Minutes of meeting held on 10 Aug 2015


LLANDAFF ROWING CLUB

GENERAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE (GMC) MEETING
Monday, 10 August 2015

7.30pm

Present

Paul Bradshaw [Chairman], Gary Brace [President], Sarah Thomas [Captain], Maurice Blount [Joint Treasurer], Christine Hughes [Membership Secretary], Martin Lunn [Committee member], Karl Morgan [VP]; Craig Willetts [Junior representative], Laura Starrs [Health & Safety], Mary Yee [Comms], Simon Spiller, Joe Lewis [Men’s VC], Dan Briley, Ian Hall [VP], Andy Pratt [Regatta Chair], Dawn Brace [Secretary]

1.  Apologies

Sue Street Jon Hine [VP],

Minutes of last meeting (6 July 2015)

Agreed as an accurate record. Proposed: ST, Seconded: MB

2.  Actions from previous Committee meetings

Action / Status /
Gym work / Begun
Implications of registering Club as a Ltd Company / With Constitution Review Group.
Insurance documents - private boats / Down to 2 outstanding.
Fundraising Cttee / Had not met.
VAT update / On agenda
Committee minutes / House/Rowing/Fund raising Committees still not sending to MY for the website.

3.  House Committee Report

Gym - Dan/Dai Briley had begun work. Rubber flooring yet to be quoted for.

Bar steward

·  Aaron left.

·  Hse Ctee to advertise for Bar Steward and Club manager

·  Ian Peter and Christine providing paid cover into September with casual bar staff

·  Takings so low that a rota of members was suggested or the group wanting to use the bar ‘servicing’ themselves on a restricted bar basis (no draught drinks).

Action: GMC decided that based on current takings (as low as one KitKat one day and £4 another day) that the bar would not open on a Monday until the AGM. At that point members would be offered the opportunity to run it themselves.

Action: MY to consult Tuesday circuits group about whether they would care to run the bar Tuesdays but Tuesdays would remain open for the time being.

Action: MY to issues on Comms before AGM, the GMC decisions that

·  the bar would be closed from 17/8 onwards

·  the bar would be shut on Tuesdays after the AGM unless members ran it themselves

·  members with others proposals would be invited to contact the House Committee

Landing stage

Dan Briley prosed a steel framework solution which would last another 10-15 years

·  Action: LS to chase her contact for comparison purposes

4.  Fundraising

Events planned: Pub & club and raffle to name boats

5.  Chair’s Report

·  Constitution - GB reported that progress made but not ready to report to AGM, although the Treasurer noted that we would need to include in our constitution that we were a not for profit body.

·  Donation sent to Jenny Ashman and cup and salver to be placed in cabinets

6.  Rowing Committee Report

ST reported:

·  Lots of home wins at LRC regatta

·  6 juniors went to HIR15

·  Crews entered for Oxford/Gloucester/Ross

·  2 junior L2Rs planned

·  Gym work going ahead – should be opened in conjunction with Cardiff Met

Llandaff Regatta – Regatta Chair reported

·  Approximately £6.5k made (TBC) although trophies yet to be deducted from that initial estimate

·  Awaiting umpire report on the event

·  P&C poster ready to issue: Comms would need to emphasise that the money goes to equipment etc so get out and get crews

·  P&C registration 26/8 and event 26/9

GMC recorded thanks to the Committee and to Andy as continuing chair.

7.  Treasurer’s Report/ Financial

·  Noted that Council Tax would now take £7.5k from us as we weren’t explicit enough that we are not for profit. Also needed a constitutional amend about dissolution giving proceeds to the Governing body

Action: Constitution group to note

  • The CASC issue raised again. MB suggested that the immediate objective is to satisfy Cardiff Council that we are `not for profit', and the simplest solution is to modify the Constitution.

·  Membership had to remain under £300 because the guidance notes used by Cardiff Council require adult membership to be at or below this amount.[1] Suggestions to bypass this restriction included splitting our subscriptions into membership (below £300) together with a separate donation.

Action: ST to get information from other rowing clubs.

  • MB tabled summary financial figures, based on cash available in the bank, contingencies needed for (known) liabilities, and projected income and expenditure through the year ahead.

Cash available:

·  £70.9k in the bank account after accounting for VAT and function deposits

·  £5k kept for the gym spend (electrics, window)

·  £7.5k held back for in-kind donation of labour by Dan Briley – to be spent on boat refurbs

·  £1.8k on blades to match fund a grant

  • £7.5k surplus, released for spend this year

Cash remaining £49.1k

Liabilities:

£7.5k to cover the council's cancellation of rates relief

£7k for the Dan B landing stage solution (if agreed, £50k+ previously estimated)

£10k to cover outstanding VAT bill (could be more – MB to confirm)

Leaving £25.5k cash reserve (based on a number of assumptions)

Income projected for year:

Commercial £15.6k

Memberships £61k

Regatta £6k

P&C, L2Rs, fundraising £ (Unknown)

Total £82.6k, plus fundraising

Less House/Rowing expenses at £69.1k. This includes £12k repayments of the outstanding British Gas bill.

Net income £13.5k for year

plus £7.5k surplus brought forward from 13/14

£21k available to spend for the year

Expenditure proposed:

House Committee:

£50 gym plastering of gym back entrance (Dan, material cost)

£2k tills

£1.7k lighting

Total: ~£4k for year. MB suggested additional spends could be approved as and when commercial income increases.

Remaining amount: £17k

Rowing Committee:

(£44.5k spends on rowing and coaching have been proposed. Clearly, some compromise is necessary.)

PB suggested that, because sourcing and fitting the refurbishment container was likely to cost £5k, the remaining £2.5k could be allocated to the Rowing Committee as part of their spend on boat repairs.

Approx. £19.5k available, to cover coaching and rowing expenses.

Having only £19.5k available makes it impossible to fund a full-time coach. It was suggested that some members club had already suffered/left due to a lack of coaching.

Reserve amount previously agreed at £36k based on a two-month turnover policy. As outlined above, we have £25k after setting aside amounts to cover estimated liabilities. A debate ensued about how much of this to spend versus how much to retain.

Until we are sure about the amount of VAT to pay, GMC voted to retain £15k, over and above the amounts held back for `Liabilities' as described above, as a contingency and release £10k on the basis that claw back could be used if VAT or other liabilities arose. Claw-back could be achieved through cutting back expenditure through the year or by withdrawing the coach after the trial period of 3 months.

GMC Members noted that funding would also be required for the launch, trailer, truck and landing stage, gym floor and maybe for the bar steward salary and so spending now was not necessarily the best option.

With the £10k released from reserves, £29.5k is now available to spend by the Rowing Committee this year.

Concern about spending £20k/annum, or more, on coaching when, for this year, that needed to call on reserves and was therefore unsustainable. MB queried whether a full-time coach was a justifiable cost, in light of core coaching hours comprising evenings and weekend mornings, and suggested that the coach could offset their costs in the remaining hours.

Due to timing, the coach advert would be issued with 3 month trial period. This spend is approved on the basis that the rowing committee lives with what money is left. It was suggested that the Rowing Committee could estimate income from Pub and Club, L2R and other fundraising efforts to budget for additional capital spends.

Raising junior membership of those aged 16+ would bring in additional funds of £4.3k/annum based on current figures.

8.  Communications Report

Carried over to next meeting

9.  Health and safety

Carried over to next meeting

10. Membership

Action: Proposals for particularly junior membership to be circulated and brought to next meeting – CH/ST

New members approved:

Alex Pope / Full
Jess Caterson / Full

11. Correspondence

None

12. AOB

·  Time of next meeting brought forward to 7pm September 7th

·  AGM will be 24/9

·  Need to finalise AGM issues at 7/9 meeting

·  Publish papers by 18/9 latest

·  Give 2 weeks for nominations

[1] To ensure we continue to receive 75% relief from council tax (worth £7.5k per annum).