Southwold Swimming Club

SOUTHWOLD SWIMMING CLUB

38thAnnual General Meeting

Sunday 18th July 2010

Courtside Suite, Yate Leisure Centre

8.00p.m. Start

Minutes of Meeting

Attendees:

Richard Tomlinson (Chairman), Helen Hall (Treasurer), Graham Holt (Secretary), Lawrence Youlden, Jason Moore, Andrew Newman, Herbie Adams, Pauline Adams, Shaenna Loughnane, Sue Evans, Giles Evans, Judith Bush, Brian Hamilton, Lorraine Sayer, Suzanne Jenkinson, Julian Locke, Rob Ford, Sarah Tedstone-Heron, Jane Harraway, Ian Harraway, Catherine Graham, Rachael Lowther, Juliet Jones, Lydia Jenkins, Sarah Bennett, Andy Cox, Caroline Buss

Richard Tomlinson opened the meeting with thanks to all those in attendance. He explained that the AGM should be chaired by the President but as Bob Duck was unable to attend he requested that Herbie Adams should be approved to chair the AGM. This was agreed by the meeting.

1. Apologies

Apologies were received from Bob Duck (President), Keith Smith, David McCoubrie and Helen Rogers

2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting

Richard Tomlinson explained that the Minutes of the AGM in 2009 had been reviewed by the Management Committee in September and published on the Club web-site. However, when the web-site had been changed he had not retained a copy and therefore a copy of the previous minutes was not available for review at the meeting.

Action 2.1:Lawrence Youlden agreed to obtain a copy of the 2009 AGM minutes and pass to Graham Holt for the Club records.

3. Matters Arising from Previous Meeting

Graham Holt explained that following the previous AGM it had been established that the term “Life Member” was not defined in the Club Constitution. Therefore, the Management Committee had identified the following 8 Life Membersthat they were aware of:

Pauline Adams, Herbie Adams, Ken Guy, Neil Holloway, Andrew Lane, Giles Evans, Mo Timbrell and Karen Payne

and had come up with the following definition of Life Members:

• Life Members were members of the Club who have been awarded the role of Life Member at an AGM
• Life Members would have their Annual Membership fees paid by the Club but would have to pay their own monthly training fees
• Life Members are entitled to attend Management Committee meetings but are not entitled to vote unless they are an elected Management Committee member

It was therefore the Management Committee’s recommendation that the Constitution be updated to incorporate this definition of Life Members. Giles Evans pointed out that the list of Life Members wasn’t complete so Graham Holt took the action to obtain a complete list of Life Members. The amendment to the Constitution was proposed by Richard Tomlinson, seconded by Andy Cox and approved unanimously by the meeting.

Action 3.1: Graham Holt to generate a complete list of Life Members for the Club’s records.

Action 3.2: Graham Holt to update Club Constitution with agreed Life Member definition.

4. Chairman’s Report

Richard Tomlinson presented the Chairman’s Report which outlined:

• The Mission, Vision and Aim of the Club
• The role of the Management Committee
• A review of the 2009/10 season
• The Club’s objectives for the 2010/11 season

Further details are available in the Report which is attached to these Minutes. The Chairman also thanked Adrian Shaw for his co-ordination work on the £9.9k of grant money received during the season. Sarah Bennett confirmed that the Club’s Swim21 accreditation had been revalidated at both regional and national level.

Lydia Jenkins asked why, when it was the aim of the Management Committee to “keep a tight grip on the finances of the Club”, the Club was hiring a lane at Bath University on Tuesdays that was only being used by a couple of swimmers. Richard Tomlinson explained that this had been debated at length by the Management Committee, other swimmers had been invited to attend this session and other options had been looked at for utilising the lane more effectively. However, as we had not been successful in increasing the utilisation of this lane it was not going to be hired next season.

Giles Evans asked what the club was doing to encourage both level 1 and level 2 officials training as this was as important to the future of the Club as continuing the training of coaches. Jason Moore replied that the Club was running an officials course in the new season and that this had been publicised on the Founders’ Gala note on the notice board. Richard Tomlinson added that the Club recognised the importance of trainingofficials and was keen to make sure sufficient training took place. It was agreed that better publicity of the upcoming officials course was required.

Action 4.1: Graham Holt to ensure good communication of potential training for officials

5. Head Coach’s Report

Richard Tomlinson presented the Head Coach’s Report on behalf of Keith Smith who was on holiday. This report outlined another successful season with some good team gala results and increasing numbers of swimmers being selected for the County team and obtaining qualifying times for County and Regional Championships. It went on to emphasise the need for the Club to work at improving in all areas and for swimmers and parents to improve their commitment to the sport and Club if the Club is to continue to develop. Further details are available in the Report which is attached to these Minutes.

6. Honorary Treasurer’s Report

Helen Hall presented the Treasurer’s Report. This provided details of the final accounts for the 2008/09 season during which the Club made a small deficit of £224, leaving Club funds standing at £17,572 at 31st August 2009.

The forecast for the 2009/10 season was a small surplus of £71,with £1,036 of the Christmas raffle profit carried forward to next season, compared to an original budget deficit of £3,461.Final figures could not be reported as the end of the accounting year is 31st August 2010 so these will be reported at the next AGM.

The initial budget for the 2010/11 season showed a deficit of £4,859. This is a cautious forecast which assumes no fund raising or grants income. This budget will be reviewed at least monthly during the season and appropriate actions will be taken as required by the Management Committee to manage it.

Further details are included in the Report which is attached to these Minutes.

Catherine Graham asked how the budget and cash could be managed. Helen Hall responded that income and expenditure were reviewed at least monthly and most swimming sessions could be cancelled with two weeks notice if required. Richard Tomlinson added that there were other elements in the budget such as equipment and training where costs could be reduced if required.

Julian Locke asked why the 2010/11 budget showed costs for the Swim Camp when this had been cancelled. Helen Hall explained that the Swim Camp was in the budget as a break-even item i.e. income equalled outgo and therefore removing it would make no difference to the overall deficit. Richard Tomlinson added that when the budget was prepared it wasn’t known that the Swim Camp would be cancelled and also that its inclusion helped with the direct comparison with the 2009/10 figures.

7. Budget & Membership Fees 2010/11

Richard Tomlinson gave a presentation on the structure of the training groups, the budget and membership fees for the 2010/11 season. The principles used in setting the budget were:

• Continue with same overall pool-time but make the most of it
• Allocate more pool time to committed swimmers and the younger squads
• Continue broadly with level of land training provided in 2009/10 but reduce the number of sessions
• Move to two 6 lanes training groups (Reds/Greens)to give greater flexibility
• Each training group will have core sessions and invite sessions
• Head Coach has the authority to allocate swimmers to training groups and to select swimmers for invited sessions.
• Use the latest 2009/10 forecast as a base with an allowance for inflation
• No allowance for grants, fund raising or donations
• An increase in membership fee to £50/£15 and an average increase of about £3 per month in training fees from 2009/10 with seven fee bands depending upon the number of sessions a swimmer is invited to
• Individual fee payments to be reviewed in December and March to address any major anomalies between fee payments and invited sessions – this was not expected to affect many swimmers

The resultant budget showed a deficit for the season of £4,859. Further details including the pool time table and training fee bands were provided in the presentation which is attached to these Minutes.

Juliet Jones commented that letters should be issued in the next week stating which training group and pay band a swimmer would be in but that they wouldn’t specify which sessions the swimmer was invited to. Richard Tomlinson added that in general the sessions a swimmer was invited to would be similar to this season but that Keith Smith needed to verify the details for each session before the invites were sent out. This should be done the following week.

Lydia Jenkins stated that Keith Smith had indicated that the Seniors group was going to be scrapped. Richard Tomlinson responded that a Seniors payment band would remain and that Seniors would be allocated to the Red or Green training group by the Head Coach.

Giles Evans asked if swimmers would be able to attend other sessions if they had commitments which meant they couldn’t attend any of the core sessions. Richard Tomlinson responded that this would be up to the coaches to decide and to work out what was best for the swimmer, however, there was no guarantee of this and that swimmers needed to be of the right standard to attend a session.

Catherine Graham asked whether the session invites were for a set period or for the season. Richard Tomlinson responded that invites to sessions would be dependent upon the swimmer’s performance and therefore they needed to be flexible. They were not expected to change every other week but that a swimmer may be invited to an extra session or have their invite to a particular session removed at any point depending upon that swimmers needs and performance. It was expected that for about 90% of swimmers their invites would stay the same.

Lydia Jenkins asked if swimmers just had to pay for their core sessions. Richard Tomlinson responded that a swimmer’s monthly fees would be for the sessions they were invited to. They were being charged for a training programme and this way they would be charged a fair amount for the training programme they were being offered.

Rachael Lowther asked whether it was possible for the review and adjustment of session invites to be done at the same time as the review of a swimmer’s monthly fee payments. Richard Tomlinson responded that although this would make things simpler it was important to adjust a swimmer’s training programme when appropriate and it was not practical to adjust the fees every month.

Jane Harraway asked whether the structure and criteria for being in the different training groups and for being invited to sessions could be more clearly defined. The information that had been temporarily placed on the web-site had stated that the Red group was for top county and regional swimmers, however, the listings of swimmers in each group that had been on the web-site didn’t seem to reflect this. Additionally, could the logic behind the decision on where a swimmer had been placed be made available and the criteria for what they needed to do to move up or get invited to additional sessions be provided? Richard Tomlinson answered that the placement of a swimmer in a training group and the sessions they were invited to was based upon the coaches’ subjective view of how they expected them to develop and that the Head Coach had the final say. As far as the criteria for the two groups it was his understanding that “top county” meant swimming for the county not just swimming at the county championships. Jane Harraway responded that some children were very disappointed by where they appeared to have been placed and that she felt they were entitled to formally know exactly what they needed to do to progress through the groups. Richard Tomlinson answered that this was predominantly a voluntary run club and therefore it was not possible to do formal appraisals of every swimmer, the decision had to be the responsibility of the Head Coach. However, if there was an issue with an individual swimmer then a session could be arranged with the Head Coach and he would be happy to sit in on it. Caroline Buss added that the coaches see the swimmers every week and are able to assess them regularly on what they see. Therefore, there was input from a lot of coaches and it wasn’t just an individual decision.Additionally, there was no point in a swimmer struggling in too high a group and that parents should perhaps re-look at their own expectations of a child. Sue Evans added that some children would be disheartened if swimmers with slower times than them were in a higher group or invited to more sessions. Richard Tomlinson agreed to discuss with Keith Smith whether the current definitions and criteria could be expanded.

Action 7.1:Richard Tomlinson to discuss with Keith Smith whether the current definitions and criteria for allocation to a training group and invitation to sessions could be expanded.

Rachael Lowther asked if sessions could be arranged with the Head Coach for parents to discuss their child. Richard Tomlinson agreed to arrange this.

Action 7.2: Richard Tomlinson to arrange sessions for parents to discuss their child with the Head Coach

Jane Harraway stated that it would be better if the training group allocations and session invites were released at the same time as the new training structure to avoid rumours and second hand information going round. Richard Tomlinson said he agreed with this and that this had been the intention, however, late changes to pool time availability had prevented this.

Andy Cox added that it was important that parents realised the new structure was for the benefit of the whole club and that they shouldn’t personalise it too much. However, he also noted that there was a potential vicious circle whereby some swimmers didn’t get invited to additional sessions and therefore didn’t improve as much as those who were being invited.

Sarah Tedstone-Heron raised a concern over swimmers who were currently swimming 6 or 7 times a week potentially now being invited to fewer sessions and not knowing when those sessions would be. Richard Tomlinson re-iterated that it would have been better if the invites had been released at the same time as the new structure to avoid this concern but that broadly swimmers would have similar hours to the current season, and that the training groups and invite sessions would be sent out soon.

Herbie Adams summarised the debate by stating that the new training structure had the support of the meeting and that it had the potential to be flexible enough to accommodate the needs of the Club and the swimmers. However, there were obviously issues over how the new structure was going to be applied and these were not new concerns. The hardest thing in swimming was to predict potential which was inevitably subject to individual views and interpretation.To try and address this Richard Tomlinson had agreed to speak to Keith Smith to ensure the new structure delivered fairness. Additionally, parents needed to input into the system and ensure that communication was two-way.

8. Election of Officers and Management Committee

Richard Tomlinson explained that Bob Duck had decided to step down as President. The Management Committee had therefore considered suitable replacements and had asked Herbie Adams whether he would be willing to take on the role for two years. However, it was up to the AGM to elect the President. Herbie had stated that he was willing to take on the role and therefore Richard Tomlinson proposed that Herbie Adams be elected President. This was approved on a unanimous vote. Herbie Adams thanked the meeting and said this was an honour but that he would not be seeking re-election in two years.

Richard Tomlinson continued to explain that the next three roles up for election were those of Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer. These roles constituted the Executive Committeewho were empowered to make decisions on behalf of the Club when it was not possible to hold a full Management Committee meeting. Of the current holders of these positions Richard Tomlinson (Chairman) and Graham Holt (Secretary) were willing to stand for re-election but Helen Hall (Treasurer) wished to stand down. Andrew Newman was willing to stand as Treasurer but no one else had been nominated or come forward. Therefore the proposal was to elect Richard Tomlinson (Chairman), Graham Holt (Secretary) and Andrew Newman (Treasurer). This was approved on a unanimous vote. Richard Tomlinson thanked Helen Hall for her three years of hard work as Treasurer.