MINUTES of 85Th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

MINUTES OF 85th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

HELD AT FLEETWOOD RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL CLUB

27th APRIL 2017, 8.00 pm

PRESENT: B OlsenS DohertyC GoodwinS Lilley M Ramsey P Stapleton S Pearce G Beavers

S WoodburnA PearceC TorkingtonK Hollings

J L LargeG Butterworth D Thomas P Torkington

I CameronG Benson K Seymour

APOLOGIES:S Spencer D Woodcock Vaughan Evans A Thompson

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS AGM: 28th APRIL 2016

The minutes of the 84thAnnual General Meeting were approved as a true and correct record.

Proposed: B OlsenSeconded: J Large

TREASURER’S REPORT

The Annual Accounts for the year ended 28th February 2017 were circulated S Doherty gave a detailed presentation of the financial accounts.

Bar turnover last year was £100,000. K Hollings was set £110,000 this year but the bar figure was £118,000, net figure. Good events this year including 10’s tournament, soldiers journey, motorbike rallies and several charity events. Kev and bar staff have worked hard and a big thank you was given.

Sundry receipts were inflated due to the inclusion of donations towards the all weather pitch of £41950.00.

All weather pitch hire is down due to Fleetwood towns FUSE pitches. Slowly coming back up and confident will be back up to £1200 this year.

Expenditure has gone up in three areas:

• Heating, lighting and water charges, we have changed gas and electricity suppliers. Our previous payments were based on estimated bills so this needed to be paid up.
• Wages have gone up due to minimum wage and pay increases plus more staff needed due to more events.
• Travelling expenses have increased. 1st team using Comfy tours this season and 2nds and 3rds using mini buses. Costs for comfy tours last year only started from November.

Bank charges up this year due to the card machine being used more and we are charged or this facility.

Figure prior to depreciation is not negative so in a good position at the end of the tax year.

M Ramsey asked about future problems. SD advised no as we have lots of events planned over the summer with more being planned for next season. Diary up to October is pretty full with Princes Trust, biker rallies thanks to AThompson and GBenson, planning breakfasts for Lions Tour. Cystic Fibrosis event a couple of weeks ago took £5800 over the bar and there are plans to do another one next year.

APPOINTMENT OF AUDITORS

Thanks were expressed to Jones Harris Chartered Accountants for their support and assistance. It was proposed that they be the Auditors again for next year.

Proposed:C GoodwinSeconded:S Doherty

All present were in favour.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

I would like to welcome everyone here tonight and thank you for taking the time out to attend this year's AGM.I always feel that my report should only be a short summary of the past year so as not to duplicate too much of the otherreports. So, my appraisal of the last season is that we have maintained the status quo.

We have increased the turnover of the club for the 2nd year running to over £118000, which in no small way has been due to a great effort and hard work by Kevin, his staff and everybodyinvolved. It is invaluable to the continuance of the club, but the expenditure has also increased. So, we must be very diligent in keeping very careful control of this aspect of the club's affairs.

On the playing side, we have continued to consistently turnout every Saturday 3 seniorteams and have generally maintained the same level of results as previously. My thanks go to all the coaches, managers, captains and ground staff for all the time and effort by all concerned and please keep this up. I think it is only appropriate to give particular mention to Ian Cameron and Dan Jefferson who are standing down from their current positions,but fortunately their involvement will not be lost tothe club, Thank you both.

Special congratulations are also due to that venerable crew that constitute the ground staff for onlyone 1st team fixture not being played on the main pitch.

The mini/juniors and colts go from strength to strength supplying that vital continuance of players to the senior teams which is absolutely essential to the club.

The ladies section to be having what has been termed 'an up and downtime' but we are hopeful that they willprogress in the right direction.

None of this happens without the tremendous efforts and endeavour of all of you who are involved rest assured it is really appreciated.

Socially we had a terrific Soldier's Day but , unfortunately this will not happen again. This event has been replaced with a Fun Day on 6th May to support the Prince's Trust and we hopeit will be just as successful. The Biker's weekends keep swelling the coffers together with all the other functions that are held in the club. We ,however ,do not seem to do much for ourselves and maybe this could be an area of interest to some of the older/retired players as would becoming involved in committee, we old cogders can't go on forever.

So we have maintained the status quo but this means that we cannot relax and keep trying to improve every aspect of Fleetwood RUFC for the coming season.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

The beginning of this year was without a doubt a very difficult one for the Clu and for the management team. This resulted in two members stepping down, B Holden as Commercial Director and H Swatton as Club Secretary. I would like to thank C Torkington for filling the breach and covering the secretaries role and G Butterworth who stepped up and took on the Commercial role.

On the bright side all first team games and a number of second team games were sponsored.

The Club has hosted more events this year than in any previous years. The Soldiers journey took place after a number of setbacks and proved a profitable venture. Thank you to all those that helped at the last minute.

The three motor cycle events went well. There were also many more private fuctions taken in the Club, on a number of occasions all three rooms were used for separate events on the same day at the same time.

I would like to give special mention regarding the licencee Kevin who has worked tirelessly all year on behalf of the Club. We cracked £118,000 on bar takes this year. Thanks Kev on behalf of the members and committee of the Club. ( S Doherty says we have to take £130,000 this year)

As usual the ground staff led by the taskmaster and good all round egg Andy Thompson who still refuses to let me have a go on the tractor. The ground staff consists of Andy, George, Kev and John and their apprentice and tea boy Steve. Many thanks guys for all the hours and hard work you put into the Club week in and out. The Club purchased a new grass cutting machine and you must agree the fields look great.

The webmasters were awarded a silver this year by Pitchero which is a great achievement when you consider 3500 Club in the scheme.

Many thanks to you all for your help and dedication to the continuing success of the Club.

SECRETARY’S REPORT

As C Torkington has been caretaking the role there is no report this season.

DIRECTOR OF RUGBY’S REPORT

Overall it has been quite a satisfying season on the field of play for the senior club with all 3 senior teams maintaining their current league status.

The 1st team made an excellent start to the season even topping the league for a short time in a similar pattern to the previous season with notable home victories against Aspatria and eventual champions Carlisle who we have yet to play in the return fixture, that being this coming Saturday 29th April 2 pm kick off. Final league position is 8th with 11 victories, 2 draws and 12 defeats. Big thanks to coach Steve Woodburn, skipper Ricky Newton and Paul Bamber for their hard work on and off the pitch and contributions to Tuesday selection meetings.

The 2nd team also have had a mixed season with huge variations in the availability of players and credit must be given to the great work done by manager Dan Jefferson who spends endless hours throughout the week trying to persuade/cajole players into turning out on Saturdays. Dan’s contribution will be greatly missed and a hard act to follow. Thanks also to Jack Foden for his tireless work as captain and dedicated approach to training. Games played 22, 10 wins, 12 defeats

The 3rd team have flourished under the leadership of Steve Buzza and have a healthy squad of players and after a difficult start put together a number of good wins and finished with figures of played 21, won 7, drawn 1 and lost 13.

We are very grateful to Lauren and Vicky our 1st and 2nd team physios who do a fantastic job to patch the players up and keep them on the pitch on Saturdays as well as their midweek rehabilitation sessions. Quite often the treatment room resembles something from a battle scene on Tuesday evenings as well as a social gathering!

I would like to also extend my thanks to all of the committee members for their continued support of the playing side of the club with special mention of the tireless work done by the ground staff who are a well-drilled team in their own right.

Thanks to Kev and his staff for keeping the players hydrated on match days.

We look forward to the next crop of young players coming through from our excellent mini-junior/colts section although there could be a while to wait for the next cohort to come of age as the junior colts move up to senior colts.

It is with some sadness and reluctance that I have decided to stand down as Director of Rugby for the coming season but hope to still play an active role within the club and continue to support the players in any way that I can.

SENIOR REPORT

Ian sum draws and med up the play this season with the hope of retaining players for next season. Up to December the 1s team had 8 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss.

They have managed to secure some good contacts from the Lancs Royal team after S Richardson was picked to play for them.

S Woodburn plans to keep D Jefferson involved with the 11st team to help support the younger players. S Buzza is doing a great job with the 3rd team.

Gavin from Canada will be joining them next season and they have arranged a job and accommodation for him.

Big thank you to M Ramsey from all the 1st team players. He runs the touch line for all home and away games and has been a great support to the team.

MINI/JUNIOR SECTION

WE HAVE HAD ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SEASON FINISHING WITH 209 PLAYERS REGISTERED WITH MORE STILL JOINING. THIS HAS MEANT WE NEEDED THE RIGHT PEOPLE FOR COACHING, MANAGING AND JOINING THE COMMITTEE. I AM PLEASED TO SAY WE HAVE ACHIEVED THIS AND WOULD LIKE TO SAY THANK YOU TO ALL WHO VOLUNTEER WITHIN THE CLUB.

ALSO, I WOULD LIKE TO THANK IAN CAMERON OUR DEVELOPMENT OFFICER FOR ALL HIS HARD WORK GOING INTO SCHOOLS AND HELPING TO RECRUIT. WITH THIS IN MIND, I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO THANK ALL THE COACHES AND MANAGERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT IN DEVELOPING OUR YOUNG PLAYERS AND PROVIDING A FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE FOR THE PLAYER AND THEIR FAMILIES. THIS INCLUDES SENIOR PLAYERS WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR TIME FOR OUR COLTS AT THURSDAYS TRAINING.

WE INTRODUCED A GIRLS TEAMS THIS YEAR AND THEY ARE GOING FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH. THANK YOU, KERI FOR ALL YOUR ENTHUSIASM AND TO YOUR COACHING TEAM FOR MAKING THIS WORK SO WELL.

AT THE START OF THE SEASON OUR COMMITTEE WAS VERY SMALL WITH ONLY FIVE MEMBERS. WE NOW HAVE ELEVEN WITH HOPEFULLY A COUPLE MORE COMING ON BOARD AS FUNDRAISERS. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK CHRIS LYONS, STEVE PEARCE, RACHEL THWAITE, EMMA GRAY, KERI MCCORKELL, AND OUR NEW FIXTURE SECRETARY GRAHAM KENYON FOR COMING ON BOARD AND HELPING TO SPREAD THE LOAD. ALSO THANK YOU TO THE ORIGINAL MEMBERS, SUE, IAN, DERICK AND MANDIE.

AS PART OF MY ROLE I HAVE TO DEAL WITH ANY ISSUES THAT OCCUR, DEAL WITH LANCASHIRE, THE RFU AND THE SENIOR COMMITTEE. AT TIMES THIS CAN BE CHALLENGING AND WITHOUT THE SUPPORT FROM EVERY VOLUNTEER AND THE CLUB CHAIRMAN COLIN I THINK I WOULD HAVE STRUGGLED. ONE OF THE BEST PART OF ALL THE HARD WORK I HAVE TO DO IS COMING DOWN ON A SUNDAY AND WATCHING ALL THOSE CHILDREN ENJOYING THEMSELVES AND CHATTING TO PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS AND SIBLINGS WHO COME AND SUPPORT.

WHEN I TOOK OVER THE ROLE I SET UP A BUSINESS PLAN WHICH INCLUDED INCREASING PLAYER NUMBERS, MAKING SURE ALL AGE GROUPS WERE IN PLACE, HAVING THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN ROLES AND MORE RECENTLY TO HAVE OUR OWN MINI BUS. WE HAVE ACHIEVED MOST OF THESE WITH THE MINI BUS BEING OUR BIGGEST PROJECT. THIS HOWEVER IS NOW STARTING TO COME INTO PLACE WITH THE HELP OF THE CRICKET CLUB THIS WILL BE A JOINT VENTURE. I HOPE EVERYONE WILL SUPPORT ANY EVENTS WE PLAN TO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE.

THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN FOR MAKING MY ROLE ENJOYABLE AND PUSHING OUR SECTION TO BECOMING ONE OF THE BEST IN LANCASHIRE.

COMMERCIAL MANAGER’S REPORT

Please find below my outline ‘3 point’ business plan for the remainder of this season, into next season and beyond.

• INCREASE SPONSORHIP CLUB AND PLAYERS
• Improve the appeal and profile of the club and enhance what the club has to offer sponsors by developing the overall look, feel and professionalism of the club’s and players advertising, marketing, promotional activity and branding e.g. colour match day programs and colour banners around the all-weather pitch
• Improve communications and opportunities for sponsorship with members, parents, sponsors and affiliates, and enhance clubs image and brand using coherent branding and implementing regular digital communication e.g. club email newsletters and club LinkedIn page
• Look at ways to reduce the financial burden and outlay for players during the playing season by individual, group or positional sponsorship, including package sponsorship deals and raising money for a club minibus.
• INCREASE PAYING CLUB MEMBERS
• Regular monthly income for the club, keeps the club alive! Membership helps retain members, contributes to upkeep of club property and promotes community feeling of being part of a larger organisation, paying members ARE more likely to want to help the club and more members = larger audience for volunteers, sponsors and advertisers.
• Women’s rugby is a growth area within rugby union generally with this years, Women’s Six Nations being televised in full for the first time, also this year was the first women’s England rugby team to feature a fully professional squad, on top of that the England ladies won the Grand Slam. As the club already has a girls and women’s team, there is a great opportunity to promote the women’s game and womens membership off the back of 6 nations success to a wider audience locally and in the region with the club as the focal point.
• In conjunction with the Club Secretary, look to actively promote the benefits and core values of the game, along with membership of the club, to all local schools, colleges, clubs and employers. Will look to set up new initiatives and incentives for membership opportunities for all ages and age groups to increase the numbers of DD payments for next season.
• INCREASE REVENUE FROM FOOD AND DRINK SALES
• Food and drink sales remain as some of the most profitable commodities in business and therefore the club should be looking at new innovative ways to increase the overall sales and profit margins for both food and beverage.
• Looking at new, viable options to increase sales of hot beverages such as fresh coffee, snacks and sweets on match days next season and during the upcoming off season.
• In conjunction with the Licensee and caterer, look to trial new menu and beverage items that have wider appeal and focus more on healthier eating options while still retaining or enhancing profit margins.

C Goodwin thanked and welcomed Gavin to the committee.

BAR SECRETARY’S REPORT

Last year a bar sales target of £110,000 (roughly £2110 per week) was set at last year’s AGM and I’m pleased to confirm that we surpassed that this year, taking over £130,000 gross.

During the year a new 3 year sponsorship with Marston’s brewery was signed giving us a very good discount on the retail price of beers, lagers, ciders, etc.. Also, as many members and non-members have sampled, we have been able to offer an excellent variety of live beers at a very competitive price.