Andover & District Whippet Racing Club
AGM Minutes
Sunday 15th January 2016 at the Theale Club, Englefield Road, Theale, RG7 5AS
1. Apologies were received from Rob Sweet, Daphne Kitchen, Phil Rogers, Pat Morgan, Caroline Willoughby, Peter Randall and Tina and Colin Jennings.
2. Welcome from the Chairman – The meeting was opened by Chairman Doug Hood at 11.00am. Doug said that it had been another successful year with the club going from strength to strength, he went on to thank the committee and members for all of their help and assistance in the day to day running of the club.
3. The Minutes of last meeting were read and approved (proposed by Steve Bryant and seconded by John Fitzgerald)
4. The Treasurer’s Report was read and approved (proposed by Andy Alford and seconded by Jade Dallimore) Sara reported that it had been another good year financially with the club making a profit of over £1000. The tractor had been sold for £600 and it is likely that we are going to have to buy a mower in the near future. We spent £445 on repairs to the traps and we now have £4322 in the bank. As we made a profit over the year there is no need to increase race and membership fees so they will stay as they are. Adverts for our opens have already been paid for as well as the rent which we pay for in advance.
5. Race Manager’s Report. Andy thanked Doug for his continued work on the track and equipment and Pete for his work repairing the traps. He went on to thank all those volunteers that continue to help out at club meetings and highlighted the importance of everyone joining in and helping out to help things run smoothly. He said that we have a number of promising pups coming through and also highlighted the success of the Andover dogs that had represented the club well during 2016. He raised a concern that he had from a member about cliques being formed in the club and mentioned the importance of encouraging new members to keep coming after their initial visit. He finished by wishing good luck to the new committee as he was standing down and would no longer be race manager. Doug thanked him for all of his hard work as race manager and lure driver.
6. Secretary’s Report. Darcia expressed her thanks to all of those that help with the running of the club and echoed Andy’s words about the success of club dogs on the open and Nationals circuit.
7. 2017 Opens: 21st May and 10th September. Darcia stated that she had concerns that both of our dates were the week before a Nationals meeting and that it may be having an effect on our entry, especially the Autumn open as it is the week before the bend meeting. She had tried without success to find alternative dates, however the first open made a profit and the second open broke even so there was not any need to make drastic changes. It was decided that we would run a ‘Racers’ group at both opens and Pete kindly offered to sponsor this group by covering the cost of the trophies once again. The distances would remain as last year, 150 yards in May and 180 yards in September. There was discussion about dropping the maiden from the Autumn open and it was decided to look again at this decision a few months before the open when we might have a better idea on the number of dogs that may enter. Dave offered to look into sponsorship opportunities.
8. Rule regarding seeding at our opens. Steve raised the question of whether we should allow the seeding to count in an all off scratch race at our open. After much discussion it went to a vote. (7 voted for, 7 voted against). Doug as chairman had the deciding vote and he voted against which means that seeded dogs will not be recognised at our club opens while we run weight handicapped groups and dogs will run as programmed. While discussing open racing it was discussed and agreed that the lure should not be shown to the dogs in front of the traps before the start of a race.
9. Ideas for club racing and trials. Jade and Patrick raised concerns over the organisation of trials and the need for more graded racing for the weaker club dogs. After much discussion it was decided that we would try to have a graded group at every club meeting (dog numbers allowing), we would start trials at 11am promptly, the trials would be planned in advance and a ‘paddock assistant’ would be available to help to ensure the trials are organised and run smoothly. Jade kindly offered to take on this role.
10. Club racing dates. Darcia to put together a programme similar to 2016 avoiding local opens. This will need to be flexible to allow for the weather and track conditions. It is not possible to set a start date at this moment. Tina would like us to consider not running in December as it can get too cold, it was pointed out that members had a choice whether to attend or not and that we would continue to plan to have our final meeting at the start of December and be guided by the weather conditions at the time and whether we had enough people available who wanted to run.
11. Election of the Committee. The 2016 committee resigned. Sue proposed and Dave seconded that the committee be re-elected on block with the addition of Steve and Jade. Dougy and Andy no longer wish to stand. Steve Evans to replace Dougy as Chairman (proposed Sara, seconded Andy), Steve Bryant replaces Andy as Race Manager (proposed Pat, seconded Steve). Sara proposed that Doug be made a Honorary Member of the club in recognition of his services and this was agreed unanimously. Doug was also given a gift as a thank you from the committee.
12. Any Other Business:
Andy: It was now a prerequisite that clubs hosting NPWRA meetings would provide a lure driver and cover for some of the jobs on the day. We will need volunteers to cover these positions.
Andy/Steve Evans: Finding help to cover jobs for club meetings can also be a problem with the same people doing all of the jobs all of the time, all members should be encouraged to help with the smooth running of the day by volunteering when they are able to, there will be a push to get club members more involved when we return to racing. It was agreed that we will start putting the names of 3 line judges on the programme each week.
Dougy: Be minded that the track will need to be rolled and the sand will need to be pulled forward before we can start back racing. A work party will be organised once the weather has improved with the hope of starting back club racing as soon as possible after that.
Steve: The presentation of 2016 League winners trophies took place. Please could the winning owners bring their trophies and jackets to the first meeting so that photographs can be taken.
The meeting was closed at 12.16pm.