Bristol and West Athletic Club
DRAFT
MEETING OF BRISTOL & WEST AC’S CLUB COMMITTEE
AT 7: 00 PM ON FRIDAY 1stMAY 2015
AT THE WHITEHALL ATHLETICS ARENA
MINUTES
Attendance: Roger Brocklesby (Chair),Mike Down (Vice-Chair), Keith Brackstone (KB), Hilary Nash (HN), Chris Elson (CE), Mike Strange (MS), Carol Strange (CS), Simonne Lowery (SL), Richard Gwynn (RG), P Taylor-Morris (PTM)
1. Apologies:Apologies were received from Emma Jolliffe, Pete Mountain, Marie Berryman, and Andy Malloy
2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting and Matters Arising.
•Wind Gauges – HNhad nothing to report.
•Tops for Running Leaders –Action- KBto send an email to Running Leadersasking them to state a preference for T-shirt, long-sleeved top or jacket.
•KB confirmed that all TeamManagers had replied about over-night stops and these would be limited to the UKWomen's League at Wigan(9 August 2015)and the road runners at the Leeds Abbey Dash (15 November 2015). Accommodation had already been booked for the former: the club would wait for the status of the Leeds Abbey Dash and would fund overnight stops if it is a National Championship event.
•Young Athlete Development - this would be covered under the appropriate heading on the Agenda.
•There is a continued need for volunteers as coaches, officials and team managers and Committee Members should continue to pursue potential volunteers at every opportunity.
- The Club Constitution and Subscription rates are both on the Agenda for this meeting but the Chairman did not expect either discussion to be resolved until later in the calendar year.
•Maintaining and implementation of the Club Development Plan had been discussed at the last Club Committee Meeting and would appear quarterly so the Committee could monitor progress against targets.
- The Chairman had agreed with Adam Wall that the club would fund motor mileage to support his attendance at BAL meetings for the 2015 summer season.
The minutes were reviewed by the Chairman and were proposed by Chris Elson, seconded by Keith Brackstone and were unanimously accepted as a true record of that meeting
3. Membership including New Members (lists 163 and 164)
MS advised that there were 10 new members (8 full and 2 academy) proposed in list 163 with 14 members being removed as part of the on-going efforts to tidy up the membership database. Thirteen new members (10 full and 3 academy) were proposed in list 164 with 67 members being removed as part of the on-going efforts to tidy up the database. HN advised that Daniel Gallagher might still be active and MS undertook to review his removal from the database.)
The Chairman advised the meeting that Mike Warren has agreed to take over as the new Membership Secretary when Mike Strange is ready to step aside. MS advised that he would like another four weeks or so to finish what he has started doing in terms of database amendments and updating from 2015 membership correspondence and that he has yet to formally write to the new Life and Honorary Members following the endorsement of their appointments by the AGM. The Chairman advised that it was his intention to move all club members to payment by direct debit for 2016s subscriptions but this would be explored in greater depth as part of the review of club subscriptions. {Secretary's note: as at 10 May 2015 the club has collected £12,525 in members subscriptions.]
Chris Elson proposed and Keith Brackstone seconded that membership lists 163 and 164 be passed and these membership lists were passed unanimously by the Committee.
.
Action – MS to inform Life and Honorary Members.
4. End of Month Financial Report
KB advised that the Club Treasurer had forwarded a statement advising that she had prepared a bank reconciliation up to 30th April 2015 which showed that funds had increased by £1,696.45 in the year to date and now stood at £41,391.84. There was a request that the Treasurer send detailed figures similar to those forwarded by KB in the past. Also MS asked for details of anyone who has renewed their membership on-line so that he can keep the membership database up to date.
Action - MB to forward a monthly extract of the accounts and KB to advise MS of on-line membership payments.
5. Club House Sub-Committee Update
The Chairman and Development Adviser updated the meeting on progress since the last Committee Meeting and for those who had not attended the AGM, what Michael Drake (Project Architect) had said at the AGM. The Chairman stressed that it was still essential to have an early meeting with all interested parties to resolve any issues around tenure of the site and possible conditions that might be attached to granting such tenure. There had been some movement as a result of input from Simon Cooke but this had not translated into any positive outcomes as yet. It was essential that any outstandiong queries were resolved before the deadline of a bid to Sport England for an Inspired Facilities Grant of £75,000 which is 8th June 2015.
Action – KBto continue to press for an early meeting of interested parties to resolve outstanding issues..
6.Development Adviser's Report
KBhad submitted a written reportprior to the meeting with some excellent results from the Ladies Teams in the London Marathon and the Midlands and National Road Relays. The Men had finished runners-up in the Midland Road Relays and finished eighth in the National Road Relays. KB reported that Chris Preston is no longer able to officiate as a Field Judge on account of ill health. Questioned by Carol Strange he referred back to his report which had noted the difficulty in getting sufficient volunteers to act as Officials at the Open Meeting (which had generated income of £1,118 and a likely surplus of over £800 for the club). He stressed that an on-going challenge for the club was recruiting volunteers to act as officials and team managers. Those present articulated people who they thought were qualified (or lapsed) officials and Carol Strange undertook to circulate a list so that Committee memers could suggest additions or deletions so we had a solid base-line to work from.
Action - CSto circulate a list of club officials to Committee Members.
7. Young Athlete Development Adviser's Report
RG presented a Written Report which identified that 10 new Athletics Leaders are now in the Club and they are being linked up with coaches as part of the program to strengthen coaching delivery to young athletes. There was a review of the discussion around the introduction of 365 to the club's syllabus which had taken place at the Young Athlete Development Sub-Group the previous Friday. It was clarified that the club would not follow it slavishly but that it's introduction is an essential part of Club Mark accreditation and that RG would be engaging with experienced coaches to import the best of it into what we do.
Action - RGto produce a revised Young AThlete Coaching Template with strong references to Athletics 365.
8.Communication Officer's Update
As EJ was not present there was no update
Action – RB to speak to Emma Jolliffeto identify whether she is struggling with her role due to workcommitments
9. Team Managers Round-Up
a.British Athletic League. RB advised that planning was well advanced for the match at Crawley on Saturday 9th May 2015 but he was still awaiting numerous confirmations of availability.
b.UK Women's League. CE advised that everything was in hand for the first UK WAL match at Derby on Sunday 10th May 2015.
c.Midland League. PM reported that the team had made a successful start to the 2015 campaign with a win at Yate on Saturday 25th April 2015.
d.YDL/Avon League. HN reported that there are still gaps in team management that he and Simonne are working on filling. There was reasonable coverage in the under- 13 boys and under-13 girls for the YDL (LAG) meeting at Cheltenham on Saturday 2nd May 2015 but there are gaps in the girls under-15 team and numerous gaps in the boys under-15 team. There was a discussion about selection procedures for the YDL (UAG)team with MS identifying difficulties experienced by a club athlete in getting selected. The Chairman asked HN if he would produce a short bullet point resume of how the Team Avon YDL (UAG) selection process works.
Action –HN to produce bullet pointson what the current YDL (UAG) team selection procedures are.
e.Road Running
KB advised that he has entered112 in the Bristol 10k. Entries have also been made for the Masters National Road Relays (M35+, M45+ and M55+ and Ladies 35+ and 45+).. KB had submitted a written report prior to the meeting with some excellent results for the Ladies Teams in the London Marathon and the Midlands and the National Road Relays.
10. AGM 2015 Review
25 members attended the Annual General Meeting which was four more than in 2014, which in turn had seen an increase in previous years. We need to get more to turn up in the future and most who turned up were committee members or recreational runners. Feedback was that the food was excellent and the location was good. There were various comments both good and bad regarding parking. The feedback on Michael Drake's presentation about the proposed new Club House was that it was very interesting.
11. Club Subscription Review for 2016
CE proposed £42 for a Club subscription and £10 for a vest but this was not voted upon. The Chairman wanted to try and get as far on with the initiative to remove inactive members from the database as possible so the club could work out a best estimate of income from this revenue stream before setting future subscriptions. MS advised that he thought a reasonable estimate of subscription income would be in the region of £13,000 to £14,000 but that he needed to have figures from the Treasurer to be sure that he was aware of all subscription payments that had been made on-line.
Action – RB, MS and KB to continue to clarify the situation with the current club membership.
12. Club Constitution Review
The Club Constitution needs to be updated and RB asked Committee Members to review the current version and suggest any changes that might need to be incorporated to reflect the way the club does business or might wish to do business in the future e.g. a commercially run on-line database, subscription payment by direct debit and approval of on-line payment by the Treasurer (which is already happening - the Chairman would like to see this reflected in the Constitution but with an upper value limit). The Constitution is on the club's website but KB was also asked to send a copy to Committee Members.The Chairman raised the subject of the Club's Trusteeswho are believed to be Tony Clark and Tony Comport.
Actions–All Committee Membersto review the Constitution and suggest any necessary amendments to the Chairman prior to the next Committee Meeting.
- KB to e-mail a copy to all Committee Members.
13. Request for Funding Support - Warm Weather Coaching.
Dan Cossins who coaches Emily Wright had applied for a grant to support her at theWorld Youth Champs in Colombia. CE proposed and HN seconded that the club award him a grant of £200 towards his expenses. This was passed by a majority vote. The Chairman advised that he would forward a cheque under a covering letter once Emily's selection had been confirmed.
14. Any Other Business
PTM asked if we could have a run leaders Meeting
Action – KB to send out email to run leaders accordingly in regard to:
- A run leaders meeting
- Preference for run leaders hi-vis jacket, bib or t-shirt (or possible option for club to pay for jacket or biband individuals could pay for a t-shirt).
The Chairman congratulated Carol Strange on the award at the recent AGM of the Hugh Wilkins Trophy for services to officiating in the Club for 2014.
Meeting closed – 9.00p.m.
15. Date of Next Meeting - Friday 29th May 2015.
Paul Taylor-Morris
Minuting Secretary
Bristol & West Athletic Club
7th May 2015
Approved by Chairman following agreement at the Club Committee Meeting
Roger Brocklesby
Chairman
Bristol & West Athletic Club
29th May 2015
Mike Strange and Carol Strange send their apologies in advance for 29th May 2015 as they will be away.
Future Meetings which will start at 7.00pm. The aim is to be finished by 9.00pm.
- 26th June 2015
- 31st July 2015
- 21st August 2015 (only if urgent business to discuss)
- 25th September 2015
- 23rd October 2015
- 20th November 2015