British Airways Athletics Club
Minutes of 2017 Annual General Meeting
BA Sailing Club, Wraysbury
28th June 2017
Present:
Alan Anderson / Paul Brandon / Clara HalketSteve Hillier / Roderick Hoffman / Trish McCabe
Steve Newell / Joe Nolan / Gary Rushmer
Steve Taylor / Simon Turton / Barry Walters
John Williams
Apologies:
David Barnard / Tony Barnwell / Brian ForresterNeil Frediani / Alan Friar / Alastair Heslop
Chris Kelly / Richard Ruffell / Helen Smith
Janet Smith / Graham Taylor
1.0 Minutes of 2016 Annual General Meeting
The minutes of the 2016 Annual General Meeting were read and agreed.
2.0 President’s Address: John Williams
John pointed out that it was thirty-six years since our first AGM. They have always been held at the Concorde Centre – until now. Who would have thought we would have been meeting at the Sailing club? Like the UK, BAAC has seen so much changed. Who would have predicted that Jeremy Corbin would headline at Glastonbury?
Our attendance is down this time: essentially it is the committee and committed members present. What is the solution? It may not be a new site, but we will continue as a club. A replacement for Wednesday evenings at Heston will appear. The result may be unexpected, but our members want us to succeed. I’ve noticed that parkruns have replaced big club runs as the social run to some extent. There is still demand for the likes of the Concorde 5, which was well supported recently.
Thank you to the committee for their continued hard work and commitment, and good luck to Paul Brandon on his retirement from Amadeus.
3.0 Acting Chairman’s Report: Roderick Hoffman
I'm going to start off by talking about someone who isn't here this evening…
Brian Forrester
Brian Forrester was a founder member of the club but he hasn't always been chairman.
He was chairman throughout the '80s - re-elected in 1989 "for the n'th year".
But in 1990 he was deposed in an AGM coup thanks in part to a hastily introduced "3 year rule" - he became deputy to John Williams.
1993 Three years later it got even worse for Brian - the same rule left Brian still on the committee but "Without Portfolio". (Chris Stockwell took the Chair)
1994 Brian bounced back the following year as Deputy to John Williams but then in 1996…
1996 Brian was made Chairman by order of BA Clubs because, and I quote, John Williams "cannot properly fulfil the responsibilities of the position" [n.b.: this was because John had accepted a job which based him in Swaziland - hence he wouldn't often be around the Heathrow area].
And Brian has been chairman for the twenty years from 1996 to 2016 - the "3 year rule" has been quietly forgotten.
Health issues - Brian has suffered from diabetics for many years and this was clearly getting him down and causing other issues. His hip replacement of a couple of years ago had never given him the mobility boost that had been expected and he had major problems with his hearing.
We re-elected him last year despite knowing of his health issues but believing that Brian's role at the club provided a significant boost for him - keeping him going and helping him to overcome those issues. Sadly it turns out that our confidence last year was ill-founded.
Brian had some short absences and then disappeared for some significant time. The committee sent out search parties and we did track him down and offer him help but Brian is a difficult person to help - he would prefer to "just about cope" on his own rather than accept charity.
I stepped up to take on Brian's responsibilities - at events, with managing the club clock hires and then with all equipment in the cupboard and then in November, necessitated by the BA Clubs changes underway, the committee decided that I should take on an Acting Chairman role.
We have seen Brian since, including at the club's 35 year anniversary event in December, but he has not got significantly better and it is clear that he is not currently able to take on a role on the committee - even "without portfolio". Faced with the prospect of losing Brian altogether the Committee has decided that we should appoint Brian to a permanent club position of "Life Vice President" of the club. We have prepared THIS plaque for Brian, and John and Steve will get this to him and pass our best wishes on to him. We do hope, and expect, to see Brian at future special events - although the loss of the Concorde Club venue will make that difficult.
BA Clubs
Five years ago BA Clubs was a thriving staff sports and social club. It is no longer that.
We can discuss and debate the reasons for this but probably the major factor is the withdrawal of funds and support from British Airways. The club that is left has not succeeded in reinventing itself for its new operating environment and is shrinking at an alarming rate.
It still functions, and benefits of BA Clubs membership include:
· Access to showers, changing rooms, car parking and sports field at the old Concord Club / Heston Venue.
· 30% discounted food and drink at the nearby Queen's Head.
· These facilities at the Wraysbury Sailing Base (though we are thankful for the Sailing Club for hosting us this evening and Keith, behind the bar, may have other things to say about BA Clubs support here).
· Offers of free and discounted tickets for serving airline staff attending airline industry hosted events,
· The Club Lottery and Altitude shopping benefits.
The club committee currently recommend BA Clubs membership albeit we recommend paying monthly rather than annually.
Constitutionally we are a section within BA Clubs and for that reason please note that only those members here this evening who are paid up members of BA Clubs are eligible to vote or hold the key posts of Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer. But the Athletics Club is larger than our BA Clubs membership and we welcome comments and contributions from everyone here.
Earlier this year we ran a survey across the club and got responses from 72 club members and friends. Mostly the feedback was supportive of what we were already doing but we have made some small changes as a consequence - for instance introducing more coaching events into club evenings and coaching content into the weekly digest.
Membership (also covering for Membership Secretary Alan in his absence)
When I put myself on the committee five years ago I shared real concerns for the future of the Athletics Club. We had hosted the World Airline Road Race the previous year and this had been a huge success for the club - but our membership numbers were declining by up to ten each year and with no new joiners. Had that rate of decline continued there would now be only fifty to sixty club members left - and their average age would have been around 60. That is not where we are today. The latest figures reveal that the club has about 107 members, about the number we had five years ago and four up on last year, and the average age is around 55 - and we could get that down to 50 if we allowed Gary Rushmer Junior into the club!
How did we manage to halt the decline? I'll suggest three changes to the way the club was run five years ago…
·Better communication - we used to have a biannual "Round-the-block" magazine reporting old events, we now have the weekly digest of results and future events emailed to all members, and to anyone interested.
·Embracing of parkrun - we have more members involved in parkruns most Saturday than we have participating in Track&Field over Summer or Cross Country over winter.
·Introduction of our own associate membership option whereby members can join the club even if they are not members of BA Clubs. Note that we have never had the approval of BA Clubs to do this but I strongly believe that until this year BA Clubs has not lost members because of this. BA Clubs IS losing members this year - but I believe that that is for reasons beyond our membership rules. Our 107 members include at least 43 non-BA Clubs members.
Club Achievements
The club achievements have been covered/touched upon by John and will be covered in more detail by other committee members so I'll shut up now except to say that…
My Role
I am prepared to stand as Chairman for this coming year, and I believe that there are no other candidates. But please note that by this time next year I'll have moved to Swaziland or somewhere equally far flung where I "cannot properly fulfil the responsibilities of the position".
4.0 Treasurer’s Report: Chris Kelly
Accumulated Fund
Overall our incomings during the year to 31st March 2017 outpaced our expenditure by £1,256 which increased our accumulated fund to £8,547. We did not receive a BA Clubs Facilities grant (for Track and Field), but did not hold a Rosenheim Meeting or Track and Field Day either.
Income
£837 Subs were received from our 91 paying members (plus 2 earlies), with 52 affiliating to England Athletics, for £13, which is increasing each year. The Membership Secretary and I again apologise in advance if we seem to spend more time asking about your Subs than your running… and encourage you to setup Standing Orders for 1st April each year!
We received £1,750 for marshalling at the London Marathon, City Race, Bupa 10K, and Prudential Ride London (an extra £50), as thanks for our volunteers efforts and expertise.
Equipment and Sales
Our existing stock of T-Shirts and Vests continue to sell, and we look forward to running out of Tracksuits too. We supported our WARRiors with a small subsidy, but not for T-Shirts. We received £225 from hiring out our clock, which may need new batteries soon, but is still going.
Events
The (2016) Concorde 5M and Ladies 5K have seen healthier attendances in the last couple of years, and appear to have made a profit, but in fact we have been remiss with the usual donations to the BHF, which is what we usually do with the surplus from the events. We will remedy this promptly.
The marketing of these key events has improved, and in the future we will need to decide if we are able to build on their resurgence, given the other challenges currently facing the club.
The 2016 Green Belt Relay went ahead, with the £200 subsidy effectively coming from the previous year when we paid the entry fee and accommodation in advance.
We affiliated to both Mens and Ladies Cross-Country Leagues (with some success!)
We continue to affiliate to the Rosenheim and Southern Counties Veterans AC League, for T&F competition, but did not hold a Meeting or Track Day this year, which was convenient, as BA Clubs did not provide the usual Basic Facilities Grant to cover Track Hire and Subsidies. We are querying this with BA Clubs, but it is not clear at this point if this is a change, for the future, or not.
The RTB and RTP races went ahead, and with the successful Quiz, raised £115 which will be sent to White Lodge (in addition to last years £52).
Spending
Our usual Affiliation fees were paid to Middlesex and Surrey Athletic Associations.
The Annual Awards ceremony was well attended.
We are unfortunately still behind with our Cards, Postage and Birthdays expenses, which needs to be rectified this year.
We increased our spending on Catering over the year, mainly due to additional Events such as the 35-year Anniversary, and partly due to some increases of the catering costs, which we have addressed by exploring alternative, more economical, catering sources. We expect these costs to remain reasonable in future.
See attached report for full details.
5.0 Ladies Captain’s Report: Clara Halket
Surrey League Ladies Cross Country – Division 2
We had a fairly good turnout in the last season with regulars Deby, Lissa, Mel, Helen, Monica and Alice. We also welcomed 2 new runners, Laura Matthews and Shelly Garratt. Laura ran in the 1st match, unfortunately she was not able to attend the rest of the season. Shelly Garratt, a LGW crew came for the last match of the season and has indicated that she would be attending the coming season, and has registered for WARR! The 1st and last matches were the only ones of the season that saw us fielding a full team!
The dates and venues for the coming season have not yet been published. I will circulate the information as soon as I get them. We hope to see more new runners joining our staple team this year!
ASCA Cross Country – Dublin
Due to lack of participants from airlines, this event has been postponed. We have not yet been informed of an alternative date so this may not happen this year.
Speedbird 5K – Wednesday, 3 May 2017
Once again, Steve Newell took the rein of Race Director for this event and together with Tom Rowley, got the course measured and marked. Steve Taylor took over from Alastair this year as the entry and results officer. He was using new and churned out the results instantly! A*
I was right to get 4 dozen roses for this year as we saw the participant numbers rose to the highest yet in recent years, with a total of 41 runners. This number was boosted by several of our own ladies, Helen, Monica, Deby, Alice, Mel.
The team results, our Team A came in 4th in a tough competition, up from 7th last year.
Without volunteers, this event would not have taken place so a BIG Thank you to all marshals and helpers who turned up on the day to assist. There were too many to name, but you know who you are!
Vitality London 10000m – 29 May 2017 (Bank Holiday Monday)
Vitality 10K was held on 29 May, BH Monday. We were asked to man the same crossings as last, Birdcage Walk and the Strand. This year, despite the heightened security advice the organisers did not send out the volunteer passes in advance and I was told on the day that we did not need them! Without the passes, it was a chore trying to get to the location and then to our crossing points. This has been fed back to the organisers.