TRC COMMITTEE MEETING
14th July 2011
Christ The King Social Club
9:00 pm
In attendance: Gareth Thomas (Chair), Nigel Hale, Mark Grimsey, Rob Watkins, Angela Bushell, Karen Carr, Liam Jones, Sarah Bradley, Craig Carscadden, Fiona Hunter.
Apologies: Apologies were received from Jim Godden, Janet Constable, Judy Mills and Jo Plumbley.
Approval of previous meeting minutes: The minutes were approved as an accurate record.
Matters arising from previous meeting (5th May 2011)
• Race Publicity Officer.Since no-one has been found to fulfil a club-wide role it was agreed that it should be left to individual Race Directors to enlist support for their race. Liz Dix had kindly agreed to help with the Carnival 10K next year.
• Summer Party. Karen Carr reported that the likely spend will be £600 out of the £800 budget. Each attendee will be asked to pay £5 (not £10 as reported in the previous minutes).
Treasurer’s report
The Treasurer reported a current account balance of £6,719.99 and deposit account balance of £5,188.36. There was a surplus of income against expenditure this year of £1,066.16. The Aquathon made a small profit of £186.09 and the Carnival 10K is estimated to have made a profit of about £200. The main source of income for The Club at the moment is the club night fee, which brings in about £60 per night.
The signatory list has still not changed because Lloyds Bank have lost some of the paperwork, which will now need to be re-submitted.
The Chairman reported that Avon Athletic Association plans to put funds on deposit into a two year bond, which will earn 2.8% per annum interest. Action: The Treasurer to investigate this option.
The Chairman also reported that we have been paying £15 per night for use of the athletics track at the Filton WISE campus as we have been sharing the facility with UWE, who have now dropped out for the summer. It has been agreed with the college that we will pay £2 per person to use the track during the summer.
Secretary’s Report
The Secretary reported that he had received 8 new membership applications, as follows:
615 – Jeff Bolitho, 616 – Lynne McInnes, 617 – Vera Lees, 618 – Dave Tiley,
619 – Sarette Smit, 620 – Brigitte Grant, 621 – Stephen Allen, 622 – James Bardwell.
These were APPROVED.
The Secretary reported that membership now stood at 154, which includes 23 new members, and that 32 members from last year have not renewed their membership.
There are now 58 members who have taken out individual membership of England Athletics.
National Triathlon Championship, Nottingham.Martyn Green attended the meeting to report that he would like to select and enter two teams of four (one male, one female) for the National Triathlon Championships at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham. He would like to build upon the success of last year when a male veteran team from The Club achieved 41st position and to raise our profile as an athletics club. As the entry fee is £160 per team and last year The Club contributed £100 for the team, Martyn asked the Committee to consider making a contribution again. The Committee agreed to contribute £120 per team.
Carnival 10K.The Chairman reported that it was a very successful event and a number of participants were complimentary about the friendliness and good organisation shown by The Club. However, with an entry of 120 runners we need to increase the number of runners. It was noted that there were two versions of the entry form, with the form used for registration on the night having a tick box for opting in to allow details to be used instead of opting out as should be the case. This has now been corrected.
Severn Walkway Relay.Organisation is underway and entries now requested. If there is a good response The Club will invite Dursley and Hogweeds to participate.
Race Reports.Graham Bishop is standing down and Jo Plumbley has volunteered to submit reports of major club events to The Gazette. Action: Jo Plumbley.
Road Race Championships.Bettina Broughton has set up some software to calculate results on an age adjusted basis. As she and Jim are relocating to Toulouse we now require someone to find the race results on the internet and enter them into the software. Craig Carscadden volunteered to take on this role. Action: Craig Carscadden to liaise with Bettina.
Wiltshire Road Relay.We need a Race Captain to get a team together for this event (see next item).
Race Captain.Martyn Green volunteered to fill the role of Race Captain which involves entering teams for events other than Cross Country League races (for which we already have team captains). Martyn will look into the Wiltshire Road Relay. Action: Chairman to forward details.
On line race entries.The Chairman reported that entry fees for races can be collected via PayPal for a fee of 3.8% plus 20p per entry. It was recommended that we should use this service for on-line entries in future. Action: Jim Godden
Honorary Memberships.The Chairman expressed the opinion that The Club should offer honourary membership to people who have been very active and made a significant contribution to The Club and who wish to continue their association with The Club even though they no longer run. It was agreed to present honorary membership and thank you gifts to two former members at the summer party. Action: Karen Carr
Gazette Sporting Supplement.It was agreed to take out a half page advertisement in this supplement with the other two running clubs in the Gazette circulation area; Dursley and Hogweeds. Hogweeds are in favour of this proposal and Dursley are undecided. It was also agreed that we still proceed if Dursley decide against, although this will mean the extra expenditure of splitting the cost two ways.
Club Kit.
The Committee approved the logo that Dorothy Thomas proposes to put onto black hoodies. Mark Grimsey asked for club vests to be made to a higher quality, using better material. It was agreed that the existing stock might be depleted by giving them away to new members.
Any Other Business
• Turnberries changing room.
Mark Grimsey pointed out that there has been no hot water in the showers for several weeks and a number of members are unhappy about the situation.
[Action: Secretary to request action by Turnberries in the cover letter accompanying the payment for the third quarter hire].
• Summer Party.Karen Carr suggested inviting Mr Cullimore and partner as he kindly allows us to store our equipment at his farm. This was agreed by the Committee.
• Web site and Facebook page.Liam Jones and Sarah Bradley expressed the opinion that the TRC web site needs to be more visually appealing and that the Facebook page is not easy to find and does not get used for club announcements. It was also pointed out by Mark that there are two different Facebook pages which should be consolidated into one. A link to it from the TRC web site would make it easier to find. Action: Liam to contact the web site moderator, Colin Bell. Nigel to send Liam contact details.
• Club Logos.Liam has contacts with a designer if any further work is required. Action: Liam to forward his contact details
• Runners World.Sarah pointed out that when races are posted up on the Runners World web site they drop down the list very quickly where they are less likely to be seen due to the high number of postings. She suggested using the regional section of Runners Forum UK.
Action: Sarah Bradley to advise Race Directors how to proceed if they wish to do this.
• Club trophies.Angela Bushell reminded the Committee that the recipient of the Helen Ralphs trophy for most improved runner is to be decided. A recipient was proposed and agreed for presentation of the trophy at the summer party. The summer handicap prizes will also be presented. Action: Janet Constable to get the trophies engraved.
Date of next meeting The date of the next meeting will be Thursday 25th August.
Nigel Hale,
Secretary