| Chalfont Park Sports Association | Amersham & Chalfont Hockey Club | Chalfont St. Peter Cricket Club | Chalfont Park Softball |
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CHALFONT PARK SPORTS ASSOCIATION MINUTES OF BOARD MEETING HELD ON 3RD NOVEMBER 2004 AT 8.00 PM Those Attending: Alison Spicer (ACS) Dave Banner (DB) Peter Banner (PB) Chris Blamey (CJB) Dave Peters (SP) Warren Scott (WPS) Zoë Scott (ZAS) Matt Stevenson (MS) Neil Turner (NT) Andrew Watts (ASJW) Chris Yoxall (CY) Mike Snell also attended regarding the new annual membership plan. ACS welcomed Dave Banner to the Board as Grounds Director. 1. Apologies Caroline Chipperfield (CDC) Simon Seabrook (SS) 2. Minutes of Meeting held on 6th October 2004 It was agreed that the new annual membership scheme would not be implemented immediately as there are some areas that need clarification, as stated in the last minutes. Aside from this the minutes of the previous meeting were approved. 3. Finance (PB/DP) Mike Snell attended the meeting for clarification regarding the changes to the annual membership scheme as he had received mixed messages when speaking to ZAS and DP. After discussion regarding potential queries and issues that may arise it was agreed that a meeting to try to pre-empt these questions should be held so that the scheme is clear from the outset. ACS felt that the meeting should include herself, Mike, DP and one of NT, WPS and ASJW so that their plans for a web-based database can be incorporated and anyone else who wanted to attend. NT stated they are having a meeting next week so this meeting should be after this one. ZAS stated she would also like to attend. ASJW stated that he felt any new system should be linked to a direct debit payment system. DP said that this may be possible for one off annual payments but not for paying annual membership in monthly instalments as the administration of this is too time consuming. Mike Snell then left the meeting. DP reported that the cash balance is roughly £3,000, after the majority of the annual membership fees have come in. PB had circulated a draft budget for discussion and approval by the Board, which he took the Board through. Main points: Income: • Bar sales are increased following increased margin on gross profit. Figures were looked at after recent stock take. Expenses up due to Taylormade. Net profit is at £13,100 which is a slight increase. PB will speak to Simon Gooch for approval of this part of the budget. • Annual membership has been increased by roughly 6 or 7 players. This will depend mainly on whether the Softball run a second team as they will need to recruit externally to run that second side. • Sports Sections are presumed cash neutral. • Sponsorship / external hire; PB will check figures with CDC for approval. • No donations / other income budgeted. • This makes income roughly £65,000 which is up £10,000 on 2003/2004. (Likely to be less by the time the adjustments have been made). Expenses: • Utilities and Council tax increased slightly due to rumours of increased costs, this doesn’t include any reduction via CASC membership. • Grounds budget should be set for roughly £9,000 following input on costs from DB. • Advertising budget can be set to £3,000. ASJW said unhappy with the costs / benefit of the flyers and intends to go back to other forms of advertising this year. • Money put into budget for Performing Rights Society in case there is a need for us to register this year. • CJB asked for clarification as to if there is any budget to cover building maintenance. PB stated no, the Board agreed that as our biggest asset there should be provision of ongoing building maintenance and this should be set at £1,000. • This makes total expenses roughly £48,000, with the adjustment on the advertising figure this may mean a cash surplus in the region of £15,000. The Board agreed that the budget certainly looks healthier than last year. With the surplus we can chose to pay back the bank or Youngs loans early or put capital into anything else that we have been unable to spend on in the past. ASJW stated that regarding income we need to look into applying for the various sports grants that may be available. PB will now revise and circulate to the Board for final agreement. PB stated he will then try to use the approved budget in order to assess monthly expenditure and report back to the Board. Action - ACS to arrange meeting to discuss new annual membership scheme - PB revise and circulate draft budget for final agreement 4. Hockey (WPS) WPS reported that the Hockey Section is struggling to get male members in the Club. Having real trouble getting out the 5th team and if this continues then the 5th team may be lost this year. It seems that a few members have left this season but also they are missing 17 players from teams 1 – 3 through injury which is unheard of. He is unsure of how to combat this and the Committee are looking at new ways of attracting players to the Club but they can’t see any solution. Feels there may be a general feeling in the community that people are unable to commit to playing sport each week. Isn’t after any solution, just wanted to bring this issue to the Board’s attention. The question regarding bringing junior men into the senior men’s teams to help the situation was raised. WPS stated that there are very few junior men looking like they will be ready to come through in the next 2 seasons. It is difficult to get the younger men into the lower teams that they should be being brought into to gain experience, as there is a lack of experienced players in those teams that can give the guidance they need, as those players are remaining in the higher teams due to the availability problems. A decision will also need to be made as to whether to keep the men’s 5th team as a league side next season. If it becomes a friendly side it means that players in the higher teams can double up and it may be a way to bring the youngsters through. Regarding the rest of the Section, the changes to training have gone very well. More people are attending training than ever and the training they receive is of a very good standard. Those members that are playing are benefiting and improving. The women’s section have many more young players coming through from the junior section into the adult section. They are looking very strong this season with the first 3 ladies teams benefiting from their own coaches. WPS stated he has heard rumours regarding what the other Clubs in the area are planning to do for the future and feels we need to catch up. To do this we need to increase our profile and do more in the community. Socially things seem to be improving, more players coming back for teas. WPS has also received good reports from Umpires and opposition teams about the teas and facilities that we provide for them. ZAS stated that she had received a complaint from the Ladies Playing Representative on behalf of a few players from the Ladies Section regarding the lack of marquee that was supposed to be put up outside for teas when Buck Council had hired the Clubhouse for the day. Unfortunately no Board member was aware why the marquee hadn’t been provided and the fact that plans to combat problems have not been followed through is something that will need to be discussed at the guidelines meeting. 5. Cricket (CY) CY stated that the end of Season dinner had taken place, 50 people had attended the food was very good and it was a very enjoyable evening. Following on from what WPS had reported CY said he is also concerned about getting all sides out next season. There is a definite need to bring the junior players through into the senior teams and currently there is no structure for that. It is something that is being discussed at Committee level, but as with Hockey, there are no easy solutions. MS had e-mailed ZAS in advance of the meeting with the following points: • The working party is in the process of being organised, they are waiting for WPS and CJB to finalise dates; • Murray Scott is preparing the annual accounts, just waiting for Taylormade invoices to be provided; and • There are 2 outstanding annual membership debtors, one is at University and one is in Australia but MS is chasing up. 6. Softball (NT) NT reported that they had also had their end of Season dinner which had gone very well, awards handed out etc. He is currently talking to the League regarding time-tabling for a decision on the running of a second team. All match fees have been passed to DP so nothing more outstanding. 7. Events (CDC) No report provided in advance by CDC. ACS stated that Coca Cola had hired the Clubhouse this week (via Geoff Brown) and feedback from Sandra Taylor is that it had gone very well and they had been impressed with the facility. DB offered to open the Clubhouse early in the morning for any midweek hirings that are required. 8. Astro / Marketing (ASJW) ASJW reported that he has been updating the website. It is bringing in new players and ASJW feels it is certainly more effective than the flyers were for attracting new players. He would also want to go back to advertising in local papers rather than using the flyers as this seems to have had a better response in the past. This also means the advertising budget was able to be lowered as these advertising costs will be less than the cost of flyers. NT wondered whether it would be possible for a local paper to do a feature on the Softball Section, which may attract new players. He would like this to be an actual article rather than an advert. ASJW said he will contact the paper. Action - ASJW to contact Bucks Advertiser regarding future article on Softball Section 9. Operations (CJB) CJB said he is aware that he has quite a few outstanding jobs to do and he will get to them as soon as possible. With regard to the kitchen key box CJB asked if he needed to get a key cut to go in it and PB confirmed that he did. Rather worryingly the right hand stairs seem to have dropped all round by roughly an inch. This is obviously something that shouldn’t happen and he will look into it and sort out getting them fixed. ASJW stated that there are 2 framed photographs behind the bar waiting to go up. WPS also said that there is a first aid kit behind the bar which must be on display so that anybody injured at the Clubhouse has access to first aid. It has a bracket with it so it can be easily fixed to the wall. The Board agreed that it should go up behind the bar so that it can’t go missing and is always easily accessible. WPS has also been given a notice board, which he would like to be put up on the wall opposite the front door. He would like this to be used to advertise the forthcoming social events. Although posters are put up on the windows etc as the doors are often left open they can be missed and this way upcoming events are always there for members to see. Action - CJB to add putting up of photographs, first aid kit behind bar and notice board to working party job list 10. Grounds (DB) DB said there was nothing much to report at the moment. The grass is still growing and needing a weekly cut. There is plenty of things to be done outside for the working party, including getting the pitch clear of the leaves (rakes can be borrowed from the Golf Club). The Board felt that in light of the time of year a list of indoor and outdoor jobs will be needed to ensure that if the weather is bad we can utilise anyone who does come to help out. ACS also suggested that some kind of hot meal should be provided to all volunteers at the end of the day as a thank you. The date of Sunday 5 December 2004 was agreed on, from 9.30 am to 4.00 pm. Hopefully by having the time advertised even if members cannot make the whole day they will know that it will be worth turning up for a couple of hours if they can spare it during the day. Action - DB to review MS’s outdoor job list and add to it as necessary - CJB to prepare indoor work list - WPS to advertise on the forum - NT to advertise in forthcoming newsletters and send out member specific e-mail on behalf of CJB - WPS to liaise with Sandra Taylor re provision of a hot meal at the end of the day 11. Outstanding Actions Update It was agreed that everyone with outstanding actions would e-mail updates to ZAS on the Monday prior to each meeting, for the action sheet to be updated and circulated with the agenda in advance of the meeting. This means that any un-updated actions only will be discussed at the meeting, along with anything requiring further discussion. This should save time during the actual meetings. All outstanding actions / non-responses remain on action sheet and completed actions are as follows: DP/ PB - Finalise payment procedure to Shabs and Paul Gethin; there has been a problem in organising the drawing of cash with Barclays Bank, but this is now sorted out PB - Speak to Dave Banner re verge cutting at Alcan Ground; no longer applicable PB - Ask Matt Stevenson to set up procedure for pitch bookings ready for next Season; pending to be done in March / April 2005 WPS - Advertise for ITV digital box in the newsletter; done but no response received yet WPS - Send reminder e-mail to Hockey members re annual membership now due; notices gone to all Captains and reminders posted in newsletter and on forum ZAS / PB - Organise EGM for 6 November 2004; e-mail only notices sent out (due to time constraints) and hard copy notices posted in the Clubhouse PB - Renew Entertainment Licence; cheque sent, waiting to hear from Council their next meeting is the end of November MS - Make enquiries into the missing / stolen crate of Becks; e-mail sent out to Cricket members, no response received to date PB - Check whether Alcan Ground needs cutting before termination period is over and revert to CJB; done doesn’t need cutting currently ACS - Inform PB of exact amount outstanding from Footballers; done ZAS - Send flowers to Mrs. Birger; sent on 23.10.04 ZAS - Respond to e-mails received regarding external hiring; relevant responses sent, copies of e-mails on file ZAS - Discuss change of annual subscriptions with Mike Snell; done ACS - Revert to Dave Banner with Board’s decision; done MS/WPS / NT - Let relevant parties know about first aid training and ask anyone who wants to participate to contact Heidi Frick; MS – e-mail sent to Heidi Frick / NT – will contact all Softball members and advertise in newsletter / WPS – has advertised on forum 12. Any Other Business 12.1 Insurance (ACS) ACS stated that at her game on Saturday one of her opposition had her windscreen broken by one of the opposition for the following game. Took a while to ensure that the lady did not try to make an insurance claim against the Club and that the liability for the state of the pitch / netting is with Newlands Park. WPS said the Hockey Committee are contacting Newlands over a number of issues and will ensure that liability notices are mentioned. ACS asked that Hockey Captains are made aware that any incident that occurs like this is not our liability and people should contact Newlands direct so that everyone is made aware. Action - WPS to inform Hockey Captains re Newlands Park liability 12.2 Fireworks Night (ACS) ACS said that Fireworks night is in hand, the fireworks having been ordered last week. Simon Gooch is once again in charge of the fireworks with NT helping out. We have no idea how many people are coming but ticket sales are reported to be good. 12.3 Future Plans (ASJW) ASJW said that in line with what WPS and CY have said tonight, the Hockey and Cricket Committees need to look at what they are planning to do for the future and ensure that they bring plans to the Board to get the backing and support they need. We must remember that these sports Sections are the lifeblood of the Club. 12.4 EGM (PB) PB said it is all going ahead for Saturday night, further to the e-mail notices sent by ZAS. ZAS stated that she has received an e-mail from one member who cannot attend but wishing to vote no to the change as no explanation was given with the Notice of EGM. ZAS has responded to the mail saying that she was happy to provide an explanation upon request, a full explanation would of course be given on the night, but the no vote duly noted. ACS stated that unfortunately we are not legally able to provide any kind of explanation in advance with either an EGM or AGM notice as it may be seen as trying to influence votes prior to the meeting taking place. PB confirmed that he would be attending on the night to give a full explanation. The whole thing should take a maximum of 10 minutes. 13. Date and Time of Next Meeting The next meeting will be held on the 1 December 2004 at 8.00 pm. |
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