Application for Club Affiliation & Public Liability Insurance Cover

Ready for “normality”? Be sure you are covered!

The Government’s proposed relaxation on Covid restrictions means that clubs can begin to plan for reintroducing shows and meetings once more. Whether as individual clubs you choose to maintain the use of masks indoors, some social distancing or hand-sanitising until the number of Covid cases begins to fall again will be your decision. However, if you start your normal club activities again – and we hope you will – please be sure you are covered by Public Liability Insurance, all £5m of it.

To that end the National Council for Aviculture’s Public Liability Insurance scheme is running again and is due now for renewal. Club secretaries can download an application form from the NCA website (www.nca.uk.net). The cost of NCA subscription and PLI cover remains the same as last year at £60. This covers all your meetings, shows and fundraising events but NOT Sales Days. Further information can be sought from NCA Secretary, Ghalib Al-Nasser, Evenstar, Pinkuah Lane, Pentlow, Essex CO10 7JW. Email: info@nca.uk.net .

Don’t leave it too late!

Post-Pandemic NCA Presidency (May 2021)

After 40 years service to the National Council for Aviculture, the last decade of which was spent as Chairman, Life Member, Chris Smith, was deeply honoured to be elected to the post of President for 2021/22 at the NCA’s Annual General Meeting held via Zoom on Saturday 8^th May 2021.

Outgoing President Bernard Williams metaphorically transferred the chain of office across cyber space to Chris who thanked Bernard for his service as President in the most difficult of years. As retiring President Bernard now becomes Honorary Life Vice President. Chris went on to welcome two new delegates to the management committee, Keith Ferry (Canary Council) and Terry Tuxford (Budgerigar Society) and thanked retiring delegate Bev Hutt (NCA President 2017/18) for her service on the management committee. Chris went on to give his final Chairman’s report:

“Our hobby is suffering from the pandemic, Brexit implications, divisions in branches of the fancy, the loss of a showing season, uncertainty with some CBS clubs struggling to return to some form of normality. The NCA must consider how best to help those in need and dialogue with clubs and societies is essential.

“The NCA’s involvement with DEFRA on the working party to resolve the current restrictive legislation is crucial if we are to show again in Europe and have breeder exchanges as we had in the past.

“There is light on the horizon, though the Parrot Society summer show may be cancelled it is possible the National Exhibition in October and the December event may go ahead at Stafford. The NCA should continue to support these events.

“The ring scheme is progressing as a service to members and I propose to continue with this for the foreseeable future.

“I would suggest that we need to look to the future and invite younger fanciers to take on some of the responsibilities for the hobby”.

The NCA constitution rotates the presidency between the four parent bodies of the British Bird Council, The Budgerigar Society, the Canary Council and the Foreign Bird Federation. The President Elect nominated at the 2019 AGM (pre-Covid pandemic) was Chris Smith of the Canary Council and the nominee confirmed at this AGM is Ghalib Al-Nasser of the Budgerigar Society.

Other Officers elected were: Chairman (3 year term) Barry Mills, Vice Chairman Chris Smith, Secretary & Treasurer Ghalib Al-Nasser, Publicity Officer Barry Mills, Awards Panel: Robb Brown, John Cosby, Chris Smith, David Paine.

Delegates to the NCA from the parent bodies were confirmed as follows:

British Bird Council: Robb Brown, Bob Partridge, Bernard Williams.

Budgerigar Society: Ghalib Al-Nasser, John Cosby, Terry Tuxford, Chris Snell (3+1 reserve)

Canary Council: Keith Barker, Saviour Camilleri, Keith Ferry, Chris Smith, Terry Salt (3+2 reserves)

Foreign Bird Federation: Graham Lee, Dave Paine, Dennis Webster.

The Treasurer had circulated the Balance Sheet for 2020 beforehand showing a small profit over the year during which there had been more limited financial activity due to the pandemic. Applications for PLI cover were also down understandably because of lockdown restrictions on shows and club activities.

The Balance sheet was approved unanimously and the Treasurer thanked for his stewardship of NCA funds. The Auditor, Paul Tiller FCCA, was also thanked and re-elected for 2021/22.

The management committee confirmed that subscription rates would remain:

CBS rate: £20 affiliation only.

Organisations with up to 500 members: £50

Organisations with up to 1000 members: £100

Organisations with over 1000 members: £200

Secretary Ghalib Al-Nasser reported on the past year as “one we would all like to forget”. He paid tribute to all those who have lost family or friends during the pandemic. He also thanked Chris for his ten years of service as NCA Chairman. Since the 2019 AGM the following have been added to The Hall of Fame: Brian Hogg, George Lewsey, Denis Glasby, Val Ward and Dennis Norton. The Roll of Honour additions were: Alan Jordan, Joe Coakley, Ron Hill and Colin Patterson.

The Secretary also read out a letter from Wednesbury AS who after 90 years existence has ceased to continue as a society.

Two affiliated clubs had requested PLI cover be extended to include Sales Days.

It was agreed to consult the policy documents and the insurance provider to determine what to do.  [Subsequent to the AGM enquiries with the insurer MEAD Sport & Leisure Ltd were made and it was confirmed that the additional cover would mean premiums for all would have to rise. Since the vast majority of our affiliated clubs do not hold sales days this seemed an unfair imposition on them and therefore it was decided to maintain the current level of PLI cover at the same level of premium. However, MEAD Sport & Leisure Ltd are willing to negotiate additional cover with individual clubs who want to hold sales days.

DEFRA Update: Robb Brown reported on the working party he serves on which is concerned primarily with CITES. Since Brexit we are now a “3^rd Country” and are subject to an array of regulations regarding movement of animals to and from the EU. These regulations include registration as a recognised breeder with inspected premises, veterinary certificates, quarantine of animals before and after visits e.g.to shows. They are given in full on the DEFRA website.

In practice this means no participation in the World Show for 2-3 years until a practical simplification of the regulations can be negotiated.

COM-UK report: According to the COM-UK Constitution this is the change-over year (should have been last year but for the pandemic) where the NCA provides 4 delegates and the following officers were elected:

President: Ghalib Al-Nasser    Vice President: Chris Smith 

Treasurer: Robb Brown      Committee Member: Saviour Camilleri

The I.O.A. will provide 3 delegates from whom will be chosen a Vice President, a Secretary and a Committee Member.

Future Meetings: It was agreed that the Annual General Meeting should be face-to-face whenever health regulations allow and the second meeting of the year be held via Zoom for convenience and to save on travel and expense. The Secretary would consult with members of the Management Committee and suggest a date for the next meeting probably in October either on a weekday or on Saturday.

The Chairman thanked everyone for their co-operation and contributions to debate and closed the meeting at 12.10pm.

Further information regarding all NCA activities can be found on the website: www.nca.uk.net

“Fingers Crossed” for The Year Ahead. (Feb 21)

In 2020 The National Council for Aviculture in common with many other organisations was forced by the Coronavirus pandemic to abandon its normal programme of meetings as avian activities at home and abroad were cancelled. 2021 is looking a little more hopeful in that the Government’s vaccination programme is progressing well and by summer a good proportion of the population will have protection from the virus, although social distancing, masks and hand-washing are likely to remain for sometime yet.

Our Annual General Meeting and first management committee meeting which would normally be held in early April has been moved to 8^th May 2021 in order to allow for more members to have been vaccinated and potentially able to attend. Should Government guidelines still not allow physical face-to-face meetings we shall revert to a digital AGM via Zoom. More details to follow nearer the time.

Member organisations will be most concerned about the prospects for meetings, shows and travel to them in the year ahead. The combination of the pandemic and Brexit has made these most uncertain, particularly arrangements for travel and trade abroad.  NCA officers have maintained close contact with DEFRA in order to gather relevant information as soon as it is available. We have representation on one of two DEFRA working parties being set up in February to establish guidelines for future Wildlife Trade Regulations including import and export of birds. We shall have an opportunity here to influence future policy.

Progress on regulations regarding birds, plants and animals moving to and from the EU from the UK has been minimal during the Brexit transition period. The EU Withdrawal Agreement signed by our Government holds the UK subject to EU Law until new regulations reflecting our new status as a “Third Country” can be negotiated and implemented. Thus very  restrictive processes will now apply for importing and exporting birds to the EU including, amongst others, purchase from registered breeders or holdings, quarantine at registered centres, vaccination and health certification, and veterinary inspection. Border control points, accommodation and facilities, documentation, staff and their training to carry out these processes are yet to be decided and provided.

Past  experience teaches us that this will be a slow and thorough process so that the prospects for advancement during 2021 are small. More likely is a period of up to 2 years before things can be settled. The situation regarding travel with birds to shows between the EU including   Ireland and to some extent Northern Ireland and Great Britain remains problematic. This will impact on British exhibitors hoping to attend the World Show and other shows in EU countries.

“Fingers crossed” could well be our motto for the year ahead and we hope that something nearing normal can be anticipated at a national level if not international.

To that end the National Council for Aviculture’s Public Liability Insurance scheme will run again and is due now for renewal. Application forms have been emailed to existing members or you can download an application form from the NCA website (www.nca.uk.net). The cost of NCA subscription and PLI cover remains the same as last year at £60. This covers all your meetings, shows and fundraising events but NOT Sales Days. Further information can be sought from NCA Secretary, Ghalib Al-Nasser, Evenstar, Pinkuah Lane, Pentlow, Essex CO10 7JW. Email: info@nca.uk.net .