IWHC Annual General Meeting – Friday, 15 May 2015 held Smallbrook Stadium
Present:
Harry Kirby (Chair), Alison Austin (Secretary), James Liddiard (Treasurer), Tom Young, Jon Milton, AlyTownend, JaimieUnsworth, Simon Butler, John Pearson, Jon Kirby, Kate Ednay, Kirstie Fraser, LeeyaRoovis, Lewis Heaven-Gandy, Mark Dickinson, Neil Harris, Stephen Woodford, Tom Gould, Tom Speer, Ashley Metcalfe, Carl Joyce, Derrick Austin, Ellis Lynas, Nye Richards
HK welcomed committee members to the AGM and thanked them for their attendance.
1Apologies
Apologies had been received from: Nicky Richardson, Richard Thornton, Ray Wheeler, Clive Green, Aaron Baker, Colin Simmonds, Graham Curtis, Jim Moreton, Liz Williams
2Minutes of the AGM held on 22 May 2014
Proposed by Lewis Heaven-Gandy and seconded by Neil Harris that the Minutes were a true and accurate record. This was agreed unanimously. The Minutes were signed by the Chairman (HK).
3Matters Arising
There were no matters arising.
4Chairman’s Report
You will recall that I became Chairman about a third of the way through the season. Unfortunately, through personal circumstances, Neil had to resign from that post. I was flattered to be asked and agreed to take on the role. Until then I had turned up at games as requested, enjoyed the social side of the club, and went home, leaving hockey matters aside for the rest of the week. Suddenly that changed!! Also for personal reasons, Helen Hunnybun resigned as Ladies' Captain. Aly and Jamie agreed to share that responsibility between them. I was very grateful for that offer and, as far as I'm aware, the ladies did not notice the smooth, seamless transition. Many thanks to those two for taking on the extra work.
Team Captains will report on the success of their teams. I would not wish to steal their thunder and their opportunity to celebrate their teams' successes. However, I would like to offer my personal congratulations to all players and managers for such a successful season. Suffice it to say, as members of the Isle of Wight Hockey Club, we all share in the reflected glory!! During the season I have umpired the Men's 1st X1 and, on occasions, the Ladies 2nd X1. What has struck me is the good spirit, camaraderie, and good humour within those teams. When possible, teams supported those playing earlier or later. Again, always in a good humoured, lively, enthusiastic spirit.
I have been pleased to see younger members being given the opportunity to show their skills and potential in the men's ones. They have been welcomed as equals by the more experienced players and have added new skills to their team. Similarly, in the ladies' team, youngsters are given support, encouragement and advice by the "senior" members.
I have attended the two bowling nights and the club event held at the King Lud. Attendance varied, but individual's arrangements all came together at the second bowling which was well attended by members from all teams. Maybe Woody's birthday bash enticed extra people into Ryde. There was a strong sense of belonging to a club enjoying an evening together. The curry evening organised by "T" for the men's ones was attended by virtually all team members.
I have become more and more aware of a growing desire from club members to draw various elements of the club together and an eagerness to make it more cohesive and structured. In changes made since I became Chairman, the focus, apart from trying to ensure that players enjoy their hockey, has been on ensuring all club members are aware of what is happening and why. Minutes of committee and selection meetings are posted on the club website. There has also been a move to avoid individuals making unilateral decisions. This, hopefully, avoids recriminations against that individual, but also shares the burden.
A sub-committee was formed to organise the Presentation dinner. Again Aly offered her services, with Tom Young (aka "T"), Alison and myself. It was the first three that undertook all the work!! Money to collect, menus to suit all tastes to plan, disco to book, trophies to choose and buy, table plans etc. etc..... Again, in the past I had just turned up on the evening to enjoy myself. I was completely oblivious to the weeks of work that culminated in the successful evening. Many thanks to that team
We have been concerned about tracking membership status and payment of match fees. Secretary, Treasurer and Team Captains have spent a great deal of time trying to cast some light on the apparently fragmented and, to one with a fresh view, uncoordinated processes recently used. I have been concerned about the legal vulnerability of club officers in the event of a "non-member" being seriously injured. Potentially it is the officers of the club who could face large fines, or worse, if they were seen to be negligent in this aspect of management.
Historically individuals have undertaken roles where links, or accountability, to a management structure have not been clearly defined. Responsibility has been with the individual rather than with the Management. This is an area of great concern to me. I believe the situation has arisen through a lack of members coming forward to take on roles. This results in individuals taking on several responsibilities, or roles being split between willing volunteers. Clarity of roles and responsibilities then diminishes and an element of "Whose job is that?" "Should he/ she be making that decision?" "They have too much responsibility." creeps in. We need to be clear about who has responsibility for which aspect of club management, and a confidence in that member to fulfil their function. Elements of personality clashes, mistrust, lack of confidence in individuals, elitism, combine to hinder the smooth running of the club and divert energies from more important tasks. Added to clear allocation of roles, we need to have clear systems of communication, combined with the trust and confidence that I have just mentioned.
In AGMs, since amalgamating the men's and women's clubs, I have argued that we are now one club and not two. Maybe I'm more sensitive to this than others. To have "ladies' club captain" and "men's club captain" emphasises that separateness. If members are willing, I would like to change those titles to "ladies' section captain" and "men's section captain".
In conversations with members, I sense a willingness to develop the "oneness" and unity of the club, and an eagerness to prosper as a whole. Hopefully, at this meeting, there will be a rush of members competing for the opportunity to take the club forwards. I am optimistic that those elected through the democratic process will have the full support of those who are disappointed. There is always next year!!!
I am grateful to all committee members for their commitment to the club and for their "team" commitment. Many players will not be aware of the hours of work undertaken by club captains, team captains, fixture secretary, treasurer and others to ensure you have a game to go to and enjoy. I am pleased that John Pearson agreed to be Minutes Secretary to ease the burden on Alison. It is only since I undertook this role that I have been aware of the amount of time and effort given by Alison. I appreciate her attention to detail and her determination to ensure that we all do what we should, when we should and how we should!
Harry Kirby
HK reviewed the report and emphasised his thanks to those who had contributed to club organisation and the various events held throughout the season. Openness andtransparency across the whole club was a defined aim of his ‘chairmanship’ and the committee had been working hard to achieve this (eg Committee Minutes posted on the club website). There had been some issues (eg monitoring membership, collection of moneys) mainly due to lack of clarity in respect of who was responsible for what, and a proper structure would be in place for next season to overcome this. It was important that all roles were clearly defined with more members involved, with decisions on all mattersmade by the committee and not unilaterally. In this regard HK hoped that members would put their names forward to fill committee posts presently vacant so that a wider cross section of the membership, giving better whole club representation, could be involved in making those decisions. HK concluded by expressing his personal thanks to Alison Austin for her work as Secretary and dealing in particular with the more bureaucratic aspects of the running of a sports’ club. Thanks were expressed to HK for his report.
5Secretary’s Report
Things have mainly run smoothly this year, although there have been a few niggly problems towards the end of the season.
I have circulated information as received and in the main people have responded fairly well, although getting officer reports is always a pain, but it does speed up the meetings. There are still areas we need to improve on as I feel that most of the problems that do occur happen because people don’t communicate properly and to the right person.
Regrettably, I have been the subject of a few calls and emails from people who are upset about certain matters they feel are my problem and these take up unnecessary time and cause unnecessary hassle trying to sort them out. People need to step up and take responsibility for their own roles and interact with the people who are relevant to their problem. I feel at times I have been the point of contact for peoples’ grumbles.
I will always try and do my best to help anyone, but I/the Club Secretary should not be the clubs backstop when thing don’t quite go according to the wishes of members. So if I carry on being Secretary I do not expect to be the agony aunt of the club.
There seems to be apathy from people to doing anything other than playing the game, which makes it hard for the committee, but thankfully we do have dedicated members who put the club first and do anything they can to make sure everything runs smoothly.
I would also like to congratulate all the teams this season as we have had a 1,2,3,4 finish and that’s some achievement.
As the men’s 2s didn’t have an appointed Captain last season I agreed to help out with the admin to ease the load on Simon (who took on the on field Captains role) and it has been a pleasure to see how the team, in particular the youngsters has developed. I would like to congratulate everyone who played a part in helping them achieve promotion.
We need people helping out with the club development particularly in respect of the junior section as although the girls seem to be training in numbers, the lack of boys being available to play in junior matches is worrying. This is an Agenda item and it is one area that anyone who really wants to take the club forward would be welcome to get involved with and we seem to have people who want to work but not necessarily in the areas of need. Development is one of the key roles if the club wants to progress, otherwise in 5 years time the club will suffer as the older players retire. However, it seems that no one is willing to get a committee together and take on this role.
The social side of the club and lack of suitably qualified coaches are other area that needs addressing. I am trying to get in touch with Paul Jennings re coaching again.
I also think we need to consider the future of the Club Festival as yet again we are down on numbers and it would seem that maybe the date is wrong. AMA
Minifest – 9th May .Only two visiting teams are scheduled to come to the Island and I am hoping the Club can field a men’s, ladies and a mixed team to give them some games. I need volunteers to get these teams sorted. It will cost £5 per player for the day’s hockey.
Cowes new pitch would appear to be on the back burner if it’s going to happen at all. There could be an opportunity to try to re open negotiations with the College, but it will require a committee to take on the job and source possible funding and then liaise with the CEC to take matters forward.
Hampshire AGM is on Wednesday 24th June at Fareham HC 7.30 start and we need someone to attend on the clubs behalf or we may be fined.
Hampshire Ladies League AGM - Monday 18th May at Trojans HC. 7.30 start. Ladies must send a representative and trophies (Ladies’ 1s) must be returned by April 24th.
Old sticks and kit recycle – I am waiting for Lucy from EH to get back to me as it’s possible we may be able to offload old kit.
Alison Austin
Thanks were expressed to AA for her report and efforts on behalf of the club.
6Treasurer’s Report(Attached to the Minutes)
The draft balance sheet and draft income statement for season 2014/2015 was available to members at the meeting. JL noted that the club had incurred an operating loss of £16 over the course of the season and had a current credit balance of £10,605. He noted that the club operated three accounts – Junior Account, Match Day Account and Festival Account.
LH-G thanked the club for providing ferry costs for the mixed festival at Sonning. He asked that as the club had a good surplus, maybe it could consider sponsoring future club days and/or social events. JL suggested that any ideas should be forwarded to the committee for consideration. This was endorsed by HK. It was noted that the club had committed up to £1k on a new set of shirts for the 2015/16 season with players able to swap their existing shirt for a new one at no cost (provided membership criteria had been met) (Ref IWHC Committee Minutes, 03 March 2015, available on the club website.)
James Liddiard
7Officer Reports (Tabled)
Ladies’ Club Captain
Jamie Unsworth and AlyTownend had jointly assumed this role following the resignation of Helen Hunnybun (see ladies’ captains’ reports). HK thanked JU and AT for taking on the role in a seamless manner.
Men’s Club Captain
Overall a very satisfying campaign for the men’s teams, with both the 1s and 2s promoted from their leagues. Well done to both teams and during the season there were good examples of the teams working together.
There were weeks where the teams struggled to get enough players out, and it demonstrates just how important it is for the respective team representatives to liaise early in a week to discuss team selection so any absences can be filled. I was very disappointed a complaint was made to the club secretary regarding a 2nd XI team selection from a member of the 1st XI (of which I was CC'd in on the reply) basically querying the selection for a match that was very important to the development of the club, its youngsters and its two men’s teams.
The team selections were in line with the club's selection policy and were in full liaison between the 1st XI captain and the 2nd XI representative, as it should be. As in previous years, members should accept whichever team they are chosen for and the team chosen for that match and not query selections that they have no involvement in.
We also had a case where the 2nd XI had a vital promotion-deciding match and the 1s had some players unavailable. Team members from the 2s were approached to play for 1s directly, not via the 2nd XI representative. This should not be happening, but hopefully the message was clear on this and it won't happen in future seasons.
I again reiterate that only members should be chosen ahead of non-members in future unless in exceptional circumstances as it is not fair they subsidise these players, and with a dedicated membership secretary next season (of which hopefully we will have one in place), that will happen. Seeing a non-member play for the 1s who had made no payment, being selected ahead of every single 2nd XI member when the 2s did not have a game was a low point (and a major insurance concern) but I am happy to say there were many high points in the season also.
Once again an overall successful season and hopefully a platform to build on next season.
Simon Butler
SB noted that communication between the men’s sides and AA had been effective and those concerned had worked well together. He further emphasised the importance of regular selection meetings
Ladies’ 1s Captain
The ladies have had a very successful season. After securing promotion last year, finishing fourth and only 5 points adrift of promotion is a great reflection on the team’s strength of character determination and talent – especially considering the loss of several key players from the previous year. Some inconsistencies in availability let us down and led to some frustrating results but we took great pleasure taking points off both the teams who secured promotion above us (there’s something incredibly satisfying beating squad of 16 and their vocal coaches with a solid team of 11!!). There has been a continued introduction of youngsters in the squad with Rudina now a regular fixture as well as Faye, Megan and Sophie all making great contributions and cases for 1st XI selection next year.