RPRA Rule Changes

[Ian Evans]

You have your opinion and I'll have mine. The RPRA should have increased subs years ago but didn't. We now pay 67p a week due to the 'huge subs increase'. When they ask for more I'll be paying it.

Personally the amount of the subscription is not the issue it's the way it has been done and the expenditure it is covering. The overheads of the association need to be addressed before any increase in subs are considered. We are simply paying to prop up, outdated systems and processes at HQ and including propping up the regional/council structure both of which are not reflective of the general memberships feelings with a tiny percentage of engagement.

When I left in 2022 the Annual Salaries and on costs at the BHW and RPRA 450k. They are now in excess of 600k. The cost of council last year was 16k. The regions cost £67.5k.
The cost of an executive committee and 1 member 1 vote will be a fraction of the cost. A far more efficient way of running.
The RPRA in its current format is unsustainable.

The loss experienced in 2023 of 280k lies at the feet of this outdated structure and it's inability to react quickly. They were told such a loss was coming 2 years previous but still they did nothing. Instead they had to use an emergency rule to bring in a levy. That levy has generated a profit of 116k. So they have charged each member around about £8.50 too much on the levy.

The finances have not been sorted out. You can't keep throwing money at an association without addressing the real issues otherwise your kicking the can down the road and building a bigger problem.

The CEO states that if the regions were done away with the RPRA would have to employ 2 full time staff to deal with the workload increase that was previously dealt with by the regions so the cost you quote as being a saving would be cancelled out. I'm not massively for or massively against either side of this, just in my opinion if people think getting rid of the regions will be the magic fix their wrong. My own personal preference would probably be to merge the smaller regions so all are dealing with a similar workload in terms of membership. This way you would make a saving without the need to employ any extra staff.

The CEO is simply wrong.

[goose1]

Personally the amount of the subscription is not the issue it's the way it has been done and the expenditure it is covering. The overheads of the association need to be addressed before any increase in subs are considered. We are simply paying to prop up, outdated systems and processes at HQ and including propping up the regional/council structure both of which are not reflective of the general memberships feelings with a tiny percentage of engagement.

When I left in 2022 the Annual Salaries and on costs at the BHW and RPRA 450k. They are now in excess of 600k. The cost of council last year was 16k. The regions cost £67.5k.
The cost of an executive committee and 1 member 1 vote will be a fraction of the cost. A far more efficient way of running.
The RPRA in its current format is unsustainable.

The loss experienced in 2023 of 280k lies at the feet of this outdated structure and it's inability to react quickly. They were told such a loss was coming 2 years previous but still they did nothing. Instead they had to use an emergency rule to bring in a levy. That levy has generated a profit of 116k. So they have charged each member around about £8.50 too much on the levy.

The finances have not been sorted out. You can't keep throwing money at an association without addressing the real issues otherwise your kicking the can down the road and building a bigger problem.

The CEO states that if the regions were done away with the RPRA would have to employ 2 full time staff to deal with the workload increase that was previously dealt with by the regions so the cost you quote as being a saving would be cancelled out. I'm not massively for or massively against either side of this, just in my opinion if people think getting rid of the regions will be the magic fix their wrong. My own personal preference would probably be to merge the smaller regions so all are dealing with a similar workload in terms of membership. This way you would make a saving without the need to employ any extra staff.

The CEO is simply wrong.

So who is going to do all the extra work? If an executive committee is formed of let's say 5/6 people are they expected to do all the work previously done by the regions? Good luck with getting people to volunteer to do that.

[Ian Evans]

The CEO states that if the regions were done away with the RPRA would have to employ 2 full time staff to deal with the workload increase that was previously dealt with by the regions so the cost you quote as being a saving would be cancelled out. I'm not massively for or massively against either side of this, just in my opinion if people think getting rid of the regions will be the magic fix their wrong. My own personal preference would probably be to merge the smaller regions so all are dealing with a similar workload in terms of membership. This way you would make a saving without the need to employ any extra staff.

The CEO is simply wrong.

So who is going to do all the extra work? If an executive committee is formed of let's say 5/6 people are they expected to do all the work previously done by the regions? Good luck with getting people to volunteer to do that.

What extra work ? Taking subs ? With modern systems and working practices it can all be done online with little or no manual input. The Exec committee don't need to be involved.

All the other processes regions deal with can be dealt with efficiently.

[Bowbroom]

All the work currently done by regions will have to be done by someone, the admin will fall to HQ staff and the rest, settlement of disputes etc will have to be sorted by the Executive
There is a possible mitigation by payments being made electronically, unfortunately most of the remaining members I know are tech averse
As far as voting is concerned, OMOV or in these days of political correctness shouldn’t it be OPOV?
I predict that if this came to pass it would result in approximately the same minority will bother that can be bothered to get involved now.
Some peoples ideologies forget that the vast majority just simply want to pay their dues and demands and race their birds end of.

[Devo1956]

Any bussiness needs to move with the times, I feel this has been the problem in the past with the RPRA. With the new technology improvement, and far better data to store information. Which then can be used by minimum of persons, the need for change is needed. It as become outdated and needs to be run more efficient and less cost effectively.

[goose1]

Any bussiness needs to move with the times, I feel this has been the problem in the past with the RPRA. With the new technology improvement, and far better data to store information. Which then can be used by minimum of persons, the need for change is needed. It as become outdated and needs to be run more efficient and less cost effectively.

I'm fairly young I'm all for moving with the times but when the vast majority of your membership is over 65 year old do you think making them do everything online is a good move? To just say everything can be done online when you know the age of the people your dealing with and the difficulties and unwillingness you would face is pretty poor in my opinion.

That's not a dig at you Devo it's more of a reply to yourself and Ian Evans

[Devo1956]

Any bussiness needs to move with the times, I feel this has been the problem in the past with the RPRA. With the new technology improvement, and far better data to store information. Which then can be used by minimum of persons, the need for change is needed. It as become outdated and needs to be run more efficient and less cost effectively.

I'm fairly young I'm all for moving with the times but when the vast majority of your membership is over 65 year old do you think making them do everything online is a good move? To just say everything can be done online when you know the age of the people your dealing with and the difficulties and unwillingness you would face is pretty poor in my opinion.

That's not a dig at you Devo it's more of a reply to yourself and Ian Evans

I do agree with you in some way, some people don't like change. But in this changing world it is the only way forward. I am going on 69 years of age. To be honest I changed my own mindset, and took time out to learn about using my laptop. And I must say it as opened the world to me. Also you can use local library were the staff are happy to help, but I do take onboard what you have wrote.

[goose1]

I do totally agree with the view that things do need to change at the RPRA, to some degree, but I'm not sure i agree with the radical changes that are proposed and I'm not totally convinced that some of this isn't coming about because some feel they have scores to settle.

[Bowbroom]

I think that Devo has hit the nub of the matter, the Administration of Pigeon racing is seen by some as a Business, when for most participants it’s a much loved hobby, of course any association must meet its financial obligations and out goings but apart from that, imo it should not be viewed as a business.
There are those that make a good living from the sport and of course they may wish it to be viewed as a business but the vast majority of participants don’t and just wish to pursue their hobby.

[Devo1956]

I think that Devo has hit the nub of the matter, the Administration of Pigeon racing is seen by some as a Business, when for most participants it’s a much loved hobby, of course any association must meet its financial obligations and out goings but apart from that, imo it should not be viewed as a business.
There are those that make a good living from the sport and of course they may wish it to be viewed as a business but the vast majority of participants don’t and just wish to pursue their hobby.

To be honest, when you are running anything to do with money. You have a profit and loss sheet data, and the end of the year. there needs to be a profit to continue. For the future dealings., when I was racing and breeding pigeons. It stopped being a hobby when I had to bring in new stock. I still had my corn bill and other expences, so the sale of some youngsters. This helped to keep me ahead, so I could continue moving forward. But then health problems stopped me to keep them at home. So I moved to OLR to stay in the sport.