CPSA Help?

[Stimo22]

So as a small clay club we got asked to have a table at the village hall event “meet the clubs”. This included bowls, cricket, football, bell ringers etc so we looked round for some information to display. As a member of CPSA I emailed them and asked if I could copy some photos and data from the website to show on a laptop. As expected no reply to that, so tried the face book page with same requests, this time at least got an acknowledgment and they said they would reply but again nothing. So we have had the event and it when well, even got some rabbit shooting from it. But really do organisations like CPSA do anything other that send out membership requests. It was a simple matter that would have taken a matter of minutes to say yes or no. 

[Wylye]

Maybe your county CPSA would have been a better bet. At least they are local and if they are on the ball would have jumped at the opportunity to help. But its done now so maybe next year?

[Westley]

I ran a shooting ground for some 17 years. We were affiliated to the CPSA for some of that time. The other guy that I ran the club with and myself became the 'Merseyside Reps' for the CPSA. This involved driving to Harrogate once a month, to attend the Regional meeting, in all weather's, then getting home around 1.00am. We also 'inspected' a couple of sites in Merseyside that wanted approval for holding clay shoots. After around 5 years of this we asked ourselves what the hell we were doing ? We received absolutely no renumeration for any of this and apart from an 'invigorating read' of a free magazine (🙄) The CPSA offered us ......NOTHING. We withdrew our 'affiliation and our individual memberships after completing their Instructor course and I have never really missed them. If you don't shoot registered shoots, I see no reason to use them for anything. You certainly will not get any assistance unless they see something in it for them  !

Edited April 19, 2023 by Westley

[Scully]

A CPSA rep’ once tried to convince me that I couldn’t shoot clays unless I was a member, and he wasn’t referring to registered comps’, he meant ANY clays at any ground! 🙂

[HantsRob]

15 hours ago, Westley said:

I see no reason to use them for anything.

If you can get a discount code it makes their insurance well priced. 
I do have their membership however as I've tried some registered shooting I found out on the basic clubman membership it won't track your scores etc but they'll happily let you enter comps and pay a premium for it. 

I am certainly not good enough for registered so I'll probably look at alternative insurance when it's due to renew unless it proves to be the best price next time. 

[Scully]

25 minutes ago, HantsRob said:

If you can get a discount code it makes their insurance well priced. 
I do have their membership however as I've tried some registered shooting I found out on the basic clubman membership it won't track your scores etc but they'll happily let you enter comps and pay a premium for it. 

I am certainly not good enough for registered so I'll probably look at alternative insurance when it's due to renew unless it proves to be the best price next time. 

Ditto. I was a Clubman member for quite a few years, having no interest at all in registered shoots….I was never that good anyhow, so I too moved on. 

[Westley]

Even though we were 'affiliated ' to the CPSA, both the other guy and myself were individual FULL members too. That gave us Insurance to cover our Instructor activities. As an Individual, trying to get sufficient Insurance to cover Instructional work was quite expensive making the Individual membership worthwhile. When I dropped out of the CPSA, I was already a Life Member of BASC. I had been an Instructor for some 6 years at that time, so I offered my services as a Volunteer to BASC, doing their Young Shots days ( we had already done 2 at our shooting ground). They then wanted me to do THEIR Instructors course, at my expense, to VOLUNTEER my services. I declined  !

[HantsRob]

On 20/04/2023 at 08:56, Westley said:

Even though we were 'affiliated ' to the CPSA, both the other guy and myself were individual FULL members too. That gave us Insurance to cover our Instructor activities. As an Individual, trying to get sufficient Insurance to cover Instructional work was quite expensive making the Individual membership worthwhile. When I dropped out of the CPSA, I was already a Life Member of BASC. I had been an Instructor for some 6 years at that time, so I offered my services as a Volunteer to BASC, doing their Young Shots days ( we had already done 2 at our shooting ground). They then wanted me to do THEIR Instructors course, at my expense, to VOLUNTEER my services. I declined  !

I had offered a quid pro quo arrangement to BASC where if they put me on an instructors course I'd happily repay in labour with what I had learned to cover the costs so it was free to both. They did not pursue that which seemed a little odd as I had heard many "train the trainer" instructors did it for free. 

On 20/04/2023 at 08:18, Scully said:

Ditto. I was a Clubman member for quite a few years, having no interest at all in registered shoots….I was never that good anyhow, so I too moved on. 

Did you move on to cheaper insurance? Or move to BASC due to shooting live quarry?

I'm a little torn as to who to renew with later this year, with cost being a primary concern and then NGO would trump BASC only because I like the ethos more, it is not a BASC bash.

[Westley]

A few people I know have moved to NGO, in particular due to their stance o  the steel shot debacle.

[Wylye]

If you run a shooting ground and wish to tap into the CPSA membership (currently 22,500) then you hold registered shoots. You are then part of the infrastructure of grounds who treat clayshooting in a very different way to affiliated grounds or those who just gather together on a Sunday before going home for lunch. Scores are recorded, and it's the only way to progress to shooting for your county to then eventually shooting for your country. If you don't wish to be part of this then perhaps the CPSA is not for you.