.

To bring all of these figures into play, you must examine your balance sheet very carefully, At the end of 2022 the NIPA was worth in cash and assets £696,575.59, in 2023 the net worth fell to £683,207.38 a fall of £13368.21. If you look carefully at the interest income, you will see it has risen to £106,13.31 a staggering increase due to interest rates for the first time in many years rising to 3.5%. If we are around next year your Capital has been Invested at 5.00% and should accumulate around £160,00.00. A very much welcome boost to your accounts.
These figures are a lot to take in please feel free to contact me if you have any queries. The NIPA Committee have agreed a slight increase in the Fees for 2024
The increase is £1.00 for Club Fee and £1.00 Administration Fee. This will make the Club Fee £35.00 and the Administration Fee £37.00. The crate fee will be decided much closer to the start of racing.

There are rumours out there that Training Tosses are to be arranged from Coastal points South of Dublin for pigeons to fly into Northern Ireland. AS MUCH AS I AND MOST OF YOU WOULD LIKE THIS TO HAPPEN THE AUTHORITIES WILL NOT GIVE PERMISSION. ANY MEMBER OF THE NIPA TRYING TO BE A SMART ALEC AND TRAINING THEIR OWN PIGEONS FROM ANY COASTAL POINT FROM SOUTH OF DUBLIN, RUN THE RISK OF HAVING THEIR VEHICLE IMPOUNDED, PIGEONS PUT INTO QUARANTINE AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE, RECEIVE A LARGE FINE AND RUN THE RISK OF HAVING PIGEON RACING BANNED FOR EVERYONE.

At a later date and well before racing you all will be brought up to date with the latest implications on what the Nipa may have to introduce regarding transportation of your pigeons.
The first Resolution on this subject is that all the members will have to agree THAT WHEN YOUR PIGEONS ARE BEING TRANSPORTED TO ALL RACE POINTS THEY ARE OF NO COMMERCIAL VALUE. THERE WILL BE MORE ON THIS SUBJECT WHEN WE FINISH SPEAKING TO OUR LEGAL TEAM AND TO THE RPRA. I finish my report by wishing you all an enjoyable year`s racing in 2024. Regards F C Russell, CEO of the NIPA.

2024 AGM Resolutions
Delete NIPA Rule 18 in its entirety and replace with a new rule 18.

The NIPA will issue each member who uses Race Rubbers with a master sheet for Old and Young Bird races each member shall complete, where a member uses E.T.S. a signed copy of their assignment sheet will suffice. The Master sheet and the assignment sheet must be furnished to their secretary 7 days before the commencement of racing as per RPRA rule. All birds listed must be the Bonafede property of the member as per RPRA rules 102 & 103 7

Failure to comply with this rule will mean that the member will not be allowed to compete for another 7 days.
Delete NIPA Rule 34 in its entirety and replace with a new rule 34.
That before race marking commences all club`s must ensure that there are at least 5 individual members present, 5 club members must be present throughout the race marking procedure including loading the Transporter.
The 5 members present when the Transporter is being loaded, their names to be recorded on the Transport envelope and forwarded via the Transporter to the NIPA headquarters. Failure to comply with this rule in its entirety will mean the club and all its members are disqualified from the race.

Resolution number one submitted by the NIPA Committee NEW RULE

Delete NIPA GENERAL RULE 81 AND REPLACE WITH A NEW RULE 81
The NIPA committee are submitting their emergency rules which came into effect from 21st JUNE 2023

The NIPA as and from 21st June 2023 will only accept applications for membership of the NIPA from any Ulster Federation club subject to their resignation from the Ulster Federation.

The NIPA member club`s as and from 21st June 2023 will only accept applications from individual Ulster Federation members, subject to their resignation from the Ulster Federation.

As and from 21st June 2203 any member club of the NIPA that wishes to make application to join the Ulster Federation must tender their resignation to the NIPA immediately their application is accepted.

As and from 21st June 2023 any individual member of a member club of the NIPA who wishes to make application to join the Ulster Federation must, tender their resignation to their club and NIPA.