Meeting of the Bristol & West AC S Management Team

MEETING OF BRISTOL & WEST AC’S CLUB COMMITTEE AT 7: 30 PM ON FRIDAY 16 th JANUARY 2015 AT THE WHITEHALL ATHLETICS ARENA MINUTES

Present: Roger Brocklesby (Chair), Keith Brackstone (KB), Mike Down (MD), Chris Elson (CE), Zoe Goodman (ZG), Peter Mountain (PM), Hilary Nash (HN), Mike Strange (MS), Emma Jolliffe (EJ), Bev Barrett (BB), Alison Engledew (AE), Marie Berryman (MB), Andy Malloy (AM), Steve Grant (SG), Dave Engledew (DE), Richard Gwynn (RG), Paul Taylor-Morris (PT-M).

The Chairman welcomed the newcomers to the Committee.

1. Apologies. Nicola Dutton, Nicola Diamond and Simonne Lowrey

2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting and Matters Arising. There were 2 meetings in December; the first on the 12th and a follow up meeting following the resignation of the former Chairman on the 19th. There were some matters that were carried forward to those meetings as follows:

a) Avon Schools Selection Policies and Use of Wind Gauges – ZG was still to write a letter on the Avon Schools Selection policies. MS advised that a second wind gauge would cost around £420 (KB advised that the club already had a wind gauge that was kept in a locked cupboard in the Kip Keino Athletic Track Sports Store). The discussion identified that the Avon League could use a wind gauge and HN agreed to take a proposal to the next Avon Athletics Committee Meeting b) Young Athlete Induction Booklet - ZG to update. c) Sportshall Competition in early 2015 - Dave Turner will help if required and HN will speak to him to see whether it is worth staging a competition in February or March 2015. d) Saturday Session Funded by Bristol Rovers - RG would be involved; at Kip Keino Athletic Stadium possibly [Secretary's note: RG subsequently advised that Kip Keino Athletic Stadium could not be used because of the College's links with Bristol City!]. The plan is now for RG to get sessions started at Whitehall Athletics Arena and hand them over to Nick Harris once the latter's DBS Clearance was through.

The Minutes of both meetings were proposed and accepted as a true record of those meetings.

3. Club Development Plan. Keith Brackstone and Roger Brocklesby led discussions on the plan which had been circulated in an updated format. KB stated that he would like members to be more forward looking and that the plan would be a living plan which should be revised at least annually. Roger suggested that it be reviewed quarterly so that the club could assess actual performance against targets. There was still a lot of work to be done to finalise the plan particularly around Young Athlete Development but this would become clearer as the Young Athlete Development Adviser and the Young Athlete Project Team progressed their work. Specific performance targets would be set annually which would cover the 3 main Senior and Youth Development Leagues on the track and club performances in cross-country and road races. KB advised that there is an urgent need to set up a database of athletes, their events and the coaches they are working with so that the club can become more organised in athlete development.

MS observed that there is nothing in the plan for officials and RB acknowledged that this needs to be looked at. KB will take this forward [Secretary's note: there is no mention of officials in the Mission Statement so that will also require amendment.] MD observed that there needs to be something to do with retention; also, print and media - there is! a. Communications Proposals. Emma Jolliffe had produced some ideas on paper prior to the meeting which had been circulated by KB to those present. EJ outlined her proposals which were well received by the Committee. EJ asked if anyone was prepared to help and ZG agreed to help get the club more active on Twitter and to make greater use of Facebook and update the format of the club's web-site. Alison Engledew also said that she was prepared to assist.

b. Youth Development. Richard Gwyn had also sent in a document containing some initial proposals which he outlined to the Committee, including growing and developing athletes and coaches involved with young athletes. RG suggested the introduction of a Young Athlete Bursary Scheme to assist young athletes whose parents experience genuine financial hardship. Some of these proposals were still at the early stage of development and detailed plans would become clearer as the work of the Youth Development Team progressed. He stated that he would attend the Young Athlete sessions on a Wednesday night to take on activities ancillary to coaching that should benefit communication and the engagement of parent volunteers enormously. He would review the work KB had already undertaken to establish school links and together they would investigate how these might be improved. RB advised that the Young Athlete Sub-Committee had consisted of Zoe Goodman, Simonne Lowrey, Bev Barrett, Hilary Nash, Emma Withers, Roger Brocklesby and Dean Garrett and that these individuals would be invited to become the Young Athlete Development Team (YADT) which would be led by Richard.

Action: Committee to reply with comments on the Development Plan by next Wednesday 21st January 2015 and KB to circulate a finalised draft as soon as possible thereafter.

4. Membership including New Members (list 160). Mike Strange advised that he would be paying in over £1,700 and that renewals were coming in regularly which meant he was busy. He advised that there were 204 new members this year but that in the same period 55 had resigned. There were 5 new members on the list (with 5 resignations - 2 moving away and 3 no longer active). KB proposed and CE seconded that the new members list be accepted and it was passed unanimously.

5. End of Year Financial Report. KB had circulated a written report prior to the meeting showing that the club had £39,795.39 total funds available at 31st December 2014 an increase of £4,367.89 on the balance at the end of 2013. He welcomed Marie Berryman as Treasurer (in waiting) and advised the Committee that they had held a handover meeting on 10 January 2015 and KB would formally hand over the role to Marie as soon as the accounts had been audited and the necessary paperwork completed with Lloyds Bank.

6. Club House Sub-Committee Update. RB advised the Committee that the aspects of the project that were controlled by the club were moving forward quickly and there will be a full presentation to the committee in February. The architect is doing a good job and the Club will shortly appoint a Quantity Surveyor and a Structural Engineer to work up the final design and detailed costs with the Architect. RB and KB are still pressing City Academy and Bristol City Council for written confirmation of long term allocation of the site - a prerequisite of a bid for a Sport England Inspired Facility Grant.

7. Development Adviser's Report. KB had circulated a written report prior to the meeting: there were no questions.

8. Update on 2015 Track Season Planning. a) Senior Men. All fixtures are confirmed. RB will speak to coaches about potential higher competition athletes to fill any gaps or weaknesses. b) Senior Ladies. The ladies were in the same position as the men with all three fixtures finalised and CE speaking to coaches about potential higher competition athletes. c) Midland League. Steve Grant was welcomed to his first Committee Meeting as the new Midland Team Manager (with support from Pete Mountain and others). Steve announced that all four fixtures were now resolved with dates and venues as follows: Yate - Saturday 25th April 2015, Gloucester - Saturday 6th June 2015, Kip Keino Athletic Stadium - Saturday 4th July 2015,Worcester - Sunday 9th August 2015. Geographically that was about as good as it gets! Steve will be looking at Higher Competition athletes with his Yate counterpart. d) Avon League/YDL. The YDL dates and venues are agreed for both Upper and Lower Age Group Meetings. HN was unable to update on the Avon League fixtures as their meeting isn't until 28th January2015.Hilary Nash- not able to update until AGM e) Open Meetings. KB advised that dates and venues for the four Open Meetings had been arranged and permits received from England Athletics.

9. Update on Planned Events in 2015. a) Cross-Country. KB advised that club entries had been made for the National and Midland Cross-Country Championships and that the club had won both the Senior Men's and Senior Women's tea events at the South-West Cross-Country Championships. The club was also well placed in the Gwent League with two fixtures left: Team Managers will be looking to get strong teams out for the fixture in Blaise Castle on Sunday 8th February 2015. b) Indoor Track. The membership were involved in more indoor meetings than ever; most of the arrangements were being made by individual coaches.MS was doing a good job keeping track on all the results and ensuring they were well publicised.

10. Any Other Business. a. RB proposed that in future meetings would be held from 7pm – 9pm. This was accepted by those present without a vote. b. RB also proposed that the AGM be held at the Kings Head, with a buffet provided which the club could finance (Friday 17th April 2015 is the proposed date). AE was asked to speak to the Manager at the Kings Head and come back with a cost for discussion at the next meeting. It was agreed that we need to get as many people as possible there. c. PT-M advised that some of the run leaders are interested in there being a marathon training group based out of Whitehall. RB and KB replied that the run leaders can organise that themselves. If there was a need to get another set of keys cut they should approach KB who would arrange it. Once details had been agreed the club would publicise it.

11. Date of Next Meeting. This was agreed for Friday 27 February 2015 commencing at 7.00 p.m. at Whitehall Athletics Arena, tea room in the Changing Rooms.

The following dates were agreed for future. Meetings to start at 7.00pm. The aim is to be finished by 9.00pm. a. 27th February 2015 b. 20th March 2015 c. 17th April 2015 (Annual General Meeting) d. 1st May 2015 e. 29th May 2015 f. 26th June 2015 g. 31st July 2015 h. 21st August 2015 (only if urgent business to discuss) i. 25th September 2015 j. 23rd October 2015 k. 20th November 2015

Paul Taylor-Morris Minute Secretary

Countersigned by:

Roger Brocklesby Chairman