BRITISH WHEEL OF YOGA WEST MIDLANDS REGION: ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Saturday 8th November 2014 at 13:00 at Witton Middle School, Droitwich. WR9 8BD
Present: Committee: Jo Harper (Regional Officer); Melanie Revolta and Jill Wallbank (CR’s Shropshire); John Hayward (Treasurer): Rose Parsons (CR Warwickshire); Jo Withers (CR’s Hereford and Worcester); Angela Szczerba (Web Administrator); Janine Rusby (Regional Training Officer); Richard George (Regional Editor & CR WM); Kevin Taplin (CR Staffordshire).
Plus members: Fiona Adamson, Diane Green, Jean Fieldhouse, Jan Powell, Amanda Molloy, Gillian Russel, Anna Lipinski, Nicola Willis, Shakti Bhakti, Nicola Tyler, Monica Douglas-Clarke. Pam Griffiths, Lucy Mellor, Lisa Davies, Tammy Conn, Aston Colley, Pam Pinkerton, Maryam Johnson, Gill Richardson, Madgelena Davies, Elaine Williamson, Angela Walton, Janet Whellar.
Apologies:
Jan Harrison, Val Booler, Heather Donovan, Karen Spring, Julie Guest, Natalie Wiltshire.
Welcome and Introduction: Jo Harper welcomed everyone to the AGM and hoped they are all enjoying the third WM Yoga Festival. Jo thanked all the Committee for their hard work and dedication during the past 12 months and then introduced the Committee Members present who all gave a short summary of the past year. A full report from each had been distributed along with a copy of last year’s AGM Minutes.
Jo went into matters arising from last year’s minutes.
· She highlighted the team’s disappointment at cancelling the 2nd family yoga day due to poor interest. She highlighted the good work of FCT tutors in the area and asked how we could support these further.
· We are paying tutors at the festival & free workshops a small nominal sum. The region is also now offering a bursary, details of which can be found in Yoga Voices, our regional magazine. She fed back that the committee has discussed the request for teachers to receive free advertising in Yoga Voices, but it was felt that the adverts already were reasonably priced & offered good value.
Minutes of the previous meeting were provided for the members present to read. It was agreed that they were a true and correct record of last year’s AGM.
Proposed by Fiona Adamson and seconded by Anna Lipinski.
Jo thanked the tutors of today’s sessions for their hard work.
Committee Reports. Copies of the following reports were handed to all attendees before the meeting started.
REGIONAL OFFICER’S REPORT
As we approach the end of BWY West Midlands’ year, marked with our AGM and 3rd West Midlands Region Yoga Festival, we are very fortunate to have volunteers for all the positions on our committee. The majority of our committee has been in post for only one year or less and it is fantastic to see how quickly they have taken on these roles to support us as BWY members. On behalf of all of us – thank you for the huge amount of work that you do to keep the Wheel of Yoga turning in the West Midlands.
I have been in post as Regional Officer for three years, following 18 months as RTO. Due to family commitments I shall be standing down at Congress in April 2015. If you feel that you would like to take over as Regional Officer, please contact me.
There have been a great many fabulous ISTs and Open Events, which have mainly been well attended and several were booked out. We really appreciate your support for the events that we put on and life is much less stressful for us if you book as early as possible so that we know events are viable. Janine as our Regional Training Officer and all our County Reps are really keen for your input on topics and tutors you would like to see in our programme of events, so please email or call them with your ideas.
I should like to thank all of you who have promoted the festival and other open events to your students and yoga friends. It is vital for us to constantly welcome new members to our organisation in order for it to thrive and influence the practice of Yoga in our region. If you would like to be part of a group involved in offering low cost yoga workshops in your county to promote BWY please talk to your CR.
We have responded to feedback from last years’ AGM on deployment of funds and have introduced modest fees for teachers’ offering their services at Open Days. We are also offering a bursary to teachers wishing to train or set up yoga classes for specialist groups.
The main change for us regionally has been the introduction of our new website. This was a potentially challenging prospect, which has been very capably managed by Angela who also gave great support to Bob Brace who took this venture on for all regions. Please visit the new site and explore its features if you haven’t already. Angela’s report gives more information on the developments we can anticipate.
As a committee and on behalf of all attending today’s festival, we give our thanks to Angie Blowers, Gill Russel, Shakti Bhakti, Kevin Taplin, Richard George, Derek Osborn, Rose Parsons, Fiona Adamson and Maggie Thompson for teaching sessions today. We hope that you will have experienced something of the diversity of yoga practice.
Thank you for your support this year.
Om Shanti Jo Harper
Regional Training Officer’s Report
This year has seen great activity within the region. We are delighted to have reps in place in each county and our new reps have swung into action putting on at least 2 IST events and a first aid event in each county. A particular thank you to Kevin Taplin who has taken over Staffordshire after a year or two with no rep and has put on some popular days and given the county a new focal point for yoga.
In February we held a pregnancy yoga refresher day taught by Staffordshire based teacher Julie Hemmings. The day drew teachers from all over the country & even South Wales. It’s lovely to see the West Midlands region being at the centre of national yoga and helping to maintain standards.
As we move forward into 2015 we hope to continue to consolidate our offerings in each county, ensuring that we provide good quality CPD opportunities for our teachers, but also engaging and inspiring opportunities for all our members. A couple of events across the region have seen low attendance. This is always disappointing for the reps who work so hard to put the days on. Please do talk to you county rep or me about the sort of teachers, training and CPD you would like to see visiting your local area. Janine Rusby
BWY WM Treasurers Report. 3rd November 2014
Another successful year.
Surplus of income over expenditure of £1978.57
The main income/expenditure, as always, is for the events organised by the CR’s.
This year there were 18 events, including the Yoga Festival & AGM and 4 First Aid Training Courses costing £9,700.46 with an income of £11,949.70.
This year also saw an increase in income from the adverts in Yoga Voices. This generated £909 so thanks to Richard for producing such a successful Regional Magazine.
All this doesn’t just happen so there are Committee expenses which, including a subsidy for the National Congress & AGM, totalled £3195.07. This was partially off-set by £2184 received from Central Office.
John Hayward. BWY WM Treasurer
Hereford and Worcester
This is my first year as county rep for Hereford and Worcester and I am really enjoying the position. The year started with Mindfulness in Yoga with Cathy Mae Karelse which was a pleasure to host even though work commitments meant I could only attend half of the day. The feedback from the day showed that the day was well received with everyone enjoying Cathy’s passion and knowledge on this subject. The next IST day was delivered by Andy Curtis Payne on the eight limbs of Ashtanga yoga. This session was enjoyed by all of those that attended and offered an opportunity to deepen our knowledge in these ancient teachings and show how they are still relevant in today’s modern society. There is one more IST day to be delivered in November with Sarah Ryan which I am looking forward to. Nick Glasby has also delivered a first aid day in October and I will book another day for next year. Val did an excellent job as county rep and was successful in getting some free sessions up and running, I hope to continue this in 2015 now that I am a bit more organised. The IST tutors are booked for 2015 and include, John Stirk, Richard Adamo and Marye Wyvill. Jo Withers
Staffordshire
Having been in the post of County Rep for Staffordshire for about a year, I still feel I'm learning what the job entails and working on ways to improve things for members.The first part of 2014 was a little slow as events do take some planning, but we kicked off in June with a First Aid day, lead by Nick Glasby. The day was both fun and informative and I've asked Nick to return in June 2015.
In August, a very interesting day was had in Lichfield when Rajesh David presented an IST on Bhakti Yoga. This was the first IST I had arranged and again it was a very successful event, although there was not much movement involved during the day.
October saw Monica Burton present an IST on Integrating Less Able Seniors into a General Yoga Class. Unfortunately there was some initial confusion as to the dates Monica was doing this which meant I couldn't actually attend on the day, so thanks to Jo Harper for kindly agreeing to facilitate on the day. Feedback from the day was good for an event where there was overwhelming interest. So a successful event despite an 11th hour change of venue.
As we approach the end of the year we have one more event scheduled in Staffordshire. A pre-Christmas day of Slow-Flow Yoga, with Julie Hemmings. So, four events were held overall.
2015, sees Nick Glasby return for another First Aid Day, and in March, Lesley Dike visits for an IST on anatomy, focusing on the cervical and thoracic spine. Additional events are still to be finalised.
I'm enjoying my role very much, especially getting to know more people, both within the West Mids and beyond and hope to be able to continue well into the future. Kevin Taplin
Warwickshire Regional Report 2014
This year has been an exciting year in Warwickshire with two well-attended IST days Richard Adamo’s Teaching and Adjusting Standing Poses (June) and Peter Blackaby’s, An Intelligent Approach to Flexion and Extension (October). To try and ensure our regional members don’t have to travel too far for IST days we tried a new venue at Hatton Park closer for the Leamington, Stratford and Coventry members. The venue has great transport access with Warwick Parkway within walking distance and just a stone’s throw from the M40 and proved to be a lovely spacious and well laid out venue, which had been utilised by some of members previously so we will continue to use this as a venue for future IST days.
First Aid in April was as ever over-subscribed, all who did get a place had a great day with Nick Glasby and enjoyed another new location at Warwickshire College Rugby Campus again right next to Rugby mainline station and just off the M6.
Although no free events were organised this year, as we turn our attention to 2015 it is an idea we are reviewing to try and increase the offering to our members and get new members particularly non-teaching members involved in the BWY. Two interesting IST days are lined up for 2015 - Paul Fox’s Teaching Yoga for athletes and Sports People 13th June, and Richard Adamo A Practical Application of Bandhas 10th October.
We look forward to supporting the region with some great events and getting some good input from the members via our various communication channels, facebook, email, text, catching up at events and good old telephone as we plan 2016 and perhaps add more to our calendar for 2015. Natalie Wiltshire/Rose Parsons November 2014
BWY West Midlands IT Report 2013/2014
From an IT perspective, this was a very big year for all the BWY regions as a new web site was launched. This new website, launched on 27th September brought four major changes in approach to the previous site: Greater control of data by the Regions
Greater user visibility throughout the events system
Emails controlled by the Region via MailChimp
Movement towards a paperless system
Greater Control of Data by the Regions
Members’ details were originally loaded from the HO system but now all the changes entered into the HO system must be manually entered into the Regional Site.
The system uses passwords and there have been a number of problems with people, mostly using older operating systems, being able to set-up their own password.
Greater Visibility throughout the Events System
County Reps are now able to enter their own events, although we have chosen to have all events loaded centrally until January 2015.
Members have the facility to view their bookings on line.
Emails controlled by the Region via MailChimp
This system, which will require manual intervention each time a member details change, will, when we get to grips with it, allow the committee to send emails directly to our members with no intervention by HO.
Movement towards a Paperless sytem
All bookings are now paperless, with both the organiser and attendees receiving automated emails about the progress of their booking, and receiving email reminders and receipt of payments.
We have experienced a few teething problems, especially with incorrect classification of members and teachers and take up has been quite slow but on the whole we are in a good position.