Minutes for AGM 2009
Monday 26th October 2009 at Glenfield Parish Council
Members Present:
Ernie Williams, Chris Phillips, Roger Edwards, Rachel Simonetti, Roy Denny, Peter Hornsby, Michael Parsons, Daniel Parsons, Steve Edgar, Peter Chick, David Anderson, John Marriott, Irene Marriott, Alison Hardy, Simon Starkey, Dave Toach, Peter Leake, Roger Kelly, Roger Williamson, Ursula Williamson, Graham Watson, Iain Tebbutt, Mark Foxwell
1 Apologies for absence
Bob Haskins and Roger Phillips, John Cooke, Judith Holt, Simon Ford, Di Ford, Andy Portsmouth
2 Declaration of membership numbers
We had 23 people attended the AGM which meant that the meeting was quorate.
Total membership – 221 including 22 Associate BSOA and 4 Associate Schools.
An increase of 30 members
3 Approval and signing of minutes of last annual general meeting (27/10/2008)
2 items need changing, both in item 17- Tim Marshal should read Tim Medwell, and ‘chair’ should read president.
Meeting of last AGM minutes approved and signed.
4 Matters arising from those minutes
None
5 Chairman’s Report on past year (edited)
“Last year when outlining the plans for the coming year I remarked that it was going to be a very busy year. I don’t think any of us realised how busy it was going to be.
As a club it has, in past years, been very rare for us to win an award. This year we have won two. Runner up in the British Orienteering Club of the Year Awards and The Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Schools Competition Board’s John Buckingham trophy for our work in developing orienteering in schools.
Since the A.G.M last year we have held 52 events and that excludes activities such as the Parent and Child Club . To date in 2009 we have registered the second highest number of events of any club in the British Orienteering Federation.
Hosting the British Middle Distance Championships has to be the highlight of the year. As you will all know, after the event we had many complimentary remarks. Congratulations should go to Roger Edwards for his high quality courses and thanks to everybody who put in so much hard work before and on the day. It is probably best summed up by a senior member of B.O.F “what a wonderful day’s orienteering” . The event made a loss however I am pleased to report that as part of the Franchise agreement with BOF, BOF has sent us a cheque for two thirds of the loss. These monies will appear in the next financial years accounts.
Our second major event of the year was the Compass Sport Cup and Trophy Final. 900 happy competitors and hardly a complaint to be heard. Simon Ford received a great deal of praise for his courses.
In addition to our high profile events our EMOA League Events, the autumn and spring series, the winter league and of course our “jewel in the crown” the summer league have all continued and have attracted increasing numbers of participants.
We have during the year acquired a significant amount of extra SI kit and general event equipment. Some of this has been paid for by grants. However there has been a need to use the club’s general funds, as Roger will report later in the evening.
In the autumn of last year Peter Hornsby ran two workshops for mappers which were attended by most of the clubs mappers. If we are to continue enjoying up-to-date maps we need to add to the number of people undertaking mapping on behalf of the club. It is becoming a serious problem and we need to find more volunteers – quickly.
The Development Team have been very busy with a wide range of activities. Firstly I would like to congratulate John Marriott, Chris Bosley, Ben Windsor and Mark Hardy all of whom have gained coaching certificates in the last year.
As a Club Mark Club we were funded to run four after school clubs and the most successful of these was the one led by Birthe Wilson involving parents and children at South Charnwood High School. As part of this we supported three day time school events involving over three hundred children. The success of the parents and children club at South Charnwood has led us to seek and gain further funding for a similar club at Groby Community College, again led by Birthe.
The Development Team are continuing with the club’s profile raising work at the events at Knighton, Sence Valley and Watermead. It is important that we work at “brand awareness”.
Our work within schools continues and grows. In June we hosted the County Schools Orienteering Championships at Donisthorpe and in July we presented awards to a number of our junior members and to winners from the various schools competitions at a presentation evening at County Hall hosted by the Chairman of the County Council.
Roger Edwards, wearing his Development Team leader hat, has been working very hard with Leicester City Council to establish Orienteering in the City. A training course has been held at the Outdoor Pursuits Centre and the sport has now become embedded in the programme they offer young people.
John Marriott in his role as Permanent Orienteering Course Co-ordinator has been very busy over the last year. One innovation has been enabling users to download the course from the Club website. 2,000 downloads were recorded in the first year of operation. More courses are in the pipeline.
Thank you all for your support and hard work over the last year. At this years Major Events Conference I led a session on event organising and I was talking about how important it was to select the right people for the various jobs when a voice from the back said “it alright for you – you have a lot of good people in LEI” !”
6 Matters arising from Chairman’s Report
RD- Remarked that CP as organiser for 2 major events and at forthcoming major events is doing a superb job in this role. Seconded by EW
7 Treasurers report and budget projections for coming year
The clubs turnover is the highest we ever had at £26k, double previous years, but deficit biggest ever at nearly £3k. Grants received valued £6k, which is again the largest ever and largest in terms of volume of grants obtained. First year LEI has won a cash prize as runner up in ‘Club of the Year’.
A large loss was anticipated in the 2008/9 budget at around £1,700 loss but in reality it was £1k more than that. Reasons were spending more on clothing, trophies and SI kit, which were one off costs, but also there is a recurring expenditure on insurance for SI kit of £250 per year, plus £20 each event where controls are out the day before.
We lost £850 on the British Middles, however LEI has received money from BOF as they have given us a cheque for 2/3s of what we lost.
The Budget 2009/10- shows outcome we expected as at last September – shows a large short fall of £1k. Committee agreed steps to help reduce losses and these were reported in LEI news.
We will continue to seek grants to support the clubs purchase of kit. A bid has been submitted to Leicestershire and Rutland Sports Competitions board, but bids are limited to half last years and more organisations are seeking the same funding this year.
Grants to encourage participation are awarded only to clubs with Club Mark, we bid in February was awarded £550. In August LEI received £800 from Sport England to run a parent and child club at Brookvale High School, however less than target participation may mean less funding to continue.
RE prepared a bid to Melton Borough Council last financial year and we have just been awarded £500 to provide a map and promote an event in the district. This event will be on the 10th June, a Summer League night.
RE is currently preparing 3 bids for Sports Unlimited for activities in the city. These bids involve the Moat Community College and another large school and a weekend camp at the end of June at the Outdoor Pursuits Centre.
A further bid has been placed for the NW Leicestershire district designed to fit with our September event in Donisthorpe and finally RD will be submitting a bid connected with improving our POC’s to the National Forest Company early 2010.
These grants enable us to improve our equipment and deliver activities to increase brand awareness and so attract new members.
In summary – we have sufficient funds in the bank to tide LEI over bad times, however it is getting towards a prudent minimum level so we need to keep to our budget plan.
8 Matters arising from Treasurers Report
We need to be strict on expenditure for kit this year. We rely on events for the income.
EW asked if there is any intention to spend money SI kit next year. RE explained only on replacement kit plus a further printer.
9 Independent Financial Examiners Report
Dawes and Sutton (accountants) Account published and signed off by Lewis Sutton
10 Approval of Accounts
Adopted by RD and seconded by EW
11. Note to changes to the committee standing orders
1) Change of wording in Fixtures Coordinator Role: “Ultimate responsibility for all events”
2) Addition of a Minor events Results Offer role
3) Addition of working in the Development team liaison role – “POC sub committee and minor events steering group”
4) Addition of “Minor Events Results Officer, Development Team Leader” under Minor Events Steering Group.
5) Permanent courses section – addition of Development Team Leader and a changed reporting line to clubs development team.
6) Appendix 4 – under Team Events Policy – change of wording to reflect that the clubs takes “no responsibility for entry fees, transport and other costs”.
12 Club Membership Fees for coming year 2010-2011
We currently have 2 rates, the new rates recommended are seniors £6 (currently £4) and juniors £3 (currently £1). Recommendation to increased to £6, Groups £10.
Reason for increase – Newsletter costs mainly
Proposed by RE and seconded by RD, voted and passed
It was suggested that the Newsletter could be distributed through the club shop to reduce postage costs.
13 President’s remarks and election of Chairman
The President remarked that we were fortunate as a club that we had members prepared to take responsibility and that we have an excellent committee of members. He has been amazed at the sheer range of jobs that our members have to do. The club are fortunate in our Chairman who is recognised throughout the sport. Congratulations in putting on 3 major events in the space of 12 months.
No nominations for Chairman before the AGM and it was proposed by EW that CP to remain as Chairman and was seconded by RS.
13 (New) Chairman’s address and plans for coming year
The next twelve months look to be as busy and interesting as the last twelve. In the event programme we have another Level One event, the Midland Championships at Belvoir in March, using part of the Estate that we have not orienteered on for the last 25 years. In October, Irchester for the first ever Midland Middle Distance Championships. We shall be organising the event in conjunction with SMOC. In addition we shall be running a full programme of EMOA league events together with the Spring and Autumn Series, the Winter League and of course the Summer League. A full programme of around 50 events.
Following the very successful event at Ratby 3 years ago aimed at introducing newcomers to Orienteering and recruiting them as members of the club, it is our intention to stage a similar event in September of 2010, this time at Donisthorpe. There will be a range of courses including a Long O.
Development will continue to feature prominently in the club’s plans, over the next year. As I mentioned earlier Birthe Wilson is currently leading a Parent and Child club at Groby and this will continue into November. Judging by the number of parents and children attending the Saturday morning coaching sessions, this is proving very successful. Subject to funding being available we will be looking to run more Parent and Child clubs during the next year.
Work with the Schools Competition Board will continue with the main aim of making schools more independent of input from the Club. One area that we must give some thought to is that of encouraging schools in to wider competition by taking part in general orienteering events. We will again host the final of the County inter schools competition.
There is a possibility of a number of new permanent orienteering courses coming on line during the next year. The number of courses, and the increasing amount of their usage, means that the work load of the POC Co-ordinator has grown.
Over the last four years we have made significant advances in every area of our operations. We have a very large and viable development programme, we have a significant presence in schools, we have acquired enough SI kit to make us self sufficient at all but the largest events, we have an event programme that is one of the largest in the country and have shown ourselves capable of the delivering quality events at the highest level. I believe that we are a significantly different club to that of the A.G.M of 2005
Whilst over the next twelve months we will continue to grow and develop it will not be at the same pace as in previous years. We need to take stock of where we are at and lay plans for the next stage of our development, and that planning will have to occupy much of the thoughts and time of your committee over the next year.
14 Election of other Principal Officers (Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer)
Bob Haskins re elected as Vice Chair, Roger Edwards re elected as Treasurer and Rachel Simonetti re elected as Secretary
Proposed by PL and carried.
16 Election of Committee
Ernie Williams, Roger Williamson, Irene Marriott, John Marriott, Roy Denney, Peter Leake, Graham Watson, Peter Hornsby, Mark Foxwell, Roger Kelly, Alison Hardy, Daniel Parsons, John Cooke, Judith Holt, Kevin Bradley, Andy Portsmouth, and Iain Tebbutt – new member
Proposed by CP and seconded by RD
17 Election / adoption of Independent Financial examiner
Lewis Sutton – Proposed by RE and seconded RD, all in favour
18 Election of President, Honorary Members
CP proposed for Ernie Williams to continue, as President of which there was a consensus.
The 4 honorary members – Tim Medwell, Lewis Sutton, Sam Lattaway and Irene Marriott were proposed by CP to re elect all, with no dissent.
19 Open forum
EW – EM league in 2010 – only 11 events currently, but may be more come on. 2 are regional. Problems with courses in regards to wanting ranking points v EM league points.
EM newsletters – to go by email or incorporate into clubs’ newsletters
East Midlands have not got the area to host the JK 2015-2020, asking EMOA clubs to host
DA – noticed the absence of LEI on list of EM league earlier in the new year – to be investigated by EW/CP –
DA – Monday night club night-any movement? CP said 15 responses from website, some said they would run a session, start time is an issue, trouble finding a person to coordinate it. Committee members had not time for this.
SE – new members may want to volunteer but don’t know you want them. Discussed how to advertise this – ie newsletter
Meeting closed 10pm
