Welcome to the British Cichlid Association

As outlined at the AGM and EGM, the BCA financial situation means that we have to keep looking for ways to save money and that includes considering a move to electronic publishing. Our financial position has got worse since the EGM and we continue to lose members. It is now even more important that we review our publications and see what we can do to save costs. The NL does not cost a lot compared to Cichlidae, but every penny counts. There was a one-off problem which held up production of the March NL which forced the Committee to take a long, hard look at the future of the NL. We took into account:

· That the NL now contains little apart from Committee news. This is a big change from the NL in the 1980s when it used to be 20 plus pages of news, views and Q&A. Now, we struggle to fill 8 pages and input from outside the Committee is very limited;

· This raises the question of what the membership really wants. If members are not submitting small articles, member profiles and Q&A items to the NL, do they actually prefer to do this on the BCA Forum? The answer seems to be “yes” and it looks as if members have voted on this with their mouse fingers;

· At times when we have to send out extra items like the accounts and sales lists, the weight gets to be very close to the weight limit for standard second class post and may even creep over the limit. Having no NL gives us quite a lot of leeway.

So, we have proposed to produce an e-NL from now on which will be available on the website. This will allow us to make news available to you as and when it happens rather than when printing and posting schedules allow. We know there are some members who do not have internet access and there will be some who still prefer to receive a paper version. We will post details of how to request this in the May posting. Of course, we will send out some items on paper such as notice of the AGM and the accounts, as we have a duty to do this. For the meantime, the NL will be an open-access download.

The committee of the BCA are continually looking at ways of making the the distribution of information more efficient (and cost effective), with this in mind, we have taken the decision to move the distribution of the Newsletter from the current paper format to an electronic format that can be easily downloaded from the BCA website.

For those BCA members who still wish to receive a paper copy, please contact our Membership Secretary (details are printed in the front of Cichlidae) requesting your name be added to the list of members requiring a paper copy.

The Newsletter is being made available in 'pdf' format, if necessary Adobe Reader is available free of charge from


BCA Newsletters. The BCA Newsletter – a statement by the Chairman As outlined at the AGM and EGM, the BCA financial situation means that we have to keep looking for ways to save money and that includes considering a move to electronic publishing. Our financial position has got worse since the EGM and we continue to lose members. It is now even more important that we review our publications and see what we can do to save costs. The NL does not cost a lot compared to Cichlidae, but every penny counts. There was a one-off problem which held up production of the March NL which forced the Committee to take a long, hard look at the future of the NL. We took into account: · That the NL now contains little apart from Committee news. This is a big change from the NL in the 1980s when it used to be 20 plus pages of news, views and Q&A. Now, we struggle to fill 8 pages and input from outside the Committee is very limited; · This raises the question of what the membership really wants. If members are not submitting small articles, member profiles and Q&A items to the NL, do they actually prefer to do this on the BCA Forum? The answer seems to be “yes” and it looks as if members have voted on this with their mouse fingers; · At times when we have to send out extra items like the accounts and sales lists, the weight gets to be very close to the weight limit for standard second class post and may even creep over the limit. Having no NL gives us quite a lot of leeway. So, we have proposed to produce an e-NL from now on which will be available on the website. This will allow us to make news available to you as and when it happens rather than when printing and posting schedules allow. We know there are some members who do not have internet access and there will be some who still prefer to receive a paper version. We will post details of how to request this in the May posting. Of course, we will send out some items on paper such as notice of the AGM and the accounts, as we have a duty to do this. For the meantime, the NL will be an open-access download. The committee of the BCA are continually looking at ways of making the the distribution of information more efficient (and cost effective), with this in mind, we have taken the decision to move the distribution of the Newsletter from the current paper format to an electronic format that can be easily downloaded from the BCA website. For those BCA members who still wish to receive a paper copy, please contact our Membership Secretary (details are printed in the front of Cichlidae) requesting your name be added to the list of members requiring a paper copy. The Newsletter is being made available in 'pdf' format, if necessary Adobe Reader is available free of charge from Newsletter, January 2008 Newsletter, March 2008