MINUTES OF NPA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING
ON 16th SEPTEMBER 2012 AT RUGBY
PRESENT
David Barraclough – President; Evan Murray - Chairman; Graham Giddings – Secretary; Gary Eaton;
Mark Rudd; Andy Lowe.
ITEM 1 – INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN
1. The chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave a very special welcome to Gary Eaton who was
attending after his recent operation and had made the long journey to be at the meeting. Gary said he was
pleased to be back, but was taking things easy to speed his recovery. The Chairman went on to comment that it
was good news that the membership had increased this year.
ITEM 2 - APOLOGIES
1. Apologies were received from Jim Mullan, Steve Rumsby and Graham Bates. The Chairman commented that
when dates are circulated for meetings, they are not set in stone and can be altered to suit where possible so
everyone can mark their diaries and work around them, in future can all Committee members bear this in mind.
ITEM 3 - DRAFT MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 12th FEBRUARY 2012
1. Mark Rudd proposed and Andy Lowe seconded, that these minutes were an accurate record of this meeting;
Carried.
ITEM 4 - DECISIONS BY CHAIRMAN AND SECRETARY BETWEEN MEETINGS
1. There were no decisions made as was very quiet in the pigeon world at the moment.
ITEM 5 – RING SECRETARY/TREASURER’S REPORT
1. The Secretary informed the Committee that at the 1st of September, 738 members had joined or renewed their
membership to the NPA, the bank balance stood at £11,237, 32,990 rings had been sold, 683 birds had been
transferred and the website had received 321,768 hits since it went live which is a great achievement. Ring
sales had gone well and only have a few A, B and E rings left, the order for rings for 2013 has been adjusted
with extra D,E and F rings being ordered. He went on to say that from December the members would be able to
pay by PayPal as long as there is a membership form sent as well to tie up with the money transmitted. He
confirmed that the Newton Steel Trophy was at Swansea Show and would be given to another show, as really
there should be only one NPA Trophy at Shows other than the National, Francis Bradborn to be contacted
regarding the trophy and organise return. The EE had put a 50-cent tax on all birds shown at stand-alone breed
club shows in Europe. The President and Chairman said that they would cover the issue of repatriating lost
pigeons while the Secretary was on holiday, which he thanked them for doing.
ITEM 6 – NPA MANAGEMENT
1. Mark Rudd said that he would look into a licence and the legal aspect for the proposed £100 monthly prize
draw which he thought was about £70, he had also had done a small survey and confirmed that most members
would be happy with the idea, perhaps doing the draws at some shows. A long debate followed on the feasibility
of the monthly draw with various ideas discussed and was decided that the best time to commence would be
with membership renewals 2014 where it can go on the membership form and be sold in through the bulletin
which every NPA member receives at the end of the year. The ballot could be used to gauge interest in this
idea.
2. The Secretary informed the Committee that there had been two new applicants for joining the NPA
Management Committee (John Thomson and Colin Ronald) as well as Evan Murray and Jim Mullan standing for
re-election, which will result in a ballot.
3. There have been two new proposed additions to the rulebook received, which will go to ballot in the normal
way.
4 The AGM was discussed and was decided that it should not be held at a Championship show as always a bit
rushed but at a separate venue and not in the show season so that it can be given the attention it deserves.
Mark Rudd proposed the Brownsover hotel in Rugby on the 24th of February, seconded by Gary Eaton; carried.
5. As far as the Secretary was concerned and the fact the membership had increased the idea of giving 10 free
rings to members was a success. The Chairman said past comments regarding the feasibility of this scheme
were proved to be unfounded. It was proposed by the Chairman and seconded by Mark Rudd that the trial be
continued for another year; carried.
6. The cost of membership was discussed; the idea of raising the price of adult and partnership to £20 was
thought not the right thing to do in the current climate although Mark Rudd said that the members he had asked
about this idea did not mind as long as the money was not given away. The Secretary proposed that a two tier
adult membership be trialled for a year £18 for members who buy rings and £10 for non-ring buyers who just
1
wanted to be member, this was based on the success of a recent small mail shot to lapsed members. This was
seconded by Andy Lowe; carried.
7. The Chairman said he would ask the Chairman of the RPRA if he would be scrutineer for the NPA ballots.
ITEM 7 – PUBLICITY
1. The Secretary said that he had a received a few articles in for the bulletin but not enough which were
disappointing. The President and Chairman both said they would prepare something and also the Bradford Club
are doing a history for inclusion.
2. The Secretary informed the Committee that he had put an NPA ad in Squill’s year book and the British
Homing World calendar
ITEM 8 – CHAMPIONSHIP SHOWS
1. It was decided to add at the top of the Championship Show return form an area for the show secretaries to
write the name, breed and owner of best in show and also the best exhibit and name of the winning juvenile. We
can then put a list in the bulletin of achievements over the show season, so adding more interest to the
publication.
2. The Secretary informed the Committee that in the letter he sends to all show secretaries with the certificates,
rosettes etc, he has asked them to award a NPA certificate to any bird that wins best in show that had not been
awarded one if in an AOV class.
3. The Secretary said that because of economics he had made the fee that any show pays a minimum of £10.
4. A letter that had been received from the Sufex Columbarian Society was read out and discussed at length but
really the show calendar is so full clashes in dates will always occur and nothing can be done about it.
The Chairman said that the membership chooses what shows they want to go to.
5. The Fantail club have asked if they could award NPA certificates at the show they have in Stafford; this to be
discussed at next meeting as is the feasibility of bringing all stand alone breed club shows back inside a
Championship Show.
6. Sections of pigeons at Championship shows, Mark Rudd said in light of the publication of the “Dome”
schedule and others for the 2012 season, the English fancy has not moved on with this even since the letter
from Van Strickland some years ago regarding breeds being in the wrong sections. Now is the time to inform
show secretaries what pigeons come under what sections especially when there is a ruling regarding judges &
sections. A general heading of Posture Tumblers that is used should not get a certificate, as there are 6 or 7
breeds under the name of Posture Tumbler. Mark Rudd said he would do a guide for the next meeting. The
Chairman enquired how the list of sections differed from the current EE - list for Fancy Pigeon Breeds, Mark
Rudd responded that all the foreign breeds were in the correct sections according to Country of Origin, the
breeds that appeared in the wrong sections in the EE-list were actually our own British Breeds, prime example
are the “Flyers”. The Chairman asked Mark Rudd to contact John Elsdon on this subject.
ITEM 9 - WELFARE
1. A disturbing letter from John Surridge regarding the current situation in Germany with respect to animal rights
activists that had been recently circulated was discussed as could be brought up in the UK. This situation
needed careful monitoring.
ITEM 10 – AWARDS
1. There had been two nominations for awards for Master Breeder (Tommy Elton for Modena’s and Ian Jackson
for Fantails) and after discussion both were deemed worthy of the award.
2. It was disappointing that there had been no nominations for Hall of Fame or Junior Fancier of the Year.
ITEM 11 – GENERAL
1. The Secretary said he was concerned that the NPA was not doing anything at all for the Juvenile members;
this had to be rectified somehow. Mark Rudd suggested the Helen Seed would be a good co-ordinator and
would contact her to see if she had any ideas to promote the juveniles.
ITEM 12 – PROMOTING THE NPA
1. As Jim Mullan was absent this was postponed until the next meeting. David Barraclough said he had a few
ideas and would bring them to the meeting in February.
ITEM 13 – STANDARDS & RING SIZES
1. Mark Rudd reported that of the 43 British breeds that needed to have a standard approved by the EE, 3 had
been approved, 3 will be approved at next EE meeting (West, Show Homer and Short Faced Tumbler) 11 had
been sent to the EE for consideration, 22 were at various stages of being formulated by the clubs and 4 needed
starting. The EE will not talk to individual breed clubs and will only communicate through one point of contact
which is a shame as some points can be lost in translation. Mark Rudd went on to explain that some pictures for
our English breeds do not exist, and had approached Mr R Bennion about drawing up the missing drawings. A
NPA ring list audit had been carried out by Mark Rudd with help from John Eldon, John Surridge, John Graves
2
and David Richardson to which the NPA are indebted to; the result being that 54 ring sizes appear to be wrong
according to the country of origin. This situation disappointed the present committee. The 12mm ring is not used
in the UK, unlike in Europe; this situation would be rectified for the 2015 season. There will be a new list
implemented by the NPA for the 2015 season, this change will be well publicised so that all members can order
the correct ring size for the breeds they keep.
ITEM 14 - GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED
1. The secretary read out an e mail that had been sent by an old stalwart of the NPA Brian Emmett which was a
little sad, and that he had decided not to renew his membership to the NPA.
2. Mark Rudd had received a letter from the South Coast Show complaining about the secretary who had told
them that their schedule was of poor quality and was not fitting to be sent out with the name NPA Championship
Show on it. The secretary replied that it was extremely poor and did the show no favours at all; the secretary
was charged by the Committee 3 years previous to try and upmarket the schedules and this is what he is doing.
3. The Mookee club has asked if their breed club show could have Championship status; this could not be
granted as the NPA were endeavoring to bring all stand alone breed club shows back into main Championship
shows.
4. Mark Rudd read out a letter received from Mr Elton regarding a reprimand he had received from the National
Modena Club. He went on to say that this matter should have been a club issue, but since the reference to
breaking NPA rules was mentioned then explanation was required. Based solely on the contents of Mr Elton's
letter it was agreed by the committee that no NPA rules had been broken. However the matter of the reprimand
has nothing to do with the NPA.
ITEM 15 – ANY OTHER BUSINESS
1. Andy Lowe had received a complaint from the secretary of the Wolverhampton Tumbler Club that he was
using a judge they did not approve of. As the club was not affiliated to the NPA not a lot the NPA can do about it
as the judge in question was on the judge’s list.
2. There was a discussion about how judges names submitted by Eire Limerick Tumbler Club were denoted on
the NPA judging list as discussed at the April meeting. It was agreed that it was”Xenaphopic” to single out only
certain names on the judging list and an “F” is to be used to denote UK judges names put on by the Irish breed
club.
There being no other business, the meeting closed at 15.20 with thanks offered to the Chair.
Graham Giddings
Secretary
3