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Angling all together - NFSA keep members informed
By admin | April 21, 2008
For years Britain’s major recreational angling representative bodies have struggled each on its own, against rising costs. They have had to deal head-on with increasing government interest and action interfering in their task of promoting and protecting their own sections of the sport.
None of them, including our own National Federation of Sea Anglers, could really believe that one day soon they would have enough income to deal with their daily problems and enough left over to widen their activities. At the same time their influence was limited, despite angling being a major participatory sport.
The overwhelming concern of the new NFSA board when it started work a year ago was that while we were growing, we were not doing so fast enough to guarantee long-term survival. An organisation at a standstill is doomed and it was the same at the other angling organisations. A gloomy picture.
Sea angling role
Under the auspices of FACT, four freshwater organisations had started talks on merging. The NFSA was invited to join in with the promise that it would provide the sea angling arm ofthe new body.
The Specialist Anglers’ Alliance was also invited and accepted.
At the time we were grappling with sudden financial problems.
We promised a decision in the New Year. Meanwhile, the other partners kept us fully informed of their progress. The solution quickly became clear; a straightforward amalgamation throwing back in the water the waste and cost of the services and development we were all duplicating.
The six angling bodies have nine common activities from membership services, communications and legal advice to websites, training and accountancy.
Each of us is devoting a huge effort to lobby the government on behalf of six lots of angling interests. Ministers and civil servants are understandably confused and at times frustrated by this disparate lobby.
Directors support it
After unanimous support from the NFSA board and standing committee I signed a letter of intent early in March which emphasised our belief that a six-way merger of the angling bodies would work. It was the same as the one signed by the other bodies. Each organisation also put in £10,000 to fund the start up of the new body, under the working title of Angling Unity.
Your directors agreed that our £10,000 should be drawn from the NFSA reserves then standing at £50,000. Now we must make sure that Angling Unity (or whatever name is finally chosen for it) works as we all want it to work. There is much to be done between now and the middle of the year when it is planned to launch the new company.
Members will decide it
There will be a vote at our AGM on July 19 to decide whether the NFSA fully commits to the new company or stands outside and struggles along on its own. Before that vote there will be a full report on the exact stage of the negotiations and the results from several joint working groups already set up.
It will be a nostalgic moment because going fully into Angling Unity will mean winding up the old NFSA after 104 illustrious years.
That nostalgia is outweighed by the needs of the present day and the challenging natureand potentially big rewards of a joint project.
Your NFSA directors and myself are convinced it is the right way to continue and expandthe good work of the NFSA and of the other partners, to herald in a strong voice for all angling and to have a financially robust body representing all our interests and addressing all our concerns.
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