AGM 12th September 2011

No other matters from last year’s AGM were raised.

Chairperson – Yvette stood down as Chairperson, nobody else stood forward and she was proposed by Jane & 2^nd by Val.

Secretary – Nikki Story resigned a few months ago, Jane put her name forward and was proposed by Yvette & 2^nd by Tina. Her main responsibilities will be to do the minutes going forward, applying for the London Marathon ballot places and keeping up to date  the England Athletics affiliation database.

Treasurer – Fiona Haben has been doing this role since the club started however is struggling to continue to commit due to work commitments. Kevin Kemp volunteered, he was proposed by Yvette and 2^nd by Elaine. To assist Kevin in this new role it was agreed that he would need a full handover of accounts from Fiona. Yvette confirmed that she would speak to Fiona to arrange this.

Other committee members:

Paula Morisco-Tarr – happy to continue

Jeanette Tearle – happy to continue providing regular committee meetings are organised throughout the year to discuss club matters.

It was agreed that Jane as secretary would organise quarterly meetings for the committee and the AGM to discuss new initiatives, issues & concerns. Club coaches/leads/helpers would be invited too. The rest of the club would be informed of the dates so that they can feed into these meetings via the committee. The minutes of these meetings will be circulated to the club.

We have also held 3 beginners courses, team relay events, scrabble run, head torch runs, handicap runs both summer & winter, mine’s a double, out & back and 5-10k training.

We have put our coaches through courses for running and first aid, completed warm up drills with Julie Dalzell, attended Sweatshop night events, successful Christmas dinner at Horwood in Dec 2010 & Jan 2011 (2 events as the first one was snowed in!) and had 2 half & full marathon celebration for club members.

The handicap runs have been a huge success along with the multi terrain runs at Newport Pagnell & Bow Brickhill and the head torch runs that Kevin leads.

A calendar has been introduced on the club website however this needs updating, the weekly email does however list all runs coming up for all to see.

Jane commented that she enjoyed the Edinburgh marathon relay this year and would like the club to participate in more of these events as they are good social opportunities. Yvette stated she had enquired about the MK Marathon in April 2012 as they were indicating a relay event, she would chase for a response and feedback to the club.

Salcey Forest annual run is well attended however, a few members asked whether this could be moved as it is in the peak holiday period in August. A suggestion was for it to be moved to September. Yvette confirmed that the club will hold 2 events at Salcey, and another event has now been scheduled for January as a direct result of this years event.

In general the number of runners appears to be up for the weekly runs. See below for membership numbers.

With winter approaching and concerns over street lighting there was a discussion regarding running in our pace groups and making sure people do run backs to ensure nobody is running on their own or left behind. The pace groups were introduced earlier this year based on member’s average minute per mile pace, people are encouraged to run with their groups and consider everyone in the group.

It was highlighted that we have quite a few fast/medium pace runners who are regularly doing 10k runs on Tuesdays as part of training plans, therefore leaving fewer numbers of fast paced runners to run 5k. This means they are sometimes running on their own as the other 5k runners are slower.  Are there any initiatives we could introduce to resolve this? Suggestions welcome from club runners.

Awards will continue and the committee will discuss and decide criteria for the future.

“First of all a huge thank you to Yvette for the commitment and dedication to the club as a whole and the support and encouragement to us as individuals.  It would be hard to enjoy what we do as much without her.  Also a big thank you to the officers, committee members and coaches for what they do visibly and behind the scenes and to all the other members who make this such a great club.  Three cheers . . .  I have nominated Yvette to be a torch bearer for the Olympics 2012 and although through the first round of nominations, she has about a 1 in 14 chance of winning a place.  We would be very proud if Yvette is chosen.”

“We really like the “glow in the dark” club bracelets and are disappointed that not many members are wearing them.  Not only does it indicate to each other those in a similar pace group, it is a very practical way of having emergency contact information easily visible to ourselves or others who may be involved if something unforeseen should befall us when out running. . . On the subject of dark evenings, it is likely that this year there will be even less working street lights on the routes we run.  It is important to be visible to others so now is the time to obtain or check our LED armbands etc.  Reflective clothing is not sufficient as it only glows under lights.”

“We are aware that there has been a suggestion that club subs are out of proportion with other local running clubs.  We have always thought that £50 per annum represents good value for what we are getting and so are not supporting a decrease in fees.  It may be that due to member numbers, there is sufficient money coming in to reduce subs across the board without affecting the level of benefits we receive, in which case we would support such a motion.  However we would be very disappointed if benefits were lost as a direct result of a sub reduction.”

Half year subscriptions are due again from 1^st October 2011.

Affiliation costs have come out of the balance since April, which approximates to just over £5 per member.

The new club kit was ordered and received within this year, these were more expensive than initially expected and we have to purchase in batches of 50. We currently have 13 vests (£25 each) and 32 t-shirts (£30 each) in various sizes in stock, therefore £1285 total cost. It was suggested that we should wear our club tops to training runs not just races. Any suggestions are welcomed to how we can sell the rest of the stock.

It was also discussed that we should look for a new supplier for future tops, and this will be discussed at future committee meetings.

Yvette said that in the past, the Club did look at getting a venue for Club sessions, the committee need to decide if this is still required.

LA Fitness have revoked their agreement on lockers and use of shower facilities for club members at £1 per week per member as unfortunately the Park Run on Saturdays has become so popular and made the venue too busy for LA Fitness full paying members to use effectively. Yvette is negotiating with the new manager and hopes to have an update soon.

It was reiterated that Fiona will need to bring the accounts up to date and provide a handover to Kevin as soon as possible.

She explained why the subs were as they are by explaining the background of the club and its ties with the Adult Education Courses 8 years ago.

Every year at the AGM’s subs have been on the agenda,  discussed and left unchanged due to admin concerns. Last year it was agreed that we should reduce the 65yrs + members to £25 for the year. Yvette put forward a proposal to reduce the annual subs to £25 per year per member and to stop the parking permit subsidy. She suggested the committee and any interested parties could look at the club activities and initiatives for the coming year and review as necessary.

A discussion was had on what the money this year had been spent on. Yvette confirmed that club funds had been spent on a range of club matters but unfortunately as the accounts are not available this year’s cost could not be reviewed. In previous years, a major cost was for Talk Events, but these have not been continued this year. Club funds have provided for prizes for handicap runs, celebrations and awards. It was felt by some attendees that not everyone is aware of some of these costs and may be this should be made clearer.

Questions were asked as to how much it costs to run the club, what are our overheads? Yvette confirmed that the UK Athletics Affiliation, Bucks County association, training courses (coaches & first aid), cross country fees (club pays back members 50% of their subs if they complete 3 cross country runs for the club) and parking permit subsidy are the main costs.

It was proposed that rather than accept Yvette’s proposal to reduce the annual subs and cut the parking permit subsidy, without knowing the true cost of running the club, some of the committee (Kevin as Treasurer, Richard T, Jane and any interested parties – Tina and Elaine volunteered) would get together and discuss the needs of the club and work out a new revised annual subscription.

This will be done in the next few months, so that a new level of subs if recommended by the group and approved by an Extraordinary General Meeting, could be adopted from 1^st April 2012.

It was also raised that the club message board is in decline due to the Facebook page that has now been set up, is there anyway the message board can be reinstated? The general consensus was that Facebook is a better way to communicate as it sends people within the group an email if new posts are added and is a closed publication.  The message board is open to the public and some members felt uncomfortable putting runs and notices on there for all to see. It was suggested that people who put a message on the Facebook should also look to update the message board where possible. Any other suggestions welcomed.

Yvette was personally thanked for all her hard work during the year for the club along with all the committee.