Tees River Users Trust Limited
(Registration number 04179273) (The “Company”)
Timetable
· Papers for next Board meeting to RP by 1st July
· Papers and agenda to be circulated to Board on 3rd July
· Next Board meeting on Monday 11th July at 5.30 pm.
Minutes of a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company held at River Tees Watersports’ Centre on 13th June 2016
Present: / Alan Kallagher Tees Wheelyboats ClubRalph Pickles British Rowing
Alan Pearce Centre Manager
Dick Marlow Tees Rowing Club
Jo Bridge Powerhouse Dragon Boat Club
Liz Hamilton S V Bye (for item 3)
1 / Apologies:
Apologies received from:
John Reeve Inland Waterways Association
Mark Hawkings Teesside University
Tony Campbell Tees Barrage Upstream Sailing Association
Reuben Kench Stockton Borough Council
Alastair Rowell Tees Tigers
Matt Fletcher Observer Tees Tigers
Graham Butterfield British Dragon Boat Association
Details for Jo Bridge and Alastair Rowell are needed as new directors to be registered with Companies House by Liz Hamilton / Action
LH
2 / Declarations of Interest: None New
3 / Annual Accounts Review
The draft accounts were accepted. There are one or two minor changes to be made and then they will be submitted to Co House. / LH
4 / Minutes of previous meeting
The minutes previously issued were accepted as a correct record.
5 / Matters arising from the last meeting – Actions – NOTE – Agenda items from this meeting are incorporated in matters arising from the previous meeting where there is a common item for clarity.
(i) To Review Progress on Staffing.
· Alan has now qualified and has applied for a Personal Licence. His Police Certificate is now back and application is proceeding. Once in place we will apply to change the DPS. / RP/AP
(ii) Trailer and dragonboats in the car park
· The purple boat has been given away and will be leaving soon / GB/JB
(iii) Boathouse extension & Club Room Development
· Work is well advanced.
· Cash Flow is being managed.
· Final works to be completed in the next few weeks:
o Lighting and electrics
o Alarms – Fire and Security
o Planting of thorn bushes to restrict access to the outside
o Build wall between bays and move weights matting from upstairs gym to the new square bay.
o Carpet the new square bay and install the ergo’s, paddling machines, dynos and exercise bikes.
o Dispose of multi-gym
o Paint the walls and triangular bay floor
· The upstairs gym will then be converted to a Club Room available to all members and not to be booked out.
· As noted earlier – in order to claim VAT back, Clubs will be charged for the floor space occupied by their equipment, but as TRUT runs a balanced budget this will not increase overall costs.
· A paper was presented by DM to develop the upstairs gym as a Club Room and to provide kitchen units / sink / microwave along the adjoining wall with the kitchen so that members will be able to make drinks / snacks and the main kitchen can be reserved in good condition for functions. DM will revert with costs. RP will check with David Frances the hygiene laws that will apply (David wrote the current kitchen rules.) / RP/TC
RP
TC
AP
Members
AP
DM
RP
(iv) To receive a report from the Centre Manager
· As noted in previous minutes, we need to clarify the rules for bookings at the Centre. This has become even more necessary as every weekend is now booked to the end of November. In order to get maximum usage from the Centre, we need to ensure sharing whenever possible. Over the New Year it was demonstrated that we can happily organise 30 or so people to use the centre as a base, going on the water 3 times per day (and paying to do so) without restricting access by others. A new booking form was reviewed at the meeting and will be circulated.
The proposal is that:
o Aside from major annual events such as Regattas, clubs should only be able to have 2 bookings which restrict access to the centre at any one time. If provisional bookings are found not to be needed they should be released as soon as possible.
o Restricted access should only be reserved when absolutely necessary, when sharing of the facilities is not possible.
o Weekend days up to 11.00 am are especially busy for members of all clubs and should be preserved as open access unless more people are expected at a restricted event than the number of club members who will be disadvantaged. The Centre does after all exist primarily for its members.
· Analysis of Function Performance and Diary planning is being picked up. Some analysis has been done on spend / attendee which will allow us to focus on the most profitable functions.
· End of financial year stock take completed – analysis now needed.
· There has been a problem recently with the alarm not being set when the last person leaves the building. Furthermore despite issuing new keys last year to be sure we have a list of all keyholders, the system has broken down again. Alarm fobs are now being programmed to individuals so we know who is opening and closing the RTWC.
· We will also need to train keyholders to act as fire wardens and to how to use the evacuation chair on the staircase.
· First aid kits are being updated and the evacuation plan updated
· Evacuation chair needed
· There has been a problem with non-availability of cleaning on holiday weekends. Contract with supplier to be reviewed. With functions every weekend booked until end November, we do need weekend and holiday cleaning.
· Sunday 19th June – D Uni organising a Formula Rowing event – no restriction on RTWC Clubs boating and going upstream. There may be visitors using the Regatta Steps to access the event.
· Alan is reviewing mid-week bar opening times. The bar is provided as a service to members on Tues, Wed, and Thurs evenings but average takings are only £23/night whilst breakeven is £60/night. Earlier opening times may be more appropriate and will be trialled.
· The possibility of providing high quality coffee with a coffee grind machine was discussed again. The last time we looked at this it was decided not to proceed since the time taken by bar staff to prepare drinks would be excessive. However, a new suggestion is that bar staff could sell empty cups and consumers could then operate the machine themselves. Will be reviewed again. / AP
AP
AP
AP
AP
AP
AP
TC
AP
AP
AP/DM
(v) Budget 2016/17
· Monthly split of budget needed
· The drinks supplier has a plan for a pubs and clubs ergo event. / DJ
AP
(vi) To receive a report from the Asset Manager
· No new items this month other than as appear elsewhere in these minutes.
(vii) 2015/6 Capital Budget Phasing
· Function room heating – due – first quote too high - revisit / TC
(viii) Monthly accounts and Function Performance
· Accounts were presented for April. Invoices have been issued to Clubs for membership and storage.
(ix) Anti-social behaviour
· Have written to Reuben Kench to request a start-of-season multi-agency meeting.
· RUG report that SBC can no longer fund the river patrols – they may be possible with volunteers – C&RT have indicated willingness to help but no progress to date / RK
(x) Report of the TRUT Sports Activator
· There is a proposal for additional banners on site drawing attention to the accessibility of the RTWC and our sports to attract additional recruits. Adverts with appropriate photographs should be placed in the balcony, but also on the roadway now that there are companies established here. Plan is to advertise membership; functions; and conferences.
· Following Linda Rolfe’s resignation the role has been revised to focus on attracting new people to water sports rather than coaching them, which has largely been undertaken by clubs. The role has been advertised with a closing date on 17th June. 9 applications have been received to date. CV’s will be circulated to the interview panel for short listing and then panel interviews will be arranged.
· Plans are going ahead for a major dragon boat festival on August 27th / AP
RP
RP/GB
(xi) Statutory Timetable and monthly activities
· Statutory timetable to be updated and reissued. Need to review actions for DJ and reallocate – some to Liz Hamilton – see below
· Policies
o A future agenda item is needed for Reserves Policy and Procedure
o TC is creating a master file for Policies and Board Minutes on Google – please send him copies of all policies you hold. / RP/LH
AK/RP
TC/ALL
(x) Any other business
· Review advertising RTWC again once redecoration done. Should promote wedding functions through the Registrars’ office. Medium term.
· TC is looking to see if we could get new furniture for the bar from the Swallow Hotel which is still fully furnished but is to be redeveloped.
· Pensions – TRUTs staging date is April 2017 – we need to have pension provisions in place before this for AP and LR. We need to register on the government site in September. Plan will be to use the government provider NEST. TRUT needs to agree the amounts for TRUT and Employee contributions.
· C&RT have done a new hydrographic survey of the Tees for comparison with pre the barrage, but goes no further than Yarm and only considers a central channel in the middle of the river. Debate continues to get C&RT to own the whole width of the river and the need to keep it navigable. SBC are involved and there is concern from the Environment Agency about the condition of the bed of the river.
· C&RT have an open day with stands for Clubs etc on 13th August. Jo is linking with them to have paddling machines in use and may also have dragon boats there, but the allocated location near the barrage slipway is not ideal. Once we have a replacement for Linda we may be able to do more. / RP
TC
RP
TC
JB
Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting will take place on Monday 11th July at 5.30pm
Date ______
Chairman of the meeting