1. Apologies

Janet Carter (JC) Peter Colwill (PJC)
 

2. Minutes / Actions of Meeting held on 5th February 2003

The minutes from the previous meeting were agreed.
 

3. Outstanding Actions Update

The following actions were completed, all outstanding actions remain on action sheet.

SJMW- Contact lady regarding possibility of supplying teas; has spoken to lady and not interested in doing this on a regular basis.
ZAS - Get date change of Presidents Day into newsletter.
ZAS - Contact JP and AW to arrange teas and pitches for Presidents Day.
CDC - Obtain relevant quotes for Club Supper.
CDC - Speak to Board re invites to Club Supper; pot of 20 allocated for all invitees not just Board.
CDC - Check health and safety restrictions of kitchen; no cooking restrictions CDC also has health and safety video and stickers for kitchen.
ZAS - Put notice on England Hockey IGM on notice board.
ACS - Speak to JC and Jo Peters regarding their intentions for next Season.
 

4. Social Committee Report

CDC reported that tickets for Irish night were on sale at £2.00 per person and the next Social Committee meeting is being held on 6th March 2003. She is also very busy organising the Club Supper, update to follow at agenda point 14.
 

5. Men’s Playing Committee Report

MAR did not attend so no report available.
 

6. Junior Section Report

SJMW reported that the money allocated is likely to be spent on new goalkeeping kit (at the beginning of next Season), bibs and hitting boards. Generally with regard to the Junior Section she feels they could do with more games as it would benefit them and more helpers for a Sunday morning are desperately needed. The Committee agreed that this would need to be looked at and rectified next Season.

7. Treasurer’s Report

DND handed round an updated accounts report and outlined the figures. Match fees are down against the forecast as the number of games scheduled for Christmas were not all played. He is chasing up games where he has missing match fees (19 games) although for some he has no explanation so it may be that the games weren’t actually played. He has not yet seen a January invoice from Newlands Park for the pitch hire.

The Juniors show as under budget as he over budgeted for Sunday mornings and the number of games that would be played.

The league fees for the Men’s summer league have been paid for 2 teams, but there is the possibility of entering a third team into another league which has yet to be paid / organised.

DND stated that he is aiming for us to breakeven by the end of the Season, but the HEL 2003/3004 fees are due in October 2003 at the beginning of next Season so that must be borne in mind for the cashflow.

DND said that in line with the reimbursement of other coaches’ subscription fees we should reimburse Dave Peters, as he coaches Ladies first team and takes the Monday night training sessions.

There was a brief discussion regarding the availability of the accounts to members and AW shall put them on the website with each months minutes and DND will put a hard copy on the notice board. DND will speak to Neil Turner to get this publicised in the e-mailed weekly newsletter.

Action - DND speak to DP regarding reimbursement of subs
- DND speak to NT regarding short piece in newsletter
 

8. Forecast for 2003 / 2004 Season

DND is in the process of drawing the forecast for next Season as it will need to be presented at the AGM. He passed round his forecast sheet for discussion. The forecast is based on a Season of 27 Saturdays and 12 teams, with no increase in match fees. DND felt until he is aware of what the Board intend to do regarding subscriptions (and if they are raised) it is not possible to forecast for a rise in match fees. The worst case scenario is a loss of £8,000.

The costs include teas (including 2 Saturday helpers) at £9,500, with the cost of teas being increased to £2.00 per person by our current supplier. This provoked a big discussion within the Committee regarding the current provision of teas and options for next Season. It was felt the optimum is to keep the cost as low as possible and one option would be to provide purely jacket potatoes with a different filling each week, such as beans or cheese and ask our 2 Saturday girls to cook the potatoes and organise the fillings. This would cut cost substantially and still provide a filling post-match hot tea for players.

This needs to be discussed in more detail regarding the organisation next meeting – Ongoing Action.

DND has also allocated £5,000 for the provision of training / coaches as this is an area which needs to be looked at in more detail and is a general concern within the Club.

DND put forward the idea of paying expenses to Club “Officers” at £3.00 per week because as the Club expands people cannot be expected to give their time and commitment for free as the work for each person is going to increase. ACS agreed that in principal this is a good idea, while we are trying to cut costs everywhere else and save for an astro fund in practice it just isn’t possible, which the Committee agreed.

DND stated that the cost cutting in teas and no expenses for Officers means the forecast would be to breakeven.

The Committee discussed the funding of the new astro requirements and it was suggested that if match fees were increased to £10.00 with the extra £2.00 being put into a dedicated astro fund (would raise aprox £6,000) it may be acceptable to players. This must of course be discussed with the full Committee present and with both Playing Committees – Ongoing Action.
 

9. Update on County Championships

Doug Macoll had sent an e-mail which ZAS read out, stating that Milton Keynes were now first choice for hosting the County Championships so it is unlikely the Newlands pitch will be required. He has asked for a free Tuesday night for a trial session, either 1st April or 7th April. Finally, he felt that there were spare slots for Presidents Day and asked if it would be possible for the County to have a game.

The Committee discussed DM’s requests and weren’t too sure where he felt there was a spare slot for Presidents Day, although did think the County would make a good opposition for the Men’s First Team and could make up the Presidents Team. It was agreed that this should be suggested to DM.

Regarding the training sessions it was agreed in principal, although needs to be checked with Dave Peters and Jonathan Budd.

Action - ZAS to ask DM to liaise with PJC who is organising Men’s Presidents Team re County participation.
- SJMW to check availability of training sessions with DP and JB and get back to DM

10. Intentions for Next Season

ZAS reported that she has e-mailed everyone in the Club who currently hold a position, including Captains, Fixtures Secretaries etc and has received the following responses:

Martin Cartledge (Men’s I) – standing down.
Duncan Ward (Men’s II) – standing down.
Tom Townsend (Men’s VI) – not sure.
Fay Rider (Ladies Mixed) – standing down.
Sarah Watts (Junior Rep) – standing down.
Andy Watts (Publicity) – not sure.
Janet Carter (Ladies Rep) – standing down.
Martin Cartledge (Kit Rep) – standing again.

ZAS will speak to all those outstanding and report next meeting – Ongoing Action.

11. England Hockey Questionnaire

ZAS reported that she has received a detailed questionnaire to be completed for each Section regarding HEL’s tournaments. This was passed to ACS for the Playing Committees to complete.

12. Future Astro Requirements – Update

AW had sent a detailed e-mail prior to the meeting regarding the current status of the astro plans, with the School being the preferred location. He is taking this to the Board at the next meeting. Generally it will need to be decided if the Astro will belong to the Hockey Section or the Sport Club. Accounting wise there are potentially 20 hours per week in astro slots which, based on our current pitch costs, should bring in roughly £50,000 per year and will save us £15,000 per year in pitch costs. He is not sure of the cost of maintenance of an astro and this will need to be looked into further.

Ongoing Action.

13. Presidents Day – Update

With no JC, MAR or PJC there was not much possibility of updating as they are doing the main organisation. SJMW is organising the Junior teams and stated that she is still arranging the girls team and with the boys under 15s there is a possible clash with a Junior Tournament which she is looking into.

CDC stated that she is sorting out the teas as the catering company she has booked for the Club Supper are able to cater for the post-match teas at the same time.

Ongoing Action.

14. Club Supper – Update

CDC is busy sorting out the arrangements and handed round a spreadsheet of actions and costs. There is still a lot to organise and she has most things in hand. Tickets will be issued to Captains this week. Simon Gooch is arranging the bar extension to midnight.

Regarding invitations SJMW will send last years letters to ZAS for the invitations, CDC offered to send out the letters as she is organising the event and has all the details, which ZAS thanked her for.

Action - SJMW to send last years letters to CDC.

Ongoing Action.

15. Selection / Training

ACS reported that over the last week / 10 days there had been a number of issues surrounding Ladies selection, which had culminated in her calling a meeting, in her capacity as Acting Ladies Representative, last Saturday (22nd February 2003) with Vicky Williams, Louise Hagan, Tanya Fyffe, Janet Velde, Dave Peters and ZAS (taking minutes).

ACS gave a brief outline of the meeting, stating it had been agreed that more responsibility needs to rest with Captains and there is a need to plan for next Season, especially if this Season’s complicated league rules continue. It was felt that the Ladies had had a very successful indoor season and they would like to continue this next Season. Further, with the first and second teams training on a different night to the other teams it is making selection quite difficult. The Captains agreed that returning to women only training would be better for the ladies section, as long as this was on a Tuesday night, because firstly Celia is not available to coach them on Mondays and it will effect the indoor. There is the possibility of running 2 teams for indoor next season, a first team and a development team. ACS had agreed to bring this up at the Committee meeting for discussion.

ACS formally proposed that the Club return to separate training nights, with the Men training on Mondays and the Ladies on Tuesdays. There was some discussion surrounding the proposal and the Committee motion was carried.

Action - ACS to confirm decision with Ladies Captains.
MAR to relay decision to Men’s Captains.

16. Member Satisfaction Survey

ACS stated that she is still awaiting the comprehensive results from Warren Scott, which she hoped to receive as soon as possible. She suggested a separate sub-meeting for discussion of the results when they were received so that another month wouldn’t go without further action, which the Committee agreed was a good idea.

Ongoing Action.

17. Any Other Business

17.1 Coaching Course

SJMW reported that she has received information on a Level II Coaching Course to be held shortly. She confirmed that Dave Peters was already booked onto the course and Dan Lovelace had expressed an interest in attending.

Action - SJMW to liaise with DL regarding attendance.

17.2 Indoor Hockey

AW stated that there is a possibility of having the hall available at the School for an indoor league, but it will need to be organised and it was thought that John Spicer might be interested in taking this on.

Action - ACS to liaise with JS.

17.3 Postal Newsletter

The idea of sending out a postal newsletter was discussed and the Committee felt it was a good idea. It should include information on the Junior Section, the Men’s and Ladies achievements this season, the AGM date, some accounts information and the last 2 months minutes. This will need further discussion.

Ongoing Action.

17.4 Table Football

ACS suggested that having a coin pay table football in the Clubhouse is a low maintenance way to raise funds and the Committee agreed it was a good idea. ACS stated that she would raise this at her next Board and Players meetings.

Action - ACS to gather views on table football.

18. Date & Time of Next Meeting

To be held on Wednesday 2nd April 2003 at 7.30 pm.

ZAS asked that all agenda points are with her by Monday 31st March 2003 in order for her to e-mail out an agenda in advance of the next meeting.