NSRA consultation on membership

Thanks for bringing this to our attention Rob.
I'm a member of the NSRA, I feel it is worth it for the insurance cover I receive plus it allows me to enter certain competitions at 10m.
The NSRA does seem a little lost recently and it is difficult to see where the solutions lie. It has to become relevant and promote its worth to the average shooter rather than a competition driven elite. Something which might be said about the BFTA too.
I don't believe compulsory membership is the way forward and clubs may see casual shooters leave for private enterprises/clubs that operate on a pay as you shoot basis.
The problem that the NSRA faces isn't unique to sports however. In healthcare the professional bodies struggle to justify themselves to members and there is much resentment to the fees that are basically compulsory if you wish to work in that field.
Not an easy problem to fix and the NSRA may need to be more radical.
James

 

Hmmmm: if I understand it correctly then members of 0.22LR clubs affiliated to NSRA have to be members of the NSRA by default, right? If so, then the only shooters that would need to take this up are those of NSRA affiliated clubs who don't currently shoot 0.22LR - i.e., airgun clubs or probationary shooters.

Sure, membership of NSRA offers benefits - gold membership giving the member £20k worldwide kit cover and liability insurance is pretty good - but given that clubs charge membership already, and some clubs also have to pay individual membership of the ground they use, this is just another added cost of shooting. The dyed-in-the-wool shooters would suck it up, but it's the many more casual club members who help to fund the clubs: this would probably be seen as a put-off, causing further decline in shooter numbers. NSRA isn't really doing a lot for airgun clubs anyway, unless it's 10m target.

Hope the roadshow has a very convincing playbook.....

 

That is the short version...

 

For the last ten years they’ve failed to notice they don’t have a working business plan.

 

I don’t think it’s the right way to go,we have several older members at our club,making them pay an extra £35 a year means they would probably leave which isn’t good for the club or the members.as I’m involved with running our club I would advise looking for alternative insurance to cover us,if it becomes mandatory for every member to pay £35 extra on top of club membership I’d feel it’s right to hold an agm and discuss other forms of insurance,to be told your membership is more then doubling with little or no benefit to yourself will not make for happy members.it seems to me if they cannot run it at a profit they shouldn’t be running it,demanding a large fee off everyone as the books don’t balance doesn’t fill me with confidence

 

I'd be fine with it, both in principle and for the insurance benefits. As said though, the casual shooter won't be too happy, particularly families. Two youngsters and a parent can join Iceni for £60 (?)/ year, with compulsory NSRA membership on top that's now £135, more than double. It will most definitely affect our membership levels, which is pretty small already.

 

Show me the FT club the size of an 18 hole course with all the facilities and you can take my money.

 

What are the BFTA requirements for club insurance? Icenis is through NSRA but is other suitable insurance acceptable?

 

Average golf club membership is circa £900 a year ... !!!

 

At Dunfermline as an FT and HFT club of over 30 years' standing afaik all we seek from NSRA is our insurance, which is £200 I think.
With 60 members at £35 a head they'd certainly get a lot more.
The first question our committee is going to ask is what alternatives are there for insurance?

After mulling this for a bit I think the members may accept a lesser amount, say under £20.
It's all very well comparing it to a slice of bread or a golf club membership but what folk are going to do is compare it to what they pay just now; this would nearly double our current subs fee.
If we paid a bit less as a club for our insurance (which we have to have), but every member had to be paid up NSRA Bronze at £15-£20, that might go.

 

Ok I’ll be honest - I don’t know what the NSRA do but on reading the presentation it looks like they are in trouble - membership and income is on the decline so they want to go to individual members?

What do they do??

Sorry to be so ignorant

 

The NRA went through something similar recently and charged affiliated Clubs £11 per member per year. We had to fork out £1100 for our membership for absolutely no benefit apart from being able to pay to shoot at Bisley.
I guess that the NSRA have seen that it's money for old rope and so have put their own spin on extracting money from hapless shooters.
What with the new requirement for FAC holders to get their GP's to sign them off I think shooting is fast becoming an endangered species in the UK.