PAC minutes 2015

MINUTES

Monday 26th January 2015 @7.30pm Peterhead Football Club

Attendance: Teresa Hood, Linda McGee, Jennifer Robertson, Maria Willox, Richard Masson, John Robertson, Martin Harvey, Stephen Bruce, Stewart Chalmers, Sophie Byers, Neil MacRitchie

Apologies: Susan Strachan, Stephanie Wemyss, Sandy Hastie

Points Discussed:

1)Stewart welcomed Sophie Byers to the meeting. Sophie joins the club as a volunteer coach. We look forward to working alongside Sophie. Stephen Bruce was also in attendance at the meeting.

2)Apologies as above

3)Minutes of previous meeting – 8/12/14. Proposed – Linda McGee, Seconded- Jennifer Robertson

4)Matters arising – none

5)embership and fees – We currently have 36senior members and 15junior members – with at least 4 junior memberships to be returned. There are6 outstanding membership fees to be paid. These will be chased up verbally by various members of the committee.

Stewart felt an event night for members only- adults and juniors - would help to create the feeling of belonging to a club. Anyone suggestions welcome.

We are still struggling to attract academy aged pupils to the club and need to consider how we can improve our numbers. Active schools have yet to promote us within the academy and it was felt that as a club we need to take responsibility and promote ourselves to this age group. We currently have several coaches available on a Tuesday evening but very few academy aged pupils to coach. Sophie offered to go into school and speak to the pupils/offer trial sessions. Perhaps this could be done firstly via assembly followed up by workshops. Stewart will speak to Ally Love, SA to see if he has any suggestions and any ‘celebrity’ to help promote/coach. Another suggestion was to get more involved with sports day – promote ourselves at the event and perhaps offer a trophy or prizes. Stewart will follow this through with the Head teacher ShonaSellars.

Club identity could be improved by holding a club championship (see point 12)

Richard asked if we could organise a Peterhead Parkrun. Stephen informed us that this is something that Jog Scotland had given a lot of consideration to and decided that the commitment was huge and not something that they felt able to do successfully. During the summer months they have offered a monthly 5K time trial which proved popular. Neil pointed out that Falkirk and Stirling offer a 2K park run for kids. This was something the club felt they would like to do. It was agreed that PAC and JS would work together to offer a monthly 5k and Junior time trial. Stephen suggested a good 1K route along the line from Ravenscraig to Mallard Drive which involves no crossing of roads. Richard and Stephen will work together to organise this starting from when the clocks change.

6. Finances - £9100 in the bank. Still to pay SA for the 10K non-affiliated runners. Stephen will give Stewart the appropriate form to complete.

7. The Club vests are selling well. The cost of the adult vest is £20. It was agreed that the kids vests should be subsidised by the club and sold for £15. There will also be the option for juniors to use the club vest for events returning them afterwards. A set of 15 vests will be kept by the club for this purpose. Linda agreed to wash the vests after events. Jennifer to bring the vests along to the Cross Country on Saturday 31st Jan.

Coacheshoodies - £17.50 (possibly with VAT to be added?) Sky blue with printed club logo and COACH on the back. The committee agreed to the purchase of 15 hoodies. Teresa to get sizes from everyone and give to Jennifer who will order.

8. Coaches update – A coaches and helpers meeting was held on Wed 7th Jan. Sophie Byers joins us as a volunteer coach and Barbara Anne Needs and Caroline Buchan join as helpers – this brings the number of coaches/leaders/volunteers to the club to 14. The decision was made to keep the session times the same for this term. A rota has been put in place and time will tell if this is successful. It was agreed that a 2nd coaching night (for PAC members only) would be introduced next term. Stewart suggested getting feedback from members as to what night would suit them best. Teresa will circulate a note to junior members. PVG forms to be returned to Maria. Safeguarding and Protecting Children course was attended by John, Martin, Caroline, Barbara-anne and Teresa. Maria has still to attend the next level of child protection course(In Safe Hands) but at the moment there is no course on offer. Nicola is keen to progress her coaching to Level 2 and has contacted Active schools and NESAP for funding.

The club is to purchase a copy of the Scottish athletics Athlete Development Book at £17 for use by all.

Behaviour of kids during training – it was commented that behaviour has been an issue during some sessions. John suggested that we need to have a clear code of conduct which should be issued to all. He suggested a small card with the basic rules which could be given to all members initially. Anyone considered to be breaking the rules during a session could be given a copy of the rules (small card) to read before being asked if they are ready to accept the rules of the club. Neil has a code of conduct in the draft welcome pack which he will look at and devise a smaller card for use by coaches.

As a club we are also advised to have details of our welfare officer readily accessible to members. Until Maria has completed her next course we technically do not have a welfare officer at this time. It was felt however, that all coaches should be identified on the website with reference to them all being PVG checked. John will add a sentence to the website stating this. We will review this at future committee meetings and update as required.

9. London Marathon – in order to receive a club place we require to have 1 paid member of the club who is also SA affiliated. We do have this but unfortunately we have missed the deadline for applying (5th Dec). Neil suggested that at our AGM in October we allocate who is getting the place.

10. Balmoral Road Races – after discussion it was agreed that the club would pay for a bus to Balmoral. It was agreed that the races on offer are attractive to both juniors and adults. It would however be a long day for the youngsters who would have a long wait- possibly in cold wet conditions- after their race until the senior races were completed. It may be that we would need to organise 2 buses – one of which would leave after the junior races. Stephen indicated that JS were considering running a bus – he offered to get prices for buses. Teresa will issue a letter to juniors to assess the interest. A decision on number of buses can be made then.

11. Website and welcome Pack – will be updated as per previous points

12. Club Championship – everyone was in agreement that we should host a club championship. John suggested holding 2 open graded meetings plus a club championship. Possibly looking at around April/May for the first of these. He suggested getting in contact with the Dobbies for support. Sophie and John will meet and put together a proposal for the next committee meeting. The committee agreed that Sophie would be co-opted to join the committee.

13. AOB – Stewart has been approached to see if we can support a group of 5-8 adults with learning difficulties achieve their aim of completing this year’s Baker Hughes 10K in May. The group are aged between 20-40 and live locally in Peterhead. They are connected by Inspire who support them. Their preferred training day is Saturday. Several of the committee were keen to help but were reluctant to commit to every Saturday. Stephen suggested they attend JS sessions and also pointed out that the timescale was quite tight. As we don’t know much about the individuals it was felt that Stewart should arrange to meet them face to face to ascertain some more information before making a decision.

Meeting ended 9.15pm

Date of next Committee Meeting – Monday 2nd March 2015

Coaches Meeting - TBA

MINUTES

Monday 2nd March 2015 @7.30pm Peterhead Football Club

Attendance: Teresa Hood, Alasdhair Love, Stewart Chalmers, Stephanie Wemyss, Neil MacRitchie, Susan Strachan, CaitlainWillox, Maria Willox, Linda McGee, Sandy Hastie, Nicola Drummond, Martin Harvey

Apologies: Jennifer Robertson, Sophie Byers, John Robertson, Richard Masson

Points Discussed:

  1. Stewart welcomed everyone to the meeting. Ally Love form Scottish athletics was in attendance.
  2. Apologies as above
  3. Minutes of previous meeting on 26/1/2015 – proposed by Neil MacRitchie, seconded by Linda McGee
  4. Matters arising:

Monthly time trial being organised by Richie and Stephen.

Code of Conduct – Neil has a draft version of the welcome pack which he will email to everyone. From this he has produced a code of conduct. It was suggested that the welcome pack contains a contract for everyone to sign. Coaches will get a mini, simple version of a code of conduct to use in sessions if required.

  1. Membership update – Junior 21, Senior 37

Stewart was keen to know how many of our members are also members of Scottish athletics. Teresa will contact Scottish athletics.

Sophie was officially co-opted to the club. Proposed by Nicola Drummond, Seconded by Maria Willox.

Stewart has contacted Shona Sellers, HT of Peterhead Academy, to get more involved with the school. She has passed Stewarts email to Scott Cameron, Acting Faculty Head of Health.

  1. Update from Ally Love of Scottish Athletics

-There is an increase in the number of open meetings at ASV

-Track at ASV will be refurbished from 9th March-May

-Every 2 weeks, starting in Summer, there will be open events for juniors/seniors. This will probably be on Sat/Sun. Dates/schedule will follow soon.

-Saturday 9th May – P4-P7 indoor event at ASV. No need to register – just turn up £1 per event. 60m, LJ, SP and relay. 9.30am-1.00pm

Stewart mentioned that the boxing club will allow us to use their mini bus for a small donation.

-Scottish Championship – 15/16th August for seniors. Ally suggested a good event to come along and watch. There will also be U13/U15/U17 4x100m relays.

-Aberdeen City T&F Championship on Sept 19th will have an open athletics event for age 9 upwards.

-Wed 17th June – NE Primary athletics event at Catto Park, 5.30pm – 8.30pm

-Tue 26th May – Peterhead qualifier at Catto Park, 5.30pm – 8.30pm

-Sun 29th June – Peterhead Running Festival – Primary & Secondary races, 5K and 1/2marathon

-Sunday 29th March – Meadows Park run organised by Ellon Athletics Club. There will be a 1K, 2K and 3K for all ages. £2 pay and register on the day. 1pm – 3.30pm.

There is also the final race of the NE schools cross country series at Fyvie on Saturday and several club members are running at Inverness on Sunday. Stewart mentioned it would be good to know who is doing what. Keep sending your reports/photos to John to put on the website.

  1. Visiting coaches

Joyce and Ken Hogg are happy to come to Peterhead to run a High Jump session (for coaches and juniors) followed by an endurance session (for seniors). Ally will check dates with them:

30th April – 1st choice, 7th May – 2nd choice

These sessions would be for members of PAC only and would take place at Catto Park (weather permitting). Mats would be required for the sessions – there is a landing mat in storage at Catto Park and additional mats could be borrowed from the academy.

-Ally also mentioned that NESAP were organising support for coaches via networking events with other coaches eg. A curry night.

  1. Club Championship – neither Sophie nor John were present at the meeting to give an update on this. The committee had a brief discussion and September was given as a possible date for the event – either at a weekend or evening. It was suggested that Richie gets involved with the organising along with Sophie and John. Ally recommended inviting Fraserburgh and Ellon athletics club to the event and also to consider having an 800m for adults.

The club can apply for a permit from Scottishathletics. If there is no permit then results not official. If entry fee is £2 or below then no charge to Scottishathletics.

Courses – Nicola to attend Level 2 coaching course and Maria will attend In Safe Hands on 20th April. Funding may be available from the sports council.

  1. Financial update – Jennifer not in attendance – no issues to report
  2. Balmoral bursary – we have been successful in our bid and have received £200. This is to be spent on the Club championship and supporting transport costs. There are 6 juniors signed up so far.
  3. Club event – several ideas were discussed – family cycle, disco, bowling, race night but the winning suggestion was a family picnic with races at Eden park. Stewart will look at the calendar and suggest some dates.
  4. AOB –

Stewart will email a newsletter to all members

Welcome Pack – details of Welfare Officer to be added

Website – details of Welfare Officer to be added with the contact email as

Meeting ended at 8.40pm

Date of next meeting Wed 29th April 2015 at 7.30pm

MINUTES

Wednesday 29th April 2015 @7.30pm Peterhead Football Club

Attendance: Teresa Hood, Nicola Drummond, Richard Masson, Neil MacRitchie, Stewart Chalmers, Maria Willox, Martin Harvey, John Robertson, Jennifer Robertson, Sandy Hastie, Linda McGee, Jim Mundie, Stephen Bruce

Apologies: Susan Strachan

Points Discussed:

  1. Stewart welcomed everyone to the meeting including Jim Mundie and Stephen Bruce
  2. Apologies as above. Both Linda and Jennifer were only able to stay for part of the meeting.
  3. Minutes of previous meeting proposed by Neil, seconded by Nicola
  4. Matters arising – Sophie has been in contact to say that unfortunately due to work commitments she will be unable to be involved with the athletics club at this time.
  5. Jennifer informed the committee that there are training t-shirts on order for the kids. Stewart requested a t-shirt/hoodie stock count be made at the end of each year.
  6. Bank balance is currently sitting at around £9000. Stewart asked the committee whether the club should pay for expenses while attending training courses etc. It was unanimously agreed that mileage should be paid and a figure of 40p per mile was agreed. Maria will get a copy of mileage forms from Aberdeenshire council which we can alter for our own purposes.
  7. Starter grant – Stewart informed us of a grant available to members of Aberdeenshire Sports council. Nicola will use it to apply for equipment as the equipment expected from active schools has not been ordered.
  8. Track report – Scottish athletics have prepared a report on the condition of the track- see attached. Stewart has put together a letter to send to the council highlighting our concerns along with the following points – ineffective booking system, not being able to book the track, safety issues when using the track and finally ongoing storage problems.

The committee, along with Stephen Bruce (JS) and Jim Mundie (Coach) were asked for their approval of the letter before it is sent. John Robertson requested that we added into the letter something about the club being a public benefit – i.e. open to all. A copy of the final letter is attached. Stewart has emailed a copy to all.

  1. Costs of lets – at the moment Active Schools are paying for all the athletics clubs lets. This will be reviewed in July. The track is non-bookable therefore has no charge – lights and use of the pavilion is chargeable, the field costs £26 if used by adults and £19 if used by kids.
  2. Website – John has been working on constructing a friendlier website. He will try to include everything and make it easier to use. Keep sending reports – he has received reports on Balmoral, Ritchie will send a report on Manchester, Linda a report on London and Nicola a report on Active schools.
  3. Welcome Pack – change the front paragraph to indicate that we are open to all in Peterhead and the surrounding area.
  4. Code of Conduct – laminated cards have been produced for use at training sessions. A request was made for yellow and red cards too.
  5. Coaching – 30th March. There has been a slight change of plan – we will still meet at 5pm, 5.30pm-6.30pm – high jump session with juniors afterwards there will be a coaches Q&A in the pavilion until 7.30pm. Teresa will post a reminder on facebook.
  6. Running festival – 28th June – JS had previously requested a £250 sponsorship for the running festival. At a previous coaches meeting it had been agreed that Stewart would look into the costs of providing promotional items e.g. Water bottles/balloons – to date he has been unable to get prices. Stephen Bruce indicated that there would be no goody bags this year. It was suggested that we could provide medals for one of the events however sponsorship of medals had already being provided. Stephen informed us that in return for the money PAC will get their banner displayed, their logo in the promotional programme and a gazeebo which they can use to promote the athletics club. Stewart proposed to offer £250 sponsorship – the majority of the committee were in agreement. Teresa will produce an A5 flyer for distribution on the day. Nicola will look at goodies for giving away on the day. Neil asked how else PAC could assist JS with the running festival. Stephen Bruce suggested that the biggest support would be in volunteers for the day. A discussion was held about whether we could incorporate our own club championships into the day’s activities – this is something we could look at for next year as the running festival plans are too far advanced to do it this year.
  7. Mundie’s Challenge – this is the name that has been given to the monthly time trial organised by JS and PAC. The first official trial takes place on Thurs 9th May. The distances will be 1K, 2K and 5K. Stewart suggested that clear criteria needs to be agreed beforehand on how the winners are decided. Rules already agreed are a minimum of 4 out of 6 challenges must be completed in order to be eligible for the award. Participants of the 5K must be 12Yrs +.
  8. Event calendar – a couple of marathon events to add – Dundee on 12th July and Glen Moray on 6th Sept. We also require more details on the ASV open meets on 9th May and 4th June. Stephanie has organised a generic medal for the Buchan Athletics Qualifier event.
  9. Club Championship – John has been looking into this and shared a list of the possible events that could be included: 100m/200m/400m/800m/1500m/5K/10K/5Kwalk/hurdles/HJ/LJ/TJ/SP/D/J. (The committee agreed to eliminate Pole Vault, Steeplechase and Hammer). It was suggested we added a 60m for the younger kids. Richard also suggested a track mile race – this was considered to be an attractive option. September was agreed as the best time to hold the championships. It has not been agreed whether this could be done over a weekend or over several evenings. With the departure of Sophie it was agreed to set up a sub-committee to organise the event. The sub-committee, led by John, will consist of Richard, Jim and Nicola – they will arrange to meet and report back to the full committee.
  10. Next meeting – need to discuss Peterhead 10K and London Marathon.

Date of next committee meeting – Wednesday 27th May at 7.30pm