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Secretary’s Report 2008
The management Committee met in full, 5 times, since the last AGM. This ensured a fairly busy year for some of your committee members. As you have heard from the various reports read out here tonight, much of the hard graft is done by the committee convenors and their teams. Their efforts make the Secretary’s job just about bearable and for this I would like to thank them very much.
The continued appointment of a second Secretary to service Management Committee meetings certainly frees up valuable time for all the routine work, and once again I would like to thank Malcolm Thomson very much indeed for his support. I sincerely hope that Malcolm will continue to undertake this valuable job for the forthcoming season.
Routine work involved the receipt of around 30 membership applications from visitors using our website form. This still involved a deal of envelope licking but I’m sure that direct on line membership is just around the corner. Grant applications are becoming increasingly complicated and it was great to get a result from both the Council and Orkney Enterprise. Our application for discounted travel from Northlink was also successful and we seem to have established a good relationship with the aforementioned organisation which bodes well for this season.
The application by Scottish Water to increase abstraction from the Loch of Boardhouse certainly kept us busy for most of the year. Fishery scientist, Dr Andy Walker finally released his report in March and this was presented to the OTFA. We continued to express some concerns, and eventually these were addressed by Scottish water, agreement was reached, and we withdrew our objection to the water order.
No sooner had we filed away the correspondence than we found ourselves locking swords with Scottish Water once again. This time it was the long anticipated sale of the Wideford Water Works and reservoir that gathered momentum. Sadly, the OIC, who were offered first refusal, declined to buy back the public asset. This meant that the property would be placed on the open market. We had a successful meeting with Scottish Water’s property agent and things looked ok for a lease agreement for our existing hatchery. However our hopes were dashed when SW had a change of mind and decided that they needed us out of Wideford before they could sell the place as a going concern. They have kindly offered us a building at the old pumping station at Kirbister for a nominal rent, and we are currently entering negotiations and seeking legal advice.
In 2007, OTFA anglers were accused of being victims of our own success. Record competition catches from Harray did not seem to go down very well with some visiting anglers and this prompted a letter from a local hotel owner plus some correspondence in the national angling media. The matter was deliberated at length by our Management Committee - even requiring an extension to out November meeting so that a decision could be made to alleviate concerns. It was eventually decided that there were no real concerns and your Secretary was instructed to write a statement which would be posted on the Association’s website home page. The situation will be closely monitored during the 2008 season and, at the request of the proprietor, no competition weigh-ins this year will be held at the Merkister Hotel.
Various pressures, mainly from my day job direction, have forced me to chuck in the Secretary’s towel for the next wee while, so I wish my successor all the best. I’m not going away anywhere so if anybody wants some help with anything then please give me a shout and I’ll see what I can do. I think the OTFA Management Committee could do with some new blood and certainly some more willing horses. Maybe it is also time to have a good look at our committee structures and see if improvements can be made in this area. There’s certainly plenty of work to keep your new Management Committee busy for the forthcoming year. Tight lines to everyone and lets hope that the 2008 season is as good as last year – can it get any better?
Malcolm Russell, Hon’ Secretary