South East Scotland

Secretary	Mr. Calum Abernethy
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South East of Scotland

Branch Update - March 2010

1. Branch Diary

Scheduled meetings for 2010 are:

Date	Topic	Time & Venue
6th April	Talk/Discussion by Lothian & Borders Firearms Officers	7pm - Education Centre, Dalkeith Country Park*
4th May
1st June
7th September
5th October
2nd November

*for Education Centre enter Dalkeith Country Park from Dalkeith High Street, take first left and Education Centre is 100 yards on the right.

The following have been suggested as topics for the Branch meetings through 2010

·         Talk from the SSPCA

·         Talk from DCS on Deer Management within East Lothian

·         Demonstration on identifying diseases within deer carcasses

·         Talk on ballistics

·         Bomb Disposal presentation/demonstration

·         Rifle competition between the Branch and other organisations

·         Branch Clay Shoot

·         Wilf Cross Trophy Competition

If you have any suggestions for subjects to be covered at these meetings please email them to Calum Abernethy ()

As the dates for these proposed topics are finalised this Branch Diary will be updated so please check this web page for up to date information on the 'what when and where' on the Branch meetings.

2. Email addresses for Branch Members

Are you receiving information from the Branch via email? If not then the Society does not have your current email address. If you wish to receive regular updates via email please advise the BDS Membership Secretary of your current email address.

Membership Secretary contact details are: Annie Nadin

3. Branch AGM

The Branch AGM was held on Tuesday 12^th January 2010. The existing Committee indicated they were all willing to continue for a further year. This was unanimously accepted and they were all re-elected. Details of the elected Committee for 2010 are:

Chairman                  Cameron Manson     

Secretary                 Calum Abernethy     

Treasurer                 Bill Aucote

Committee                Ken Urquhart

                John Campbell-Smith

                Al Partlett

                Douglas Sibbald

4. Possible new Deer Management Group for South East Scotland

There was a brief discussion at the Branch AGM about the possibility of a Deer Management Group (DMG) being setup for South East Scotland. The Deer Commission Scotland (DCS) have been conducting a survey of individuals and organisations in South East Scotland, with a view to establishing what are "sustainable" levels of cull, given the current (Roe) deer population. The population size is really unknown, and the stalking situation is fragmented and uncoordinated, except in the more upland areas of the Borders, such as west and south of Selkirk, where the large estates, private forestry groups and Forestry Commission have a say through the Eskdalemuir Deer Management Group. Once the results of the DCS study are made known, there is perhaps a case for the consideration of some sort of DMG to be set-up in South East Scotland (Mid and East Lothian, Roxburgh and Berwickshire.)