Dear Members,
Firstly, may I thank you all for choosing me to Chair the UKPSA in 2024.
We are happy to announce that the majority of Council roles have now been filled. We have been in the enviable position of having multiple candidates for some key roles, this has inevitably made deciding between several excellent volunteers very difficult, so we would like to publicly thank everyone who volunteered whether they were successful or not. We have a challenging year ahead with many projects in the pipeline, but I am confident your Executive have chosen an excellent group of people to serve on Council who all come with lots of talent and enthusiasm.
I want every member of the UKPSA to put aside their differences, support Council and get back to shooting matches and having fun. No venue should be off limits and we are committed to help all our affiliated clubs either financially or with expertise succeed in 2024.
Given the whole of this year’s Executive Council is new, we decided we did need some continuity. With this in mind Andy Williams our outgoing Chair agreed to accept a Vice President role. Andy has served Council for several years in different roles including Secretary for three years, so his experience and expertise is invaluable. Andy has also agreed to help finish off the vital work of re-writing our constitution to ensure it is not only fit for purpose but meets our obligations as a Charity.
Most of you are unaware of how much work Richard Clifton achieved in his one short year as Regional Director. He was involved in drafting a new National Squad Policy with our NSD’s. He was working on Range Construction Guidance and the IPSC President had expressed a desire for the UKPSA to take the lead on this for IPSC. He was working closely with the NSRA for the last year in agreeing a coordinated approach to range certification, as part of the actual root cause of our low match numbers is a lack of suitable venues.
Richard was also liaising with the UAE Regional Director regarding progress of IPSC in that region with a view to facilitating training and match opportunities for GB members in Abu Dhabi & Dubai. He was also liaising with IPSC as it begins to roll out its WADA drug testing programme, vital if we are to gain Olympic status in the future. Some of you may be aware the new IROA ESS scoring system is currently being rolled out and he had been arranging for the UKPSA to purchase this kit and obtain training material to roll it out to matches in GB. He had taken an active role with the BSSC (British Shooting Sports Council) and was building bridges with many other Shooting organisations, the Military and Police Forces. With this in mind we have managed to persuade him to also stay on as a Vice President to facilitate the handover of these projects and many others to Kevin, Michael and myself for which we are very grateful.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every member of Council, Range Officer, Match Director, Range Master and Instructor for continuing to help the IPSC and specifically UKPSA go from strength to strength, we could not continue our sport without them, remember we are all volunteers!
A copy of the complete Council organigramme with those positions which have been allotted is attached and we will keep you all informed as the remaining posts are filled.
We are always looking for willing volunteers, so if you feel you would like to get more involved in your association please contact Aryan or myself in the first instance at contact@ukpsa.org
You can find out more about the current council structure and any available positions here.
DILIGENTIA VIS CELERITAS
Clive Gamlin
Chair
