Minutes of the Bristol and West AC Committee Meeting

Friday 10 October 2014 at Whitehall Athletics Arena

Present: R Brocklesby (RB – Acting Chair), M Strange (MS), H Nash (HN), N Diamond (ND), P Mountain (PM), K Brackstone (KB), M Down (MD).

  1. Apologies. Z Goodman, C Elson, B Barrett, C Knibb
  1. Minutes of the Previous Meeting and Matters Arising.
  2. The new equipment for Whitehall has been purchased.
  3. There was no update on the pole vault levy.
  4. Wesport Awards – Four of the five nominees have been short-listed for the final decision and have been invited to the West of England celebration of Sport evening on 12 November 2014. Two have also been nominated for the South Gloucestershire Awards.
  5. Thoughts on improvingthe YDL (LAG) – to be covered later in the agenda.
  6. Club House – covered later in the agenda.
  7. Avon Schools Selection Policy and use of Wind Gauges. No update as ZG had sent apologies.
  8. Potential Club involvement in Coaching Scholarship at South Gloucestershire and StroudCollege. Positive discussions have been taking place with the College.
  9. Sportshall Competition. Dave Turner has not yet been contacted and so this is most likely to now happen in 2015.
  10. Youth Development Meetings. ZG and BB have produced an induction booklet which will be brought to the next committee meeting for approval. (Action ZG/BB). In a meeting with coaches, it was agreed that Dean should be spoken to before any young athlete moves to a different coach. There is a shortage of coaches for the JuniorAcademy and it was felt that there needs to be more meetings with parents regarding volunteering. Feedback from these meetings also suggested that the Club’s website is difficult to use and it needs to be more accessible, especially to new or potential members. However, there would be a cost involved in changing the website.
  1. Membership. A new list (number 157) was circulated by MS and all were accepted by the Committee.
  1. Financial Report. KB had circulated a report prior to the meeting. Income should exceed expenditure by £1500-£2000 by the end of the year. The main concern was regarding the lack of entries for the Bristol Cross-Country, which may therefore make a loss if entries are not forthcoming.
  1. Update on 2015 Track Season Planning.
  2. Senior Men (RB). The BAL AGM is on the 15 November. RB is hopeful that the numbers of athletes will increase next year as the numbers at training sessions is increasing. The Club has not applied for a home fixture.
  3. Senior Ladies. KB is liaising with the College in order to confirm the availability of the track for a home fixture, which would hopefully be on 7 June 2015. [Secretary's note: the track is available and will be booked.] MS reported that there is some concern from track judges as to the suitability of the Kip Keino track due to various issues and that Yate was preferable. It was agreed that MS would bring a list of improvements needed to the next Committee meeting. (Action MS). The Committee felt that the issues at Filton should be addressed rather than moving fixtures to Yate.
  4. Midland League (RB). PM will be taking over from RB as Team Manager. The AGM is on 30 November and Steve Grant will be attending.
  5. Avon League/YDL (HN). No date has yet been announced for the Avon League AGM. The YDL dates have been set for 2015 and one date potentially clashes with the CountyChampionships and so HN will query this. (Action HN). Team Avon will hopefully meet soon to review last season. HN reported that the geographical arrangement for fixtures has been agreed for both the lower and higher age groups. He also reported that more Team Managers are needed for the 2015 season.
  1. Club Development. KB spoke to a report that he had circulated prior to the meeting.
  1. Aztec West Fast 5K. RB had circulated a report prior to the meeting. The first race had been a huge success with excellent feedback and had made a profit of £1,402.00. It was agreed that more marshals are needed in future.
  1. Road-Running/Cross Country Updates. This had been covered in the Devolvement Advisor’s report.
  1. Club House Sub-Committee Update. KB reported that there have been several meetings with the Council and that the pre-application planning permission had been approved. KB/RB and Jonathan Hurford are to meet soon regarding the next steps. KB will contact Sport England with regards to possible funding. (Action KB).
  1. AOB.
  2. MS reported that the indoor fixture list has been published.
  3. MD reported that the Hargreaves Lansdown Scholarship forms should be circulated next week with the end of October as the deadline for applications to be submitted.
  4. The Committee are concerned that there are still many athletes who do not pay their subscriptions and also many who do not pay track fees.

Date of Next Meeting – Friday 14 November, Whitehall Athletics Arena, 7.30pm.