Minutes of Northwich ASC AGM 14th May 2015
Minutes of Northwich ASC AGM 14th May 2015 Present: Geoff, Debbie, Chris, Brian, Phil, Josie, Trish, Wendy, Ruth, Jo, Carol, David, Shirley, Ron. 1. Apologies – Julie, Jan, Zoe, Carolyn 2. Matters arising from last AGM – none brought forward 3. Chairman’s report – please see attached 4. Head Coach’s Report – please see attached 5. Treasurer’s report – accounts available on request. There were some notes for good practice passed on from the Independent Examiner, which have already been implemented this year by the Treasurer. 6. Life Saving report – Please see attached 7. New Constitution – Revised constitution carried by the AGM. Jo to now forward to ASA for approval. 8. Subscriptions – New system working well and should roll over smoothly on renewal in January. The committee will decide on the any changes to the subscriptions for next year in the autumn. 9. Election of Officers – all elected unopposed. List attached.
AOB 1. Josie – needs a list of all equipment eg laptops, printers etc for insurance purposes. To be brought to next committee meeting 2. Josie – new kit samples have arrived and will be ready to order shortly. A final decision will be taken by the committee at their next meeting on the subsidy to be offered on the initial purchase of kit. 3. Debbie – need to encourage new timekeepers and officials/team managers. Rob volunteers to hold a timekeepers course. Phil will send email out to get volunteers. We also need to look at our Judges as we will need to start providing an official at some galas in the future. 4. Debbie – need to start to add an admin fee onto gala entries to cover the cost of the coach’s passes etc. This will be done from now on. 5. Brian – need to streamline the paperwork process for new starters/movers to ensure we are capturing any necessary changes to membership. To be discussed at next committee meeting 6. Wendy – Swim 21. Need to re do the 4 year plan due to the changes over the last 12 months. To be discussed at next committee meeting Close of meeting. Thank you to all those attending.
Northwich Amateur Swimming Club – Chairman’s Report 2015 AGM 2014 was an eventful and at times difficult year. The year started with notice of Mick Hodges’ resignation as Head Coach after six and a half years in post, effective at the end of March. After some unsuccessful attempts Hugh Dokter was appointed starting in May but he went off to another temporary appointment shortly afterwards and after returning to the club in July announced that he was leaving. It took some time to recruit a permanent replacement Head Coach until we succeeded in obtaining the services of Phil Balcombe who took up duties in November. Discussions with Brio Leisure about the club’s allocation of pool time in the new Memorial Court pool began in the summer. The initial offer of evening pool time was so restricted as to call into question the viability of the club particularly considering the number of young swimmers in the Bronze and Silver Squads. Negotiations continued for the rest of the year with support from Wendy McNeil of SwimNorthWest. The outcome was the club losing all the Tuesday evening sessions but getting more time on Monday and Friday evenings. This meant that the Silver sessions were to be unchanged, Bronze Tuesday session changed to Fridays and Gold Tuesday session moved to Mondays. As part of the new arrangements with Brio Leisure, they are taking over all Stage1-5 Learn to Swim lessons and passing all Stage 6 and 7 lessons to the club. In association with the major changes associated with the move to Memorial Court it was decided to overhaul the membership and fee structure of the club. Instead of an annual fee payable in January together with swimmers paying at the desk for admittance for some sessions but the club hiring pools and collecting a fee from swimmers for other sessions it was decided to move to club hire of pools (or some lanes) for all sessions with a total membership/coaching/admission fee being paid by monthly direct debit. This took considerable effort to negotiate hire charges and budget for the requisite fees for each squad. The disruption to the coaching through the year did result in the club losing many swimmers from the Gold Squad but these were replaced by advancements from within the club. Numbers of swimmers in the Bronze and Silver Squads have also been at just about full capacity. This year sees departures from the Committee of Chris Hutchin as Membership Secretary and Debbie Jones as Gala Organiser. Thanks to them for their long and valuable service. Gratitude must be expressed to all officials, helpers, coaches and teachers on whom the club depends. The problems this year make it appropriate to mention particularly Chris Hutchin and Josie Lawton for the introduction of the new direct debit membership, Brian Dooley for taking the lead in recruiting new Head Coaches and negotiations with Brio Leisure and all the coaches who filled in during the long gaps while the club was without a Head Coach. After a long year of trauma and difficulties that appeared to threaten the existence of the club I am happy to say that the prospect is one of future success in our new home in our centenary year. Geoff Lewis 14 May 2015
Head Coach’s Report 2014 2014 was a transitional year for the club. The retirement of Mick Hodges in March with no immediate replacement available prompted a number of regional standard swimmers to move to Winsford. An interim appointment brought Hugh Doktor to the club for a short period while he was looking for another position. His departure saw another group of swimmers depart for Winsford. The end of the year saw Northwich finishing last in Division 2 of the Arena league, a big change in fortune for the club that had narrowly missed out on promotion to Division 1 the previous season. Membership of the club reached a low point in November with an average attendance in the top squad of less than 12 swimmers I was appointed head coach with effect from 1st December. Building the club to the standards attained in 2013 and beyond will be a long process, no doubt with setbacks along the way. The majority of the remaining swimmers are young and relatively inexperienced in competition. The Arena league will be a tough competition again this year as we lack sufficient swimmers in the open category. The job of rebuilding has been made so much easier by the dedication and support of a group of enthusiastic and talented volunteer teachers and coaches who produce swimmers with sound technical skills that are the essential base for a good team. I would like to thank them for the effort that they have put into the club and continue to put into the club. Early signs that the club is heading in the right direction are encouraging, with membership rising in all squads and with more teachers coming forward to volunteer. Results in competitions, enthusiastic swimmers and a good team spirit, combined with a new pool and change of identity all point to 2015 being the first step to rebuilding Northwich ASC. Philip Balcombe Head Coach Northwich ASC May 2015
Lifesaving Report 2014
Again, our Club continues to flourish and this year is no exception. We currently have a membership of 35 of which 12 are Rookies. We continue to run our Rookie Lifeguard programme with our younger lifesavers continuing their progression through the Bronze, Silver and Gold awards. The RLSS Survive & Save awards for 12 years and over continues to be popular: There were eight lifesavers that completed their Bronze Core award, 14 who were awarded the Silver Medallion and we have a number working towards their Gold Medallion award. We also had eight lifesavers that completed their Life Support award this year. Our yearly Open Water event held at Boundary Park, Holmes Chapel in September was again successful with some of our lifesavers achieving their Survive and Save Stillwater awards both at Bronze and Silver level. As always the water temperature was approximately 18°C but it was very cold once the swimmers were out of the water. Competitions are becoming fewer with not many lifesavers wanting to take part. However, we did again this year, have entries for the National Championships with Sam Watson entering the Men’s Individual section and coming fourth at Branch level. Cian Morrin and Kyle Ferguson won the Branch heat and came second at Regional level. Rachel Hamman and Laura Rodgerson also won the Branch heat and they too came second at Regional level with Rachel having the fastest swim and tow of all the females with a time of 52.66 seconds. Tom Hodkinson and Joe Ferguson won the Senior Boys Branch heat and they too came second at Regional level. A very well done to all the competitors. Dave and I continue to run Assistant Instructor Courses and this year Joe Ferguson, Tom Hodkinson, Martin Rodgerson, Matthew Watson and Charlotte Salvoni attended the course and are almost ready to be signed off as qualified. Lifesaving continues to struggle with not having enough helpers even though we are very lucky to have lots of equipment. Our Assistant Instructors are proving to be invaluable to us and continue to have a great rapport with the lifesavers, especially the Rookies. At our presentation evening at the beginning of the year the ‘most improved junior’ 2014 award was given to Ross Morrin. There were two lifesavers that deserved the ‘most improved senior’ award and they were Matthew Watson and Rachel Hamman. The award for ‘overall achievement’ was awarded to Joe Ferguson and the successful lifesaver who was awarded the ‘Pat Joseph Memorial Trophy’ was Tom Hodkinson. I would like to thank Dave and Wendy for their constant help, Jenny who is brilliant with the Rookies, assistant instructors Joe, Tom, Martin, Matthew and Charlotte. Without them we wouldn’t be able to maintain our numbers or have such success in our competitions. Well done to all the lifesavers who have achieved skills in how to save lives, all those who have gained awards and entered competitions and we now look forward to what we hope will be another successful year. Tricia Porter Lifesaving Head Coach
Committee Nominations 14th May 2015 Position Nominee Proposed by Chairman Geoff Lewis Jo Bradshaw Vice Chairman Brian Dooley Jo Bradshaw Secretary Carol Unsworth Jo Bradshaw Treasurer Josie Lawton Jo Bradshaw Membership Secretary Brian Dooley Jo Bradshaw Head Coach Phil Balcombe Jo Bradshaw RLSS Coach Trish Porter Jo Bradshaw Welfare Officer David Smith Jo Bradshaw Swim 21 Coordinator Wendy Broadhurst Jo Bradshaw Social Officer/Swim Shop Josie Lawton Jo Bradshaw Gala Secretary Jo Bradshaw Julie Hamman Committee Member Ruth Sissons Geoff Lewis Committee Member Julie Hamman Jo Bradshaw Committee Member Zoe Rodgerson Jo Bradshaw
Seconded by Phil Balcombe Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Phil Balcombe Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis
AOB 1. Josie – needs a list of all equipment eg laptops, printers etc for insurance purposes. To be brought to next committee meeting 2. Josie – new kit samples have arrived and will be ready to order shortly. A final decision will be taken by the committee at their next meeting on the subsidy to be offered on the initial purchase of kit. 3. Debbie – need to encourage new timekeepers and officials/team managers. Rob volunteers to hold a timekeepers course. Phil will send email out to get volunteers. We also need to look at our Judges as we will need to start providing an official at some galas in the future. 4. Debbie – need to start to add an admin fee onto gala entries to cover the cost of the coach’s passes etc. This will be done from now on. 5. Brian – need to streamline the paperwork process for new starters/movers to ensure we are capturing any necessary changes to membership. To be discussed at next committee meeting 6. Wendy – Swim 21. Need to re do the 4 year plan due to the changes over the last 12 months. To be discussed at next committee meeting Close of meeting. Thank you to all those attending.
Northwich Amateur Swimming Club – Chairman’s Report 2015 AGM 2014 was an eventful and at times difficult year. The year started with notice of Mick Hodges’ resignation as Head Coach after six and a half years in post, effective at the end of March. After some unsuccessful attempts Hugh Dokter was appointed starting in May but he went off to another temporary appointment shortly afterwards and after returning to the club in July announced that he was leaving. It took some time to recruit a permanent replacement Head Coach until we succeeded in obtaining the services of Phil Balcombe who took up duties in November. Discussions with Brio Leisure about the club’s allocation of pool time in the new Memorial Court pool began in the summer. The initial offer of evening pool time was so restricted as to call into question the viability of the club particularly considering the number of young swimmers in the Bronze and Silver Squads. Negotiations continued for the rest of the year with support from Wendy McNeil of SwimNorthWest. The outcome was the club losing all the Tuesday evening sessions but getting more time on Monday and Friday evenings. This meant that the Silver sessions were to be unchanged, Bronze Tuesday session changed to Fridays and Gold Tuesday session moved to Mondays. As part of the new arrangements with Brio Leisure, they are taking over all Stage1-5 Learn to Swim lessons and passing all Stage 6 and 7 lessons to the club. In association with the major changes associated with the move to Memorial Court it was decided to overhaul the membership and fee structure of the club. Instead of an annual fee payable in January together with swimmers paying at the desk for admittance for some sessions but the club hiring pools and collecting a fee from swimmers for other sessions it was decided to move to club hire of pools (or some lanes) for all sessions with a total membership/coaching/admission fee being paid by monthly direct debit. This took considerable effort to negotiate hire charges and budget for the requisite fees for each squad. The disruption to the coaching through the year did result in the club losing many swimmers from the Gold Squad but these were replaced by advancements from within the club. Numbers of swimmers in the Bronze and Silver Squads have also been at just about full capacity. This year sees departures from the Committee of Chris Hutchin as Membership Secretary and Debbie Jones as Gala Organiser. Thanks to them for their long and valuable service. Gratitude must be expressed to all officials, helpers, coaches and teachers on whom the club depends. The problems this year make it appropriate to mention particularly Chris Hutchin and Josie Lawton for the introduction of the new direct debit membership, Brian Dooley for taking the lead in recruiting new Head Coaches and negotiations with Brio Leisure and all the coaches who filled in during the long gaps while the club was without a Head Coach. After a long year of trauma and difficulties that appeared to threaten the existence of the club I am happy to say that the prospect is one of future success in our new home in our centenary year. Geoff Lewis 14 May 2015
Head Coach’s Report 2014 2014 was a transitional year for the club. The retirement of Mick Hodges in March with no immediate replacement available prompted a number of regional standard swimmers to move to Winsford. An interim appointment brought Hugh Doktor to the club for a short period while he was looking for another position. His departure saw another group of swimmers depart for Winsford. The end of the year saw Northwich finishing last in Division 2 of the Arena league, a big change in fortune for the club that had narrowly missed out on promotion to Division 1 the previous season. Membership of the club reached a low point in November with an average attendance in the top squad of less than 12 swimmers I was appointed head coach with effect from 1st December. Building the club to the standards attained in 2013 and beyond will be a long process, no doubt with setbacks along the way. The majority of the remaining swimmers are young and relatively inexperienced in competition. The Arena league will be a tough competition again this year as we lack sufficient swimmers in the open category. The job of rebuilding has been made so much easier by the dedication and support of a group of enthusiastic and talented volunteer teachers and coaches who produce swimmers with sound technical skills that are the essential base for a good team. I would like to thank them for the effort that they have put into the club and continue to put into the club. Early signs that the club is heading in the right direction are encouraging, with membership rising in all squads and with more teachers coming forward to volunteer. Results in competitions, enthusiastic swimmers and a good team spirit, combined with a new pool and change of identity all point to 2015 being the first step to rebuilding Northwich ASC. Philip Balcombe Head Coach Northwich ASC May 2015
Lifesaving Report 2014
Again, our Club continues to flourish and this year is no exception. We currently have a membership of 35 of which 12 are Rookies. We continue to run our Rookie Lifeguard programme with our younger lifesavers continuing their progression through the Bronze, Silver and Gold awards. The RLSS Survive & Save awards for 12 years and over continues to be popular: There were eight lifesavers that completed their Bronze Core award, 14 who were awarded the Silver Medallion and we have a number working towards their Gold Medallion award. We also had eight lifesavers that completed their Life Support award this year. Our yearly Open Water event held at Boundary Park, Holmes Chapel in September was again successful with some of our lifesavers achieving their Survive and Save Stillwater awards both at Bronze and Silver level. As always the water temperature was approximately 18°C but it was very cold once the swimmers were out of the water. Competitions are becoming fewer with not many lifesavers wanting to take part. However, we did again this year, have entries for the National Championships with Sam Watson entering the Men’s Individual section and coming fourth at Branch level. Cian Morrin and Kyle Ferguson won the Branch heat and came second at Regional level. Rachel Hamman and Laura Rodgerson also won the Branch heat and they too came second at Regional level with Rachel having the fastest swim and tow of all the females with a time of 52.66 seconds. Tom Hodkinson and Joe Ferguson won the Senior Boys Branch heat and they too came second at Regional level. A very well done to all the competitors. Dave and I continue to run Assistant Instructor Courses and this year Joe Ferguson, Tom Hodkinson, Martin Rodgerson, Matthew Watson and Charlotte Salvoni attended the course and are almost ready to be signed off as qualified. Lifesaving continues to struggle with not having enough helpers even though we are very lucky to have lots of equipment. Our Assistant Instructors are proving to be invaluable to us and continue to have a great rapport with the lifesavers, especially the Rookies. At our presentation evening at the beginning of the year the ‘most improved junior’ 2014 award was given to Ross Morrin. There were two lifesavers that deserved the ‘most improved senior’ award and they were Matthew Watson and Rachel Hamman. The award for ‘overall achievement’ was awarded to Joe Ferguson and the successful lifesaver who was awarded the ‘Pat Joseph Memorial Trophy’ was Tom Hodkinson. I would like to thank Dave and Wendy for their constant help, Jenny who is brilliant with the Rookies, assistant instructors Joe, Tom, Martin, Matthew and Charlotte. Without them we wouldn’t be able to maintain our numbers or have such success in our competitions. Well done to all the lifesavers who have achieved skills in how to save lives, all those who have gained awards and entered competitions and we now look forward to what we hope will be another successful year. Tricia Porter Lifesaving Head Coach
Committee Nominations 14th May 2015 Position Nominee Proposed by Chairman Geoff Lewis Jo Bradshaw Vice Chairman Brian Dooley Jo Bradshaw Secretary Carol Unsworth Jo Bradshaw Treasurer Josie Lawton Jo Bradshaw Membership Secretary Brian Dooley Jo Bradshaw Head Coach Phil Balcombe Jo Bradshaw RLSS Coach Trish Porter Jo Bradshaw Welfare Officer David Smith Jo Bradshaw Swim 21 Coordinator Wendy Broadhurst Jo Bradshaw Social Officer/Swim Shop Josie Lawton Jo Bradshaw Gala Secretary Jo Bradshaw Julie Hamman Committee Member Ruth Sissons Geoff Lewis Committee Member Julie Hamman Jo Bradshaw Committee Member Zoe Rodgerson Jo Bradshaw
Seconded by Phil Balcombe Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis Phil Balcombe Geoff Lewis Geoff Lewis
