Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to `s AGM 2014/15. It`s very nice to see so many of you here and I am delighted to see that we are quorate. It is also great to see so many young faces and to welcome Bangor in particular

I have apologies from Dan Cowton, Kate Evans, Mike Hnatiw, Caroline Pascoe, Stuart Vanstone and Andrew Weeks.

For those of you who don`t know us all I`d like to start off by getting the staff and Board to introduce themselves, I`m Heather Brock, Chair Welsh Rowing.

We have a very different staff from this time last year and I`d like to start off my Chair`s Report by talking about the High Performance Review that was carried out and which has resulted in a number of the changes.

The last time our High Performance Programme was reviewed was around 7 years ago. Encouraged by Sport the Board decided that the time had come to carry out a HP review. This was supported and funded by SW. A number of companies were approached to tender and finally Wharton Consulting were engaged to carry it out. They consulted very widely interviewing a cross section of athletes, coaches, club members, board members and other relevant stakeholders. Their findings recommended a change in the existing structure to encourage a pathway based on partnerships, with athletes being developed within their club environment. There were a number of reasons for their advice not least that it would be likely to develop more home grown talent than hitherto and develop a pathway pyramid with a much wider base. This is not to say that non Welsh students choosing to study in Welsh Universities would be ignored, far from it, but their development will take place within and alongside the university club structure. The new structure will have many advantages amongst them creating and improving the partnership between Welsh Rowing and Clubs and Universities.

It is only very recently that we have had a full coaching compliment in place and much of September was spent on talent Id at Freshers Fayres. The new team is developing an embryonic system which needs to be tuned. We are now looking to focus on working to strengthen the partnerships and find the best ways of working together, with the aims of having a thriving and sustainable talent pool in Wales.

Because of the performance review the Performance Committee has not really functioned this year, but it will be revived next year.

All of this has been done for the long term development of Rowing in Wales and we accept that there has been a degree of pain in grasping the nettle and taking forward Wharton`s recommendations, but with all the financial costs of the review and its implications, having been covered by we would have been remiss as a Board not to take this positive and decisive move forward.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ian Shore for the efforts he put in during his 7 year tenure as High Performance Coach and also to thank Eleanor Ower our Elite SW liaison officer for her support throughout the process.

It has been a busy year, with the Board members, all of whom are volunteers it should be remembered, throwing themselves into their roles and able to get stuff done much as a result of having Helen and Laura in place.

I get asked frequently

What does the Board do?

By answering this question I will cover off quite a bit of what else has happened throughout the year.

I`ll start with myself, initially when the Board asked me at short notice to take over from Caroline as Chair, I was quite reluctant but agreed, subject to my re-election to the Board, to undertake the role for a year. In the Spring we underwent a recruitment process for a new Chair. This involved advertising widely and then interviewing applicants. There were only 2. It was unanimously agreed by the interview panel, which included a community representative, that Chris Cox who some of you subsequently met, be nominated for a seat on the Board at the AGM and that he take over as Chair from me. Unfortunately toward the end of July, it became apparent Chris would not be able to undertake the role if elected and consequently the Board asked me to continue for this year. A succession plan for next year will be identified and implemented over the next couple of months

A great deal of my time initially, was spent in helping Helen to review systems and processes and set the High Performance Review in train. I would like to congratulate Helen on achieving a Self Assurance green rating within a matter of months of coming on board. I appreciate that to many the nitty gritty of governance is about as appealing as watching paint dry, however it is critical not only to the sound management of the organisation but also to securing future funding from SW, who will never again allow an NGB to take public funds and then go bust. In addition Laura`s efforts in committing the organisation to achieving the preliminary level of the equality standard for sport has enabled us to access £10k of equality and human rights commission funding which is being spent on the This Girl Rows project. This is aimed at getting more women and girls to start rowing. We are working in partnership with 8 clubs inc 2 sea rowing clubs to deliver learn to row courses and linking in to those clubs` pathways

Helen and I spent a lot of time on the High Performance Review, it was hoped that Steve Green the Director elected this time last year, with a view to holding the elite performance portfolio, would head this up. However not long after his election to the Board Steve took up the paid role of Performance Director of Judo, based in Manchester. This coupled to the fact that he lives in Shrewsbury meant that logistically it was impossible for him to fulfil the role and it was with regret he resigned.

Another big focus of mine initially was to look at how conduits could be built between the committees or working groups and the Board and I have put in place a situation where each committee or working group has at least 1 Board member who can act as the conduit in both directions.

This was especially relevant in what I hoped would be the Community Committee. This I admit is a failure. I had hoped that I would get 7 or 8 people from clubs to sit on a committee which would feed into the Board specific areas of interest and then these could be prioritised and assistance given where possible. In addition what the Board and the staff were doing would be communicated back to the Committee and from there back to the Clubs.

This I very much hoped would address the annual complaint that the NGB is not transparent and does not communicate enough. I also envisaged that the committee would result in greater collaboration between clubs. I was very disappointed at the apathy towards this with only 2 clubs showing any interest. Consequently the Community Committee has not got off the ground.

Later in the forum, I would love to have suggestions on what more we can do to create the conduit that we are constantly being asked for.

This leads me into to telling you about what Board Director Andrew Weeks, the Chair of Comms & Marketing and his committee have been doing this year. During Andrew`s time Twitter followers have trebled and are now over 1,000, whilst the Facebook following has doubled. Further efforts at communication have included a monthly news letter going out to the 450 email addresses we have and also posted on the website. The website itself averages 6 articles a month, please do send us anything you would like posting on there.

In addition they have developed a range of merchandise and have attended every regatta and head setting up a stall and selling it. It has been a successful venture and there are plans to expand the range. The profit from the sale of the merchandise is ring fenced to support the funding of athletes to HIR. Sadly for us Andrew is leaving us to become Director of Communications at Sport Wales. However, subject to his election later he will be replaced by Owen Hathway, who I am certain will continue Andrew`s work with the same passion and enthusiasm.

Thank you Andrew for all you have done.

Owen`s focus apart from continuing Andrew`s great work will be to coordinate and increase our press coverage across all media. He will also have a tie up with Nick Hartland who will produce copy.

On the wider subject of communication, as a board we have tried to be far more visible in the community, I have personally attended every regatta except Llandaff, only missed due to the birth of a litter of puppies and WR staff and volunteers have also been present either helping or with a WR merchandise stand at every regatta and head.

Over the next 12 months we would like to hold the board meetings out in the community and as part of that would like to offer the opportunity for each club to tell us how you would like us to support you in ways that we are not currently. HT will be in touch with a list of the board meeting dates for the next 12 months and we will be delighted to see you at your club.

We are striving to be more transparent and communicate more. Other than face to face meetings, our only current method of communicating is through our email list which comprises of only 450 community members and via the website or social media. If people are not on the email list and don't use social media we have no way of communicating with them quickly and effectively.

Consequently, as part of a membership review during the coming year we will be looking at possibly changing our mem & arts to allow WR to have direct communication with all rowers in Wales.

The Governance aspect of the review will be led by Dawn Brace the Board`s Governance Champion, working closely with Helen, significant strides in governance and processes has been made this year much of it invisible externally. Dawn is also going to take on the role of Vice Chair, the concept being that she will represent WR at Council meetings and stand in for the Chair whenever necessary. In addition and perhaps more importantly she will provide continuity and support for next year`s Chair. Dawn is also our para rowing champion and that leads me onto

Dave Phenis who is chair of the Development Committee. He and his committee have worked extremely hard identifying and determining the development plan for the next 3 years. It is an ambitious programme and is effectively Laura`s work plan

It includes the development of a new club in Bangor, a rowing presence in every university in Wales and the development of a para rowing pathway.

In addition Dave and Laura are heavily involved in the Swansea bid to build a centre for rowing which will provide a home to Swansea City Rowing Club and Swansea University. Progress has been made, with a site identified and stakeholders including the University and Local Authority on board. have also provided input through Alan Meegan their facilities expert, thanks Gary.

Dave with his wealth of Sports Development experience is also acting as mentor to Laura.

I in term have acted as a mentor to Andrew Kilsby our Finance director Effective, efficient, professional and frankly wise he is very committed, I know how much time the role takes from personal experience. His similar role with Judo means that he is developing a great insight into what is needed to ensure the financial sustainability of Welsh Rowing in times of funding cuts.

Last but not least Sarah Thomas is a board stalwart this will be the final year of her second term. Sarah`s wealth of experience in matters rowing is a vital component on the Board. She is both the Source Group and National Junior Committee rep and also sits on the Development Committee.

Caroline Pascoe, unfortunately away on work in Hong Kong, has been the lead on the International committee, and will lead a root and branch review of selection procedures and trials over the coming months.

Stuart Vanstone also sadly not here is stepping down from the Board today. He has given 5 years of unstinting commitment to the Board. He has helped guide and formulate the university partnerships and been involved in many other aspects of the organisation. I would very much like to thank Stuart, albeit in his absence for his lengthy board service and dedication to Welsh Rowing

Subject to election later, I`ll now come briefly to the potential new directors and explain how they will fit into the Board.

So, In line with Memorandum & Articles of Association, 3 directors should be replaced each AGM. This year the three are Stuart Vanstone, Andrew Weekes and Steve Green and there is also a further vacancy. The recruitment process was followed as per the Mem & Arts.

One conclusion we have come to in terms of Board recruitment is that it is very difficult for a Board member to live outside of Wales and maintain the level of commitment needed to fulfil their role.

Going forward, if they are elected we will have 4 very accomplished new directors as I said earlier Owen Hathway will be a direct replacement for Andrew.

Alison Pinney is a recreational rower and has been doing sterling work on the HIR hosting working group and being on the Board will create that direct conduit between that group and the Board, I was talking about earlier. In addition she will take on project managing further events

Katie Thrirlaway will be equality lead and takeover from Stuart with responsibility for University liaison. Katie`s skills in managing people, relationships and developing partnerships will be crucial as we develop our new way of working.

Kate Evans known throughout rowing in Wales is a many time Welsh representative at HIR and also a competitor at Eusa. Kate has been on the circuit since a junior. She is currently a member of Swansea RC. Her remit is to try and provide an invaluable link to the clubs and revitalise our community & events committee. With her vast experience of Rowing for Wales, she will also help out on the International Committee.

I`m delighted to announce that should the new candidates be elected, we will have 3 fluent Welsh speakers on the Board and have a 50/50 community to independent member spilt as per Mem & Arts.

Without stealing Andrew`s thunder I would like to explain the use of affiliation fees, levies and the reserves policy.

In 2014/15 Affiliation fees amounted to £3,273 approx 1% of total income

Affiliation Fees The majority of affiliation fees go towards our Development Programme. Sport Wales contribute to only around half of the money spent. One of the major tasks through the year is supporting grant applications WR has to administer every single grant and show how these grants link into the strategic plan. This has amounted to Clubs accessing in the region of £40k this year.

In addition we are rolling out our volunteer development programme having run workshops on physiology and nutrition with plans to arrange others going forward.

Furthermore the affiliation fees also go towards funding of the audit and the website running costs.

Levies £5,800 approx 1.5% of total income This pot has gone towards supporting the training of a new cohort of umpires. There are 4 new umpires on the road to qualification who have all supported regattas this Summer.

I`d like to thank the refreshed umpires committee for being so proactive in addressing the dearth of Welsh umpires.

WR has engaged ROSPA to manage water safety. In a successful pilot by Wales their member clubs saw insurance fees reduce following ROSPA`s help in identifying ways of better risk management. It is early days for this partnership but it will see these benefits available together with training for club safety officers and support for clubs in their safety audits and a helpline for enquiries.

Levies also go towards indemnity insurance for regattas.

We are hoping to increase attendance at Welsh regattas and heads by providing a low cost trailering service. We have just bought a large trailer to enable us to provide this service to member clubs

A further very major expense for Welsh Rowing is the hosting of the HIR every 4 years and annualised this is a cost in excess of £5kpa. There is no Sport Wales funding for this event.

In addition, the membership fees paid to British Rowing by Welsh Rowers are rebated in the form of the Henley stewards coach who is Emily Doherty . Over the last year Emily has been supporting & Vale, Llandaff and Swansea Rowing Clubs

I would also like to explain our Reserves policy

The reserves that Welsh Rowing has built up are as a direct result of not spending Sport Wales income, the majority of which was earmarked for High Performance.

Over the last 18 months SW have been scrutinising reserves held by NGB s and in many cases have clawed back underspend or dictated that NGBs must make savings to increase their reserves to an acceptable level. Fortunately we have negotiated with Sport Wales to retain our reserves but over a 5 year period reduce them to a financially and commercially prudent level. Much of the spend will be on wages as currently they are already being subsidised by the reserves. There is however a degree of flexibility and we believe that as long as we hit our reserves target within 5 years then SW will support this.

Potential areas requiring some cash input are the Swansea Boathouse and a secure home for Welsh Rowing.

As you know the only long stretch of water available to row on in Cardiff is the Bay and this is accessed from the Boathouse at Channel View by not only the performance squads but also several clubs.

Since I joined the Board I have seen the complete lack of any security of tenure within the Boathouse as a major risk to Welsh Rowing. The situation has significantly worsened over the last 12 months with Channel View having been put up for sale/ tender. In a meeting in January with the powers that be in Cardiff City Council our offer to take at least a 10 year lease on the building was rejected as they had no idea as to the future of the premises. In that meeting we were promised a decision by September. This has passed and despite much pressing and effort on our part we are unable to get any information on the situation. The hard fact is that Welsh Rowing and the other Clubs using the Boathouse facility could be evicted at very, very short notice.

For the meeting in January we produced a proposal detailing how we would like to take over the Boathouse and make it into a permanent home for Welsh Rowing, not dissimilar to `s home in Strathclyde. We could take great advantage of having our own permanent home and could develop a commercial advantage from being there.

Sport Wales have also recognised that there needs to be long term security and have indicated a willingness to help us invest in the facility.

Other things that Welsh Rowing has been involved in are

Welsh Rowing has had a presence at Gemau Cymru the school games with an 8 fold increase in participation on 2014

We have also been at the wheelchair sports spectacular encouraging pararowing and as a result we are optimistic about having a pararower at HIR.

The Street Games Multisport Festival introducing 1,300 young adults to indoor rowing.

We will be supporting Mike and his team at the Welsh Indoors in a few weeks time.

We have attended Freshers` Fairs in as part of our new partnership model with universities and have had record sign ups at each university.

Of course we were heavily involved in

HIR Thanks to the efforts of all those volunteers, who every year make it possible to send a team to compete at HIR. Especial thanks to Zoe who will manage the team for a final time in Cardiff in 2016. We will be looking for a new team manager shortly to shadow Zoe this year.

I would also like to thank Sue Grifiths who has been the volunteer kit manager for many years and has now stepped down from this role.

This year the team achieved 2 narrow second places for the senior teams and the very young junior teams acquitted themselves admirably in difficult deluge conditions. We are organising a programme of events to support the potential junior HIR squad, beginning next week with an open invitation session.

Hosting HIR 2016 Alison Pinney has been leading a team who have begun to build the foundations of the event.

We are exploring as many avenues as we can to secure sponsorship if anyone can help please do.

The date of the event 23/07/16 and we had written confirmation at the beginning of month that we can hold it in Cardiff Bay

We will be looking for a large contingent of volunteers and will be communicating on this via all our existing channels over the next 6 months or so.

There was a meeting of the 4 Home Nations to discuss the role of HIR in performance pathways and how the event could be improved and updated. We would all like to put ParaRowing on an equal footing, Further discussions will take place at a meeting in November.

Indoors Reps accredited indoor training certificate is being rolled out and a schools indoor rowing league is being piloted in 3 Health Board areas and in about 50 secondary schools. In a virtual league each school has a weekly challenge culminating in a regional final organised by a school rowing coordinator for that health board region leading to a national final at Gemau Cymru in June 2016.

The Board are having exploratory conversations with WAG, BR and FISA to hold the European Indoor Rowing Champs in 2017.

Sea Rowing They had a full Level2 course delivered with 11 on it. Demand is exceptionally high. Laura is developing relationships with many of the clubs and they have plans to build a searowing centre in Saundersfoot.

I would like to end with a couple of thank yous

Firstly to Mike and his team at Channel View for their help and support through the year.

Secondly, I would like to thank Lowri and Sport Wales for all their support.

And finally Helen. Helen has been fantastic, organised, professional, committed, she has made an absolutely humungous difference to Welsh Rowing this year and I think we all owe her a huge vote of thanks.