Secretaries Page

Secretaries Update 22nd April 2020

In these troubled times I trust you are all staying safe and well. As you will all appreciate shooting is sadly not a form of exercise and cannot be a valid reason for leaving your home so I am rather troubled by the reports of someone shooting on Wednesday 14th April.

The earlier advice from me given on the 18th March regarding use of the range was given before we entered into the lockdown phase on the 23rd March and so it was superseded by the current Govt. restrictions on our movement put into place on the 23rd March. However to make things clear:

THE RANGE IS CLOSED AND WILL NOT BE USED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

On a personal level I have already had one shooting friend from another club die from Covid19 and two others have been hospitalised. I so do not want to hear about any others. My chum who died was not that old and did not have underlying conditions. Please stay at home and do not go shooting.

Critical maintenance work is still being carried out as and when needed and security checks are taking place but that is all that should be happening. I hope that this situation will soon be resolved as and when our lockdown restrictions are eased. It is also quite likely that we will return to shooting in a phased way. For example instructing a novice shooter requires a very close supervision to take place and I cannot envisage this will be appropriate immediately after the lifting of lockdown. Likewise we will also have to think about our social distancing with our organised shoots and just what is practical for us to be able to achieve. For example an RO closely following a shooter with a shot timer will not be a good idea. So please keep an eye on the club website for updates as to how the club will open up and operate in a post lockdown environment.

AGM News: At the last committee meeting we chose to set a May date for this year’s club AGM and it is now clear that this will not be able to take place until rather later in the year. The principle question that will be raised at this year’s AGM as and when we do get to hold it will be a vote on the conversion of the club from a private members club to a not for profit limited company, a position that will reduce the members potential liabilities considerably.

Sound complaints: After well over a decade of receiving no complaints about our shooting we have received two from our neighbours and given the nature of the complaints we have notified Hampshire Police as we are obliged to do. In light of this once we are able to shoot again please give some thought about what you are shooting. Do you really need to use factory .357 Mag when a .38 Spl load would do the job just as well?

Committee Meeting: The next committee meeting of the club is due to take place on the 18th May and is obviously cancelled given the current situation. As soon as conditions allow I will advise all committee members by email of the new date.

In the meantime I wish you all well and trust you stay safe.

Rod Philpott
Hon. Secretary HPRPC

Contact the club secretary by email