Pythons Committee Meeting 09/06/15 – Minutes

Present: Paul Day, Speedy, Julian Tatlow, Gwil, Eddie K, Ross “Tubes” Fallenstein, Gus Dunlop

Apologies: Mike Ruthen, Ben Kernoghan, Jim Saynor

The Minutes from meeting on 12th May were passed as a true record.

Matters Arising:

Jon Godfrey has declined an invitation to become Club President; However the Pythons are delighted that Julian Tatlow has accepted the position of President, which was carried unanimously. A letter has been sent to Martin Wood re use of the Birstwith Stables for training, offering him an Honorary Membership. The Committee voted unanimously to offer David Wheat and Jeremy Hopkinson Honorary Membership too.

Paul called for a more professional and open approach from the new Committee. We will require a Quorum of 6, with any 2 of the Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer to attend future meetings.

Secretary Report:

Payments for the Autumn International tickets have started to come in with only 2 members yet to pay. Action: Speedy to chase up.

The Membership Categories for season 2015/16 have been agreed as, Full Member £70, Player/Coach £45, Student £30 and Honorary member Free at Committee’s discretion.

The game on 11th July against the returning students has now been registered as a Festival of Rugby event. Tubes will organise the Pythons squad for this game.

The Pythons data is now up to date on GMS. A discussion was held about the possibility of registering a 3rd team, to secure more international tickets.

The accreditations forms have been submitted and accepted by Alec Porter, who will pass them on to the RFU on his return from holiday.

Rugby report:

T&P is going well on the Stray with over 20 attending on Monday. The players are to be encouraged to bring down friends to this. Dan Bird will be offered a sum of £20 per session for coaching, the first of these sessions is envisaged to be on the 24th July. Action: Eddie to draft a letter/contract to be sent to Dan.

A few new faces have been attracted to the T&P, most noticeably a No8, who is in the Police force.

Paul Day will arrange an onsite meeting with Ivan’s boss to discuss floodlighting Pennypot for training. The Committee agreed to budget £2K for this as we cannot be sure of our future location. Paul to confirm with Pennypot that installation of floodlighting is ok.

Tours

The tour to Budapest was a total success, and very well organised. The Committee would like to thank Ben K and his Tour Committee for all their hard work. We need to form a new tour Committee asap. Action: Speedy to post on Facebook.

Finance

Current balance is healthy with a current surplus of over 11K. Paul expressed disappointment at the overspend of £395 for the Vets tour to Munich.

Gwil presented a budget plan for the forthcoming season, and it was agreed to review this quarterly.

Gwil expressed concerns re CASC status and any tax repercussions. It was suggested to seek the advice of David Wheat and/or the RFU. If furtur assistance is required we will seek legal advice.

Entertainment:

Only 2 tables remain for The Pythons Annual dinner will be held in the Majestic on Thursday 19th November. Speedy to contact Pythons/Vets re payment.

Monty to organise a Spring Ball, time and venue TBC.

Sponsorship:

We have Coops, Jim’s brother, Myrings and Mainline confirmed as shirt sponsors with the Empress, the Alex and Tube’s contact yet to confirm. It was decided to buy 2 sets of shirts this season, one for Pythons squad, one for Pirates squad, with the Pirates shirts being slightly larger. Tubes will consult the players to come up with a design for the shirts – this can be done on the suppliers (Emblazon) website. All designs and sponsorship must be ready for the next meeting for 7th July. Lead time expected to be 4 weeks.

There are sleeve sponsorships available for the burgundy polo’s. it was agreed to try and sell these sleeves for £250 each. Lead time on polo’s expected to be 6 weeks.

Other Business:

Julian has completed the Mutual Society forms and submitted. He will pay the fee of £40 to be repaid.

Julian attended a presentation by ColourItIn who are willing to offer advice on generating a better image of the Pythons in the Harrogate area. He brought samples of car stickers etc and will get a price for these. It was also suggested we ask if ColourItIn would produce our match day program. It was decided to stick with the black cockerel on gold background as the Pythons club logo, but to change the wording under the logo to “Harrogate Pythons RUFC”.

There is a possible split in the Vets, with Ledge apparently approaching HRUFC asking about a possible return. This could potentially split the Vets in two. Agreed to carry on as normal and arrange fixtures.

Signed ………………………………………………………………………………………. (Chairman)

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