Dear Members,
Thank you for your continued support and membership of the River Kelvin Angling Association.
Over the past 16 years, the current volunteer administration has worked hard to bring about significant improvements to our waters. We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved during this time, including:
- A Thriving Trout Population: We campaigned early on for a no-kill/no-stocking policy. Today, we have a very healthy ecosystem where specimen trout are caught every season.
- Environmental Stewardship: We regularly liaise with SEPA regarding pollution incidents and collaborate with the Clyde River Foundation to monitor fly life, as well as trout and salmon stocks.
- Active Governance: We organized clean-up days, successfully amended association rules (as voted by you), strictly enforced those rules to protect our waters, and always aimed to keep lines of communication open with our members.
- Membership: We implemented a new membership system whereby we retained the whole of the membership money instead of paying a commission to shops that sold them. We also organised opening day ceremonies which have sadly not taken place in the last few years.
However, as you may have noticed from the lack of Annual General Meetings recently, things have slowed down. While this pause began during the COVID-19 pandemic, the reality is that the association is currently being kept afloat by just two people: Paul Reid and myself.
Paul handles the heavy lifting of issuing permits and negotiating our annual lease, while I manage member inquiries and run the website. Balancing these duties alongside full-time jobs, young families, and navigating some recent health challenges has made it incredibly difficult to keep the momentum going.
While we could continue to simply “trundle along” in this reduced capacity, we don’t believe that does justice to the association or its members. To secure the future of the RKAA, it is time to bring in fresh energy.
We are actively seeking expressions of interest from members for the following roles:
- Chairman
- Vice Chairman
- Treasurer
- General Committee Members
Please be assured that stepping up does not mean stepping into the unknown. Both Paul and I will remain on the committee to provide full support, guidance, and a smooth handover to the new volunteers.
Once we have received enough expressions of interest, our plan is to call an AGM so the membership can formally vote in the new committee.
If you care about the future of the river and are willing to volunteer some of your time, please get in touch via the Contact Us page on our website. Please ensure you include your permit number in your message as only current members can put themselves forward.
Thank you again for your time and your dedication to the river.
Warm regards,
Alistair