MINUTES OF AREA 4 RIDING CLUBS’ LIAISON GROUP AGM MEETING
HELD ON MONDAY24OCT 2016 AT THE BAY HORSE, GOLDSBOROUGH
Present:Margaret Smith (Chair)
Nicky Green (Vice Chair)
Mary Kay (Area Liaison Officer)
Toni Tait (Treasurer)
Georgina Ashton (Competitions Secretary)
Denise Newsome (Minutes Secretary)
Clubs Present:White Rose, Brimham,Scarborough, Ebor Vale,York and Dist, Eldwick, Pennistone, Nidd, Selby, Holme Valley,Northallerton, Harewood, Selby and Dist, Calderdale.
Apologies for absence, West Yorks Horse Play and North Ryedale, York
Minutes:
The minutes from the 25 July 2016proposed by Calderdaleand seconded by Brimhamand accepted as a true record of the last meeting.
Matters arising from the previous meeting
No matters arising.
- Open Forum –
Eldwick thanked the organisers for the winter dressage.
White Rose asked about the area Liaison role, Mary replied that the committee now consisted of a smaller number of people who made all the decisions and the area liaison team met every so often to be given an update.
Selby brought leaflets about their membership and these were available to those present.
Nidd had held a dressage demo day that had gone down well.
White Rose had competed in the Quadrille they came 8th and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
The regional champs were successful and well received; they will run again next year, but again only over one day. The suggestion of individual entries will be put to the organising committee.
Joanne from Ackworth was selling Willoughby the Wonder Pony wristbands.
Before the Chairs Report the presentation of rosette for the previous day took place. Results can be found on the website.
Trophies were present to the winners of the
Junior Novice team – East Yorkshire
Junior Intermediate team - Ebor Vale
Senior Novice team – East Yorkshire
Senior Intermediate team – East Yorkshire
Senior Medium individual - York and District.
The reserve ROR horse this year was Premier Ambitions ridded by Rachel Newth
The Champion ROR was Bertie Arms Ridden by Denise Newsome.
Sue Emsley and her team have decided to retire from scoring for us at competitions after many years of hard work. The committee thanked her and presented her with a bunch of flowers.
Chairs Report
Good evening and thank you for coming.
It's a busy night with lots to get through so I will keep my ramblings short.
It's the time of year for changes within committees.
I would like to thank all the retiring club officers for all their hard work and free time they give to the BRC movement.
Without volunteers to help run the clubs we wouldn't be able to pursue our hobby!
I would like to welcome all the new club officers and hope you enjoy your term and I look forward to working with you.
Could you please make sure you let Denise have your updated details for her records and correspondence.
While we are on with details, please can all clubs make sure Georgina has the relevant contact information? I think this will be covered in more detail in Georgina's report.
This is the end of my 2nd year as chair...... the beginning of my 3rd year. I started with enthusiasm this year and tried to improve on my role from last year. It has taken me 2 years to realise what my role is !
When you think everything is going well there is always something to tip it on its head......
Generally my contact with the clubs is great fun but on occasions it's quite the opposite. I would ask members to remember that all of us, the area liaison committee, and all of the club committee members are volunteers and WE DO NOT GET PAID! So if you have a problem or a query, please can we try to resolve it and not look to lay blame as the first step. We are human and do make mistakes, we do this job because we want to and because we enjoy it.
Area 4 has had yet another amazing year competition wise and again have many National champions! I congratulate you all and I feel very proud to be part of a an amazing and very successful area.
I hope you feel the area competitions are running a little better each time and we strive to move forward on this front.
Next year's dates and venues have been published for a little while now so please can you make sure these are circulated to all your members.
We are already considering some changes to the format of some of the qualifiers and will discuss these at the January meeting.
At this point I will say that the agenda and minutes will be sent out to the clubs much earlier, so items from the clubs can be added.
We gained new area officers last year and I feel we are at last settling into a good team.
I would like to personally and on behalf of the floor say a big thank you for all your time and effort you have put into area 4 and for your support to myself.
I could go on but everything I want to say will be covered by the relevant officers.
I thank you all for your patience and for being part of the best area in the BRC movement.
- Competitions report.
.BRC Area 4 - Competition Secretary Report – AGM Monday 24th October 2016
Since our last meeting in July, the Summer Show has taken place. I have nothing to add from the July meeting for this qualifier except on the day (Sunday especially), the “emergency changes forms” were like confetti flying about, which just supports my suggestion of doing away with them for future competitions. The changes agreed at the last meeting for 2017 entries are detailed below for your information. In terms of changes to entries and times, I have the following suggestions to make which were agreed at the last meeting in July 2016.
NEW FOR 2017 ENTRIES
1.All entries should be completed in FULL - No BLANKS spaces on the form – I wrongly assumed at the ODE that a club was sending a team of 3, when in actual fact this was a space for a 4th team member, yet to be decided. If this is the case, please mark on the form clearly.
2.All entries should have horse’s FULL passport name and passport number at the time of the entry being submitted. This will make it much easier when you come to completing the Declarations Form on the day of the competition and make it easy to x-reference against.
3.No late entries will be accepted. (Friday – 3 clear weeks before the day of the competition). That said, I appreciate that emergencies happen, but please ring to explain so that I can cater for your club numbers etc.
4.No late payment for entries.
5.Contact telephone number on the entry form so that I can call with any queries.
6.Please ensure the GLOBAL EMAIL LIST is up to date for your club. It is not my responsibility to send out individual emails to other committee members for competitor times.
7.Emergency changes by 5PM on the TUESDAY before the competition. Time is important as I need to complete all changes on Tuesday evening so that I can forward to the scoring team to have the scoreboards sent to print on Wednesday morning.
8.ONLY WITHDRAWALS on the day of the competition. There will be no EMERGENCY CHANGES FORM for the Winter Dressage on the 23rd October 2016 – instead you will write any changes on your Declarations Form and highlight any substitutions.
In terms of the Winter Dressage, we had 238 entries before the deadline. Just to clarify, and for future reference you do not need to enter your competitors as individuals if they are entered into a team, as the individual competition applies to all team members. I’m not sure if there were an increase in changes for the Tuesday deadline before the competition due to the fact that we did away with the emergency changes form for this competition or just a coincidence but we did in fact have 63 changes last week. A mammoth task for anyone, I’m sure you will agree. In reality this means that 26% of the original entries have altered. Some all be it, only a small change like the horse’s name. But let’s face it folk, if you know your horse is called Sammy Supercalafragalistic Shitzu before the close of entries, please don’t tell me after the times have gone out that you want me to change the stable name of Sam to it’s full posh passport title. This year I have chosen to set up entries in a spreadsheet which means that any change I perform needs to be done in triplicate across all my active sheets, so by club, surname and arena. Although, Sue is planning to take a step back from heading up the scoring team, I will certainly be taking her advice and trying to work in a database for 2017.
In terms of the restriction rule which was placed on entries, 8 per club for the Novice and Intermediate class and 2 for the Open class. Firstly, I would like to publicly apologise for the disappointment and upset that I have personally caused to two individual clubs in particular (Eldwick and Northallerton) as both of these clubs sought to qualify the ruling of “restriction to 8 members per class” with me and after seeking advice, I misinformed these respective clubs. After 2 complaints last Thursday morning, 17 individuals across 4 clubs have been affected by this rule and had to be withdrawn 3 days prior to the competition.
The only thing that I am extremely upset and saddened by is that 2 individuals representing 2 different clubs saw fit to complain (I must state within 3 hours of each other), 3 days before the qualifier when the entire list of entries went public 2 and a ½ weeks prior to this date. I believe this is clearly not in the spirit of Riding Club and not in the essence of why I volunteered for this role. To be accused of unfairness, and I quote “ashamed to think that some clubs are shown favouritism when entering these competitions” does deeply offend me personally. I certainly did not join this committee to show favouritism to any one club. In fact, my RC membership had lapsed in the past 3 years due to 2 young children and I only joined in 2016 with a new born baby to satisfy the rules of being a member to be on this committee. Due to this role and a young family I have not attended one of my club’s events this year. It does make me question, why I, as someone who gave up my flourishing career to bring up my babies, has given up many many hours of my time before each qualifier to help people who clearly want to see the bad in everything. This error, was just that, a human error, in most part, mine, for misinterpreting the rule and then misinforming clubs. It was in no way an attempt to show favouritism to any one club and I believe the complaints made were not only, not in the spirit of Riding Club, they were just not in the spirit of life itself.
Following this report the floor were asked to vote on whether the clubs affected by the accidental oversubscription should be refunded their entry fees, the unanimous vote was yes, when asked does that include prelim entries? The vote was alsoyes.
Toni will refund the clubs by cheque, as that is the easiest method for her.
Denise thanked Nidd and Acworth for their efforts the day before, they were very efficient and event ran really well. She then thanked all of the Clubs who had helped throughout the year.
Following this, clubs help for the competitions to be run in 2017 was decided.
Date / Event / Venue / Clubs / Numbers on day / Set up night before25 Feb / Winter Show Jumping Junior / Bishop Burton / Calderdale / 9 / 1 ring of show jumps (Sat am)
26 Feb / Winter Show Jumping Senior / Bishop Burton / Ebor Vale, (Scarborough (not set up)), White Rose / 19 / 1 ring of show jumps (Sat pm)
19 Mar / Show Cross / Epworth / Holme Valley, Pennistone /West Yorks Horseplay, (need 4x4) / 18 / Unlikely to require help
8 April / Combined Training / Bishop Burton / Selby, White Rose, (Whitby(not set up)) / 19 / 1 ring of show jumps 3 dressage arenas
18 June / ODE (Dressage) / Helen Bells / Harewood / 7 / Possible 4 dressage arenas
18 June / ODE (Jumping) / Helen Bells / Darrowby / 6 / I ring show jumps
18 June / ODE (Secretary/Score collecting) / Helen Bells / Brimham/Eldwick (need 4x4) / 6 / n/a
22 July / Summer Show (Jumping) / REC / Northallerton/North Ryedale / 15 / 3 rings show jumps
16 July / DTM / Manor Grange / East Yorks/Ackworth / 9 / Unlikely to require help
23 July / Summer Show(Dressage) / REC / Malton/York / 11 / Unlikely to require help
Tbc October / Winter Dressage / REC / Acworth/Nidd / 11 / Unlikely to require help
One other important job still needs to be resolved. With departure of Sue Emsley and her team, we are now in need of a new team. East Yorks have 2 people who will happily head up a team, but more people are needed. Faith from Selby offered to source some people but ideally help should come from more clubs so that the burden can be shared.
Action Denise to email all clubs asking for volunteers.
- Treasurers report.
See next 2 pages
.
- Area Rep Report
Mary attended the BRC advisory committee meeting and presented the following report.
Notes from BRC Advisory Committee held on 10 and 11 October
BRC Advisory Committee Name / Role / Area / EmailLaura Sanger / Chair / Office /
Rachael Hollely-Thompson / Competitions Manager / Office /
Jennie Pallett / Secretary / Office /
Roy Turner / Competitions Officer / 16 /
Andrew Chadwick / Health and Safety Officer / 20 /
Tony Parker / Logistics and Facilities Officer / 5 /
Jane Fisher / Rules and Eligibility Officer / 19 /
David Clarke / Training Officer / 7 /
Chris Walton / Scoring and Database Officer / 3 /
Justine Naylor / British Show Jumping
Chris Farr / British Eventing
Paul Graham / British Dressage
Mary reported that she had had to send 3 horses home for incorrect vaccination certificates at the winter dressage. 1 rider had travelled 2 and half hours to get there. Chefs d’equip should try and check passports prior to horses competing. It was reported by clubs that a lot of competitors appear unaware of their horses have had re starts or even where the information was within the passport. White Rose asked why we bother as other disciplines don’t seem to and certainly unaffiliated competitions don’t worry about it. Mary explained that BRC is committed to horse welfare. If an outbreak of flu occurred, the more horses vaccinated, would decrease the chance of it spreading.
BRC will be holding a training day/evening at Washford. It will be on a Thursday in either November, December or January. Date will be confirmed.
The committee for the regional champs from this area do not claim mileage for any meetings they attend. It was requested that they should be allowed to claim 20p/mile, this would cover petrol. Clubs to get view from members.
Next year schedule will be easier to understand.
No one volunteered for Mary’s post of Area Liaison Officer, so Mary agreed to stay on.
- Training officers report:
It has been a slow start for training for me with having to cancel the first 1st Aid training due to lack of interest.
I am now ready to tackle 2017 with renewed vigour.
I have rearranged the First Aid Training for either 7/1/17 or 14/1/17or 11/2/2017 preferences to me please and final date will be arranged in the next week payment for this will be £42 and in advance.
I am also looking at a DTM day in spring for people wanting to have a go venue and date TBC
I have also been asked to look into a test riding day for all clubs and also a cross country training practice day I am in the process of sorting these before the next Area comps in 2017.
Any more suggestions please let me know thanks.
- AOB
Lisa asked that all owners of ex racehorses keep her informed of ROR numbers so that she can give points throughout the year
Meeting closed at 9.50
Next meeting 30 Jan 2017 8pm Bay Horse at Goldsborough
Rest of 2017
24th April
31st July
23 October (AGM)