ELY RUNNERS

 

MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING,

PARADISE CENTRE, ELY, FRIDAY 21st JANUARY 2005

 

Present (30) Peter Gipp, John Turner, Peter Harris, Rod Baron, Torsten Lytken, Darren Murfitt, Melanie Pettit, Alan Rutterford, Hayley Rutterford, Ian Blatchford, Charlie Barker, Kevin Collins, Ian Day, Adam Etches, Natalle Coles, Stephen Howard, Karen Foreman, Julie Foreman, Chris Rayment, John Crawford, Fran Crawford, Meg Lewis, Paul Banks, Amanda Reid, Alex Tate, Max D’Ayala, Alfredo Verna, John Fordham, Lisa Sanda, Shannon Sanda.

 

Apologies (11) Tony Hall, Eric Drury, Diana Gipp, Peter Bovill, William Clapp, Tony Hall, Lana Chalmers, Mary Gates, Sarah Sharpe, Deborah Pearson, Andrea Long

 

Chairman’s Opening Remarks on 2004

 

1. Chairman Peter Gipp opened the meeting at 7:36 pm. He reported that the 2004 Grunty Fen Half Marathon and New Year’s Eve 10k had been very successful and thanked the Events member. September had been busy because in addition to the Grunty Fen, the club entered the Round Norfolk Relay and received the 1st Newcomers award. Alan Rutterford and Kevin Collins were thanked for their hard work during the event. He mentioned the 2004 Committee by name and wished members a successful and injury free 2005.

 

Matter Arising from the 2004 Minutes

 

2. John Turner said that these had been on the club’s website for several months. There were no matters arising. Accepted (pKC/sAmR).

 

Treasurer’s Report

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3. Peter Harris presented the 2004 accounts. Expenses and income had both nearly doubled in a bigger year.

 

4. Costs had increased due to the Round Norfolk Relay (entry and travel), more members in the 10k Handicap, more cross country championship entries, more coaching courses, and the purchase of two-way radios and night training bibs.

 

5. Income had mainly increased due to more Grunty Fen Half Marathon entries and more sponsorship (thanked Alan Rutterford) resulting in the first ever profit over sponsorship even after donations to two charities. Also from a large profit on the New Year’s Eve 10k, due to more entries but similar expenditure as 2003.

 

6. The 2004 turnover on kit stock was close to £500 but the closing valuation on medal stock was substantially reduced due to using up nearly all the old stock of Grunty Fen medals.

 

7. He presented 2004 income and expenditure accounts for the club, Grunty Fen Half Marathon, and New Year’s Eve 10k. Also stock details, and a balance sheet. The club’s net surplus of income over expenditure was £3,786.46 compared to £2,037.98 in 2003. Current assets included £7,500 deposited in a Scottish Widows (4.25% interest) Treasury Account and £3,681.06 at the bank. There was an accumulated fund balance of £11,285.71 of which £4,861.56 was allocated for the Grunty Fen Half Marathon and £6,424.56 for general use.

 

8. He mentioned that the club’s present healthy financial state had improved from a low level five years ago due mainly to income from events rather than subscriptions, which he asked to be renewed after the meeting.

 

9. John Turner thanked Peter Harris for his clear presentation of the accounts and stressed that the sound management of club funds was important for the future of the club. The accounts were accepted (pJT/sTL).

 

Secretary’s Report

 

10. John Turner (also i/c Training and Events) said that membership had continued to grow to about 65 with an age range of 6 to 70. Also, that the club had a strong Committee. He listed the achievements of 6 years old Hayley Rutterford and said that Tony Hall still runs at 70.

 

11. Training in 2004 had been excellent with 15 to >20 attending on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Sunday morning runs were also increasingly popular. Members were training longer and harder but unlike 2003, there had not been any ‘away’ training followed by a pub supper, other than a session on Magog Down and one from the Cambridge Sweatshop. Max D’Ayala was now Club Coach with Alan Rutterford and Adam Etches training as Level 2 Coaches.

 

12. The club’s administration had improved because most members had email and more information was available on the web site. He asked members to read emails to reduce avoidable enquiries from an increased membership.

 

13. The club had at least nine members in the 2005 London Marathon. Kevin Collins and John Turner had won places in the club draw. Peter Gipp had received a place via EVAC. Torsten Lytken won the Committee place for the BARR nomination, but was unsuccessful in their draw.

 

14. John Turner apologised that a Newsletter had not been produced in 2004 due to lack of time. It was partly prepared and he hoped to have it printed fairly soon. The meeting generally agreed that with the enhanced website, future Newsletters were not essential.

 

15. The 2004 10k Handicap, Grunty Fen Half Marathon, and New Year’s Eve 10k all had records entries.  There was also a record attendance for the Christmas Drinks at The Albert and if numbers continued to increase it might be necessary to change the venue. The success of the 2004 events was due to the effort and commitment of members.

 

Team Captain’s Report

 

16. Torsten Lytken concurred that in 2004 there had been more and harder training with many individual achievements providing a strong backing for the team events won by the club; i.e. the Bury 20m, Frostbite League, Sutton Feast Beast, and Best Newcomer team in the Round Norfolk Relay.

 

17. He thanked members for their efforts and wished them well for 2005.

 

Election of Officers (3) and Committee Members (7)

 

18. Apart from Ian Blatchford (standing down due to work commitments and h/o the club’s web site to Rod Baron in 2004), the 2004 Officers (Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer) and Committee were standing for re-election. There were also nominations for two new Committee positions:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

19. All the above appointments were approved.

 

Review of Club Subscription & New Joining Fee

 

20. A proposal to keep the club subscription at £10 (PH) but to additionally include race vest @ £11.50 and shorts @ £10.50 = £32 (PG) for new members was discussed. Eventually the meeting agreed by an almost complete majority that there should be a joining fee (suggested by JC) of £32 inclusive of membership, race vest, and shorts with the annual renewal fee remaining at £10 (pDM/sTL).

 

Club Events 2005-2006

 

21. It was agreed that the club should hold the following events:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Presentation of Trophies and Awards

 

22. John Turner said that, with so many improved and good performances in 2004, it had been difficult for the Committee to decide to whom the trophies should be awarded. The original Most Improved Runner shield had therefore been changed to the Most Improved New Member (joined within the year) and for ongoing members, two new cups had been purchased for the Most Improved Male and Most Improved Female. Chairman Peter Gipp presented the trophies and awards:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paradise Centre Club Membership

 

23. It was agreed to continue with the club membership (currently charged at 5 x £19 annual memberships = £95) of the Paradise Centre for members to change and shower free of charge after training or races (pPG/sIB).

 

 

Expenditure 2005

 

24. Proposals to authorise moderate expenditure, subject to the Treasurer’s advice on threshold reserves of funds, by the Committee on:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

25. These expenditure proposals were all seconded by FC and accepted.

 

Any Other Business

 

26. Proposal to give the Christmas Drinks raffle profit to the East Anglian Children’s Hospice (EACH) every year (AE). Although EACH had received the 2004 profit, the meeting decided that beneficiaries should be decided as appropriate at the time.

 

27. The meeting was advised that Karen Foreman had recently agreed to become Women’s Team Leader to assist Team Captain Torsten Lytken.

 

28. John Turner mentioned that with over 60 members, the club collectively ran at least 75,000 miles (3 x Equator) and wore out about 100 pairs of running shoes each year, hence the interest by sports shops!

 

29. The meeting were advised that the Committee would use the accumulated Advance Performance club incentive vouchers on books for the club.

 

30. Rod Baron was thanked for setting up the new club web site, event web sites, and club email addresses. He gave a brief explanation of their operation.

 

31. Alan Rutterford thanked John Fordham for his sponsorship of the Grunty Fen Half Marathon.

 

32. Charlie Barker asked if he could design the Grunty Fen T-shirt again (sJT) and the meeting agreed.

 

33. Darren Murfitt praised the new web site.

 

34. There being no other business, Chairman Peter Gipp closed the meeting at 9:16 pm.

 

JT 15.02.2005