Minutes of the Meeting of the Kitchin Society
17/01/09 at Leander Club
The Chairman opened the meeting with a warm welcome to the new members and the applauded the large turnout of regular members of the Society.
Attendance:
David Blackham Monmouth School, Ali Boileau London Oratory School, Jenny Coates Reading Bluecoat School, Carol Cornell Tiffin School, Tom Crisford Shiplake College, Simon Croucher Hampton School, Chris Fothergill The Oratory School, John Gearing Radley College, Stephen Hermes King’s School Canterbury, Athol Hundermark Abingdon School, Philip Lapage Shrewsbury School, John Layng Emanuel School, Joe Lyons Canford School, Secretary, Chris Morrell Windsor Boys School, Fergus Murison Great Marlow School, Sharon Noble-Layng Dame Alice Harpur School, Jimmy Scragg Eton College, Patrick Weir Cheltenham College, Patrick White Dulwich College, Chris Widden Cheltenham Ladies College, John Wiggins St Edward’s School,
Senior Members: Bruce Grainger, Nick Bevan Chairman, Steve Gunn, Julian Bewick Treasurer, Richard Hooper, Hugh Mackworth-Praed, Mike Martin Chairman JRC, Peter Politzer, George Hammond Chairman NSR, Alan Shrimpton, Mark Woodcock.
Apologies:
Henry Adams St Paul’s School, David Riches Westminster, Colin GreenawayKingston Grammar School, Liz Bernard Sir William Perkin's School, Karen Shapland King's School Chester, Richard FollettPangbourne
Senior Members: John Langfield, Richard Boulton, Tony Taylor, Beryl Crockford, David Conington, Chris Barnett, Mike Rosewell, Mike Fox, Derek Drury.
The secretary apologized for circulating the draft minutes of the previous meeting rather than the corrected ones which were on the website.
Correspondence:
· The Chairman had written to David Tanner re ties and had received a reply that as there was no longer a formal opportunity to wear them and in the interests of cost cutting, they had been dropped from the kitlist. After a brief discussion it was decided by the meeting to consult with junior team management and if accepted to purchase and stock ties that the rowers could then obtain via the Society. (since the meeting concern has been expressed by the Chairman and Secretary as to how manageable this arrangement might be; we have the funds and are willing to support the scheme financially but feel it would be best managed by someone more in touch with the junior international scene?).
· Clifton College had written seeking help and advice on retention of athletes against the pressures of school life. The room nodded knowingly and the chairman felt this was the sort of information that could be exchanged in the less formal part of the meeting.
· Monmouth school (Rob Howe) and Canford School (Joe Lyons) were both in search of new Masters in Charge of rowing for September 2009. contact with them in the first instance for those interested.
Treasurer’s report:
Would follow in about 10 day’s time with the minutes.
Venues:
September 19th 09 would be at the Oratory School.
January (16th) 2010 would be at Cheltenham Ladies College (final date tbc)
Offers were sought for September 2010 (since the meeting Dulwich College have offered and we are also in discussion with Molesey Boat Club)
Reports:
SHORR/ScHORR:
THE SHORR STARTS AT 3PM AND THERE IS NO SHORT COURSE!
All short course events will be offered over the long course because the tide is late on this day and if the short course is used we will run out of light for the long course. Some concerns were expressed that there might not be sufficient daylight for the last (j15) crews to get back up the river. Committee members were aware of the issue and felt it would be light enough by that date.
To avoid congestion all schools are asked to boat from their traditional places.
The meeting agreed that the collective wisdom of the SHORR committee was to be heeded but looked for confirmation that the safety aspects had been fully thought through.
Schools with weaker crews that might not be able to move up to the long course were reminded that there is a j15 octo event at the scullers head the day before; a weak j15 crew could drop back into an octo for that.
Mike Martin underlined the need for us, the mi/cs to ensure our crews were on time to ease the job of the organizers.
The ScHORR the day before is offering j15 octos to promote more sculling at that level. However it was emphasized that this was not an event to double up your A and B quads into!
Henley is the current venue but there is to be no use of the boat tent area and if it is wet the parking will be in Butler’s field necessitating a long boat carry…
Other new events are j17 quads boys and girls.
Back up location is Dorney, with 3 x 1900m runs for all but j14.
Simon Croucher kindly offered Hampton with an existing team of timers, umpires etc. as another back up.
The question was raised of whether the top 10 quads could race at the SHORR the next day but this was felt to be unworkable and the meeting accepted that nothing could be done without CDRiches’ agreement.
Final results for A and B crews would be determined by position, not their original label/title.
Henley Royal Regatta:
GWH confirmed that the Fawley was now a 24 boat event (though it could, at the whim of the committee, be even larger).
National Championships:
Steve Gunn questioned whether the date for this event was right. It certainly does not suit junior school rowing. There was further discussion (see below) as National Schools was considered, of a possible J14/J15 event in late June.
JRC:
Mike Martin and the JRC had requested those who attended previous meeting to come up with suggestions for improving junior rowing and sculling and he was now able to respond. NVB rapidly summarised the suggestions as:
· Another junior regatta at the end of June,
· More junior rowing via plate and B events,
· Better coordination of events,
· Mixed crew rowing at junior 14/15,
· More BASHER type events
· and a review of the high cost of coach training.
MM commented that there was much support for another j14/15 ‘championship’ regatta and that this might relieve pressure on the NSR (see below). There was also enthusiasm for plate and B events. Fun/Basher type events which the ARA appeared against were fine as long as the safety aspects were fully covered. As for mixed crews, open events were open, and local regattas can set local rules. He also asked what j17 events might be wanted at Nat Champs.
Regarding the price of coaching and coach education the JRC/GB junior system was looking to run a junior coaching conference at the end of September or in early October to provide cheap but education for coaches of juniors. SC raised the enormous cost of level 3 coaching courses and SG felt that the current system had spawned a monster with high fees and low take up. Those who want to get these qualifications need to talk to their regional coaching commissioner.
International:
GB France date is as on most recent calendar in Cardiff. Coupe in Vichy, Worlds in Brive.
MM offered more congratulations to Richard Boulton for the results just in from the Youth Olympics in Australia.
NSR:
This was left until last as there was much to discuss and to allow for all latecomers to arrive.
GWH reported that there had been a number of changes of personnel on the Committee.
Those relevant to the Society were that Jimmy Scragg had replaced Linton Guise as the master in charge’s representative and John Wiggins and Philip Lapage had been invited to be consultants when required. Richard Boulton had agreed to take on an independent advisory role in the event of situations arising such as we experienced last year.
The committee was also exploring proposals for a universal text system to ‘mobilise’ information and following the 2008 event there had been some deep thinking on the safety front (see minutes of last meeting).
The new j17 events would be in small boats so as not to affect crews.
J15g8+ was to be introduced and GWH asked if there were other events that the society was particularly keen to include and a desire for B quad events was expressed to cover the fact that there could be 30 or more A quads most of whom had no hope of making it through a time trial.
GWH also pointed out that with 3 more events there would be an extra hours racing and he was therefore keen to see the concept of new junior regatta come to fruition!
A discussion followed on ideas for re arranging the NSR and making it more manageable. Most favoured the idea of separating events with a new regatta to take the pressure off the current NSR. A number of different splits were suggested:
· Separating scull and sweep (not popular),
· An age based split, with the younger age groups events being held later to keep them involved for longer in the summer term. This would also have the advantage of allowing for a different course length. (most favoured)
· A return to an entirely school based regatta caused Peter Politzer to make an impassioned plea not to split off clubs and schools, a sentiment the meeting echoed.
· The Chairman’s idea that a rule against any doubling up at all would instantly ease the pressure and make schools and clubs concentrate a bit harder on which event they entered received little support but remains as an idea on the table!
There was some feeling that having the j14 crews watch the first crews’ race was inspiring, but with their racing now complete on the Friday and half term beckoning how many of them stay anyway? There are in effect already 2 regattas.
Some felt splitting would cause issues for smaller schools in attending 2 events. Others suggested qualification rules, but there was little support for this.
The discussion culminated in NVB calling for a committee of interested parties to gather to review the possibility of creating such an event next year? The suggestion of TVP at Dorney was a serious thought…. (since the meeting we have heard that Mike Martin and the JRC have agreed to look into this).
Rule changes:
Jimmy Scragg raised the new points rule, designed to solve the blockage at s3 level, which he felt (and we all agreed) would only make it worse. It effectively did away with S4 as a group and bumped most school crews into S3 where they would have little chance of wins. The new rules are to come into effect in April. Jimmy agreed to put a letter together to circulate and then send to the ARA (since don: many thanks to Jimmy).
John Wiggins pointed out that all races were now qualifying, even 1 on 1 straight finals, so points were going to be even easier to get at the lowest level.
There was a call from MM for more repechage and plate events but it was pointed out that there is no incentive for clubs to do this – Bedford was cited as an example of an excellent regatta where it did occur and how popular it was. There was a tendency for clubs to see entries as a moneyraiser and not to think of the number of crews coming miles for one shot at a race…..!!!!
AOB:
The treasurer raised the issue of coach shortages and asked members to fill in the questionnaire online on the website.
Fergus Murison (Great Marlow School) asked if any one could help him in the setting up of his new boat club by donating kit.(he was grateful for the encouraging response during the evening).
The meeting closed at 7pm and members then enjoyed a pleasant meal and a very informative post-prandial talk from Mark Banks. Thanks were expressed to Leander for their hospitality.