South Ribble Orienteering Club 49th AGM
19 September 2013
Present: Gavin
Smith, Sue and Martyn Roome,
Apologies: Dave
Hargreaves, Paul and Glenys Ferguson, Mike and Mary Ormerod,
John and Sue Denmark, Jon and Sarah Carberry, Miriam
and David Rosen, Ian Evans, Jane Anthony, Michael and Jill Cochrane, Bob Nash
and Helen Ockenden.
Minutes of 48th
AGM
These were accepted as an accurate record.
Matters
Arising. None
Chairman’s Report
Julian began by
asking us what we considered to be measures of a successful club. Friendship,
feel good, membership, events and activities were all mentioned by those in the
room.
How
do you measure a club’s performance over a year? By the number and quality of
events put on, the change in membership, the
proportion of active members, the success of individuals at, say, national
events, success in inter-club competitions, its financial position? Yes, all
worthy considerations and all measureable. But what a pity there’s no easy way
of measuring a ‘feel good’ factor of members, or level of satisfaction expressed
by outsiders who come to our events. I would judge both to be high.
My
subjective view is that it’s been a pretty good year and the club remains in
pretty good health. We’ve continued to put on an amazing number of events,
covering just about the whole gamut of disciplines: regional, district,
informal, street, and sprint events, plus the Tim Watkins long O, the Whitewell celebratory event, the club nights and social
events such as the New Year Cracker, the Handicap, and the Picnic. We also
hosted the Lancashire School’s Championships at Stanley Park. Focus tells us we
registered 106 activities in 2012; only a handful of the 100 or so BOF
registered clubs put on more than us. Nor should we forget our other social
events like the Club Dinner, the Ceilidh, the Cycle Ride and the multi-day get-
togethers. Thanks goodness we are blessed with so
many able and supportive members willing to give up their precious time to put
these on. Out of interest I did a very rough calculation of active members the
other day, not scientific but from personal observational, and came up with a
figure of 62%. Most clubs would be delighted with that. We are reminded this
year of the uniqueness of our club and the rich inheritance we enjoy. Our
history brings home to us the fact that a club is only as good as it members.
It’s precisely because we still attract exceptional people that we are an
exception club.
However,
that assertion can be statistically challenged. Our membership dropped quite
alarmingly this year, but largely as a result of BOF’s fee policy change. This
imposed an extra cost on club membership so a number of people decided not to
renew their affiliation as they rarely, if ever, took part in events. So, like
other clubs, we lost the largely inactive members. That was sad in the case of
those who had kept their membership out of loyalty and respect. But I like to
think that we are a leaner and possibly healthier club as a result and see the
change more in terms of a realignment than a decline. However, what is a
concern is the lack of juniors and young families coming into orienteering
generally, and into our club specifically. More about that
later.
Moving
on, in terms of individual performances we couldn’t have expected to scale the
incredible heights of 2012 (remember, we even had a double world champion in
our midst) but it was nevertheless a very impressive year. In total, 13 members
gained podium places at the British Championships and/or the JK. That would
have been 15 members if BOF gave medals to B and Short course competitors, as I
think they should. The role of honour includes:
International
honours: Zoe Harding, representing Great
Britain in the JWOC in the Czech Republic; Quenting
Harding in the VHI and Interland, where he was joined
by Helen Ockenden. And a fantastic win for Laurence
Johnson in the World Schools Championships in Portugal.
Domestic
honours: Quentin Harding: M50 Golds in British and JK
Sprints; Silvers in British Long, British Middle and in JK Long. Zoe Harding:
W20E Silvers in British Long and British Middle. Sue Harding: W50 Silver in Britsh Sprints and Bronze in British Long. Julian Lailey:
M65 Silvers in British Middle and JK Sprints. Karen Nash: W50 Bronze in British
Nights.
But
our strength in depth was again shown by some remarkable relay successes. Golds in the British M50 relay (Quentin, Mike Johnson, Andy
Quickfall) and in the JK M165 relay (Quentin, Andy
and Martyn Roome); Silver in the British Junior Ad Hoc (Helen, Annie Ockenden, Laurence) and a brilliant Bronze in the British
Women’s Open (Helen Gardner, Katrin Harding, Zoe).
All
in all, SROC had at least one medalist in every JK
and British orienteering discipline – Long, Medium, Sprint, Night, Relay
Championships. Not many clubs can claim that. Evidence again that we really do
punch above our weight.
We
might be short of juniors, but note their quality: two Juniors
– Laurence and Helen – even won this Summer’s Sprint Series. But quantity does
matter as without the seed corn there are no plants. So where is the next crop
coming from: a question the Committee
has recently been putting a lot of thought and effort into. After being defunct
for some time, this year we reformed the SROC Junior Squad and now have a
promising group of enthusiastic youngsters. Coaching days at Arnside, Beacon Fell and Eaves Wood were very successful,
and most gained their BOF Level 3 (Orange standard) Navigation and Racing
Challenge this summer. I’m sure Alice Ball’s 1st place in the W12B
British Champs didn’t go unnoticed. For the first time in quite a while we were
also able to enter a team for the Yvette Baker Trophy, and finished a
creditable 4th in the NW round at Cartmel.
In addition, this summer we linked up with Scotforth
St Paul’s Junior School in Lancaster to introduce their 24 Year 6 pupils to
orienteering. 22 of them achieved the BOF level 1 Navigational Challenge and we
hope some at least will be enthused enough to come to our Beginner’s series
over the next few weeks. Time will tell if recruitment improves, but at the
very least more
youngsters are being introduced to the sport. And what’s certain is that unless
we reach out in this way there will be no seed corn.
So,
here ends my last report as Chairman. I’ve really enjoyed it and it’s been a
privilege to work for such a special club and with such a superb Committee. I
couldn’t have wished for a more committed and able group of people and I thank
them for their marvellous support and dedication. But I must include in those
thanks the many outside the committee who have also given so much to make the
club what it is. My thanks to you all.
Julian was thanked by all for his hard work
and vision during his time as Chair of the committee.
Secretary’s Report.
KN reported that membership units had remained fairly steady
at 65 units plus the 24 juniors joining via Scotforth
Primary. Last year was 69 and 2011 was 68. (75 the previous
year and over 100 pre 2006). All now have the same membership of SROC
and BO. 37 are Seniors and 27 Families with only 1
Junior except Scotforth. Looking more closely at the
families about 17 only have 2 members/ are couples, a trend for several years
now.
The locational spread of members has not changed and
the % who are active is still low, although is perhaps improving slightly. I
measured this differently this year: 35 members have 6 events in the ranking
points and a further 21 have 2 or more ranking events. For some though this is
historic with events from 2012 rather than 2013. A number of members do seem to
be orienteering less.
Treasurer’s Report.
DC provided audited accounts for the year, with the
previous year as comparison. Harold White continues to audit but at 86 Dick is
concerned that we should start considering alternatives. There was a deficit
again, this year of £1382 (£900 last year). Dick is concerned that this cannot
continue. It is true we have spent on 2 major mapping costs and deliberately
had no major event this year. Hopefully this investment will pay off next year
and we should gain money from L5D as well. DC feels we should charge more for
our events to cover these costs and to meet the increased levy to BO. Due to
the change in levy we also need to try to organize a greater number of larger
events. The worry of entry limits as on Farleton was
also mentioned. Keeping a check on Ripley night numbers was mentioned as this
should be self-financing. Over the long term (2007 we had £20,000 banked) it is
competition income that has fallen and resulted in a steady fall over the 6
years. The possibility of Trail races to raise money, a query over whether can
afford to subsidise events in 2014 and fees for C
versus B events were all mentioned.
Dick suggested membership fees remain unchanged for
2014. (£5 junior and £12 Senior plus the BO payments) The % increase would be
small and make little difference to the financial situation.
Election
of Officers.
President Peter Knott Proposed JL Seconded KN
Chairman Mark Edwards Proposed JL Seconded DC
Vice- Chair Tony Marlow Proposed MR Seconded RB
Secretary Karen Nash Proposed RB Seconded JL
Treasurer
All were uncontested and unanimous.
Remainder of committee, with the exception of Julian
who is standing down, are willing to continue:
Rowena Browne, Alex Finch, Chris Roberts, Dave
Hargreaves,
All voted for en bloc and unanimous. No
others were proposed.
The formal meeting ended and was followed by much discussion,
socializing and our Jacobs Join. Dawn Lock asked for clarification re the Club
name and changes to this. The constitution is unchanged, our name is SROC-
which maintains the link with our history but the strapline of The Red Rose Orienteers has been
formalized which it is believed will help with recruitment and some funding/
publicity. New club kit was also discussed and Sue Roome showed a sample that
is affordable. KN confirmed that the constitution says our colours
should be ‘predominantly green’.