HK Welcomed Committee Members to the Meeting and Thanked Them for Their Attendance

IWHC Management Committee meeting – Tuesday, 14 April 2015 held at the Hare & Hounds, Downend, Newport

Present:

Ray Wheeler (President), Harry Kirby (Chair), Alison Austin (Secretary), James Liddiard (Treasurer), Stuart Allen, Tom Young, Jon Milton, AlyTownend, JaimieUnsworth, Simon Butler, John Pearson

HK welcomed committee members to the meeting and thanked them for their attendance.

1Apologies

Apologies had been received from: Derrick Austin

2Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on 03 March 2015

Proposed by AT and seconded by RW that the Minutes were a true and accurate record. This was agreed unanimously. The Minutes were signed by the Chairman (HK).

3Matters Arising

• King Textiles: AA reported that there had been no response to date, the assumption being that they were not keen on offering sponsorship
• Contract for training courses: a draft document had been circulated to the committee. All agreed that this was acceptable
• Letter to Hampshire HA re pitch bookings: a draft copy had been circulated. All agreed that this should be sent

Action: AA; JP to post on club website

• DBS (CRB) checks: JU (verification required, currently unable to access site); AB and AT still outstanding

• SmallbrookKeys: Richard Reynolds only had the cabin keys, not pitch keys. Pitch keys were due to be changed, so not now an issue. Cabin keys would be swapped (ie back cupboard and entrance)

• Training (2015/2016): HK had tried to call Richard Christensen re coaching, but had not had a response to date. He would continue to try to make contact

Action: HK

• Membership Categories: It was agreed to add JP’s proposal for ‘temporary membership’ to the membership categories with the amendment that instead of a £1 subscription + discretionary match fee, a £5 ‘day pass’ would be charged to include subscription in order that the individual concerned would be enrolled as a club member for that day to satisfy insurance criteria. The full list of membership categories would be uploaded to the website

Action: AA

• Post-match Hospitality: This was discussed in the light of the Ladies’ match v Winchester where comments were made by an umpire appointed at Winchester’s request. IWHC had responded to the initial correspondence and the umpire in question had made further comments in reply. It was agreed that this was a ‘one-off’ situation and unlikely to occur again. Arrangements were amicably agreed with opposition teams in advance on a ‘team by team’ basis. The issue was deemed closed and no further action required

4Chairman’s Report

The Report had been tabled and circulated. The content was discussed in relation to some specific points. HK noted that he did not intend to personalise any of his comments, other than to state facts and highlight that changes were being made gradually to improve club positivity. The aim was to draw together the various elements within the club to create more of a ‘one-ness’, so that as an organisation it would become more structured, co-ordinated, open and accountable.

5Secretary’s Report/Correspondence

The Report had been tabled and circulated. AA noted further correspondence:

• Club Website: AA reported that a club member, Ellis Lynas, had offered to set up and manage the club’s website, currently hosted by the ‘Deep Design’ company. Although still a junior member, Ellis has his own company, ‘Lynas Design’. He is willing to re-vamp and manage the site, and offer sponsorship, so that the club would have full control over it. It was felt that this could save the club money over time, as well as supporting the initiative of one of its own members. SB replied that he had recently contacted Deep Design over the renewal of their sponsorship deal and was waiting for their response. It was agreed that once Simon had assessed Deep Design’s offer, he would liaise with HK and AA and a decision would be made

Action: SB, HK, AA

• Sonning Mixed Hockey Festival: AA reported that she had received a request from Lewis Heaven-Gandy for some form of sponsorship from the club for the forthcoming Sonning Festival (over 18s only). Following discussion, It wasproposed by JU and seconded by JM that the club should fund the ferry cost, utilising the club’s Wightlink discount arrangement. This was agreed unanimously. AA would respond to Lewis by email and HK would also post information to this effect on the club’s Facebook page

Action: AA, HK

• Club Day: AA reported that Patrick Butt had initiated an idea via the club’s Facebook page that the club host a mixed 5-a-side day for all members. The idea was commended. The event had already generated considerable support. Again, following discussion, it was agreed that Pat be asked to organise the day and a suitable date chosen, possibly in July. In respect of charging, it was felt that the event should be free for members, so that juniors in particular would be encouraged to participate. Consequently, It was proposed by JU and seconded by JL that the club should fund the cost of pitch hire. This was agreed unanimously. AA agreed to confirm with Pat and liaise with him and Ryde School re date for the event and pitch booking. HK agreed to post a response on Facebook on behalf of the committee

Action: AA/HK

• Men’s League Rules: AA reported an anomaly in the rules in respect of the men’s 1st and 2nd XIs. This had been the result of discussions with both league secretaries re the composition of the 2nd XI in their final league game against Basingstoke, played on Sunday 5 April. The outcome was that, due to circumstances, the club received dispensation to play four regular 1st team players in that match. It appeared that the league’s permission was required each time a 1st XI player played ‘down’ in the second team, and a therefore a player could not play for two different teams in a weekend without that permission being granted (this would also affect cup games). HK thanked AA for managing this so that there would be no ramifications in respect of the promotionof the 1st or 2nd XIs
• Possible re-structuring of Hants Divisions 8, 9 and 10: A suggestion had been made to Hampshire by Aldershot & Farnham HC that the lower leagues be amalgamated and regionalised. This had gained some support from other clubs, but not the current, but outgoing, league secretary. SB had responded on behalf of the club and also suggested the possibility of equalising and increasing the number of matches by reducing the number of HOL divisions. It appeared that some form of restructuring was desirable and would depend to a degree on the views of the incoming league secretary. Simon had emphasised that the IWHC wished to be part of any consultation exercise regarding restructuring. He had also made note of the need for mainland sides to be aware when booking pitch time slots of the considerable distances IW teams often had to travel(see also Item 3 above)
• Car Parking (Fishbourne): In response to a member’s question, HK noted that parking at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club adjacent to the ferry terminal was not permitted for non-yacht club members
• Membership: AA reported that she had received a communication from Neil Harris resigning from the club

6Treasurer’s Report

JL gave a verbal report and noted that the club was in a healthy financial state with a current cumulative balance approaching £10k. He had asked captains via Facebook for season-end reconciliations by 19 April and he had currently received this from two teams (JU passed some cash on to JL at the end of the meeting). Last DD payments were due at the end of the month and players were also invited to contact him via Facebook if they were unsure re total amounts paid and whether or not any final payments were necessary.The final statement up to the end of the Financial Year (30 April) prepared for the AGM would include these reconciliations and also a final payment (approximately £1k) due to Ryde School for pitch hire. There would not be time for the accounts to be audited for the AGM but this would be done subsequently. There were a small number of individual membership issues still to be concluded and these were being addressed (see also Item 10 below). It was also re-iterated that any payments made by members into the club account (eg for the Club Dinner) should be identified with the individual’s name as reference, as a payment had been received without that information. This was resolved at the meeting. HK offered a vote of thanks to James and Alison and the captains/organisers for their financial management and dealing with a backlog of membership issues.

7Officer Reports (attached)

Captains and Club Captains

Ladies’ Club Captain: JU had submitted a Ladies’ 1st XI report and AT delivered a verbal report on the Ladies’ 2nd XI, which together replicated the report of the Ladies’ Club Captain.

Men’s Club Captain: Received and circulated.

Ladies’ 1s Captain: See above. JU noted that she was standing down as Ladies’ 1st XI captain for the following season.

Men’s 1s Captain:SA delivered a verbal report at the meeting.

Ladies’ 2s Captain:See above.

Men’s 2’s Representative: Received and circulated.

Fixture Secretaries

There was nothing to report.

Coach

There was nothing to report.

Attempts were being made to engage a coach (see Item 3 above), at least for the first half of next season.

Press and Website Officer

Report received and circulated.

JM commended the club and SB on the excellent press coverage this season for the men’s teams. SB had built up a good working relationship with the Sports’ Editor and this undoubtedly worked in the club’s favour. This also benefitted the club shirt sponsor, Deep Design, and was a useful bargaining tool in negotiating future sponsorship. It was hoped that the Ladies’ teams could provide similar copy in future.

Thanks were also due to the administrator and moderators of the club’s Facebook account who had recently dealt with some ‘inappropriate’ postings. Members had consequently been made aware of their responsibilities. In this regard it was suggested that the group information should be amended to include ‘postings should be confined to hockey related matters only’. There was some discussion about who the moderators should be, and it was agreed that these should be the club (or section) captains, club chairman, secretary and administrator.

Disciplinary Officer

Report received and circulated.

It was noted that players in receipt of a green card next season would be subject to a 2 minute suspension from the game.

There was some discussion about the role of DO and the appropriate person to undertake the role. It was agreed to post Job Descriptions of all club roles on the club website so that members had an indication of what was involved and could assess their suitability for those roles.

Action: AA

Junior Manager

There was nothing to report. JM noted that junior training would recommence on Monday, 7 September 2015.

Welfare Officer

There was nothing to report.

8Social Matters

Club Dinner: Organisation was progressing well and payments were being processed (either via captains or direct to the club account). It was agreed that attendees would be allocated to a table rather than given a specific place on that table. The votes for the men’s section awards had been collated and recipients finalised. Recipients of the Ladies ‘Young Player’ and ‘Most Improved Player’ were confirmed by AT and JU, with a joint winner agreed for the latter. Awards had been ordered with engraving detailed. Any late engraving would be undertaken by Timpson’s of Newport. A running order would be established and HK would act as MC, RW would make the presentations, with team captains hosting their own team’s awards. HK thanked the organising team (AT, TY and AA) for their efforts.

9Any Other Business

• Juniors/Youth Focus and Development: This was on-going and would be discussed at future meetings. JM reported that junior training had already been booked for next season, the first session scheduled for 7 September (see Item 7 above). He was happy to continue to co-ordinate these sessions. He praised his dedicated team of helpers and suggested that the committee might give consideration to some form of benefit to reward their commitment. This was noted. Contact for all matters connected with junior training would be through JU’s email address
• Primary Schools ‘Quicksticks’ Tournament: This was due to be held at Smallbrook on Friday, 17 April from 3.30 pm and a number of IWHC members would be present. It was agreed to produce a flyer from IWHC advertising junior training and providing a contact (JU). AT agreed to produce the flyer and they would be available to distribute on the day

Action: AT

It was further noted for information that the annual Primary School Games would be held at Sandown Academy on 11 July 2015

• Training (2015/2016): SB was of the opinion that this should start in August as, apart from anything else, there were a number of new rules to assimilate before the start of the new season. It was also agreed that senior men’s Monday night training had not been a success and this should revert back to Wednesday. The start date suggested was Wednesday, 19 August 2015 (7.30 pm to 9.00 pm). This would need to be addressed asap so that the slot could be potentially reclaimed

Action: AA/HK

• Fixture Secretaries: TY noted that he and Nicky Richardson were standing down from their roles at the end of the season. The importance of the roles was emphasised and it was agreed that a request to members to fill them should be posted on Facebook. In the meantime, in order to secure pitch slots at Smallbrook for season 2015/2016, it was suggested that 2 slots be ‘block booked’ throughout the season (possibly to include ‘warm-up’ time if feasible).

Action: AA

• Budget/Kit: SB asked the Treasurer to confirm that the club would be able to fund the new shirts (Ref: Minutes, 03 March 2015, Item 6). JL confirmed that this would be the case. Shorts and socks would be self-funded and a link provided to members so that some degree of uniformity could be established. AT raised an issue re club goalkeeping kit for the final Ladies’ 2s’ match. JM had recently rationalised as there was a lot of g/k kit that needed sorting in the cabin. JL noted that the club had purchased very littleg/k kit of late (apart from 2 relatively cheap sets). Tom Speer had purchased some kit for himself and he would take that when he left for university in the autumn. AA noted from her report the possibility of offloading some old kit to England Hockey for recycling (‘Kit for Africa’)

AA agreed to have one last stab at contacting King Textiles re supplying the new shirts and possible sponsorship (see Item 3 above)

Action: AA

• AGM: There was some discussion regarding nominations for club posts. It was noted in the club’s constitution that only ‘fully paid up members’ were eligible to propose/second candidates for club posts. AA reported that she had received some nominations either proposed or seconded by individuals who were not fully paid up members. In one case it was noted that the person concerned was a long standing member who had paid the majority of the fee and had made a commitment to pay a final instalment. This was acceptable to the committee. In the other case it was agreed to make a request to the member concerned to complete full payment by the end of April, or those nominations would be null and void. In order that those nominated should not be disadvantaged in that respect, it was further agreed that they should be advised to canvass for alternative proposers/seconders (as appropriate) should the member concerned fail to fulfil their full membership obligation. The Secretary would contact the relevant parties ‘at the request of the Chair’, so there would be no ambiguity

Action: AA

It was also noted that there had been a nomination for a post which didn’t exist, the ‘Umpire Liaison Officer’. This was a requirement of the league, and was a role that could be undertaken by an existing Officer or co-opted as appropriate.

10Date and Venue of Next Meeting (AGM)

Friday, 15 May at 7.00 pm at Smallbrook Stadium

The meeting closed at 9.30 pm

Signed:(Chair)Date: