Founded 1957 MSA recognised No. 120522 British Motorsports Marshals’ Club THE marshals’ club  Website: www.marshals.co.uk

BRITISH MOTORSPORTS MARSHALS’ CLUB LIMITED Minutes of 56th AGM – 8th December 2013 at

Present Council Members Chris Hobson; Chris Whitlock; George Copeland; Mike Cadwallader; John Watson; Mike Grantham; Paul Harris; Neil Stretton; Roy Bowman; Jon Cordery; Eric Ridler; Paul Sutcliffe; Colin Barnes; Steve Malec; Andy Holley; Chris Allsopp; Peter Wilson; Lynne Kendal; Di Hardy

Members Ben Harris; Bill Turnbull; Malcolm Flippance; June Copeland; Steve Angel; Ian Berry; Mike Blacklock; Noreen Ward; Alan Ward; Stephanie Harding; Matt Hunter; Richard Sneader; John Jones; Derek Machin

Apologies Wendi Batteson; John Cunningham; Mike Shorley; Stephen Green; David Owen; Steve Hill; Julie Hill; Dave Eley; Eddie Brammer; Philip Parkes; Margaret Parkes; Peter Roberts; John Roberts; Caroline Murphy; Kathleen Thurman; Dave Middleton; John Jefferys; Chris Hall; Shelagh Scott; Bob Rae; Maggie O’Malley

Previous Minutes The minutes of the 55th AGM of BMRMC Ltd held on 9th December 2012 were accepted as a true record of the meeting. Proposed: John Watson Seconded: Peter Wilson

Matters Arising There were no matters arising.

Chairman’s Report 1. Another very successful year with membership still over 2,200. Many thanks to Paul Sutcliffe for his Membership Secretary duties, where he has been joined by his son as a very useful assistant. 2. On a very sad note a valued member of Council, Sue Whitlock, lost her battle against cancer. She had put up a fantastic fight – an inspiration to all, and she continued to act as our bookkeeper and conscience right to the very end. Our condolences went out to Chris who soldiered on magnificently and has done a superb job as secretary. His attention to detail is fantastic and he keeps us very much within our rules and regulations. Highly unusually Council took the decision to award the marshal of the year trophy early this year and I am pleased to say it goes jointly to Chris and Sue Whitlock. 3. A professional bookkeeper is now in place (part time) to manager our accounts, whilst I am pleased to say Colin Barnes from North Region has taken on the task of managing our ever increasing members who use direct debits as their mechanism for paying their membership fees. 4. Our financial situation continues to be good – as George Copeland will report. George has once again worked tirelessly to ensure we remain solvent and have the best possible value for money arrangements with our insurers. We had some difficulty in overcoming an historical accounting problem with our Northern Ireland Rescue Vehicle account, but I am happy to say that has been overcome and we have, once again, a very healthy set of accounts. 5. Stephen Green has decided that he needs more time to concentrate on the development of his own business and has, reluctantly, resigned from his post as PRO. Over his years in office he has raised our profile within and

without the sport and has sought and managed sponsors for the club. Chris Allsop from Midland region has volunteered to take over the duties and is now in post. 6. My thanks also to Peter Wilson for continuing the BTCC recruitment campaign and for coordinating the volunteering for taster days. As you will hear, Peter is reducing his involvement in 2013 and we will need to take up any slack so caused. I hope everyone will help your regional officers in this matter. 7. Once again we are indebted to for his support and I thank him for his generous contribution of a day out at Bedford Autodrome for the Annual Membership Renewal Prize Draw, the Marshals Trackdays at MSV Circuits and his continued support of all marshals. Unfortunately it is unlikely this will be repeated in 2014, so we are looking to provide an incentive prize ourselves. 8. Our sponsor initiatives continue to ensure our members can replace their overalls at nominal cost once every three years and we also have replaced on a one-off basis quite a few overalls that have been damaged whilst marshals were carrying out their duties. We are considering extending this scheme to waterproof clothing and other marshalling items. 9. I once again collected a cheque for £2,500 from the Kop Hill hillclimb organisers and we made a profit on out sprints at Curborough. My thanks for these generous contributions and continued support of the Marshals’ Club. 10. We have good representation on the various MSA committees and working groups..  I sit on Race Committee, Chair the Marshals Working Group, which gives me a seat on the Volunteer Officials Advisory Panel and guest status on the Training Working Group ( where we have produced the vast majority of all the training modules so far) and also the Drag Race sub-committee.  George Copeland sits as the Marshals Representative on the Association of British Motor Racing Clubs  Mike Shorley sits on the Speed and Hillclimb sub-committee  Jon Cordery sits on Rallies Committee and Volunteer Officials Advisory Panel  Andy Holley is about to join the Training Working Group. Between us we push the marshals’ points of view. We are often outvoted but we continue to try to improve all marshals working conditions and recognition. We continue to lead improvements in the grading scheme where some still think it is our scheme not the MSA’s.

11. I am very pleased to report the Club still leads with the delivery of training days, not only with our own training days but with Club members delivering training for other clubs. 12. We look forward to the start of the new training season with much more defined agenda for all MSA subsidised days. 13. As is usual, we hope to be at the Autosports and the Race Retro shows. 14. Of course everyone else on our National Council and in our regional committees has also provided excellent service to our members and we must thank them all in exactly the same manner. The enormous amount of effort they have put into running this club is a direct contribution to our continued growth in members and influence. It is true to say we are the only club run by marshals for marshals – and long may it continue. 15. I must not miss out our BRMC members. The Rally Marshals Club is still at the forefront of improving the standard of rally marshalling and provides a fantastic service to the organising clubs. They continue to be an integral and important part of our club. Their AGM will follow ours and I would ask you to give them your support. 16. As we move into 2014 I can assure everyone we will continue to pursue the cause of all marshals, whether they are members of our club or not. 17. On a personal note I have decided to retire from full time employment as of this December. I hope that moving to a part time role I will be able to free up more time to devote to the club and my chairman’s role. 18. I will finish by thanking those who have worked for the club over the past 12 months in any way what so ever. It is a fantastic club! I have been a member now for some 44 years and hope to continue that membership for many years to come. Chris Hobson National Chairman

Secretary’s Report 1. A Difficult Year Personally this has been a difficult year. Aware that Sue’s health was failing the first part of the year was spent planning and managing the handover of her responsibilities. Time was of the essence; we were all too aware that Sue’s oncologist had not expected her to survive past Christmas 2012; she was on borrowed time. There were a host of issues to overcome. The transfer of responsibility for overall subsidies to Eric Ridler passed smoothly and I thank Eric for his help in this. However, there were problems finding a

successor to take on responsibility for the administration of Direct Debit payments. Colin Barnes eventually stepped forward to take on the role. Unfortunately, Sue passed away before the handover was fully completed and there was a bit of a hiatus while HSBC and BACS got to grips with the situation and completed technical transfers and training. My thanks to Colin for his help and perseverance.

We also had to introduce new financial procedures for authorising the payment of bills and expenses by our new Bookkeeper, a contracted service. Luckily most issues had been addressed and Sue was due to complete the handover a day after she passed away. Her advice and experience is sadly missing but we have managed to muddle through, though HSBC still insist on sending invoices to my address.

2. Council Business This year we dispensed with the Virtual Council Meeting in June and resorted to four face to face meetings. Of the three meetings to date the July Council was the best attended with only 5 non attendees despite it clashing with the Classic at Silverstone. The September meeting suffered the worst attendance with 9 absentees and that was because it clashed with the Goodwood Revival. We hope to avoid those dates next year.

Summaries of Council meetings have been posted on the website. There have been a number of improvements to the website including the introduction of a search engine, privacy statement etc.

We are in the process of inviting tenders for the revision of our national Membership and Grading Database.

We are also in the process of rolling out an E-mail/Newsletter distribution system that will enable improved communication with members and make Newsletters exclusive to members. North, NE, and Midland are live, other regions will be brought on board over the closed season.

3. MSA Business The MSA objected to us excluding Cadet Members from voting at General Meetings of the Club on the grounds that this did not comply with the definition of a Registered Member (Section B – Blue Book). The definition requires that any member eligible to compete in Club events must be entitled to vote at General Meetings. We have therefore put forward a resolution to change the wording of Article 38.1 to extend voting rights to all members.

The Club has already received its Certificate of Registration with the MSA for 2014.

4. MSA Club of the Year I have submitted nominations for the MSA/JLT Marshal of the Year and Club of the Year. I await the results of MSA deliberations.

I made the following arguments in support of the Club nomination:  The BMMC has organised 14 recruitment events – 9 at BTCC rounds  We collected 1056 names of potential marshals  We have received 1224 requests for taster days via our websites  We have run 13 Training days attended by 694 marshals  Since January we have registered 179 new marshals with the MSA  And we have upgraded 115 members  BMMC members manned the VIM/Go Motorsport stand at the Autosport Show and we arranged for the Rescue Unit display at Go Motorsport Live at Silverstone as well as manning a recruitment stand.  Our Club Sprints at Curborough continue to run at a profit. (figures correct end September)

5. Club Awards For obvious reasons I was not involved in the selection of the Unipart award this year. We only received one nomination for the David Leslie trophy, but unfortunately the candidate too old to be a Cadet and therefore no longer eligible. The Jon Nichol New Marshal Trophy was awarded to a South West member.

Chris Whitlock Club Secretary

Treasurer’s Report 1. Annual Accounts This has been the most traumatic year ever on accounts preparation.

Whilst nothing to compare to the personal loss felt by hubby Chris, Sue Whitlock’s loss to the Club was felt deeply. Sue had become “guardian angel/mentor” on so many aspects of the Club’s administration, it left a great hole in our admin procedures when she passed away, after a brave fight against several bouts of cancer over a period of seven or eight years. During that time Sue provided inspiration to a few fellow-sufferers within the Club.

Then, just as we were closing the accounts, the matter of the NI Rescue Unit Fund came back into focus. An independent accountant was appointed to examine the accounts, arriving at the conclusion that recent grants from the MSA and a NI institution had been granted under the name of the BMMC. The report also suggested that the

grants would not have been made without the association with BMMC and that should the BMMC name be removed from the account, some if not all of the grants might have to be repaid.

This left us with no option but to delay submission of our main accounts, so that the Fund from N Ireland region could be included. We had to ask for a one month concession on Companies’ House submission date but we did manage to persuade our Auditors not to qualify our accounts, as they would have been duty bound to do, had not the matter been resolved. The NI Rescue Unit Fund account is now included in the main accounts but all moneys in that account are ring-fenced for the maintenance of and any subsequent renewal of the Rescue Unit to which it relates.

2. Results For The Year Despite this trauma, it has been another good year, thanks mainly to:  Steady membership figures for three or four years in a row, thanks to recruitment efforts and Taster Day programme  Record contribution from Sprint Meetings, so ably organised by Steve and Julie Hill  Reinstatement of our regular, generous donation from Donington, now under new management, including our own Di Hardy!  Unclaimed subsidies on overalls and other regalia, now set aside as separate regalia reserve fund to offer subsidies on other items of regalia, which Eric is already researching

We finished the year with record reserves, thanks to the efforts of very many people over the years. I try to thank these folks each year but do so again this year, as we hit an all-time high.

However, I must also report that we have already made inroads into those reserves in the current year: . To fund new and replacement lap tops for those who need them to do the job they do for the Club, plus a new membership card printing machine - £10,000 in total. . We have funded a proposal for a new marshal volunteering system in North Region (£2,000) . We have spent a similar sum in accountancy charges to resolve the issue of the N Ireland Region Rescue Unit Fund. . We are also about to commission a new membership database, to overcome the shortcomings of the present database that have become apparent; this could be a costly exercise. . We know also that record earnings from our Sprint meetings will reduce this year, since we lost one of the best supported championships to BRSCC.

Never mind, that is what reserves are for. We are far from skint and it is of some comfort to me as your Scottish Treasurer that we have this level of funds behind us.

I propose we accept the accounts for 2012.

Proposed: George Copeland Seconded: Mike Grantham

3. Personal Accident & Public Liability Insurance Negotiations are currently underway for 2014 renewal. We may be able to do away with the smaller of our two PA policies, since this merely acts as top up at MSA events and the MSA PA insurance now covers most of the additional benefits that our own insurance pioneered. We hope to keep the Repatriation Insurance going, although the take up last year was very, very low.

4. ABMRC We continue to play our part in ABMRC, a body set up by the MSA to be constantly looking forward the next ten years to forecast where motor racing may be going. The larger organising clubs are represented on the Management Committee and we have recently been joined by a second representative for the smaller clubs, Hugo from CSCC, who has immediately made his presence felt! We had high hopes for Nick Bunting, the new CEO. Nick showed an immediate grasp of who were the MSA’s customers and we were all impressed by the way in which he dealt with problems that in some cases had lain unresolved for months. Sadly, he did not last too long. The Management Committee sent a letter to the MSA regretting his departure and expressing the wish that any replacement should be similarly disposed to dealing with “the customers”.

We get good support on marshalling issues, even if this sometimes falls short when it goes to the MSA for enactment. Nevertheless, the opportunity to discuss matters direct with the organising clubs has been generally helpful.

Hot topic right now is to find an effective volunteering database, for competitors and officials, that will allow volunteering via the Internet, permit the issue of bar-coded tickets and put an end to the ever-increasing cost of sending tickets and instructions via Royal Mail.

Also, you might be interested to know – no one can see just yet how to fairly police the “four-wheels-off” rule. OK maybe when supported by specially appointed Observers, perhaps with a camera in support, but what about the

one-man-per-post situation where a flag or track marshal is suddenly appointed Post Chief as well – how can that person possibly see all the transgressions, let alone report them as well?

That is about it! I wish you all very best wishes for the festive season and happy and safe marshalling in 2014 and beyond.

George Copeland National Treasurer

Election of Auditors Our current auditors, Dove Naish in Daventry, seem to have overcome many of the problems created by senior staff deaths and departures last year. I hate to think what a new auditor might have made of our accounts this year, given the problems we experienced! They did a thorough job this time and I propose we re-elect them for the coming year.

Proposed: George Copeland Seconded: Bill Turnbull

Election of Club Officers In accordance with Club Rule J.3.2 Chris Whitlock, Secretary, retires on rotation and offers himself for re- election. There being no other candidates Chris Hobson proposed that Chris Whitlock be elected.

Proposed: Chris Hobson Elected: Unanimously

Directors Reports

North Region We have, this season, been squeezed severely and regularly over our lunch break. Scheduling races before lunch does, unfortunately, lead to our break absorbing morning timetable overruns. We were, however, asked beforehand to take a short lunch pause on June 15th to enable the programme to end a little earlier than usual. A supportive local family had requested the early finish. It didn’t quite happen as planned, but we did get clear by 18:00. I was proud to note that we had a full complement of marshals that day.

Our regional awards were presented at our February training weekend. Our 2012 winners were:

 The Ken Finnie for best newcomer went to Simon Whitmarsh. Simon also scooped the John Nicol award for most promising national newcomer.

 The Bellini trophy for outstanding contribution was awarded to Mike Ellershaw, a flag marshal of distinction.

 The Stan Foulds award for real dedication to marshalling and marshals went to John Wood.

 The Stuart Ashford trophy for the most deserving cadet marshal was won by Sarah Jones. Sarah also deservedly picked up the David Lleslie award for national cadet marshal of the year.

 Paul Sutcliffe was the club’s marshal of the year for 2012 and was awarded the Unipart trophy.

 Andy Holley was the FIA marshal of the year 2012.

A great incentive for all of us to excel at our wonderful hobby – volunteer marshalling.

At the end of September, our membership stood at 603, 521 male & 82 female. We welcomed 67 new members during the season, 53 male & 14 female. It is good that our gender split moves more towards that of society in general. Marshalling is not any more a men only hobby.

In addition, we enjoy the comradeship of 8 life members, people whose dedication to our club over many years has been recognised.

Some 321 members attended our spring training weekend. Then 40 turned out for the fire practical on the BTCC Sunday.

Our 2014 spring training weekend has been pencilled-in with for February 1st and 2nd. Summer fire practical will again be on the Sunday morning of the BTCC weekend.

Our members achieved 55 upgrades this year. A pleasing reflection of performance out there on the bank, and in the pit lane. The upgrades breakdown as:

1 Post Chief to Examining Post Chief

4 Experienced to Flag Marshal 6 Experienced to Incident Officer 11 Track to Experienced marshal 27 Trainee to Track 3 Trainee Specialist to Specialist 3 Specialist to Experienced Specialist

I am proud to report that 10% of these promotions were achieved by female colleagues. There is no glass ceiling in marshalling.

Our marshals attended at 37 hillclimb and sprint events throughout our region, at Aintree, Anglesey, Barbon Manor, Harewood, Loton Park and Three Sisters.

Nationally, North region marshals committed the magnificent total of 7,245 days supporting motorsport events.

Last, but by no means least, I offer our thanks to our 2 local race organising clubs, BARC (NW) and BRSCC (NW). All our local officials, Tom, Ray, Margaret and their club colleagues make marshalling such a fabulous hobby for us.

M C Cadwallader North region chairman

North East Region I was very honoured to have been elected Chairman of the North East Region one year ago to represent the North East Region on the BMMC National Council. This has been an unbelievable eye opener to the amount of work that has to be done to make our Club so successful as well as ensuring that the BMMC continues to be the leading voice when dealing with the organisers of motorsport policies involving marshalling matters.

Our year started with the Regions annual Race Training Day, and having decided to adapt to the new modular system last year, we carried on in the same vein, and I’m happy to report that the day was considered a success by the delegates, and was well and truly enjoyed by all. Comments on the feedback forms and the subsequent Instructors de-brief highlighted a weakness in Practical Training, and this was addressed in what is now the end of season Training Day that was held in November, primarily focussed on Fire and Incident training for Trainee’s, Track marshals and Specialists who required signatures. Theory sessions were held at the Trinity Centre in Louth and practical sessions at Cadwell Park. The days were funded by the MSA, and as the days were very well received, the NE region will be holding 2 Training Days in 2014 and in the foreseeable future. One in February and one in November, applications for funding for both days have now been granted by the MSA. Our congratulations and thanks go to Lynne Kendall for organising and conducting the very Professional and enjoyable days and who has now been rewarded by being licensed as a ‘Lead Trainer’ by the MSA.

2013 will be mostly remembered for the many problems caused by exceptional rainfall at the start of the year, and the North East certainly had their fair share. However, we turned up for the events be it for Race, Rally, Speed, Hill Climb, or Karts, laughed at the weather, got wet, got hot, did a professional job, enjoyed the company while on duty, went home and got ready for the next weeks event. It was a year when our marshalling fraternity overcame all that was thrown at them with a great deal of enthusiasm and very good team work thus ensuring that all the events in the North East region were adequately covered to take place safely.

The North East Rally Section continues to provide Key Marshals at many rallies throughout the UK, and on the Continent as well, having maintained and strengthened their presence in Belgium, and being seen as excellent Ambassadors of the British Marshals fraternity. A North East contingent was involved in running and marshalling 2 stages of the MSA Rally that took place in Wales.

On the Race front, it has been another good year, with well supported meetings at all our Circuits. Marshalling numbers have been improved this year and it has been nice to see quite a few new faces on the bank many of who have arrived via the “Taster Day” route which is proving to be a very effective recruitment tool in conjunction with the on-going efforts of Team Wilson. Once again Peter is to be congratulated on his dedication to Marshals Recruitment and his efforts are certainly bearing fruit. We are privileged to have him as a member of the N.E. Committee. The living proof of his success is the increasing number of BMMC Members. It is also noticeable that the retention of Members has also improved.

The Region has also been very active and successful in officiating at Speed and Hill Climb events. I should point out that Mike Shorley, our Past Chairman is still very active, not only in marshalling, but as the BMMC Speed Rep on the MSA Committee, and is now a member of the National Council, Well done Mike, I hope you are enjoying your retirement!

As this year ends, we now look forward to 2014, and we will be confirming our aims and objectives. To continue to develop the way forward in training, to encourage membership of the BMMC by promoting the benefits of Club membership, to recruit new marshals in all disciplines, and to retain the services of existing marshals. It is my intention once again to hold our monthly committee meetings in different areas of the region, and invite members to attend as observers, followed by general discussions on marshalling matters so that we, as a committee can be truly representative of their views and what they expect from our Club.

This years Regional AGM was completely different to those of previous years as it was held on a Saturday, not on a Thursday as in the past, and with a change of Venue, with the aim of making it a social event to follow the official business, as well as making it easier for Members to attend. I think that going by the attendance, it proved to be successful. We were also honoured to have our National Secretary and National Treasurer in attendance and were very grateful for their input.

Our Regional awards were presented at the AGM with trophies and replicas being presented to:- Race: Elaine Comerford Speed: Rob Miller Cadet: Daniel Ashton Newcomer: Peter Walker & Robert Wheeler. Both deserved the award, we couldn’t split them. Rally: Unfortunately no nominations were submitted.

In conclusion, I thank all my fellow Committee Members for all that they have done throughout the year, and to congratulate the Regions award winners. I also would like to sincerely thank Tim Bendelow, who is standing down as Secretary, but will remain on the Committee, and to Phil Rees, (Rally Rep), and Martin Wilson, (Regalia), who are standing down from the Committee and did not seek re-election. Thank you, on behalf of the N.E. Region for all that you have done, and we wish you well for the future in you marshalling activities. In conclusion, a successful year with a few ‘Firsts’ to be credited with, First to adopt Modular Training, First to hold ‘Train the Trainers’ sessions, First to elect a Cadet Member on to the Regional Committee, First to hold a First Aid Module, and First to get a CPR Doll.

Looking forward to the next twelve months.

John Watson N. E. Region Chairman

Midlands Region 2013 has been another solid year in the Midlands Region.

Our circuit training sessions back in January were a great success. We held the circuit training over two days and rescue training was held on a separate weekend, all of the training sessions worked out really well. Next year’s training is set to be at Donington on the 25th – 26th January. Many thanks Jim for continuing to organise our training days.

Chris Hall and the taster day team have staged five taster day sessions throughout the current season, by all accounts most of the groups have been quite large. Taster days have made an incredible impression on our membership numbers over the last four years and our membership numbers have increased gradually throughout the year and we now have a total of over 450 marshals. I would like to thank everyone, past and present who have ever been involved with organising the taster days. A special thanks must go to Di Hardy and the circuit management at Donington for being so very helpful with providing the circuit facilities.

Di and the ES team must be thanked again for providing a family room within the Craner hospitality units at the start of the year. The room has become very popular with marshal’s families and will be available to use next year. We helped Pete Wilson with BTCC marshal’s recruitment at Donington and Rockingham.

Steve Evans has been our regalia officer for nearly three and a half years and unfortunately he stood down at our AGM. I would like to thank Steve for doing a fantastic job, he has brought stability to the role and has achieved an excellent sales record.

Chris Allsopp also resigned as our newsletter editor at the AGM. Chris has been our newsletter editor and social media officer for nearly three years and has also done a fantastic job over that time, again bringing stability and quality to the newsletter. He has agreed to continue on the committee as the social media officer.

Katie Neal has agreed to take over the role as newsletter editor and Julian Batten & Rachel Dale have also agreed to join the committee as joint social event co-ordinators. Derek Murphy has taken on the role of Rally Rep. All new committee members were ratified during the meeting.

I think that everyone is aware that Di Hardy is standing down as the leader of Donington ES. I would like to thank her for all of her incredible effort over the last nearly twenty years and we would like to wish her successor best wishes and good luck for the future.

Last of all I would like to thank all of the Midlands Region Committee for all of their hard work and commitment throughout the year.

Mike Grantham Midlands Region Chairman

South Mids Region There have been a number of changes to the regional committee and these were ratified at the AGM at the end of October, where we welcomed 5 new members and had 1 retiree. The committee is now up to full strength and hope for a much calmer year next year.

We held 2 training days and one half day at Silverstone back in February. Although the numbers were down on what we would have liked there were still a good number of attendees and going by the feedback sheets everybody seemed to have found a lot of positivity from the days. During the summer Clive Wayland decided to step down as training officer, but we were lucky to obtain the services of John Turner who has now taken over this role and has plans in place for 2014 providing agreement can be reached with Silverstone/SMT.

During the year the region organised and ran 5 recruiting stands. These were at Race Retro, Go Motorsport Live, Silverstone Classic, BTCC round at Silverstone and Kartmania. Names of potential members taken by the various teams were very encouraging and my thanks go to all involved.

Regional membership has dipped slightly during the year, the reasons for this are unclear at this moment but we believe that the general downturn in the country is perhaps partially to blame, but we do appear to be retaining our new members.

Taster days in general went well, but have secured the services of Hazel Aaron as taster day organiser for the future and she has also been given the brief of improving the regions relations with Silverstone. Karen Connolly has continued to produce our newsletter and at the AGM received the regional New Marshal of the Year award.

If you have looked lately on the regions website you will have noticed some changes these are due to the efforts of Chris Hatch our webmaster, who is trying to bring the site up to date and to appeal more to our younger members. Our facebook page is attracting some members but has got off to a slow start.

Our aims and objectives agreed at the beginning of the year have been largely met but with this years turnover of committee members it has sometimes been difficult for the new members to get into their jobs. Hopefully all will be sorted out during next year. We have not yet discussed aims for 2014 however that will be on the next committee agenda.

I would like to thank all my committee for their hard work during the year and for their patience when things were not going so well.

Paul Harris Chairman South Mids Region.

South East Region The South-East Region held its Annual General Meeting on 16th October at . I reported to South-East membership, based on SE Committee’s Achievements against its 2013 Objectives, the following:

Communications (Improving!) 1. “Marshals’Post” was now reaching membership on most of its publication deadlines. Clearly, the goal to achieve 100% of the newsletter deadlines remains an objective for 2014. 2. SE Committee Member badges have finally been produced, and already some Committee Members are being recognised and approached for information by members at race events. 3. Liaison between the Brands Hatch circuit representative remains very good, and he has also written a progress report in a recent edition of “Marshals’ Post”. There remains room for improvement regarding communication between SE Committee and the circuit representatives at Snetterton and Lydden Hill. 4. The SE Region website has improved during the year, but there remain pages which fall sadly beneath the standards that SE members . This is a top priority for 2014. 5. A proposal for SE Region to open a “Twitter” account for the purpose of notifying members of impending events, e.g. race meetings requiring marshals, is being considered for implementation early in 2014.

Working Practices (Can do Better!) 1. Deadlines and the website have already been mentioned, above.

2. In order to achieve 1) and 2), above, I suggested that some committee members might become deputies or assistants to the newsletter editor and the website officer. No such deputies were forthcoming, and so this remains “work in progress....or not” 3. The region had issues with regalia being unavailable for sale at race meetings, due principally to the ill-health of and lack of communication from the region’s Regalia Officer. At the region’s AGM, and again at the region’s subsequent Committee Meeting, it was agreed that a new Regalia Officer will be appointed for 2014, and proposed new working practices for this officer should lead to an improved availability and sales of the club’s regalia.

Membership Retention (Reassuringly Good!) 1. Total membership at the end of 2013 was 374. The region gained 76 new members through 2013 and 59 members failed to renew their membership by the end of March. Thankfully, very few of the latter were “Track” or other established grades. 59 of those failing to renew were “Trainee”. Without further data, we can only make assumptions regarding these trainees, but is reassuring to see that so few (18) established members failed to renew. 2. It was noted that there was a significant spike in total SE membership in 2010. We reasoned that this was the result of Martin Brundle’s piece on marshalling at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix of that year. Time, perhaps for a repeat or similar PR activity in 2014?

Finally, at the SE Region AGM, 3 Committee members did not stand for re-election, and 1 new member was elected on to the South-East Region Committee.

At our January 2014 Committee Meeting we will review, and if necessary, amend our objectives for the year ahead.

Neil Stretton Chairman South East Region

South West Region In the last year the SW Region has fulfilled its objectives set since the last SW Regional AGM. We have our own bespoke Newsletter editor in Karen Connolly. This has been working remarkable well, and our efforts to get out a bi monthly newsletter have gone well.

Huge thanks go to Martyn Dolton for his efforts in the past few years as shared newsletter editor for SE/SW regions. Without his efforts the SW would have been non-communicado with its membership.

We have also established 3 new notice boards within the region to advise members of what we do and how to get in touch. The Committee itself has made huge efforts in promoting itself whilst on post to any SW member or otherwise we have come across. This aim will continue into 2014.

We have also achieved getting 3 members of the committee endorsed as MSA Trainers and we will be putting on our own bespoke training day on 26th January 2014 for kart marshals. This event will be held at Long Parish Village Hall, nr Andover and is one, of many to come, training days. In 2015 we aim to put on a training day for speed marshals at Gurston.

We have awarded: Bellini Trophy – Ben Wiltshire New Marshal of Year Award – Stephanie Harding

We are also very proud Stephanie was awarded the National John Nicol trophy for 2013.

The SW Region recorded the following percentages in terms of marshal attendance at events: Race -8% Karting +8% Overseas +14% Hillclimb +16% Sprints +6%

Overall on last year -2.1%

Marshals delivered 1023 days throughout the season for circuit racing.

We have made great strides in the last year as a fledgling committee, and I am very proud of all the efforts we have made and achievements to date. The committee as it stands remain committed to its aims and objectives and have worked exceptionally hard to re-establish a presence within the SW Region.

Wendi Batteson SW Chairman.

Northern Ireland Region Apologies for missing this year’s AGM which I had fully intended to attend. However, my family decided to have a ’clan’ gathering that weekend in honour of my father who is now 88 years of age. I have nominated Roy Bowman as my spokesperson.

Two milestones in NI Motorsport were celebrated this year. On the 22nd June 2013 Kirkistown Race Circuit celebrated its 60th Anniversary as an active motor and motor cycling racing circuit. Not bad for the only club owned and operated racing facility in the UK. All in all a great day’s racing was on the cards. We even had overseas visitors (and their cars) from Australia to join in the celebrations. The racing was close and exciting; the crowds were great (the place was packed); the weather was very hot and sunny. And to ‘crown’ it all off we had a fly past by the Red Arrows. The second celebration was the 50th Anniversary of the Association of Northern Ireland Car Clubs on the 6th July 2013 held at Kirkistown Race Circuit. I attended on behalf of the BMMC. Never have I seen so many NI Motorsport dignitaries in the same room. It turned out to be a super day with lunch, celebration cake cutting and lots of, thankfully, short speeches.

Kirkistown Race Circuit ran a full programme of 7 meetings, plus sprints, track days and testing. These meetings were well attended and staffed by BMMC members.

Bishopscourt Race Circuit ran its two day festival. This was a very good meeting and I shared my control room with none other than John Felix.

Away trips included Phoenix Park and Mondello in the ‘South’ whilst the usual contingent went to Goodwood Festival in July. One marshal managed to be selected for the British GP.

Our marshals enjoyed a special treat this year. The ‘racing Turkington’s, Colin and James and Dad Trevor invited four marshals to the last BTCC meeting of the year at Brands Hatch. The lucky four were well looked after by the Turkington family, West Surrey Racing and their sponsors E-BAY. The treat was a big thank you to the men and women in orange suits for the job they perform.

Our race marshal numbers continue to remain constant with new members cancelling out those who lose interest and disappear.

As a Club we remain very active on the Rallying scene, providing more specialist personnel i.e. Rescue, Time Keepers and Radio Operators rather than marshals. The Ulster Rally has won the award for ‘Best’ Rally in the British Championship for the second year in succession and for the fourth time in the last five years. The Circuit of Ireland is back in as a round of the ERC and hopefully it will happen next year. The Rescue Unit has had a ‘bumper’ year out in the field. We have provided rescue cover on quite a few Rallies.

John Cunningham Chairman NI Region

British Rally Marshals Club With the sun setting on the reborn Wales Rally GB, it’s good to see that the spectators have returned to the event in their hoards; although their numbers caused some problems for the event and the surrounding area. I would like to congratulate club members Ian Evans and Phil Rees, both from the North East, and there teams in the running of their stages on the event. Hopefully next year will bring even more spectators and from that volunteers to help run future events.

For the first time ever I had a stage cancelled on me due to the lack of marshals, it was deemed by the organisers that the stage was unsafe to run. If you remember this time last year I mentioned that marshalling numbers were dwindling and it would not be long before we saw the effect. Little did I realise how true my prophecy would be. The weather also played its part at the beginning of the year with the cancellation of events due to the ice and snow again as they were deemed unsafe to run.

As a club we had a stand at the Autosport show at the NEC Birmingham, which grew on us as the event approached. The initial stand was 3 x 4 metres but grew to 12 x 3. We were very lucky to have the loan of rally cars from Tom Cave and Chris Daykin and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them both for supporting the club. We have already been offered a stand for the 2014 show, so please come along and see us between 9th & 12 January at the NEC.

The club successfully ran two training days at Derby and Castle Combe during the year but the other planned days were cancelled due to lack of support. Looking forward an application has been approved for funds by the MSA for next year for four days in the Midlands and South West. I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank John

Jones for organising the days and Jan Baddeley for her administrative support. I would strongly urge that club members attend the club run training days or any MSA approved training days to keep up to date with the changes in rallying. Remember you’re never too young to learn!

The knowledge and enthusiasm of club members has also been recognised by organising clubs across the country by selecting them to be senior officials of their events, congratulations to those members.

Remember to keep up to date with the club’s participation in events by looking at the web-site, which is well maintained by John Jones.

On a final note I would like to thank all my Committee for their hard work and enthusiasm throughout the year.

Jon Cordery Chair, British Rally Marshals Club

Executive Officers Reports

Competition Secretary Apologies as I cannot be there.

Dates for next years sprints have been booked. Which are: Saturday May 17th - BMMC sprint

Saturday August 23rd – BMMC sprint

We will be running the Curborough Championship on both dates along with the lotus 7 Club as an invited non- championship round. In August we will also run with the Westfield Sports Car Club as a round of their Championship. We have tried to get the Ferrari Owners Club for the May event but they wanted a one lap event and we are doing a two lap event which we offered to them at the cost of a one lapper but they did not want that. (Ferrari owners obviously have too much money).

We will still chase further entries as per normal.

This years two events went well with reasonable entry numbers giving us something in the region of £2K profit. The weather fared well for us and it was nice to see the same old faces who turned up to Marshal/officiate, would be nice to see more of you there if you can make it next year. (Sausage, egg and chips are still worth coming for)

Wishing you all the best wishes for the festive season.

Steve Hill Nat Comp Sec.

Grading Officer Since January 2013, when I took over the role of NGO, I have processed 158 upgrades (some of these are yet to be ratified by the MSA). The majority of upgrades were for circuit grades (150) with only 6 for Speed, and 2 for Kart.

Aims for 2014 I have asked the MSA to supply us a list of all MSA registered Examining Grade marshals. The purpose of this is primarily to assist upgrading members in ensuring that they get their assessments signed off by a registered X Grade for the relevant discipline. I will be following this up once the registration renewals have been completed, and by early 2014 I hope to be able to supply a complete list of X’s to be available to all members.

I try to turn round all upgrades and new registrations within two days of receipt. This has sometimes slipped a little, but none have taken longer than five days, except exceptional cases where there were queries over the paperwork supplied, or additional information was required.

My aim for 2014 is to achieve, or at least to get closer to my two day target for processing all upgrades and new registrations.

Steve Malec National Grading Officer

Membership Secretary Total membership stands at 2229 (2012 2200) that’s up to the end of November and that includes Hon 13 and Life 22 members, see breakdown below.

NW 620 NE 204 EM 475 SM 261 SE 396 SW 218 NI 55

Total 2229

New Members So far we have had 310 new members join the club in 2013; this is up to end of Nov 2013. (2012 was 365)

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov 27 44 29 34 27 13 39 20 23 36 18

Total 310

Days Marshalled Please see breakdown below of total number of days marshalled in 2012, if Council would like me to continue with this for the next year 2014, and ask members to complete the box on the renewal form for 2014, I am happy to continue if that is ok.

NW 4019 NE 1121 EM 2496 SM 1553 SE 2774 SW 1184 NI 467 Total 13,614

Total number of members who replied was 684 (2012 was 931), about a quarter of the membership. Highest days by a member did 115 NE region. Average for each member across the UK was 19.9 days per year. Regions below

Region NW NE EM SM SE SW NI Marshals’ Replies 189 63 166 62 120 57 27 Days 4019 1121 2496 1553 2774 1184 467 Average 21.2 17.7 15.0 25.0 23.1 20.7 17.2

Non Renewals 2013 There were just over 200 who did not renew this year which is the lowest we have had for some time; it is gradually coming down every year.

Renewal’s 2014 Letters to those who do not pay by Direct Debit have not yet been sent out; I am awaiting Colin returning from his holidays, re decision on the new EDPQ system for the 2014 forms. All the Direct Debit members, have been sent their letters; just over 900 went this week. The 2014 car sticker has been ordered from Rhino, I am waiting on a phone call to say they are ready, hopefully this week.

Database I have no issues with the database at the moment its working fine.

Franking Machine Franking machine is working fine and no issues.

Membership Card Printing Machine The new machine is very good and the quality is also very good I will bring a sample to the meeting on Sunday for all to see, I have been sending these out to new members for 2014.

AOB TV Doc – is on track, Ed and his team are attending Oulton Park training weekend in Feb, and any others you wish him to attend, please can I ask regions to let me know.

Lanyards – Have been ordered, and I am awaiting delivery.

Sun cream – I have kindly been given over 500 small tubes of sun cream from the charity Melanoma UK, and there sponsor Uvistat, I will be giving these out at training day at Oulton Park, I am in the process of getting some more for the other regions.

Calendar 2015 – It’s been one of my things from when I was diagnosed with Melanoma, to do a marshal calendar, I have tried a couple of times but always failed anyway I have photographer, small sponsor re printing, so we are hopefully up and running, for the last couple of months I have been chasing F1 teams, GT teams plus other, (on board are McLaren, Red Bull, Lotus,Force India, Caterham United Autosports, Mike Newton, Aston Martin racing, Drivers and others involved are Allan Mcnish, Martin Brundle, Alex Brundle, Sam Bird, Mike Newton, Tiff Needell, Jamie Campbell- Walters, plus others from GT & F3 also David Croft (Crofty) Sky Sports F1, Jennie Gow BBC, Martin Haven and Diana Binks Eurosport / Motors TV) and hopefully Charlie Whiting and the F1 Safety car, Andrea Pennington (photographer) and I are just in the process of organising dates for shoots at Teams HQ’s and circuits around the UK and over the next few months, we have a Facebook page and also a Twitter account CM_2015, the face book page is linked to mine so please have a look and comment, I have asked a number of marshals to take part and they are happy to be involved, I would like to ask council if it is ok to use the club logo on the calendar when it is printed, all proceeds will go to the charity Melanoma UK, there will also be a small tribute to marshals who have lost their lives to marshalling while on duty (i.e. Canadian Marshal) plus Sean Edwards who passed away this year, he was due to help us with the calendar and has helped me with things in the past. I hope this is ok with council and thank you.

Paul Sutcliffe National Membership Secretary

Direct Debit Administrator Colin Barnes did not submit a written report but verbally encouraged all members to pay their annual subscriptions by Direct Debit for reasons of efficiency and cost effectiveness.

National Training Officer 2013 has been a successful year for marshals' training for the club. Due to the sterling efforts of my regional training co-ordinators, nearly 800 marshals were trained in the year, in the full spectrum of disciplines and modules.

Particular mention should be made of the training that took place in the NE, the NW and the Midlands region, because those 3 regions make up the lion's share of the club's training efforts nowadays. This is a sad indictment of the separatist and somewhat blinkered attitude that exists in certain regions and circuits with respect to training; however this should not detract from the meritorious efforts made by Lynne, Alan and Jim in organising training events in those regions, that is widely recognised. I hate to use the 10/10ths website as a documentary source, but the training in these regions was universally commented upon in very positive terms - which can only be taken a good sign.

When I started in this role 12 months ago, I stated that I had 2 areas of concern that I wished Training Co-ordinators to concentrate on during their training events.

These were firstly to try to reduce the number of occurrences of the use of double waved yellow flags in MSA sanctioned events - a flag signal that is not even referred to in the Blue Book! I would like to think that we have made a little progress here, because not only have I not seen as much use of DWY flags this year, but the whole subject of flag signals has been elevated by the MSA, following their discussion document and proposed changes to flag signals for 2014. Whilst hopefully their initial draft has been put on the back burner for now, at least the subject has been discussed at high levels. Moreover, my sources suggest that there is still an intent within MSA committees to move to 'waving only' flag signals by 2015. Watch this space!

Sadly my second area of emphasis does not seem to have been heeded, in that I remain convinced that incident marshals still rely far too much on dry powder extinguishers when fighting real fires, and seem to almost dismiss the use of foam extinguishers - a really dangerous mental model. We all saw in graphic detail at the Oulton Park round of the British GT championship this year how ineffective even a large quantity of dry powder extinguishers were against a serious fire. We must train our marshals that whilst the dry powder extinguisher is a great tool to knock down a fire, the foam extinguisher is the only weapon a marshal has to cool a fire and starve it of oxygen.

Turning to next year, I wish to cover my two main areas of emphasis. My point about the use of extinguishers remains valid, so that remains one of them.

Secondly, many circuits took the opportunity in 2013 to move to digital radios for Post Chief communications. Frustratingly, some of these changes took place after Training Days and immediately prior to the first meetings, allowing for no time to test, practice with or evaluate the new systems - a truly ridiculous state of affairs. It was hardly surprising that communications have been poor and ineffective at times, causing Race Control staff to rely on CCTV even more where it is available.

Nevertheless, things have improved as the season wore on, but the situation is by no means perfect. Initiatives at some circuits to report the interminable track limits issues using alternative networks are laudable and have helped the situation, and I hope that progress continues in this vein next year.

But there is still a clear need to train our Post Chiefs, and more importantly those who are regularly asked to stand in for them, in the effective and efficient use of digital radios - and this training must involve those at the other end of the 'line' too; the race control radio operatives.

Finally, I have been invited to join a small sub-committee of the MSA's Training Working Group, looking and reporting specifically on continuation training for MSA trainers. Our initiatives will be launched at the MSA trainer's meeting at the NEC in January 2014.

Andy Holley National Training Officer

PRO Report After 10 very happy years as your Public Relations Officer I have decided it is time to step down and make way for new blood. Chris Allsopp will be taking over the role at the AGM.

It has been a pleasure to have helped in a very small way towards the recruitment campaign so ably run by Peter and others, and to have helped bring the BMMC name into mainstream motorsport.

Many of you know that during the past 18 months I have not been able to give the job my full attention, mainly due to having to concentrate on my own business matters.

Looking at the work Chris has done in his region to date, I am sure he is the right person to build on the work done to date and to give the job his full and undivided attention. Please join me in wishing Chris the very best for the future, and I know you will give him as much support as you have me over the past 10 years.

Chris Hobson and I have already spoken on this matter but I would like to remain as the contact person between the club and Mercedes Petronas AMG F1 Team who will hopefully offer more factory tours to our members next year and in the years that follow.

Thank you all for your support over the years and I fully intend to remain a club member and to promote the club in as many areas as possible.

Very best wishes,

Stephen Green National PRO

Cadwell Park ES Team Cadwell Park ES Team was still the central volunteering point for many Marshals during 2013. We directly supported 18 race days. A total of 1356 attendances were recorded (excluding Rescue crews & Taster Days). Many colleagues do not provide their BMMC membership number on their volunteering applications (some sites that feed in obviously do not ask for this information) consequently I can only report 511 of those days as being marshalled by BMMC members.

The only other major point of interest was the introduction of a second fire truck for the first time part way through the year. New procedures were drawn up for the operation of these vehicles, these being issued to all crew members when signing on for this duty. So far we haven’t caused any great concerns amongst the many visiting clerks / clubs as a result (in fact one Race Director has suggested using a similar procedure for the Safety Car at race starts).

The opening of the bridge has improved race day operations as there is now no requirement for spectator crossing between races.

MSVR have supported marshals especially well this year, incorporating marshal passenger rides in race cars at two of their events, a gesture which was well received by those lucky enough to participate.

David Owen Cadwell Park ES Team Leader.

Resolutions

The following resolutions have been received:

a. The MSA has asked that we amend Article 38.1 of our Articles of Association so that it complies with the Nomenclature and Definition of a Registered Member of a Club (Blue Book Section B). The definition requires that “Any form of membership that allows the holder to compete in club events, must also entitle such a member to be present and vote at General Meetings of the Club.” Accordingly this AGM resolves to formally amend the wording of Article 38.1 from “Every member of the club except cadet members shall be entitled to one vote at General Meetings...... ” to read “Every member of the club shall be entitled to one vote at General meetings....” and to amend the Club Rules in accordance with this change. Proposed: Chris Hobson, Chairman Seconded: Chris Whitlock, Secretary

b. Club Rule G.2 concerning Social Media site has been made redundant by the adoption of sites by most regions. It was also thought that the wording was too restrictive as it only referred to incidents or accidents. Accordingly this AGM resolves to amend G.2 to read:” No Member, except an authorised club official, may at any time make a statement for or on behalf of BMMC to any representative of the media, or post a comment on any social media network site." Proposed: Chris Hobson, Chairman Seconded: Chris Whitlock, Secretary

Both Resolutions were passed unanimously.

Annual Awards

Stephanie Harding was presented the John Nicol Trophy awarded to the National New Marshal of the Year

Chris Whitlock on behalf of both Sue and Chris was presented with the Unipart Trophy awarded to the BMMC Marshal of the Year

There was no recipient for the David Leslie Trophy

Additionally Council had agreed unanimously to award Di Hardy and Steve Angel with life membership and as a token of the Club’s appreciation for their 19 years involvement with Donington ES Team they were presented with a couple of cut glass vases.

Similarly, Council has agreed to award Steve and Julie Hill with life membership for their dedication and successful running of the Club Sprints. A presentation will be made at a suitable date in 2014.

AOB

Chris Hobson thanked everyone for coming and also thanked Donington and Di Hardy for their hospitality and Mike Grantham for organising the day. There being no other business the meeting closed at 15:45.

Signed: Chris Hobson – BMMC Chairman

Signed: ------Chris Whitlock – Club Secretary