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0001 22 May 2020 17:10:20: Posted by GAVIN HARRIS from SALDC SECRETARY,
Sires Produce Update - race is scheduled for Terang (Vic) 530km SE of Adelaide for Sunday 13th September, if border restrictions are still in place at that time the race will be from Allendale East (SA). Prepaid nominations for the Sires Produce Race now close on Friday 19th June, which is the hampering night of the first race. Strictly No nominations will be accepted after that date. It is $50 per bird, maximum of 8 birds per breeder, if you nominate 8 birds you get 1 for free, so you only pay $350. Please refer to the TAB labelled SIRES PRODUCE on the sahpa home screen, on that screen you will find links to the rules and regulations plus a link to the Nomination form. We would prefer participants to pay by Bank Direct Deposit, the SALDC bank account details are on the nomination form. If you pay by cheque or money order, please make sure it gets to the address on the form before Friday or send it up to the SAHPA Hall on Friday 19th in an envelope marked Attention : Gavin Harris. Nomination forms can be posted or emailed. Last year $22,650 paid out in prize money. Last years winner $9,200, split $5520 to flyer and $3680 to breeder, 2nd $5000, split $3000 to flyer and $2000 to breeder, 3rd $2,500 split $1500 to flyer and $1000 to breeder. We paid out 14 prizes plus prizes to best interstate and country birds. You have to be in it to win it !!
0002 18 May 2020 18:36:47: Posted by GAVIN HARRIS from SAHPA CHAIRPERSON,
SAHPA Training programs are now available by clicking on Points/Programs button and then clicking on Programs, you will find documents for 020 Tossing Ford and 2020 Tossing Mazda. Please note the training starts Sunday 24th May. The Pick up points and times are the same as last year. We have added 3 weeks of South East tossing in July from Langhorne Creek and Milang. This tossing will be done by Don using the Ford unit and will be done on Mondays 13th, 20th and 27th July. Birds can be loaded Sunday night between 7pm and 8pm at SAHPA Hall. Please get behind this initiative, If these tosses are popular we will schedule more.
0003 15 May 2020 18:42:45: Posted by GAVIN HARRIS from SAHPA CHAIRPERSON,
SAHPA Committee of Management (COM) met on Tuesday 12th May and agreed to proceed with our original plan to start up Training units on Sunday 24th May and Racing to start on Saturday 20th June. We have kept the same race points but have added in 2 extra double header weekends where one unit will go North, the other unit South East. We want to try and get the North races in as early as possible to avoid the hotter weather. Marla is scheduled for 19th Sept which can have warm days, the COM will do everything we can to make sure we have the Marla event, be prepared, it may mean we have to race on a weekday rather than a weekend if the weather pattern is better than the weekend. As of today South Australia has no active Covid-19 cases. Since 23rd April (last 22 days) we have only had 1 positive test, which was a person who contracted it 6 weeks earlier from overseas and had been self isolating and only had mild symptoms but lost his sense of taste and smell, so he got tested. Our state testing rate until yesterday was the highest in Australia 43,244 per million, Vic now 46,676, NSW 42,602, QLD 29,050, WA 24,043. All Club Secretaries have been sent the new Race Program and a SAHPA Covid-19 Safety Plan. These documents can be found on the SAHPA home page, the safety plan is labelled Covid-19 procedures. The Safety plan outlines the SA Govt Easing of Restrictions in stages 1 (11th May) stage 2 (8th June), it explains the recommended procedures for Training Units, Club Hampering and SAHPA Hall loading. Please make yourself familiar with these procedures so we can keep our members, their families and the community safe. We will update the safety plan as the Govt make more announcements. We are open to and feedback to improve this safety plan. The COM also decided to re-adopt the Prepaid Scheme as we had feed back from members that they would prefer it over the pay as you go scheme. The other advantages are we do not have to handle money each week and we were conscious that on weekends where there are double headers, it would be hard for members to find the nomination money for two races. If the season is suspended due to a covid-19 outbreak we will refund a portion of the prepaid amount. When you load birds on the Training Units, please make sure no more than 10 people are at the unit, park your car 50m from the loading and wait until other members move off. We will not take payment on the day, we will just record flyer name, number of birds and $ amount, each month the General Secretary or Treasurer will issue an invoice to each club showing how much each of their members owe and then the member will pay club and the club will pay the SAHPA the total for their club members. We will have a Hand Sanitiser Pump on the bonnet for members to use after they load their birds. Please see full document for all the procedures to be followed.
0004 01 May 2020 17:20:13: Posted by GAVIN HARRIS from SAHPA CHAIRPERSON,
SAHPA Committee of Management (COM) meeting scheduled for Tuesday 5th May has been moved back a week to Tuesday 12th May. On Friday 8th May the National Cabinet will be making major announcements about opening more activities and we will have a better understanding whether pigeon racing can start as per our planned date of 20th June, with SAHPA Training Units operational from 24th May. At the time of writing this post, SA has had 9 consecutive days without any new cases of COVID-19, We only have 12 active cases, where only 3 of them are in hospital and no-one in ICU. SA is leading Australia in the number of covid-19 tests per capita, at 33,402 tests per million people, the next best state is NSW at 27,973 per million, with VIC at 18,659 and WA 15,587 per million. Australia has managed the pandemic very well but there is always a risk of a second wave, but if we continue to quarantine new arrivals into the country it might be manageable for a limited reopen. Sporting organisations like ours will need to prepare and publish a COVID-19 Safety Plan which the committee will work on after the Government announcements. I am optimistic that the season will start as per our plans on 20th June, so have your pigeons ready for the season ahead. COM will work on revised race dates for each race and we remain hopeful that by the time we need to race over the border, the SA Border will be reopened for people coming in from interstate or we will seek special approval.
0005 15 Apr 2020 16:12:16: Posted by GAVIN HARRIS from SAHPA CHAIRPERSON,
SAHPA Committee of Management (COM) met via a Zoom conference last night 14th April, 2020. Our plan remains the same to start Training Units on Sunday 24th May, first race 20th June. Obviously this is subject to Government Rules applicable at that time, we meet again on 5th May, 2020 and we should be in a better position to make decisions if Governments and Councils make further announcements on relaxing some of the restrictions otherwise we will further delay these dates at that time. The COM indicated that they are committed to maintaining the same lines of flight for this season and if there are still restrictions on interstate travel we would have similar race points on the South East as we did in 2016 (rotavirus season) where we raced Mount Gambier and Allendale East. By September SA may lift some of the border restrictions. We also agreed that we would not have a prepaid scheme this year and would revert to similar price per bird each race as we did in 2016. The short races were $1.60, middle distance $1.80, long distance Coober Pedy $2.40 and Marla $3.50 per bird. I am very pleased to announce that 153 full members and 7 affiliates have paid their capitation fees. We appreciate the support that these members have shown our Association and if we do not get to have a race season we will refund a portion of these capitation fees after our fixed costs for running the association are paid. The Annual General Meeting has been temporarily deferred while Government restrictions are in place, we will announce a new date once we know more. The SA Long Distance club Management Committee will need to meet to discuss the closing date for the Sires Produce prepaid nominations, at this stage my recommendation will be to defer the closing date for nominations to a date closer to the start of the season once Government has made more announcements. The SAHPA Lines of Flight meeting which is due for June 2020 was discussed by COM and we plan to hold that meeting 3 to 4 weeks after the SAHPA Annual General Meeting, our constitution does not allow for a postal voting system so we will have to wait until holding a gathering of more than 10 people is legal. In regards to training your pigeons, in SA we do not have the same legal restrictions as applied in the other states about essential travel. However we do recommend that if you are conducting road training of your birds, that you do it on your own, not travelling with friends or other participants. We do want clubs to investigate avoiding the handling of cash. We want all clubs to pay SAHPA via Bank Transfer each week rather than sending cash to SAHPA Secretary. We also recommend club secretaries look at setting up Bank accounts so members can pay weekly nominations direct into club bank accounts. The SAHPA Treasurer will also investigate the set up of a Credit Card Reader for each club, if the SQUARE device available from Office Works can easily be paired to a mobile phone in each club, the SAHPA COM would consider buying a device and provide training for each club so they could have credit/debit card swipe facility. We are also reviewing options to avoid handling cash at our Training Units. Other considerations is a thermometer gun for use at SAHPA Hall and members using masks and safe distancing procedures at their club rooms.
0006 24 Mar 2020 21:31:00: Posted by GAVIN HARRIS from SAHPA CHAIRPERSON,
Coronavirus Update - The SAHPA Committee of Management has met via a zoom and phone hookup and resolved to postpone by 4 weeks, that is the start of training to 24th May, with racing to possibly commence on 20th June. We continue to be hopeful of a racing season during 2020. This will continue to be reviewed based on Government advice and the members advised. Thank you for your patience. Please keep in contact with your club members and if you are able to assist each other that would be great.' We plan to review this plan again on 14th April and will keep members up to date. At this point of time the committee has discussed reverting to a pay as you go racing rather than a prepaid scheme. Sports SA has granted approval of all clubs to delay their Annual General Meetings for at least a further 3 months and that will be reviewed. ' Councils have also declared that we must not attend our club rooms based on Prime Minister announcements for stage 1.
0007 23 Mar 2020 16:51:46: Posted by JOHN HARPER from GENERAL SECRETARY,
Any Clubs wishing to pick up their Year Books can do so on Tuesday mornings from 10:30 am - 12:00 at the Assoc hall or alternatively make arrangements with the Secretary by phone. Thanks
0008 18 Mar 2020 17:37:14: Posted by GAVIN HARRIS from SALDC SECRETARY,
SALDC Sires Produce - The closing date for Prepaid Entries has been changed from 27th March to now be 2 days after the SAHPA AGM which is scheduled for 1st May, so closing date is now 3rd May. Copies of the entry forms were given to Club Secretaries to hand out to their members, plus you can print them off this website under the Sires Produce Tab. Nomination Fee of $50 per bird up to 8 birds, nominate 8 and get one free $350 in total.
0009 17 Mar 2020 15:17:18: Posted by JOHN HARPER from GENERAL SECRETARY,
To all Members Due to the uncertain conditions surrounding the Corona virus the Management Committee have prudently delayed the AGM until 1st May 2020. Our member's health being the #1 priority at present. We still believe that the the racing season will go ahead and anticipate that Tossing units will commence from Sunday 26th April. Reminder that Capitation fees are still due by the end of this Month with quite a few clubs already paid up. Thanks
0010 06 Mar 2020 18:57:48: Posted by GAVIN HARRIS from SAHPA CHAIRPERSON,
SAHPA Annual General Meeting - Friday 27th March, 2020 starting at 7:30, please sign in from 7:00pm. The General Secretary has emailed all Club Secretaries copies of the Financial statements and any rule changes. Members can review financial statements by clicking on the "Minutes" button on the sahpa website, then click on 2020 and you can view the Profit and Loss Statement, Balance Sheet, Treaurer's report, Auditors Report and Chairperson's report. The SAHPA has reported a surplus of $7,061. All Clubs should have a meeting before the SAHPA AGM so that Club Secretaries and Chairpersons which attended a meeting last Monday with the SAHPA Management Committee can explain the proposed rule changes and review the 3 options for prepaying birds for the 2020 season. The 3 options are : 1) Race Team Register - current system where members pay a fee for every bird on their Race Team register. 2) Race Starts - where members buy race starts, so for example if you fly on average 20 birds in 20 races a season, you would buy 400 race starts, no need for a team register. 3) Race Teams - where members can prepay for a 1 to 10 bird team, 11 to 20 bird team or a 21 to 30 bird team. No need for a team register but you can only race the number of birds based on team size. For example a 20 bird team flyer can not enter more than 20 birds, a 10 bird team flyer can not enter more than 10 birds. A 30 bird team flyer can nominate more than 30 birds in our short distance program but they pay extra for any birds over 30. Club Secretaries will survey members about their likely numbers for each option and return it to the Treasurer a week before the AGM so I can prepare more accurate estimates of what it would cost for each option and present it at the AGM to assist members to understand what option is most attractive to them. Based on guestimates, option 1 Team Register of all your birds $3.60/bird, option 2 Race Starts $2.25 per race start, option 3 Team of 10 $183, Team of 20 $418, Team of 30 $705.