An Open Letter To The IFFF Bod and CBoG

What the hell are you doing letting this situation get so out of hand. It has gone way beyond the excluding of two CBoGs by bypassing the rules laid out to deal with such alleged infractions. Not only are the management of the IFFF and the CICP seen to be mishandling the whole affair they are now seen to be manipulating and altering the rules to avoid being held to account. The Ethics Committee, which should have dealt with the case in the first place, is now totally compromised and cannot be seen as an independent arbiter because some of its members are involved in the decision to bypass the Ethics Committee and to allow the matter to be dealt with by the Chair of the BoD. Mark Surtees has written a letter of censure of the Chairs of both the BoG and the CBoG, a letter by the way I whole heartedly endorse,  and it now appears that they are trying to (or are going to) create a new set of rules so that this letter can be ignored. Many of us feel this is an utterly repugnant, not to say cowardly, attempt to sweep the whole sorry saga under the carpet.

The CICP was brought under the umbrella of the FFF to use the good reputation and organisation of the FFF to further its cause. The creation of an unelected Casting Board of Goveners overseen by the Board of Goveners of the FFF may have been expedient at the time but times move on and we are now the IFFF with a significant number of international instructor members, many of  whom are starting to resent being governed by a group of people we never elected, and, in a lot of cases, don’t even know, that offer us absolutely no representation. In this day and age how can this be?

I always thought the FFF was an inclusive organisation. I now discover that incusivity does not extend to the management. It turns out it’s a very excluse club that is desperate to cling on to power.

Well, it bloody well should be inclusive. Time for a clear out.

Post script;

I have just heard that the vote went against hearing Marks letter of censure. How bloody appalling is that. Mel Kreiger was right, you’re a bunch of cowards. I bet he is spinning in his grave right now.

 

AAPGIA Days Are Here Again

No, don’t read anything into the title, it just popped into my head along with the song ‘Happy days are here again’. The fact that I have just spent a happy weekend with the AAPGIA boys in Caer Beris is purely co-incidental. Wales in the Autumn is beautiful, a shame that I drove through most of it in the dark yesterday morning but I had an eyeful of the autumnal colours on the way home this afternoon. I was even witness to an avenue of trees deciding that that was the moment to shed all their leaves at the same moment and I drove through a blizzard of gently falling leaves. There wasn’t even a breath of wind either.

It goes without saying that I enjoyed myself. I always do when I get together with other people who share the same passion as me. It’s also a bit humbling to realise that I still have a mountain to climb to reach the standards of casting I saw on display. I wasn’t going to mention names but one little 15 minute demo on presentation casts by Gary Champion just left me in total awe, fuck, how did he do that? I have got to learn that stuff.

Now, you and I know I don’t often mix casting with water. I mean, what are cricket fields for if not to cast in? I can do all sorts of fancy casts on grass but add water, and running water at that, and you have a recipe for humiliation. I was graped. There were a bunch of them lined up for their turn to (sometimes) kick me into shape. Luckily I had waders on and they didn’t so I could retreat from the onslaught of advice I was receiving by going out into the river. Not that it stopped them. ‘Lift it higher”, ”pause then sweep”, ”you dipped”, ” relax your hand”, ”you’re using the wrist again”. Out of all this I will take the bits than worked and get rid of the bits that don’t and I will nail that bloody cast. ‘Kin water, how ironic that it is not only the stuff my prey live in I work with the damn stuff as well. It was also illuminating to be on the receiving end of instruction rather than giving it. Food for thought all round.

One of the outcomes of all this is that those of you who are going to join the group I am forming are in for a bloody treat. I have had several offers of help from both AAPGIA and GIAC instructors and you would be mad not to take advantage of the opportunities that this will provide. Not only will those of us already certified learn a huge amount those of you preparing for certification could end up as the best prepared candidates this country has seen for ages. I have to say I am getting quite excited by the prospect.

Special well done to Bernd Ziesche on passing his AAPGIA Masters and to all the other candidates who passed their assessments.

Oh, and a big, big thank you to all who made me so welcome this weekend.

Right, back to work. Lift, pause, sweep, circle up/plant the anchor, pause/ deliver. Can you name that cast yet?