|
REPORT ON NCA AGM and Management Committee meeting 2024
The NCA held its 2024 AGM and Management Committee meeting on
Saturday 6th April at the Fieldhead Hotel, Markfield,
Leicestershire. The following were in attendance:
Chairman:
Barry Mills,
British Bird Council:
Robb Brown,
Budgerigar Society: Ghalib Al-Nasser, John Cosby, Chris
Snell,
Canary Council: Saviour Camilleri, Keith Ferry Chris Smith.
The Chairman was also pleased to welcome representatives from
affiliated societies:
Rob Braddock (CCBA), Huw Evans (LCA), John Gaskin (Newark
CBS), Brian Hamilton (Grantham CBS), Dave Paine (Gainsborough
CBS) and Derrick Smith (YBBM Club).
Apologies were received from: Nigel Hewston, Adam Roper, Terry
Tuxford and Bernard Williams.
The first item of business was a matter arising from the minutes of
the 2023 AGM and related to the demise of the Foreign Bird
Federation, one of the four parent bodies of the NCA. The
Secretary, Ghalib Al-Nasser, informed the meeting that the NCA wrote
to the 7 societies (Aviculture Society, International Turaco
Society, Foreign Bird League, Northumberland & Durham FBS, National
Bengalese Fanciers Association, Zebra Finch Society & Australian
Finch Society) that made up the old defunct FBF last April inviting
them to affiliate directly to the NCA at a nominal fee of £20 per
annum. Unfortunately, only 2 societies took up the offer and
affiliated to the NCA (AS & ITS). The FBF eventually closed their
bank account and transferred their funds of £1,222.99 to the NCA
last October. The donation was made without restriction but with the
recommendation that, if the opportunity arises and at the discretion
of the NCA Management Committee, all or some of the funds might be
used to support the formation of a new FBF or other parent body for
the foreign bird fancy.
The Secretary also informed the meeting that he
recently received an application for insurance from a newly formed
National Cockatiel Association and wondered if it would be a good
opportunity to invite them to affiliate to the NCA as the above 2
societies did.
It was agreed that we accept them as an affiliate
society and be part of the NCA M.C. if they wish to. Ghalib to write
to them and invite them to affiliate.
In his report
Chairman Barry Mills referred to the Canary Council’s and NCA’s
responses to the DEFRA consultation in 2023 on Bird Keeper
Registration which had broadly sought no requirement for keepers
of non-poultry birds to be registered. The subsequent
regulations/guidelines published by DEFRA caused considerable
confusion, concern and complaint in the hobby not least because they
differed in detail across the three UK nations of Scotland, Wales
and England, Northern Ireland having its own registration system
installed for a decade or more. The full report is available with
minutes of this meeting at
www.nca.uk.net .
The current situation can be summarised thus:
On March 19,
2024 DEFRA released a summary response that registration for
non-poultry bird keepers is not yet required by law. From
September 1, 2024 registration will be compulsory for all birds
except psittacines and passerines (i.e. budgies, canaries, etc)
kept in a dedicated ‘bird house’ without any access to the outside
area. Also, under the updated General Licence of February 2024 ‘The
licensee of any fair, market, show or exhibition must provide
biosecurity advice in advance of such an event to all participants
that must include’ amongst other conditions ‘a recommendation
that the keeper of any birds attending a gathering should be
registered with the APHA on the GB Poultry Register’. Not
compulsory, therefore.
The
requirement for a vet to be present throughout a show appears to
have been modified to a ‘named person who knows how to identify
and report signs of notifiable avian disease’ being present with a
vet on call.
Further
clarification will be made in legislation which is yet to be
approved by Parliament.
Bird keeper
registration is due to come into effect on September 1, 2024 and
relevant bird keepers expected to comply by October 1, 2024.
There was
lively discussion on this topic particularly on the implications of
a vet being present throughout a show and how DEFRA can implement
their rules with staff shortage.
The NCA has no direct contact with Government
beyond official DEFRA and APHA channels but Jim Collins, our
representative in SUN (Sustained Users Network) who is heavily
involved with CITES (The Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is helping to organise
a joint campaign in this election year of other avian and ‘companion
animal’ organisations to make representations to Government and MPs
about the bureaucratic and negative impact of current and proposed
legislation within the UK and between the UK and EU and beyond on
ordinary animal-loving British citizens and the suppliers that
support them to keep, care for, breed, exhibit and lawfully trade
animals. The work of SUN is vital and the NCA makes annual
contributions to support it. This year the Management Committee
agreed to increase its support to SUN from £300 to£500.
The Treasurer, Ghalib Al-Nasser,
presented the Balance Sheet, which showed a higher loss (£3,976.26)
than the profit in 2022 (£2,161.92). This loss was due to the fact
that we gave free insurance coverage to our affiliated societies
after buying it for £4,256.
Getting an insurance policy for this year proved
to be a big headache, a full account of which is given in the AGM
minutes @
www.nca.uk.net
) and the cost after finding an insurance company was £5,768 for 80
societies which is an increase of £1,512 from last year. Over the
years the policy per society has increased from £47 to £50 to £53
last year and now to over £72. Adding the cost of rosettes and
postage which amount to £8 shows that the total cost is in excess of
£80 per society and we are charging them only £60 this year.
The Balance Sheet is still strong, and it was
approved unanimously following a motion by Chris Smith, seconded by
Rob Braddock.
Later at the Management Committee meeting it was
agreed to offer affiliated members in 2025 one package consisting of
affiliation, PLI (currently at just under £73 but likely to rise)
plus four rosettes + pp at a combined cost of £100 to be reviewed
annually. In view of the huge task our secretary has of packing and
posting rosettes to potentially over 100 clubs it was agreed to
explore commissioning the rosette supplier to distribute the
rosettes directly to clubs.
The National Exhibitions:
It was agreed to support the National at Stafford with £600
prize money and £100 for the NCA stand; the Scottish National with
£100 and if the Welsh National takes place £100 for that also.
The AGM of 2023 changed our rules to allow the
President to serve two terms of one year and hence Ghalib will
serve another year (2024) as our President.
Similarly, Robb Brown (BBC) who was elected
President-Elect in 2023 will continue to serve as President
Elect for 2024.
The names of the Management Committee were
confirmed as:
BBC: Robb Brown, Bernard
Williams, Chris Williams
BS: Ghalib Al-Nasser,
John Cosby, Maurice Roberts, Chris Snell.
CC: Saviour Camilleri,
Keith Ferry, Adam Roper
Other officers were elected en-bloc as follows:
Vice Chairman: Keith Ferry
Secretary/Treasurer:
Ghalib Al-Nasser
Publicity Officer:
Barry Mills
Awards Panel: the whole
Management Committee
Auditor:
Paul Tiller
FCCA was re-elected.
COM-UK delegates:
Ghalib Al-Nasser (Secretary) Robb Brown, Saviour Camilleri (Vice
President).
Promotion Officer:
It was agreed as last year to ask Adam Roper (YCC) to man the NCA
stand at Stafford Spring Show in March and Keith Williams (YCC) at
the \national in October.
The Awards Panel
were pleased to consider nominations from the British Bird
Council for:
Roll of Honour:
Chris Boyce, Phil Shaw.
Also from Spey Valley CBS nominations for:
Gold Badge:
Mike Davies,
Brian Forbes, Pete Jones, John Munro
And from Beverley CBS nominations for:
Gold Badge: John
Bullement, Steve Hardcastle, Gerald Massey, Michael Ruddock, Steve
Spring.
All nominations were
approved and the Secretary would distribute the awards accordingly.
Next meeting: Agreed to hold a zoom
meeting later in the year if needed and a physical meeting after the
AGM (5th April 2025). |
