Minutes of the Bristol and West Committee Meeting on Friday 13 December 2013 at Whitehall Athletics Arena

Present: Cy Knibb (Chair, CK), M Strange (MS), C Elson (CE), H Nash (HN), B Barrett (BB), R Brocklesby (RB), Z Goodman (ZG), P Mountain (PM), (ND), K Brackstone (KB)., M Down (MD)

  1. Apologies. S Mitchell, C Green, N Diamond, C Preston.
  1. Minutes of the previous meeting on 15November. These minutes were accepted as a true record and signed and will be passed to the Minute Secretary for retention at the next meeting.

Matters Arising.

  • Financial Report. Payment had been received from the University of Bristol for track fees for the academic year 2013/2014.
  • Contributions to coach travel costs. RB has now informed Yate of our decision to continue to charge £8 for travel on coaches and £5 for travel on minibuses.
  • Fixture Clash.KB confirmed that there is a Midland League and a BAL fixture on Saturday 7th June 2014. The ladies don’t have a direct clash as their UKWL fixture is on Sunday 8th June 2014.
  • Fixture List for 2014. HN Advised that details of Avon and South-West League fixtures were still awaited and he would advise KB of the dates and venues as soon as they are received (HN).
  • Officials Course Update. MS advised that the Level 2 Officials Course to be held at Downend will now take place on Sunday 23 March 2014.
  • Sportshall Events. KB has sought feedback from Bristol Schools about the events held in October and November – as yet there had been none.
  1. Membership. MS circulated a list of new members prior to the meeting and reported that there have been 174 new members so far this year. So far 69 members have been de-listed – giving net growth of 105. MS has circulated the current membership list to team managers with a request that they identify those members who are no longer current or who no longer compete. There was a discussion about competing persistent non-payers (who also seem to avoid paying track fees) – the Committee was unanimous in its view that such individuals should have their membership withdrawn and should not be allowed to use the club’s facilities and should not receive any support by way of grants. Membership list 149 was passed unanimously. There was a discussion about paying subscriptions by Direct Debit and the Treasurer said he would look into it. (Action: KB). MS advised that he had pencilled in 17th January 2014 as the Life Members Meeting – when this was pointed out as the proposed date for the next Club Committee Meeting he put the date back to 24th January 2014.
  1. Financial Report. KB had circulated a report prior to the meeting. In answer to a question about receipt of monies from the YDL KB advised that none had been received by bank transfer up to receipt of the club’s November statements and he would check and advise HN if monies were received in December (Action: KB). Income and expenditure ebbed and flowed but the current situation was that income for the year exceeded expenditure by around £3,000. MS advised that he was holding cheques for 2014 subs renewals of the order of £780. KB advised that the club didn’t strictly annualise income and expenditure as evidenced by League Affiliation fees being paid for 2014 already and advised MS to pay the cheques in (retaining cheques also prompted queries as to whether they had been received and why they hadn’t been cashed so it would reduce the admin burden to bank them promptly. (Action: MS)
  2. Team Managers’ Reports.
  3. Avon Track and Field League (HN). Final arrangements for next year’s league are still awaited.
  4. Gwent League (CE). CE and KB reported on performances from the Gwent League which included some good individual performances in the younger age groups and some impressive individual and team performances in the senior men’s (second team but first overall) and senior ladies (first at Bath and first overall). Comments about lack of runners in the lower age groups led to a discussion about how to increase numbers: CK would call a sub-committee with HN, SL and ZG to look into options (Action: CK) and PM would talk to Geoff Keogh to investigate the possibility of a Junior Parkrun. (Action: PM)
  5. YDL (HN). HN advised that the proposed dates and venues for YDL Premier Division 2 were 3 May – Nottingham, 31 May – Wolverhampton, 22 Jun – Cheltenham and 19 July – Stoke. HN proposed that such travelling would mean that teams which would not be competitive at best would be decimated because of the travelling time and the length of day. He advised that West 1 Division would meet on the same dates but the venues would be: 3 May – Yate, 31 May – Bath, 22 June – Cwmbran and 19 July Coventry. The Committee were unanimous that this represented a far more realistic option for this age group and asked HN to approach the YDL to seek voluntary relegation. (Action: HN). As for the YDL (UAD) the dates and venues for their meetings in 2014 are 27 April – Alexander Stadium, 1 June – a Team Oxfordshire venue, 29 June – Yate and 27 July – Swansea.
  1. Club Development. KB circulated a report prior to the meeting. There were no questions. HN offered to help with the store when KB chose a date to sort it out. HN also raised the question of coaches and athletes leaving kit lying around – as evidenced by standing triple jump mats being found in the Pavilion that night! HN advised that the club might need to buy two 500 gm competition javelins before the summer season 2014. KB would check whether there were any at Kip Keino Athletic Stadium first before ordering any. (Action: KB)
  1. Pomphrey Sports 5K. RB reported that the last race had attracted 124 runners – up from 100 at the previous month’s race – but neither he nor Chris really knew why. The race raised £553 surplus for the Club. Charlie Maclean had won the Men’s race in 14:40 – a new course record. No decisions have been made yet on any changes to the course and CE, KB and RB will look into options prior to the next meeting (Action: CE, RB, KB).
  1. BGS Sportshall Competitions. The second competition on Saturday 16November had only 27 athletes but was well supported by officials. It had been agreed at the previous Committee Meeting that the Club would subsidise the two eventsin 2014.
  1. Club House Sub-Committee Update. KB advised the Meeting that there had already been two meetings of this sub-Committee and that he and CK had also met with Matt Foad. The key would be ensuring tenure on the site and this would mean negotiation with City Academy Bristol (who hold the site on a 99-year lease) and Bristol City Council as the Landlord. KB was waiting to hear when the sub-committee could meet with Paul Skipp at CAB. Matt Foad identified funding of up to £25,000 through England Athletics and a further £50,000 through Sport England. Both would have funds available from 1 April 2014 but neither organisation had publicised bid dates yet. KB proposed that any bid should look at the new facility as Phase 2 of a long-term programme and that facilities should be aligned to aspirations for the club. Phase 1 was the construction of the two new tracks in Bristol and the club’s aspiration to get back into the BAL and UKWAL plus developing young athletes and recreational runners in the city. Phase 2 would be the construction of a club house and physical preparation facility and the clubs aspiration to continue securing promotion in the BAL and UKWAL and also to build up the competitive base of young athletes and to achieve this we needed the enhanced facilities the new build would bring. The third and final Phase would be to build an iconic building on the site that would offer an indoor straight plus covered jumps/throws areas and this would support the club becoming a Premier League force in the BAL, UKWAL and YDL. Given that funding will be available from 1 April 2014 it was essential that this project was given momentum to ensure the club was ready to bid as soon as time frames were announced. (Action: KB – as Sub-Committee Chair ).
  1. Hargreaves Scholarships 2013. MD reported that the number of applicants had risen to 30. Prior to the meeting he had circulated a proposal for a ‘Gold’, ‘Silver’and ‘Bronze’ category. Criteria for awards were agreed to be based on 5ps - Performance, Potential,Progression, Participation (for the club)and Personal Situation (any hardship considerations). This proposal was agreed unanimously by the Committee. There followed discussion about which level athletes should be awarded and, in some cases, whether they should receive any award at all. The allocations were finalised and it was left to MD to agree the proposed list with the Club President and then make the announcements to individuals. (Action MD). There was a vote of thanks to Mike for all his work on producing a fair and equitable solution to the requests for awards.
  1. AOB

No items were raised under Any Other Business.

Next Meeting – Friday 17thJanuary 2014 at 7.30pm at Whitehall Athletics Arena.

Meeting closed at 9.45pm

Keith Brackstone (Acting Minutes Secretary).