CHALFONT PARK SPORTS ASSOCIATION MINUTES OF BOARD MEETING HELD ON 4TH FEBRUARY 2004

Those Attending

Alison Spicer (ACS) Dave Banner (DB) (arrived late) Peter Banner (PB) Chris Blamey (CJB)
Caroline Chipperfield (CDC) Drew Downing (DND) Dave Peters (DP) Zoë Scott (ZAS)
Andy Watts (ASJW)


1. Apologies

Bob Hance (BH) Simon Seabrook (SS) Matt Stevenson (MS)

2. Minutes of Meeting held on 7th January 2004

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

3. Outstanding Actions Update

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

DB - Ask PB to terminate second BT line; spoken to PB and line to be cancelled.
DND - Discuss jobs at playing committee level; done has a list of all hockey jobs which is on the notice board.
CJB/DB - + Cricket + Football to sort out responsibilities and costs; in hand, Shabs most likely to do. Need to provide costs and contracts must be drawn up to formalise arrangements.
CDC/ZAS - Identify which events need a bar extension; Club Supper, wedding on 10.04.04 and wedding on 13.11.04. ZAS to apply for extensions.
NT - Locate telephone manual on internet.
PB - Obtain quote for pitch maintenance from Chenies Landscapes; £4,368 for cutting only (both pitches). Rory Staunton has suggested 2 companies which may be cheaper and PB will contact them also. PB also will ask Chenies for a one-off pitch cut of both pitches.
DB - Obtain quote for pitch maintenance from Golf Club Groundsmen; they are unable to do this.
NT - Approach Softball League and organise team; in hand, league are sending out registration forms, has got bases and balls and bats are arriving. First training session at the Clubhouse 0n 15.02.04.
ASJW - Ask Charlie Wooler to fix water pump on tractor; also asked to fix the roller which is leaking oil. CW will do if someone else will source parts. DB to source parts but if unable to refer to CJB.
DB - Mark football pitch for Saturday.
BH - E-Mail Rory Staunton to let him know grass cannot be cut but pitch will be marked.
ASJW - Buy hockey DVDs; there is one on Amazon which he will order.
ZAS - Sort out licence letter with Police.
DB - Deal with mole problem on pitch; Golf Club will deal with on a personal basis.
ACS - Contact Sky re Calendar of Events for 2004; unable to get through but has had a look at sports events for the coming year and everything seems to be on terrestrial too. Board agree to terminate Sky contract which will save £2,400. PB will contact Sky to terminate.

ACS stated that she would like everyone to complete their actions much more promptly and get the list down. At the moment we are firefighting actions rather than being proactive and that’s not acceptable.

4. Finance (PB/DP)

DP has checked payments to Ted Payne and it appears he has forgotten a payment made in February 2002. DP has told SS and he will revert back to Ted Payne.

ASJW had asked for a breakdown of our current debt situation, which is as follows:

Liabilities Amount Duration End Date
Members’ Loan Scheme £13,350.00 5 years 2006
Other Members’ Loans £2,600.00 £2,000 for 11 years
£600 for 5 years 2011
2005
Barclays – Loan 1 £25,000.00 10 year 2010
Barclays – Loan 2 £15,400.00 5 year 2007
Youngs <£37,000.00 10 year 2011
Ted Payne £1,919.50 - Aim to clear 2004
£95,269.50

DP stated that the members’ loan repayment is being drawn regularly. The “Other Members’ Loans” are separated due to the individual terms on which the members loaned the money. We have 7 years of debt left, but there is the potential to pay off the Barclays loans earlier at no penalty if we have the cash flow to do so.

The UNIQ car park money is due (£13,000 plus VAT for the year) and DP will invoice them quarterly. DP has sent bank details for a standing order to be set up. The agreement was for 3 years, with an option for a further 5 years.

Current cash flow is £700. There are some hockey subs outstanding, DP has e-mailed DND and Warren Scott the information and they are chasing up. DP is still awaiting the transfer of the astro fund money from ACHC account. DND stated that the season to date is between £2,000 - £2,500 and there should be £5,000 by the end of the season.

Regarding the old Nat West bank account DP needs a new signatory mandate to be signed, which ACS and ZAS signed.

There is a VAT inspection on Friday (06.02.04), which DP and PB will both attend.

PB stated he is still working on a quarterly profit and loss account. DND stated that he is concerned that quarterly will be too out of date and would prefer the p&l to be reported on a monthly basis at the Board meetings. PB said this is not currently possible as DP gets the bank statements sent to him. They will need to look at how the finance work is divided up between the 2 of them and rethink if the Board want a monthly p&l. ACS stated that she would prefer a monthly p&l, but is conscious that we are all volunteers and both DP and PB are doing a lot of work and doesn’t want to ask too much of them, they will have to decide whether it’s possible and let the Board know.

ZAS asked for clarification regarding the accounts / returns to Companies House. DP confirmed that the accounts are due in July, they are ratified at the AGM before being sent to Companies House and that is the responsibility of DP. The return relates to current Directors etc and is sent to the Company Secretary (it is form 363) and is ZAS’s responsibility. It is due in April 2004 and Companies House will send it to her.

Action - DP/PB to look at viability of producing monthly profit & loss accounts.

5. Hockey (DND)

DND gave an overview of the league positions of all side. Also reporting that the juniors have 14 games coming up which is great for their Section. However, they have the same problem with the rest of ACHC in that most of the volunteers they have now intend to step down at the end of the Season. It was suggested that Sarah Watts could target parents of current Juniors for team managers, admin, fixtures etc and in breaking jobs down make it easier for helpers. It was also suggested that we could advertise in the Village Voice or Bucks Ad for coaches / helpers etc.

DND is currently putting out feelers regarding Committee and Captains positions, who is continuing and looking for potential volunteers etc. Some people have volunteered for positions and that is encouraging. DND also wanted to thank Sarah Doughtry for organising the Easter Tour.

The Section is starting to plan Presidents Day. ACS confirmed that she wrote to Sam Machin last year and he has confirmed this year’s date is fine and in his diary, DND just needs to liaise with him regarding his team.

ACS stated that Harlow Ladies had approached Heidi James last week while she umpired their game and had informally suggested merging with us. Nothing formal has discussed but the Board’s initial thoughts were that it would be a good idea, however we need to think about things like their players travelling, umpires, league positioning, coaches, admin assistance etc as it would mean the ladies will be running 6 teams, 5 league and 1 development.

CDC stated that she needs the monthly tea figures from David Dunford to check against the Taylormade invoices and DND agreed to chase him up.

ASJW stated that he is having informal discussions with a friend regarding the possibility of obtaining a hall which could be used to run a Men’s Indoor League. If this is successful a volunteer would be needed to help run the League.

Action - DND to meet with Heidi James and Emma Hewitt to discuss and arrange a meeting with Harlow.
- DND to chase up David Dunford re teas figures.

6. Cricket

DB had not yet joined the meeting and MS had sent an e-mail as he could not attend, stating that the only main points were the AGM, which was being held on 06.02.04 and the issues with the grounds. Also, the fixture card is progressing with costs of £500 for printing and they have already covered this in advertising and estimate to bring in £1,000 in sponsorship.

There was a discussion regarding the teas arrangement in case ACS was asked any questions at the AGM on Friday. It was agreed that the catering is now under the remit of the Board, Taylormade are our caterers and Cricket need to think about the commercial aspect of this. It is fair that they can put their views across but if they are unhappy they need to look at the bigger picture and will need to provide alternative quotes to cover the whole service that Taylormade provide. Further, the feedback from the Hockey section and external hirers of the Club has been very positive.

7. Commercial (CDC)

CDC stated that there are 26 external events already booked for this year, excluding ballet, salsa and Bucks County Council. The majority of bookings are coming in via the website and word of mouth recommendations. CDC is now taking bookings for Saturday nights but will leave 2 Saturday nights free per month, one for a main Club event night and another for a smaller event if required. The Bucks County Council hire is something that could really develop if we are recommended as their main external venue. There are currently 3 Saturdays in Summer booked, Sandra has said this won’t be a problem as she will run Cricket teas and a bar downstairs, and one in winter which we will need to think about nearer the time.

Budgens have hired the Club 7 times now since November 2003 and CDC intends to approach them regarding sponsorship.

Sandra Taylor has reported a few problems with the salsa people and also the fact that they are moving furniture which is not allowed as it may damage walls etc. They have been told again that this is unacceptable. We need to monitor bar take as they are non-negotiable on the hire fee and if problems persist we will cancel the hire of the Club.

PB reported that he had been mistaken regarding the advertising boards. He was informed we had the backing of the Planning Department only, not that they had been authorised and when our proposal went to the Planning Committee of the District Council it was turned down.

The Board agreed that we need to appeal this decision as long as it is not too costly, as CDC already had 6 companies lined up for boards and we desperately need the revenue.

ACS stated that Martin Cartledge has been speaking with the new owners of the Village Hall on Gold Hill Common, they want to get involved in the community and are looking to sponsor a sports club. They want to give us a lump sum over a number of years and in return we would have our newsletter sponsored by them. They will put a notice board up in their bar on which we can put club results, advertisements for social events and help etc. They have the ability to host end of season / Christmas dos for teams and there is also the possibility of them hosting events for us so that we can hire out the Club for external events. They will put something in writing for Martin which he will give to ACS and the Board for consideration. The Board agreed that it sounded like a great opportunity which must be followed up.

Action - PB to sort out appeal re advertising boards.
- ACS to follow up Village Hall sponsorship with Martin Cartledge.

8. Astro (ASJW)

ASJW stated he didn’t have much to report this month. It looks like we definitely won’t be eligible for lottery funding as there are not many grants available and most that are are granted to deprived areas. ASJW is currently investigating other possibilities.

PB stated that he had received a holding letter from Tesco, which states they cannot offer any form of sponsorship without an open store in the area and it would be best to contact them when the Gerrards Cross store is nearer to being opened.

9. Operations (CJB)

CJB reported that work is ongoing around the Club, Peter from Taylormade has been helping out with some of the smaller jobs that need doing. DB stated that he has a couple of free days next week to do things around the Club before he goes away and he will liaise with CJB regarding what needs to be done. PB stated that he will have some racking which can be used in the store room.

10. Social (ACS)

ACS reported that ticket sales for quiz night had been roughly £650, from which we need to minus £300 for catering and a bit more for prizes. Rough profit was £250 which was good. ACS and ZAS are currently organising race night. ZAS has contacted a couple of race night organisers for quotes and they are £320 or £230. If we go with the lower quote we will have to produce our own programmes and it was agreed that was the better option.

The Board discussed the general aspects of organising the social events and it was agreed the work should be broken down and added to Drew’s list.

Action - ZAS to give social list to DND.



11. Club Supper (DND)

DND stated that this had been discussed at the last Hockey Committee meeting. They think that there should be the hockey club supper in April but to focus it on the end of the hockey / football season and the start of the cricket season. There should then be a reciprocal event in September. This used to be the case when the Club was smaller and Hockey think we should revert to this.

CDC stated that the spring ball cost £5,500 and you must have 125 people committed to it to just break even. There would be problems with a September event logistically in getting people to commit to it, as hockey people, who obviously would make up the bulk of the attendees are not around over the summer.

ACS felt that it would be a good idea and cricket do need to be more ambitious with their section and organising events. One option would be to have the big marquee event as usual in April for hockey awards, with the support of the cricket section and an indoor event in September for the cricket end of season and their awards. The Board felt that the September event would get good support from the hockey section as it will kick start the hockey season. The Board agreed to plan for 2 end of season events this year.

12. Any Other Business

12.1 ACS stated that Dan Webb didn’t attend the meeting regarding Sunday football payments so there has still been no money forthcoming.

ACS is slightly concerned as she has been receiving some feedback that Dan and Rory have got together and feel the CPSA are not fulfilling their part of the bargain re pitch cutting, marking etc. They feel that they want to remain playing at the Club but if things don’t improve they will have to go elsewhere. The disappointing thing about this is that the pitch has only not been cut and marked in January and there were no complaints prior to this. We don’t want this to be used as a reason for monies not to be given to the CPSA for pitch hire. PB will hopefully be able to get Chenies Landscape to cut the pitch. ACS and PB will chase up Dan Webb and also try to obtain the outstanding money from Rory.

12.2 DND stated that the Hockey AGM has been set for Friday 7th May 2004 and he wants to propose that match fees will stay the same next season. The Board agreed that would be fine. DND asked what the plan would be for annual subs but the Board felt it would be unable to make a decision until it had seen the 6 month comparison of actual against budget which should be available at the end of April.

12.3 ASJW asked how much lost property we have and whether we should have a lost property sale. CDC thought we had a lot.

Action - ACS and ZAS will sort out a lost property sale for Irish night.

12.4 ASJW raised the possibility of having a few honours boards up for Presidents, Captains etc. Also he wanted to get some hockey photos framed and on the walls as currently there aren’t any. The Board agreed it was a good idea, although we need to think about who goes on the boards.

Action - ASJW to organise Honours Boards and Hockey photographs.

12.5 DB raised the issue of the security alarm. He feels they are being activated too often, perhaps the sensors are set at too high a sensitivity and we are paying a lot of money in call out fees. PB has already arranged with Delta to do an overnight check on the call outs and see if they can identify a pattern to the calls. There are various options regarding the security system that we need to think about.

Action - PB to liaise with Delta re security settings / call out patterns.
- Board need to come up with a strategy for security system.

12.6 ACS stated she wants to set a date for the AGM and asked for people’s availability in June. The 18th June 2004 was agreed on for the CPSA AGM. ACS asked that if anyone is intending to step down to let ZAS know asap so we can identify which positions will be vacant. Obviously we are already aware of DND’s intention to step down.

12.7 ACS reiterated her statement made at the beginning of the meeting in that we all need to make sure we complete our actions promptly rather than having them remain outstanding for long periods of time and continually firefighting.

13. Date and Time of Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 3rd March 2004 at 8.00 pm.

DB stated that Matt Stevenson will be attending as Cricket Representative on the Board.