Minutes of the Elie Sports Club Committee of Management meeting held in The Pavilion at 5.00 pm on Friday 13th May 2016.

Present: John Fingland, Chairman, Catherine Macintosh, Wendy Smith, Fiona Pratt, Craig Hobkirk, Jason Elles, Bobby Dickson, Andrew Forgan.

In attendance: Gavin Cook, Gordon Fleming and Tim MacDowel, Secretary.

1.  Apologies: Paulene Bradshaw, Angela Russell and Frazer Thomson

2.  Minutes of the meeting held on 8th January. These were approved and signed by the Chairman.

3.  Matters arising not covered in the agenda:

a.  Junior Open Golf Tournament: Review of 2016 Tournament. The Chairman noted that entries over the last 4 years had been on the decline. This could be down to dates of Easter or holidays. The Sports Club is not the only club suffering from this problem. He proposed that a review should be conducted under Gavin’s direction to make proposals on the future format. The sub-committee to consist of: Craig Hobkirk and Andrew Forgan, and the following be invited to provide input: Sally Spilsbury, Gary Souter (Junior Golf Convenors, EELGC and GHC) and Alastair Brown. Recommendations to be ready for the next committee meeting.

b.  Access rights to Marionville. The Chairman reported that all the legal process had been completed and that access rights had been approved for Marionville and its neighbouring property.

4.  Teeofftimes.co.uk. Gavin is in touch with teeofftimes regarding their proposal which, during off peak periods, should bring in extra business. The Committee agreed that there was little downside to this proposal and agreed that Gavin should proceed, with the results being reviewed on an annual basis.

5.  Signage. Fife Council has come up with costings for 3 Tourist Board signs to be located in the Elie vicinity. The signs would feature Elie Links Golf as well as ESC, and would cost £800 in total. Future repairs etc would be the responsibility of GHC/ESC. The committee approved expenditure of £400 plus VAT being ESC’s share of the total cost.

6.  Tennis and Golf Coaching. The Secretary had circulated a paper prior to the meeting about tennis and golf coaching for the committee’s information. There were no queries.

7.  Tennis Court Maintenance Proposal. The Secretary had asked Ecosse Sports, the company that carries out maintenance on the tennis courts, to give indicative costs for the future refurbishment/ maintenance of the three synthetic turf tennis courts. The report stated that replacement work would be needed within the next 1-2 years, and that the costs could come to around £60,000. The committee acknowledged the expense of this proposal, and agreed to investigate costs from other contractors, and the possibility of grants.

8.  Bowling Club Subscriptions. Andrew Forgan had recently proposed that affiliated membership should now also be made available to the Bowling Club. The Chairman proposed that qualifying new members of the Bowling Club should be offered the same affiliated rate as affiliated tennis members, i.e. £44, and that the both schemes should be restricted to new members and reviewed again after three years.

9.  Membership and facility usage statistics as at 1st May 2016. The Secretary had circulated a paper prior to the meeting setting out comparative statistics for this year against last year. The Committee noted that some membership categories showed lower figures than last year, but accepted that many subscriptions were paid during the summer holidays. The Committee noted that the recently introduced category of affiliated tennis had attracted a total to date of 24 new memberships

10. Draft Annual Accounts.

a.  A set of draft accounts had been circulated to all members prior to the meeting. Jason Elles reported that the draft accounts showed a surplus of £9,556 compared with the deficit of £4,647 last year. The main contributing factor was an increase in income from recreational facilities of approximately £10,000. The Committee approved the accounts subject to clarification on the amounts shown under Golf Professional Fees and Rent in the current and preceding years.

b.  The Secretary agreed to investigate the history of the Bursary Fund, and to report back to the next meeting.

11. AOB

a.  Jonathan Pendry: Elie Boys Challenge. £30 Donation from Elie Boys Challenge in return for the use of the Bowling Clubroom in February was noted.

b.  East Neuk Round Table. Letter of thanks regarding the use of The Baird Course and The Pavilion which resulted in £1,225 being raised for East Neuk Emergency Trust was noted.

c.  Bowling Club Toilet facilities. Andrew Forgan had contacted the Chairman prior to the meeting asking for consideration to the provision of toilet facilities being added to the back of the clubroom: an anonymous donation is available to support the cost of this project. The Chairman reminded the Committee that this subject had been raised last year and rejected on account of the existence of toilet facilities being available at the Pavilion but, in view of the donation, then costs should be obtained before further decisions could be made. Andrew Forgan advised that he did not envisage any incremental operating costs associated with this facility.

12. Date of Next Meeting: Friday 1st July at 5.00pm

13. Secretary and Manager roles and responsibilities. At this point the Secretary, Manager and Gordon Fleming left the meeting. The Chairman explained the background to the proposed changes set out in the schedule attached to these minutes which would see, (with effect from 1st June 2016) the Secretary dealing with finance and administration and the Manager responsible for all operational matters. The Chairman confirmed that these changes had been discussed with the Secretary and Manager in advance of the meeting. The Committee approved these changes and asked that the Chairman and Finance Convenor should deal with the resultant adjustments in honorarium and retainer paid to the Secretary and Manager respectively.

The Chairman also confirmed that Gavin Cook’s annual review meeting took place on 25th March 2016 with the Chairman and Finance Convenor representing the Committee and that he had met the Secretary on 29th March for his annual review meeting.

Tim MacDowel.

Secretary.

16th May 2016.