53^rd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Held on Tuesday 24th February 2026,

Talbot Inn, Stilton, Cambridgeshire.

The Chair for the East Midlands CPSA, Mr Nigel Kingston (NK), opened the meeting at 7-36pm and welcomed the 25 attendees to the AGM, that included Iain Parker (CEO), Clare Alger (CPSA Operations Manager), and John Martin (CPSA Chairman).

Minutes Taken By – Colin Butler.

Apologies for Absence – Mr D Parsons, Mr S Smith, Mr W Evans.

Minutes of the 51st AGM - The minutes of the 52nd AGM were distributed to those present, and it was agreed they were a true record of that meeting.                                             

Proposed – A Clifton, Seconded – J Gunns.

Matters Arising – There were no Matters Arising.

Chairs Annual Report – (Statement in full by Mr N Kingston).

Good Evening everyone and thank you for attending tonight and also a big welcome to Iain & Clare from CPSA HQ, as always we appreciate your attendance. 

Thank you for attending my first AGM as the East Midlands CPSA Chairman. It is remarkable how quickly time passes as it has been just over a year since Janet nominated me for this position, and it is an honour and a privilege I deeply appreciate, especially given her exceptional leadership.

Whilst I recognise that it was always going to be difficult to replicate the outstanding work Janet accomplished, I am grateful for her trust in me to maintain stability within our organisation and I assure you that I will do my utmost to uphold this responsibility.

Thank you to all regional representatives for supporting a smooth transition in 2025. Special thanks to Carl Smith for chairing the December meeting which was the important EM allocation session. Although there were delays on the A14, Carl and the committee ensured the meeting remained productive by maintaining its momentum and this was much appreciated.

I’d like to thank Colin for writing the majority of my Chairman’s reports, and Keith for maintaining the accounts as well as, if not better than, Janet and Paul—if I dare say so!

Despite recent challenges and little positive news in the shooting world, I'm pleased that over 100,000 signatures secured a discussion in the House of Commons on opposing the Section 1 & Section 2 firearms merger, demonstrating what can be achieved through collective effort, and we can only hope for a positive outcome as the proposed move can only be devastating for shooting and the industry in general.

Sadly, we have had to make a few changes in the Regional and Intercounty shoots for the new season. This has been done in mind of continued poor attendances at some of the minor disciplines and another factor some may not have considered is that grounds are increasingly unwilling to host these events as it costs them more than they can hope to get back in terms of entries. It is a decision not taken lightly but we must be mindful of falling attendances across most disciplines not just in the region but across the country, and whilst we are stable currently in terms of finances If we carry on with the current trajectory we could find ourselves in a much worse position for future seasons.

We are sure that this decision will not please everyone, but we hope people can understand why these measures have been taken. We did consider increasing levies to compensate the short fall, but we are reluctant currently to increase the costs to shooters as we feel this could only make the situation worse.

Rest assured though, we will revisit this at the end of the year in our Annual Review.

We have therefore decided as a committee to drop the following disciplines, Handicap by Distance, Olympic Skeet, Olympic Trap, Universal Trench and Double Rise for 2026 and this will save us the cost of 20 medals from disciplines that have been very poorly attended, and it has become increasingly more difficult to justify holding these events with the medals costing more than the levy income.

Regarding the Intercounties team sizes, to try and encourage more counties to participate in the Intercounty competitions, we have made the following changes.

IC Sporting – To remain at 8 shooters with 6 to count in Seniors.

IC Sport Trap – To remain at 8 shooters with 6 to count, (this discipline only consists of a single team made up from any category and is not included in the Directors Trophy).

IC DTL – To be reduced to 7 shooters with 5 to count in Seniors.

IC All Round – To be reduced to 7 shooters with 5 to count in Seniors.

IC Skeet – To be reduced to 7 shooters with 5 to count in Seniors.

IC FITASC – To be reduced to 5 shooters with 3 to count in Seniors.

IC ABT – To be reduced to 5 shooters with 3 to count in Seniors.

In all the IC shoots included in the Directors Trophy, the makeup of the Vets, ladies, and Juniors will remain the same with 4 shooters possible in each category with two scores to count, and I would be grateful if you make your team Managers aware of these changes for the new season.

Sadly, Colin has shared some disappointing news with me last week that he will be stepping down as Secretary at the end of the year, and we will need to find someone new for the role. His departure leaves big shoes to fill, as he has managed this major responsibility exceptionally well for almost 20 years. When Colin took over from the previous Secretary Stan Smith, he worried he might struggle to match Stan’s performance, but I think we can all agree that he has done an outstanding job.

Finally, many thanks to all shooters, referees, and hosting grounds for supporting East Midlands events in 2025.

We look forward to the new season of 2026.

Treasurers Report & Adoption of Balance Sheet – Mr Keith Alibone (KA) gave his Annual Report on the state of finance going into the new season.

KA reported an operating loss over the season of £671.21, and without the £2,500 Regional Grant we would have made a substantial loss. KA also pointed out a 21% decline in levies with entries dropping in most disciplines, giving the region the lowest attendance level for several years. Also mentioned were that medal and glassware prices are the same as last year, that has given us some relief from escalating costs. We do have one outstanding expense for the engraving of trophies for 2025. There were no questions to the Treasurer.

East Midlands CPSA Bank Balance at year end - £10,044- 97.

Adoption of Balance Sheet – Proposed A Clifton Seconded C Smith.

Minutes Silence in respect of Deceased Members.

The Secretary Mr C Butler (CB) read the following list of regional members that had passed away since the last AGM and called for a minute’s silence in respect of their memory.

Mr	R	Coulson	Leicestershire	01/06/1943
Mr	PA	Maguire	Cambridgeshire	11/12/1942
Mr	M	Chatterton	Nottinghamshire	22/10/1941
Mr	SJ	Knowles	Lincolnshire	18/02/1949
Mr	A	Firth	Lincolnshire	07/01/1956
Mr	GN	Chenery	Suffolk	26/07/1947
Mr	R	Hemp	Suffolk	08/01/1948
Mr	A	Howes	Norfolk	09/10/1953
Mr	MJ	Davison	Norfolk	20/05/1949
Mr	M	Gammon	Suffolk	17/10/1940
Mr	RN	Kirkham	Norfolk	19/01/1943
Mr	M	Baisden	Leicestershire	05/03/1963
Mr	M	Cooper	Nottinghamshire	18/04/1939
Mr	S	Eagling	Norfolk	21/11/1966
Mr	N	Mann	Northamptonshire	31/01/1949
Mr	P	Wallane	Northamptonshire	21/01/1951
Mr	EI	Packwood	Lincolnshire	25/12/1948
Mr	AG	Grant	Northamptonshire	30/01/1958
Mr	M	Chapman	Cambridgeshire	23/04/1978

 

Ratification of Regional Representatives – The following have been declared as County Reps for 2026.

Bedfordshire – A. Clifton and W. Evans.

Cambridgeshire – T. Jones and J. Jones.

Leicestershire & Rutland – J. Wroughton and TBA.

Lincolnshire – D. Jenkin and M. Allen.

Norfolk – C Fisher and J Gunns.

Northants – C. Butler and K. Alibone.

Nottinghamshire – C. Smith and J. Martin.

Suffolk – N. Kingston and A. Cook.

Election of Regional Officers – The Chairman passed control of the meeting to the Regional Secretary who thanked NK in what was a difficult year of transition that involved making some tough but essential decisions to ensure the stability of the East Midlands CPSA going forward. CB also thanked Mrs J Stennett for the smooth transition of power and her continued help and advice to the region.

CB further commented that his decision to do just one more year was a tough one, but with around 20 years under his belt he felt it was the right time to go, and he hoped he had left a legacy for someone else to improve on. He commented that he had shot just once competitively in the last 12 years, but added he finished joint 1^st in the British Open Skeet in class after not picking up a gun in 8 years.

He went on to say he had made some lifelong friends in clay shooting and he will miss the camaraderie and banter of an East Midlands shoot but will look back with a sense of pride at what he and the East Midlands CPSA had achieved.

CB stated that his wife was to retire in the summer, and he wanted to do a few things in life without having to take his PC on holiday so as to be able to update the EM website despite being on the other side of the world.

CB closed by calling on nominations for the following posts of office.

Regional Chair – Nigel Kingston – Prop A Clifton, Sec J Stennett.

Vice Chair – Carl Smith – Prop J Stennett, Sec P Stennett.

Treasurer – Keith Alibone – Prop A Clifton, Sec J Wroughton.

Regional Secretary – Colin Butler – Prop N Kingston, Sec C Smith.

There were no other nominations.

Annual Address from Mr Iain Parker (CEO) – Mr Parker opened his report by thanking the region for inviting him to the AGM and praised all volunteers who without their help and assistance the CPSA could not function.

Mr Parker reported that despite the cost of shooting in general, new legislation, and licensing difficulties, the National Membership is still only down by around 300 on last year and compared to some organisations who are reporting a much bigger decline, it could almost be described as a win. He further reported a 17% decline in shotgun licenses held dropping from around 1 million in the late 80’s to currently less than half a million.

Despite that over 12 million competition clays had been thrown last season which was an increase on the previous year and CPSA continue to be well supported with most events being sold out.

CPSA courses are also well patronised, and these are critical to the development and growth of the association and encouraging new shooters to come into the sport.

With constabularies being amalgamated and reduced in number it is hoped that a central licensing centre can be created to specialise and prioritise licensing as its is currently struggling to provide an efficient service to shooters.

THE CPSA are mindful with the impending ban on lead noise issues could become a problem, with 28g steel loads considerably louder than 28g lead, so it might have to be a case of re-educating shooters or dispelling myths regarding lighter loads and with this in mind the CPSA intends to install have-a-go stands at major shoots so as to show shooters targets can still be broken easily using 24g loads. The expected transition to steel or substitute loads will take place possibly in the summer of 2029.

The only region in the country to showed improved membership was the East Midlands although the increase is only by 0.7%. The British Shooting Show continues to be a big success for the CPSA and signing on new members at this event is on the increase.

Major sponsors continue to come online, and existing ones all renewing and although Browning are the headline sponsors and have previously been exclusive to majors, the CPSA has now opened up events to allow 5 or 6 other gun manufacturers to be present.

Mr Parker reported that discussions had started at parliamentary level following the 100,000 strong petition regarding the proposed amalgamation of section 1 & 2 firearms and was pleased to say all areas of shooting were showing a united front and the direction they are taking at the moment is any change could be a bad thing for sitting MP’s and the government at the time, creating fear that such a radical change could be a real vote loser at elections and to further create fear amongst the policy makers lobbyists will be employed next month to add further fuel to the fire. Whilst Mr Parker felt the joining of Sections 1 & 2 would be an absolute disaster for everyone involved in shooting, he did feel we were in a better place than we were this time last year.

The East Midlands CPSA Annual Awards – Presented by Mr Iain Parker.

Services to the Region – Peter Mayhew (Suffolk), Brett Aisthorpe (Lincs)

Shooter of the Year – Phil Gray (Cambridgeshire)

Chairmans Award – Keith Alibone (Northants)

Directors Trophy – Norfolk received by Norfolk Chair Jason Gunns.

Any Other Business – None.

There being no further business the chair Mr N Kingston thanked everyone for their attendance and wished all a safe journey home and a good year’s competition.

The meeting closed at 8-42pm.