Northwich Centurions Swimming Club – Chairman's Report 2017 ...

Northwich Centurions Swimming Club – Chairman’s Report 2017 AGM Chairman’s Report Welcome to you all!! 2016-2017 has been another year of transition and excellent progress for the club. It has also been a year of recognition for the hard work that ‘the club’ and its members put in. With this, I make no apologies for re-iterating some of the messages I gave at the club presentation evening (Ali Beckman presented) last November. ‘Look at Northwich!’, ‘look what Northwich have done!!’, ‘look what Northwich are doing’ – these are quotes from North West Regional meetings I have attended with regards to what the club have achieved over the last 12-18 months and are achieving now. ‘The club’ From my experience of many clubs (not all swimming), there is no doubt that Northwich Centurions is a club that gives the local community the opportunity to swim/lifesave in an enjoyable, safe and caring environment, whilst providing individuals the opportunity to reach their maximum potential, in line with their aspirations .The club has a friendly and welcoming environment, a warm atmosphere, we have our yearly social presentation evening, knowledge sharing, skill sharing, respect to all and fun to name a few. Below is what has been happening within ‘our club’ over the last year. Committee New members joined the existing Committee in May 2016 with one of the first jobs being to formalise roles and the five year plan that was work in progress from the previous committee and Head Coach Phil. We started with two meetings a month to get the formalized plans, following which we progressed with new squad structures, standards, workforce (teachers, coaches, volunteers, etc.) and 2017 club fees required to support our mission statement and the beginning of the five year plan. BIG BIG THANKS to the committee members Geoff L, Ruth S, Carol, Bev S, Jo B, Josie L, Nicola M, Wendy M, Wendy B, Ali B for your support, dedication and commitment. A special THANKS to Carol (Secretary) and Bev (Welfare) who are stepping down from their committee positions. Swimmers/Lifesavers I will let the swimming and lifesaving coaches tell you more about the year in detail but they are the biggest inspiration to us all. Their personalities, dedication, personal achievements, ups and downs are a big part of our club environment. As a parent, I see swimmers interacting and supporting each other in training, arena league and other competitions which for me is a big part of being part of ‘the club’. Life skills are being learnt and friends are being made and that is a big part of what NCSC is about!! Coaches, teachers and officials In the past twelve months we have had three people through J1 training, four more in progress, six teachers through STA level 2 and are in progress to become full swimming teachers/coaches. Three volunteers are through the Team Manager 1 course and we have trained nine timekeepers. BIG THANKS to Ali B for organising!!!!

Coaches & Teachers Phil B, Ali B, Phil J, Andy D, Josie L, Jo B, Geoff L, Ruth S, Kath L, Wendy M, Jenny M, Connor H, David W, Melissa L, Carol U, Simon B, Ben M, John B, Nicola M, many hours of dedication on poolside and in the classroom. THANK you for your time, knowledge, expertise, patience, friendship, teaching and coaching. (and sometimes tellings off!!!) Officials Geoff L, Kath L, Jeff B, Ali B, Simon B, Verity B, Gert-Jan F, Caroline G, Natalie J, Simon B, Melissa L, James M, David S, Jeff P, Alison M, Helen T, Alan U, Daniel W, Ian W, Rob J, Kevin L, Carol U, Jenny U, Kirsty E, John E, Sandra F, Julie H, Mandy H, Nicky P, Kate B, it’s great to see so many officials affiliated to the club!!! THANKS!!! for your time, dedication, friendship and expertise in supporting both internal and external events across the region. It was great to see at the Wirral meet in March that when the timing system stopped working and we had to go to manual, NCSC provided another 8 officials (on top of the 4 already there from NCSC) which effectively kept the meet going whilst the technical issue was resolved. Parents You have been the ‘taxi’ (at all hours), you have been the messengers, you have been the shoulders to cry on, you have been the motivators….. and I’m just talking about swimming/life-saving!! One day you will be thanked by your children but for now the THANKS will have to come from me and the club!! Volunteers Over the year, our volunteer base has grown in all areas and particularly around coaches, teachers and officials as you have already heard. Most volunteers are parents, who support the ‘club’ in many areas such as the committee, club galas, school events, pool side, posters for events, etc – you all inspire and encourage others and you are a key part of the club – THANK YOU to you ALL!! Head Coaches Phil B/Wendy M & Dave W – I would like to THANK you sincerely for your drive, dedication, knowledge, expertise, patience, friendship and overall coaching. You are an inspiration to us all in the club!!!

Swimming Swimming A year of change and success for NCSC. We had a change in our squad structures that were implemented earlier this year and the transition to this for the senior squads is still in progress (and nearly complete) with more now taking part in the early morning swims. This enables us to support swimmers as they progress through the squads to meet their potential and allows the club to have more capacity for swimmers.

In the pool we picked up the County Championships most improved club award, at Sputniks we came third, and had swimmers at both the county and regionals. Ninety-nine swimmers qualified for the North Midlands where we finished 7th narrowly missing out on the most improved club trophy. We also competed in Division 2 of the Arena League where we finished the league in 10th place. A busy year!!! THANKS to the Head Coach Phil B and all who support you!!!

Internal Gala’s Club Champs & Club Sprints As always, the club championships and sprints were well received and led to some very competitive swimming by all ages, whilst enjoying the social side. Events that have a very good feel about them both in and out of the pool. Thanks to Nicky P in particular for the organisation and all of the coaches, timekeepers, teachers and volunteers which make these such great events. Schools Gala Each year, NCSC promotes swimming in the local community as a great way to keep fit, making friends and having fun whilst by running the schools gala for 12 schools from the local area. 2016 was no different with the event taking place in June with 150 eight to eleven year olds participating. For the record, St Marys were the winners, with St Bedes 2nd and Delamere 3rd in an exciting and close fought competition. BIG THANKS to Jo B for organising the internal/external gala’s and entries whilst ensuring we adhere to the Swim England guidelines!!!!

Lifesaving Lifesaving have had an excellent year and whilst continuing to provide challenging sessions that children enjoy we have seen the introduction of Lifesaving Sport (giving the more competitive/faster lifesavers an opportunity to shine), three new adult Instructors (enabling better planned sessions), improved communication with the parents of the lifesavers, holding the first internal club competition and having two lifesavers becoming National bronze medallists!!! Also, thanks to the efforts of Wendy M, Phil B, Josie L and the committee, Lifesaving are more integrated with the swimming club which is great to see. THANKS to Dave W, Wendy M and the Lifesaving team!!!

Social & Communications Communications As a club, we continued to keep all parents informed about training, opportunities for events such as galas/team events/presentation evening/etc through the various communication channels (email, facebook, twitter, website, club desk and the noticeboard). The ‘Centurions Post’ newsletter was also introduced this year including regular features from the Head Coach/Lifesaving and the club captain. Feedback has been very positive and a BIG THANKS to Nicola M for driving this!!

Presentation Evening 2016 A great evening was had by all with presentation of medals, games, dancing, funny photo booth, buffet and homemade cakes at the Oaklands hotel with 175 people attending (and we had to turn another 20 away). This year we have booked Winnington Park Recreation Club where the capacity is 200. Thanks to Jo B and Bev S for organising!! Swim Camp 2017 Swim camp took place at Moreton Hall during the March/April school break. This event was like all other years, where coaches and teachers stress levels are taken to the limit!!! It’s another popular event run by the club where the swimmers of all ages learn not only about training and skills in the pool but also about aspects outside the pool like nutrition, hydration levels and land training. Thanks to Josie L and Carol U for organising and Phil B, Ben M, Josie L and Phil J for running and supporting throughout the week.

Swim 21 Not to be underestimated. NCSC were again awarded the Swim21 Essential accreditation in Sept 2016 which measures the progress against the clubs objectives/plans ensuring we are within the Swim England (was ASA) guidelines. Thanks Wendy B for your facilitation and chasing of many people in ensuring that we continue to run the club in a structured and Swim England compliant manner.

Treasury We had a shortfall of £2,750 last year mainly due to the investment in training, club champs being over two weekends and increased pool time for morning training for some squads. For this year, we have budgeted to support the plan going forward and that is why some of the more senior squads have seen bigger increases in membership fees for extra pool time (i.e. morning training) These improvements benefit us all as swimmers/lifesavers develop. Thanks to Josie L for looking after the money and to Steve Warrener for auditing the accounts.

Memberships Memberships to the club have continued to be very healthy throughout the year with swimming membership currently being at 223 and Lifesaving 42. THANKS to the team for the handling of new members into the club and to Josie L for overseeing the process!! Brio As always, we have a heavy dependency on the Brio facilities to be able to support our training and gala events. This last year has been busier than ever with the requirement of supporting more pool/land training time plus mornings having started for some squads (Sat/Mon/Fri). Other visible activities are the NCSC trophy cabinet being put in place, noticeboards being available and work is in progress on a sign for NCSC within Memorial Court. Watch this space!!! As and when issues come to notice we work closely this Brio on getting these resolved as soon as possible. Examples of issues over the year are challenges on water clarity (has improved and in progress), poolside temperature (improved and in progress) and general poolside cleanliness (in progress). Stages 1-5 Swimming Brio continues to run the stages 1-5 sessions Learner sessions with NCSC running 6-7 that then feeds the Bronze squad. Ruth S and Josie L work closely with Brio on the transition to 6-7. Pool availability We continue to work with Brio on being as efficient as we can be in the pool time available to us and will be continuing to look for additional opportunities as required to support the plan. Thanks to Paul Hesketh, Abbie Henderson and the team from Brio for your continued support!!!! and Josie L for facilitating the meetings with Brio for NCSC.

5 year plan As mentioned earlier, we formalised a high level 5 year plan, and then produced the detailed 2016-2017 plan that we have been working to. The 5 year plan was formalised in August 2016 to ensure that the progress of the club was aligned to its mission statement Mission statement - ‘To teach its members to swim in an enjoyable, safe and caring environment, and provide an opportunity for them to reach their maximum potential, in line with individual aspirations.’ understanding what actions/resources are required to meet that, in the short/medium and long term whilst ensuring that the club will still be here when we as individuals move on. From the high level, we created a detailed 12 month plan that we have been tracking and in the next 2-3 months will be creating the 20172018 detailed plan.

Progress against the plan since August 2016 On the swimming side with the enthusiasm of all of those I have previously mentioned, accredited coaches/teachers have increased, volunteers have increased, squads have been re-structured, additional pool sessions allocated, additional galas in the calendar, communications have been enhanced which all supports on meeting the clubs mission statement. On the Lifesaving side, with the enthusiasm of Dave, Wendy M and the Lifesaving team, it has enabled Lifesaving to meet most of the objectives set out at the beginning with excellent progress being made in areas of communication, recognition of the lifesavers, training additional coaches/teachers to support the 42 members and running an internal club competition for the first time!!! Overall, a year of change and excellent progress for the club that gives us a solid base to build on.

Funding & Grants As a club we applied for and successfully received funding of £1,400 from Swim North West which was 50% (maximum that SNW will fund) of the total cost of the land training equipment, coaching equipment and gala equipment purchased to support/enhance club activities. As well as this we have also applied for other funding and grants to support 2017 internal and schools gala running costs and are assessing another request to SNW in November. For anyone who reads this who is interested in providing funding for the club commercially or otherwise please contact me or any of the team and we will gladly discuss with you.

If I have missed anyone out above, I apologise as there are many people involved, and I’m sure you will all agree that the effort we put in is rewarding in many different ways.

A final BIG THANKS to ALL associated with the club!! You should all be VERY PROUD as, as I said at the very beginning, we are INSPIRING others in the North West. It’s a good place to be, the club continues to provide an environment for all members that we can enjoy whilst having opportunities to succeed within our own abilities. Look forward to seeing you in the coming year. Regards

Steve Bradshaw Chairman – Northwich Centurions Swimming Club