I also show below a report on the proposed merger of the BCRA and NCA .

Plus details of the NCA training committee and potential grants for training

Mike
www.moorebooks.co.uk
[log in to unmask]



>

>
> National Caving Association (NCA) Training Committee
>
> The Training Committee has been a bit disorganised over the past year but
a
> new Training Co-ordinator has now stepped in and it seems probable that
> matters will now improve. I have felt for some time that NAMHO should have
a
> voice at the Training Committee and have taken the change as a good
> opportunity to get involved.
>
> It is probably worth explaining that the bulk of the money granted to NCA,
> by UK Sport and Sports England, is specifically for 'professional'
training
> - i.e. supporting the Local Cave/Mine Leader Assessment (LCMLA) scheme and
> the Cave Instructor Certificate (CIC) scheme. These sports bodies will not
> directly support 'recreational' or non-sporting activities (for
information,
> there is separate funding in support of expeditions). Most of this money
is
> spent on employment (part time) of persons involved in administrating the
> above schemes. Individuals participating in these 'professional' training
> schemes pay a fee and part of each fee is taken to support other
activities
> of NCA - the sports councils understand and agree with this approach. The
> fees raised via the LCMLA and CIC schemes are mainly used in support of
> 'Conservation & Access' and in supporting 'recreational' training.
>
> The training committee agreed a programme for developing and supporting
the
> LCMLA scheme (a new handbook has just been produced) and progress in a
> similar manner for the CIC scheme. Some grants in support of
'recreational'
> training were also agreed. One item that is currently being given
particular
> support is assisting caving bodies within the university system -
university
> clubs have recently come under multiple pressures of regulation of their
> activities and approaches such as Manchester who have decided only to
> support competitive sports. There was also an item on discussions with the
> Scout Organisation. The meeting recognised that university societies and
> scout groups were one of the main sources of new entrants to the sport of
> caving.
>
> There is potentially money available for support of mining related
training
> but it should be recognised that this would only ever be part funding and
> application should be well in advance - funds for 2003 are now generally
> 'earmarked'. Also, see later, future funding will probably be limited to
> those in membership of the new national body.
>
> NCA Council Meeting
>
> The regular council meeting was mainly devoted to discussion of the
proposed
> new national body.
>
> To recap, there has potentially been confusion with both NCA and the
British
> Cave Research Association (BCRA) fulfilling roles that might be considered
> appropriate to a national body. The proposal is to clarify this with
> creation of a 'one-stop-shop' formed from both NCA and BCRA. There has
been
> a small joint NCA/BCRA group (called the 'hub') working on this proposal
and
> the latest thoughts on this was the main item of the discussion.
>
> The latest thoughts are that the new body will be called the British
Caving
> Association (BCA) and a domain name has already been set-up - in the near
> future, the current working document will appear on
> www.british-caving.org.uk <http://www.british-caving.org.uk>  - it was
> agreed that it was best to get this document on the web asap, rather than
> wait to get it in a better format. A copy of this document is also
attached
> to this e-mail.
>
> Introducing individual membership and provision of insurance is central to
> the proposals - the insurance implications have been outlined already.
>
> At the moment, the regional caving councils, BCRA, NAMHO and other special
> interest groups are considered as 'Constituent Bodies' of NCA. In the
> proposed structure, membership of the regional caving councils and/or BCRA
> would only be via membership of the new BCA - members tithing part of
their
> membership to one of these groups or opting to pay more and have
membership
> of more than one of these bodies.
>
> Although it is proposed that NAMHO continue as a Constituent Body, I feel
> that this would potentially be a slightly lesser status than the regional
> caving councils or BCRA - no body else has suggested this and I do not
think
> it is a major concern.
>
> Progress to a new national body is outlined in the proposal but it is
> probably worth emphasising that the proposal will be put to the NCA AGM
(in
> March) and, as is the democratic manner of NCA, this will then go to a
> ballot of all member clubs. The proposal can not be progressed further
until
> accepted by BCRA at its AGM (to be held at Hidden Earth in October 2003) -
> if agreed, NCA would wind itself up shortly after and BCA be created. As
the
> insurance year starts in October, the timing presents some problems and
> insurance may initially be via some shadow body. Insurance from October
2003
> onwards is being investigated by Nick Williams (and someone else) but not
as
> part of BCRA.
>
> Steve
>


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