Minutes of a general committee meeting of the society, held at William Brookes School

on Thursday 20th March 2014

Present:

Maria Budd, Danny Budd, Helen Clare Cromarty, Ian Dadswell, Gill Davis, Jeff Davis,

Kevin Evans, Paul Hutchinson, Mags Langford, Melinda Laws, Mike Mowling, Louise Parker, Joyce Pridmore, Leigh Robinson, Ann Smith, Ann Wynn.

Visitors: Nicky Spencer

  1. Apologies for absence:

Ian Higgs, Steve McWalters, Paul Nichols, Les Pinder, Angela Robinson, John Simpson, Kate Thompson, Peter Thompson.

  1. Minutes of the previous meeting – 16th January 2014

These were signed as a true and accurate reflection of the meeting – subject to matters arising at item 3 below.

  1. Matters arising

Item 3 – Matters Arising: 2014 Games, Clay Pigeon Shooting. Sponsorship has not been withdrawn; just that Promatic are no longer providing the clay shooting traps. Paddy Ryan is still sponsoring this event.

Item 5 – 2014 Games: Car parking. This has now been resolved and the society should be able to use the old Stretton Road car park as a car park on the Sunday of games weekend, for a fee of £75.

AOB – Live Arts Weekend: Various committee members reported that this was very well organised and ‘marvelous’. There had been lots of positive comments from people who attended. There was an unfortunate problem with the live feed to different rooms in the school, which the technicians went out of their way to try to resolve and were disappointed when they couldn’t.

Joyce Pridmore was thanked by the committee.

  1. Correspondence

Ben Simons has sent an email to the society thanking them for his grant. He also stated that he had an amazing time at Sochi and is now taking some time off training to deal with injuries.

It was suggested and agreed that the society would invite him to the 2014 games celebration evening.

  1. 2014 Games

Marathon – 18th May:

This will start and finish at the leisure centre, going through Benthall and Ironbridge, through to Bridgnorth and back again. The organisers ‘nice works’ have already visited and will do so again sometime in April.

First aiders will be provided as part of the organisation but our usual first aider’s have also been contacted, in order that they can provide support too.

It is not expected that there will be a problem with car parking at this event, but this will be reconsidered once there is a better idea of the number of competitors. There will be a need to hire toilets for this event, to provide facilities along the route.

There is a need for about 40 volunteers, please contact Angela Robinson if you can help or know anyone else that can.

There is a cricket match on the field on the same day, and so the organisers will liaise with the cricket club about this. Refreshments will be provided by the Catering Academy, Café 1850 will be open. Packed lunches will be offered to marshal’s. Joyce Pridmore has offered to store the water in her garage.

Competitors will receive a participation medal and a bottle of Wenlock Water. They will also have the option to buy a t-shirt.

Mike Mowling will look at the health and safety aspects of the event and route. Leigh Robinson will send information about the route to Helen Clare Cromarty, for the Bridgnorth Journal and Shropshire Star.

Games

All facilities are booked and the timetable is as per last year.

There has been no contact from the tennis club. It was agreed that Melinda Laws will try one more time to get in contact with them.

It was proposed by Ian Dadswell and seconded by Leigh Robinson that the games sub-committee has the authority to decide if the tennis goes ahead or not.

Long jump, discuss etc are all organised and funding sorted.

Car parking will be as per last year. Mike Mowling will talk to the garage about using their yard again. Two, 16-seater buses have been booked with the friendly bus service. Visitors will pay to go on the bus, not to park.

Event Organisers Meeting

This will be held on Thursday 3rd April in the Priory Hall. If you have any items for the agenda, please email Melinda Laws.

Prizes / ‘glass blocks’ with WOS logo.

It was agreed to purchase 528 of these, as this was the minimum order. This was proposed by Jeff Davis and seconded by Helen Clare Cromarty.

  1. Church Preen Playgroup

After some discussion it was agreed that WOS would ask the playgroup to provide cakes for competitors for the marathon event and also that they can have a cake stall at this event.

This was proposed by Mike Mowling and seconded by Maria Budd.

It was also agreed that in order to make it fair for other organisations in the area, which may wish to provide a similar service to raise funds; the society would place a notice in the Wenlock Herald inviting such organisations to apply.

Wenlock Olympian Athletics Club rely heavily on the money raised from the cakes they sell on games days – and their exclusive right to provide this service is fully supported by WOS.

7. Finances

The society has received a £500 donation from AGA.

Valley view have still not invoiced for the use of their facilities last year for the equestrian events, so there is an outstanding amount of £400 still to be paid.

  1. Any Other Business

2014 Programme: Unfortunately Paul Nichols is unable to produce this in 2014. Information for the programme relating to each club and event is needed by the end of April (150-200 words maximum). Please refer any queries to Helen Clare Cromarty and also send any photos to her by email. Steve McWalters also needs to write a ‘letter from the chairman’ for the programme.

School Junior Hockey

There may be an opportunity to add this as part of the games. This would be 4-7pm on Friday evening, 12th July. Ann Smith will liaise with Melinda Laws.

Sports Relief Mile

Leigh Robinson has planned the routes for the 1, 3 and 6 mile races. Helpers are needed with the setting up on Saturday from 16:30.

Web-Site

Paul Hutchinson will complete the new web-site for the 7th April

Membership

As agreed previously, membership of the society is open to all as long as they are prepared to complete a form and help out in some way. The WOS constitution needs amending to reflect this change.

Date of Next General Committee Meeting: 5th June 2014

Date of Next Exec Meeting: 6th May 2014

Enquiries:

1