G’day Members,
Welcome to the April edition of SSAA NSW electronic magazine: What’s On. We trust you had a happy Easter and hope that if you had time off during the public holidays that you had time to go out to a range or go out in the field and enjoy our sport and recreation.
It has been another extremely busy month for SSAA NSW:
- attending Branch AGM’s,
- advocating legal firearms owners during and after the recent NSW State election,
- supporting Branches and Clubs with grant applications,
- working with our auditor to complete the 2022 audit with a positive result,
- working with our Board and executive on important projects including the finalisation of the NSW Board strategic plan,
- assisting Branches with Range development,
- meeting with the NSW Firearms Registry on important matters,
- planning for the upcoming Branch strategic planning day (More about that below)
- attending National titles celebrating our 75th anniversary,
- and so much more.
Recently, was SSAA’s 75th Anniversary which is a remarkable achievement. Our Association no doubt looks very different when it first started all those years ago, but we must extend our greatest thanks to those who had the foresight to establish SSAA, put in an extremely large amount of work and as a result of their herculean effort, has left a lasting legacy for the promotion of the shooting sports.
Some of those founding members are still in SSAA 75 years on. Without them we would not have the sport, Ranges, and the ability to enjoy our sport. A big thank you to them all and you can read about some of these great people and the foundation of SSAA further in this edition.
The culture that our founding members created in 1948 is still with us today right across NSW and indeed Australia, where we find every weekend a large network of volunteers who give their time freely to ensure that our sport is accessible to all. It never ceases to amaze us just how much work goes into the Association by our volunteers and without them we would not exist today.
Two weekends ago saw our executive Lance Miller, Rob Austin, and Scott Wagener along with our CEO Jai Rowell spend the weekend collating the work undertaken by the entire Board regarding the Board strategic plan. There was a lot to do, and your Board are ambitious for the Association’s future. On the Sunday after the work was completed, the Executive and CEO headed out to the Coffs Harbour range to say hello to everyone who was competing at the National Rimfire Benchrest Titles to mark the 75th anniversary of SSAA. The previous weekend Coffs Harbour also hosted the National Centrefire Benchrest Titles.
Lance & Marie proved popular with cooking breakfast for everyone. At the competition was an additional two Board members Danae Jenkins and Alison Worldon. Danae competed in the competition and Alison helped with scoring the event for the approximately 80 competitors.
The National Titles ran like clockwork and everyone had a great time. A big thank you to Branch President Rod Madeley and his team for their huge contribution to marking the 75th anniversary.
It was said on the day that we ride on the shoulders of giants in our organisation. We must never forget the legacy of their hard work, but we too must do our part so that in another 75 years, generations of shooters can continue to enjoy the sport.
Whilst the Board and Management of SSAA NSW is working hard to explore plans for the future, our upcoming Branch strategic planning day with existing and emerging leaders of the Association will be the pinnacle of that work for the future.
While Branch executive Zoom meetings and all forms of communications to our members are feeding back ideas to the Board and keeping our membership informed; the Branch strategic planning day will be the most important membership engagement since our large scale research project was completed in 2018.
As you know we want one executive member from your Branch and one young future leader from your Branch to be your Branch delegates to this strategic planning meeting. These delegates will be presented with a lot of possible pathways for our future along with the requirements to make these pathways successful.
The Board and management have worked hard to develop all the ideas that have come forward from the research, the previous Branch meetings, and from the knowledge of the individual directors. Further to that, the executive has met and has developed a matrix for each possible path that ensures the pathways are able to be funded and will be successful if they become an integral part of the strategic plan.
We will be looking to engage with your delegates soon and will be sending out registration forms. They will receive papers to work on, and questions to answer prior to the big day ensuring the Association is fit for the future.
We are in an extremely good place and have strong foundations to build upon. It is truly a fantastic organisation to be part of and the best days of our Association are yet to come.
Just a reminder in case you have not seen our previous correspondence regarding mandatory attendances, that for longarms, this has been extended to June 30th. This will be the new reporting period moving forward. If you are required to complete attendances and have done them, that is great. Please keep enjoying your sport and there is nothing else that you are required to do. However, for those that couldn’t quite complete all attendances prior to the original reporting date of 31st March, fear not as you now have another couple of months to complete. If you are in this situation, you can now attend your local range and complete the attendances to maintain your firearms licence without penalty.
As part of the 75th anniversary of SSAA, we encourage you all to introduce the sport to a friend or family member and we look forward to seeing you at the range or out in the field.
Lance Miller Jai Rowell
President – SSAA NSW CEO – SSAA NSW
