MINUTES OF THE AGM OF TRENT PARK RUNNING CLUB
HELD ON 21stOCTOBER 2013 AT SOUTHGATE HOCKEY CENTRE
1. Apologies
Jill Atkins, Andrew Ryde, Beverley Golding, Julian Tracey, Ian Turner, Ian Ellis, Jane Allen.
2. Minutes of the AGM held on 29th October 2012
The Minutes were agreed.
3. Matters Arising
There were no matters arising.
4. Chairman’s Report (Penny Cording)
As has been the tradition in recent years the Committee members and other officers of the club were to report on their particular responsibilities therefore the Chairman’s report would avoid these areas.
Rent Review:
Penny advised that under our current lease (which is due to expire on 3rd April 2016) we have a rent review each year. This year Southgate Hockey Club (SHC) wanted to increase our per capita fee from £90 to £92. This meant that either the Club would have to bear the cost and only receiving £13 per head from the current subscription of £105 or increasing the subscription to £107.00.
After negotiations, it was agreed that SHC would cap our annual payment for the 2013-14 at £27,400 and not increase the per capita payment. This means that the Club is able to retain any subscription fees we receive over and above this figure. This will be reviewed again in April 2014; both parties have retained the right to revert back to a per capita payment.
Taking the Club Forward:
The Club survey took a little longer than anticipated but all responses are now in. Penny advised that there are fewer responses than expected but those that have contributed have done so with a lot of thought and input. Penny thanked all those who responded. The next stage is to review the results and comments in full and, if appropriate, act on them.
Virgin LondonMarathon (VLM) Places:
The allocation of marathon places is dependent upon how many members we have who hold Unique Racing Numbers (URN). We need to have 50 members with a URN to get one marathon place with each URN costing £10.00. Bearing in mind how few members need URNs, it was decided to only purchase a URN for those members racing in major events. We have decided to find other ways to get the Club marathon places.
Neil Saunders, through his contacts, has kindly organised for us to provide a Pedestrian Management team which will give us 2 places and £150.00. Of the 24 volunteers required, 17 have already signed up.
The 2 places received by the Baggage Handling Team have been allocated in the past by Len Edmonds; he has kindly agreed to hand these over to the Committee to allocate.
The Committee has yet to decide how these 4 places will be allocated but it will be by ballot and the main criteria will be the provision of a rejection slip to prove genuine interest.
Beginners:
Penny advised that this year’s Beginner’s Group had a few false starts because of the weather, but once they got going, they proved to be a dedicated collection of good runners who are now representing the Club in races. Ex-beginners now constitute 19% of our total senior membership.
Penny confirmed that she and Trevor Jex intend to run another Beginner’s Course early in the New Year.
Finally, Penny thanked the Committee for all the hard work they put in, some of it thankless and some of it unrecognised, but they put themselves forward to serve the Club which she thinks they do very well.
Penny advised the meeting that Liz Jackson (Ladies Team Captain) and Peter Openshaw (Membership Secretary) would both be standing down this year and she thanked them for the excellent jobs they had both done. She also advised that David Arnold was standing down as Handicap Volunteer Manager who has had the difficult task of trying to get enough volunteers to help with the Handicap and we need to find someone who is prepared to take on the role. Ian Medcalf, who has helped consistently with the juniors, was also standing down.
Penny thanked all the volunteers and helpers; these are the lifeblood of the Club and it could not exist without them.
5. Treasurer’s Report (Pauline Henley)
Pauline presented the accounts for the year ended 31st March 2013 and reported that the seniors made a profit of £1.388.77, the juniors made a profit of £2,837.56 and the club remained in a healthy financial position with the net assets totalling £39,015.90 of which £25,089.53 was held on a 7-day Notice Account with Scottish Widows earning an interest rate of 1.1%.
Seniors:
Pauline advised that the senior’s subscription income was up by approximately 10% (£2,956.00) on the previous year with an increase in licence costs paid to SHC of 12% (£2,994) on 2012. Of the senior subscription of £105.00, the Club receives £15.00 and SHC receives £90.00; this leaves us with £4,435.85 with which we manage our Club. Pauline confirmed that this is our main source of income.
Pauline advised that other notable sources of senior’s income came from the Beginner’s fees of £1,410.00 from the course in March 2012; the Triffic Trail (£1,903.99) which is an increase on the previous year, and the Dinner Dance (£1,611.37). The Ski night resulted in a loss of £1,025.00.
Club kit made a loss of £369.63; mainly in respect of the Tri- kit which was still subject to their European supplier with exchange rates and delivery costs being contributing factors. For this current year 2013/14, James Joy has assumed control of all club kit covering seniors, juniors and the tri section. James provides quarterly kit audits and valuations against costs. Pauline confirmed that from her perspective, it was good to have all the kit management under one roof going forward.
Pauline also advised that Lee Valley Area Networks provided £1,200 which we used to offset some of the costs of the weekly hire of the QE2 stadium and coaching costs.
Overall the seniors’ costs were up on the previous year but the Club did subsidise the printing of the Olympic publication and we made a contribution of £567.00 to John Bathe’s bench.
Pauline reported that the Club also made some significant contributions to charities. The Charity Auction at the Dinner and Dance in 2012 raised £1,110.00 which was paid to Sports Aid. The Christmas Raffle and Christmas Greets on the website raised £380.00 for Crossroads Care and a further sum of £340.00 raised via cake sales and the Couples’ Handicap was put towards the overall costs of John Bathe’s bench.
Juniors:
The juniors’ subscriptions were down slightly on the previous year (£245.00) which is approximately the equivalent of 8 members. Their contribution to the licence fee was £1,050.00.
The Juniors’ Triffic Trail resulted in a profit of £460.59.
Grants totalling £1,200 were received from the Jack Petchey Foundation of which the juniors chose to allocate £801.77 against some of the expenses they incurred.
Pauline thanked Malcolm Blackwood for auditing the accounts.
6. Membership Secretary’s Report (Peter Openshaw)
Peter reported that the club now has 311 senior members and 152 juniors making a total of 463 as compared with the previous year’s figure of 305 seniors and 128 juniors last year making a total of 433; this is an increase of 2% for the seniors and 18% for the juniors.
The membership is made up of 165 men and 146women of whom 17% are seniors, 27% are vets and 56% are super vets.
Peter also advised that around 60 senior members who chose not to renew their membership earlier this year but this was offset by a similar number joining the club.
Peter reported that most members renewed their membership promptly this year and many made use of the bank transfer method of payment.
Peter said that he had enjoyed being Membership Secretary for the last 3 years but was now standing down. He had enjoyed the job and wished the new Membership Secretary well.
7 & 8. Team Captains’ Report (Malcolm Allen)
Malcolm started by thanking Liz Jackson for her support as Ladies Team Captain and Adam Bowman for his work with the faster runners.
Chingford League:
Malcolm advised that there had been another increase in members taking part as against the previous year but that our best attended race still only had 39 Club members participating. For the second year running, we won the end of season relays at HighamsPark with our team of Arber Baci, Scott Aiken, Nick Sturge and Adam Bowman doing the Club proud. There was only individual trophy winner and that was Scott who came 2nd in his age group.
Malcolm advised that we also had an increase in numbers participating in the Sunday League with our most popular race being at GrovelandsPark where 55 members ran. We did rather better in this league for trophies with both Chas Taylor and Scott being age group winners and Adam coming 3rd in the Senior Category.
Best of all – Trent Park Running Club won the Combined Team Trophy.
The only Championship race we entered for the season was cancelled due to a bit of snow and ice so was re-scheduled for the day before our last and crucial, Sunday League race, so nobody ran this race for the Club.
Summer Midweek Road Race League:
Malcolm advised that the turn out for these evening races is traditionally higher than the winter leagues and it proved the same this season. The numbers were broadly the same as in previous years with our biggest turn out as the St. Albans race where 85 members ran for us. Success for the series went to Scott (again) with a 1st place in his age category with our men’s team coming 2nd in Division One. We were sadly missing some of our faster women runners but Jade Dos Santos did extremely well by becoming our highest placed woman. We did of course stay up in Division One, now our 3rd year of doing so.
Vet’s Track & Field Meetings:
Malcolm advised that it was extremely difficult to fill the events this season, even worse than previous years. Also, traditionally we have been the best supported club, but even this was not the case this year. Despite this, the members who do take part really seem to want to continue. Malcolm advised that filling the races was easier than finding people to do the field events so we will see what happens in 2014. Ur diminishing but very dedicated members who chose track running continue to have their own individual success and Malcolm advised that Alan Carter and Colin Field attended the World Masters Championship in Brazil.
Malcolm confirmed that we continue to use the QE2 track on a Tuesday evening, numbers have dropped recently, but there is always a good turnout for the juniors and also our faster runners who are kept in check by Adam.
Malcolm thanked everyone who ran for the Club last season and also thanked everyone who helped at an event. Malcolm asked why it is always so difficult to find people to help out at events considering we have a Club membership of over 300. It should be easy but we are often struggling to find a handful of people who are able to help. Malcolm asked all those who have not helped out recently to consider stepping forward.
Finally, Malcolm reminded us that all our League races are free for members to run in, so instead of spending money on external races, why not run for your Club instead.
9. Junior Section Representative’s Report (Jan Bowman)
Jan started by stating that 13 years after forming Trent Park Junior Running Club, it is ironic that at the time when it is at its most successful level, the junior club is facing its biggest challenge. At a time of growing membership numbers, high turnout at training sessions and a growing numbers of junior runners wishing to compete, the junior section is desperately short of coaching volunteers.
Jan advised that this has reached a stage where she is having to consider a significant reduction in membership numbers, reducing the number of training sessions and review our involvement in cross country and road race leagues. This is far from easy and is leading to some searching questions such as:
- Should we limit the sessions to just one on Saturdays?
- Should we reduce the club’s membership by age?
- Should we limit the numbers by ability?
Jan stated that any of the above would be short term fixes and may be at the cost of our inclusive ethos; at the cost of our competitiveness and at the cost of the opportunities for young people to experience what most of us, as adult runners, take for granted in our sport.
Jan reiterated that the junior running club was created to provide a safe, inclusive, progressive and enjoyable opportunity for young people to enter the world of running. Whether it was for fun, for competition or general fitness, for the last 13 years, all youngsters from the age of 8 have been welcomed, provided that they had a little motivation and shoes that wouldn’t fall off in the mud. Jan advised that this was an opportunity that was not provided in schools or at local athletic clubs. She stated that she was unaware of another running club locally that offered running opportunities for young people in the way that we do and with our ethos – an ethos that was inspired by our experience of running as senior members of this club.
In the last few years our juniors have had success in:
- Chingford League with wins in both individual and team events
- Mayor’s Fun Run where we won most of the individual age groups and team events
- Producing MiddlesexCounty runners and school champions
- Midweek road races with the juniors running for the first time this season
Jan also stated that most importantly, we had changed the lives of hundreds of young people who have now learned fitness as a habit, learned something about how their bodies worked, learned something about diet, about discipline, sportsmanship, respect, teamwork, packing their kitbag, being on time, being responsible and learning that with effort, comes reward.
On every level the junior running club can be considered a success and a success of which the Club should be proud. However, Jan confirmed the following situation:
- We have a membership of 140+ runners and a typical turnout on Saturdays of 85 with 4 regular coaches.
- For Tuesday sessions at the QE2 track, there is a turnout of 30-35 runners with 1 regular coach.
- For the road running sessions on Thursdays, there is a regular turnout of 25-35 runners with 3 coaches
Jan finished by stating that there is clearly a need for more volunteer coaches and asked all to consider whether they would be able to support the juniors as a coach.
10. Public Relations / Publicity Officer’s Report (Chas Taylor)
Motion carried to change the name of this role to Communications Officer.
Chas advised that he had focussed on internal communications with weekly TP News, quarterly Park Life and also Facebook and Twitter communications where appropriate. He thanked all those club members who had sent information and photos and asked for feedback on content, length of publication and anything else.
Park Life is now a full colour 16 page publication and that this had been undertaken within the existing budget and again thanked all contributors and guest editors. He noted that it had been hard work maintaining the level of work undertaken by his predecessor in this role; Jane Studd.
Chas also told us that he also responded to general queries from the website and confirmed that the biggest subject was the 10 week beginners’ course with an average of 2 queries per week throughout the year.
He expects external communications to have an increased focus this year and is working on a Club publicity brochure which can be distributed to build awareness of the Club, and also intends to work more with the press during this coming year as well as make greater use of Facebook and Twitter to disseminate information.
A repository of photographs of Club activity is also planned.
11. Coaching Co-ordinator’s Report (James Joy)
James advised that his first task as Coaching Co-ordinator was to undertake a review of the Saturday morning running arrangements. A survey was undertaken and this revealed that people were generally happy with the existing arrangements with circuit training being re-introduced once a month.
More club members were encouraged to undertake the Leaders in Running Fitness course (LiRF) and one individual is progressing towards becoming a Coach in Running Fitness (CiRF).
James reported that the Marathon Support group set up during the year aimed at exchanging ideas and information was successful and another one will be offered this coming year. He also advised that a 10K Improvers programme was successfully run with help from John Rose and Mick Green and James formally thanked both John and Mick and also Garrett Turbett for his help with the training plan.