Chairman's Newsletter

November 2006

It has been a very good year for the Surrey Team. They won all of the major competitions bar one and a few of our members won some of the premier individual events as well. We are celebrating these achievements at the Wappenschaw on Saturday 9 th December. You should have already received an invitation to what will be a really enjoyable time. We are putting a lot of effort into this to make it appealing to all members and their guests with games in the bar, quizzes and other fine entertainment. Please come along and support our efforts.

Financially we have just kept our heads above water again this year. Thanks to a lot of careful control of expenditure by our treasurers and secretary we have made the most use of our money. This is not an easy task. The committee and I will have to find ways of increasing our income next year. It would be nice to have the money to make improvements to our facilities but firstly, we need to repay some loans that were given to us in harder times. So if you're wondering why some things have not been renewed or updated it's because we have to use funds to repay this past generosity. Every year fixed costs go up and we always have something in the hut that breaks and needs repairing. This brings me onto the subject of member help.

We need more members to step up and offer their help and expertise in maintaining the hut. This is our biggest expense and we can't always afford professional help. You will see in the calendar for next year that we have a Spring Clean Up weekend on 17 th -18 th March. We want members to turn out and help us get the hut and grounds into fine shape for the 2007 season. We'll focus mainly on the outside, clearing the garden and around the hut and doing repairs to the exterior. We'll provide a free lunch to those helping and hold the AGM on the Sunday afternoon to show off the hard work that we have done. You'll get more complete details of this early next year. I must single out the help that Kevin Hill has given us over the last year. He helped me refurbish the kitchen in the secretaries flat, repaired boilers and did various plumbing jobs for us. Jon Underwood obtained the kitchen units for us at much reduced cost and has done many other things. Thank you to them and all the others who have helped in various ways. It's this kind of help that we really need. I believe that unless I tell people about the jobs that need doing they won't come forward so expect to see a list of tasks in the near future.

We want to dramatically improve our communications to the clubs and members next year. I know this has been lacking. Changes to events are sometimes beyond our control and we need to be able to tell people about this at short notice. On the membership renewal form is a space for you to put your email address (if you have one). Please let us have it. We will only use it to keep you informed of important issues and changes to published events. I'm going to insist that clubs give us a reliable means of contacting them. We are going to put a lot of effort into making our clubs happier. There will be a secretaries meeting in the New Year where I expect to take criticism for the poor communication in the last few years and assure them that this will change next year. To show that we mean business we are offering the clubs 25% off the cost of their membership renewal if they pay by 31 st March. We will keep the website, surreyra.org, updated throughout the year.

Club house services and opening times. I think there is an expectation from a few people that the club house is open all weekend, all year and should provide bar and food on demand. The doors of the club house are open at weekends all year round so that members can at least use the toilets and take shelter from the elements. I know that the place can look a bit desolate on winter weekends (I'm sitting here in the dining room on a wet Sunday in November). However, because we are trying to be very careful with our expenditure we cannot afford to have lighting and heating on and provide bar and food services just in case one or two people show up. Geoff is very accommodating if given notice. If you or your club are going to be there at the weekend and would like to use the bar or have food available you only have to let him know. This is only really necessary on the quiet weekends but as I said we just cannot afford to buy supplies on the chance that they might get used. We will be pushing clubs to let us have their Bisley events so we can be ready to serve their members.

Finally, I want to thank all those committee members and regular members who give their time and advice to the SRA. We need more members who are willing to help us run the Association. If you would like to help us in 2007 please contact me. We want to do a much better job of running the Association shooting events next year and I'm looking for someone to take this on.

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I wish you and your families happiness in 2007 and hope it's another great year for the Surrey Rifle Association.

David Crispin.