BATH RUGBY SUPPORTERS’CLUB
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Held at
The Clubhouse, Recreation Ground, Bath
on 31st August 2010 at 8 pm
Present:
Committee: Steve Eades
Kevin Lawrence
Georgina Barratt
Penny Dale
Mike Senior
Ton Riley
Andy Thatcher
Members:
|
P Dale K Dale C Thatcher A Thatcher L Moore A Moore S Pearce J Walker R Walker J B Goodwin J Warrington M Warrington G Hethscott D Smith Z Adams J Tilley S Laws A Laws W Armitage |
P Maggs C Maggs J Trump S Trump S Moore H King P Dix W Dix K Brunton P Collins P Cripps R Presley M Senior J Woodman A Woodman P Bennett D Stock L O’Brien J O’Brien |
P Murch J Lewis P Lewis P Isaac R Wright S Andrew A Adams J Spurrell G Edwards E Edwards T O’Leary D White A Kirkham M Hammett J Arnold R Dolandson H Jacob D Dyer W Singer |
D Bull S Eades K Eades T Sutton K Lawrence T Riley C Reeves D Batchelor M Brooks E Noble G Evans P Measday B Measday S Dantes J Packham E Sparks R Trump H G? G Barrett |
Welcome
Steve Eades welcomed all those present and thanked them for attending. Steve then introduced Steve Meehan, Head Coach, and the Season’s new signings.
Speaker
Having introduced the new signings, Steve Meehan gave a brief look forward to the season ahead and engaged in a short question and answer session. Steve Eades thanked Steve Meehan and the players for attending and for their contribution to the discussions.
1. Notice Convening the Meeting.
The notice convening the meting was read. It was confirmed that in accordance with Item 4(b) of the Constitution, the Notice had been published in the Press and on the BRSC website and that Members had also been notified by mailing.
2. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 31st August 2010.
The minutes of the 2009 AGM had been published on the website with a limited number of copies available at the meeting. The minutes were approved for signature and there were no matters arising.
3. Chairman’s Report
If all in life was fair the BRSC Chairman’s Report for season 2009/10 would have been read out by Penny Brunton this evening. As we all know, Penny passed away on the 1st January and I stood in for her whilst she fought her illness and I was asked by the committee to take on the role of Acting Chairman after her untimely death.
It’s also a poignant time to put life into perspective by acknowledging some other absent friends, before we kick off this Chairman’s Report.
Over the last season we have lost Dave Aroskin – Founder & Honorary Secretary of Pewsey Rugby Club, Ivan Duck , Sue Guscott, Mary Parry - wife of Ken , and Mike Ward.
I am not going to try and emulate Penny’s unique style in giving this report to you the members, but instead, I shall try and describe to you a number of themes from last season.
My report covers:
a. A recollection of on and off the field events and boy what a change we have seen in such a relatively short time.
b. A description of the BRSC Committee work and what we have delivered on behalf of you the members.
c. Finally, I will take this opportunity to offer a few heart-felt thanks to those who have helped me, and more importantly, served you by keeping the Supporters’ Club running over the last 12 months.
Last Season
Much has been written in the local press and in our own Newsletter about how last season panned out, so I won’t repeat this well worn path. If ever there was a truism then last season can be described by the old cliché “ season of two halves.”
Suffice it to say there were many low times during the first half of last season with the team struggling to find any kind of form. This was not the Bath Rugby we have loved through the good and less profitable times. For me, I don’t think I have ever seen such a mass walk out of fans during that very wet November night when we played London Irish. Frankly our play was dire and the collective confidence of the team was at an all time low. And things did not improve greatly until the turn of the year when we just beat the snow and Leeds Carnegie at Headingly in what we thought was a “do or die” game – the score was 15-20.
Despite a disappointing early exit in the Heineken Cup, the return of Butch and Olly, and the emergence of a new leader in Luke Watson seemed to galvanise our team, new confidence emerged and the rest is history. Who can forget that wonderful sunny day at Twickenham where Bath thrilled the 60,000 crowd with the kind of rugby we all knew they could play. An eventual 4th place in the league and a Heineken Cup spot was more than we could have imagined last December.
Off The Field
At the start of the season some of us on the Committee had a meeting with Nick Blofeld where we explained the role and ethos of the BRSC. At this meeting it was plain to see that he was going to bring his business acumen to Bath Rugby as well as a passion for the sport. I believe that the BRSC has built up a strong working relationship with Nick and his two evenings with you the supporters went down very well.
After the 9th Feb “View From The Top” session in the Illustrious Suite many of you mentioned to me afterwards that you liked his openness and candour and his vision for the future, which he shared with us. His Business Plan looked to the year 2015 and a new stadium and he was not backward when asked to explain the Matt Stevens situation too. Little did we know then that a new owner was on his way to the club.
His Second session in May put more flesh on the stories surrounding our new owner Bruce Craig, we saw the emerging plans for Farleigh House and we aired the vexed question surrounding stewarding. It was at this meeting that you were able to vent your frustrations to Silas Freeman, and I think we have seen some improvements in stewarding since.
When the new owner Bruce Craig arrived for his first home game it was reassuring that one of the first things Nick did was to introduce him to BRSC Committee members and the many match day helpers; Bruce was very keen to find out what we did and how we supported the club and its supporters.
I made the point to him that all this effort was in fact “unpaid help” and the fabric of the supporters club was built on a strong family ethos that runs throughout the Rugby Club. This is something we must preserve at all costs.
So, what has the BRSC Committee delivered on your behalf?
Last season we had a committee with many new members. A major impact on us (and many others) was the sad loss of Penny Brunton, our Chairman. During these very difficult times we vowed to keep up the ethos and tradition of the BRSC Committee by delivering high quality products for our members. We also decided to hold our events on a regular basis, the second Tuesday of each month, so that our members could build up a habit and pattern for regularly attending the functions.
As well as the two Nick Blofeld events we had much success in hosting:
· Two Quiz Nights compiled by Dave Stock.
· A Christmas Bazaar A Race Night
· The Annual Players Awards Supper, where a magnificent raffle organised by Emma & Stacy contributed £700 towards their two charities.
At each of these functions it was very noticeable that, compared to some previous seasons, we had a very healthy contingent of first team squad players attend each function – something we spoke to Nick Blofeld about at our initial meeting.
We also revamped the Newsletter and I hope you have enjoyed the articles and colour photos too.
Our support to the Community Foundation and some of the major disasters that happened throughout the globe through the shirt raffle and other raffles could not have happened without the valiant efforts of many volunteers such as Doug Gibbs, Dave White, Hughie and Wendy Armitage , Chrissie Wild and Jimmy Deane & the Bath Ladies Rugby Team. The £13,000 given to the Community Foundation makes our overall contribution to this local cause a staggering £85K over the years.
In supporting his testimonial, we were also able to give David Barnes a cheque for £1000 for the Forever Friends appeal. We raised £1136 for the Bath Rugby Ladies Rugby team and £298 for the Bath Cats and Dogs Home. This generosity has a long tradition in the BRSC and long may it continue.
Coach Report
You can’t have an AGM without paying tribute to Jan and Mike Warrington and the magnificent effort they put into running their coach and hotel travel service and I would like to read out their report for the season.
“We managed to run coaches to all games except the Edinburgh weekend in December, this one had to be cancelled due to lack of numbers; December being an expensive time for everyone.
In January we took three coaches to Paris for the Stade Francais Heineken Cup game. What a fantastic weekend we had, the hotel was something very special – pity about the rugby!
We ran five coaches to Leicester, this time for the semi-final of the Guinness Premiership but unfortunately it was the same result as the last time!
The raffles have continued their success with most of the prizes being donated by supporters who then buy their tickets to win them back!
There doesn’t seem any more words we can say to express our gratitude and “thank you” always seems so inadequate but for want of any other phrase – A Massive Thank You once again.
With your fantastic generosity we have raised the magnificent sum of £2,000 which will be donated to Help for Heroes – Combat Stress. For those of you who have not heard of this section of Help for Heroes, this is for the guys who carry their injuries in their heads and equally need help.”
On behalf of the Committee and all our supporters I would like to record our thanks to Jan & Mike.
The BRSC Committee and Others
I would like to pay tribute to my fellow committee members for their unwavering efforts and for the time they have given up to provide you with the products and services you demand from us.
Also a big thank you to Kelvin Brunton for administering the Allez- Bath website and to Kate Dale for all the help she has given the Committee behind the scenes, especially with the preparation for last week’s Awards Supper.
I would like to make special mention to Mike Senior who is leaving due to increased work commitments after 5 years of service on the Committee. To mark this occasion I would like to present Mike with a small token of our appreciation.
I would also like to thank Dean Quintin and his staff for hosting our events here at the Rec and for their understanding when we increase numbers attending at the last minute as we regularly do.
Looking to the future.
We have a number of positions vacant on the Committee and I’m sure whoever is voted onto the Committee will give their all in representing you.
Under agenda item 6 - the Treasurers report- we will also explain why we needed to increase membership subscriptions.
Finally, a few months ago we had a committee meeting where we debated the fact that there have been a number of people associated with the BRSC who have represented the committee and the members with much distinction; and this seemed to have gone on without any formal recognition.
Starting this year, and continuing in future years we hope, the Committee felt that we would like to bestow Honorary Membership status of the Bath Rugby Supporters’ Club to such stalwarts and we drew up our first short list of 4 people. I would like to announce them, in no particular order:
In rounding off this report, at the start of last season the committee set its sights in achieving a number of key things; these were:
I leave you to judge how successful we have been.
4. Membership Secretary’s Report
The membership for last season totalled 992 by the close of the season. This total consisted of 776 core members and 216 new members. The total is below 1000 members for the first time in four years, possibly due to the economic situation or equally due to the team’s poor performances at the start of the season.
We are currently working with IPL to introduce newsletter e-mailing. The main problems encountered have been around privacy and security issues, particularly ensuring that each person’s e-mail is hidden from all other e-mail recipients. It is hoped to have this in place for the next newsletter and it should reduce postage costs by around 50%.
It has been a bit of a trial sorting out the membership this year mostly due to the late arrival of the membership badges; the girl I normally deal with got married whist on honeymoon the managing director decided to have the badges shipped by sea rather than air as usual. As a result the badges were approximately a month late. The company has apologised profusely for the error and the inconvenience. They have reduced the bill by £300 as compensation to offset the additional postage cost incurred in sending the badges out separately.
Meeting Note: The membership Secretary proposed two changes to the constitution:
· The definition of children who receive free membership is raised from 6 to 18 years
· Family membership to be defined as two adults and any number of children under 18 from two adults and a maximum of two children under 16.
Both amendments were passed without comment..
5. Treasurer’s Report
The value of the BRSC at the end of the financial year for the season 2009 – 2010 was £706.59 this is lower than the previous year due to price rises and a significant purchase of merchandise (BRSC ties).
The merchandise previously purchased at the beginning of the season has continued to sell. It was thought that the BRSC ties were popular and a further purchase was made. This bulk buy of ties led to an over all loss of £584.71, but this will be recovered in future years. A review of previous years indicate that the merchandise tends to cycle between a profit and loss depending on when new stock is bought.
Donations
Throughout the season the Saturday Shirt Raffles raised a substantial amount of money £15,8726.20. The bulk of the monies, £13,340.20 went to the Community Foundation, the reminder was split between the Haiti appeal (£1,500) and the Bath Rugby ladies US Tour (£1,036). The committee would like to thank all the supporters for generously supporting the shirt raffle once again this year.
On a related note the money raised from a Saturday Raffle in the 08-09 season for L’Aquila Rugby Club was still outstanding at the beginning of this season . I can now report that is was successfully transferred to L’Aquila who were delighted with the Bath Supporters efforts.
Subscription Increases.
There have been concerns for sometime over the membership costs (the purchase of badges, cards, printing and posting of newsletters etc) compared to the funds raised from the membership fees. The committee ask me as the treasurer to analyse income and outgoings for previous years to identify the trend over time. The graphs shown at annex A illustrate that the membership costs have outstripped membership income since the 2006-2007 season, It was not obvious that this was the case due the fact that surpluses were made in merchandise and events which cover those losses. However as costs are expected to increase (including the raising in Vat to 20%) it will not be possible to sustain the current subscription price which has not risen since the club was founded,. Consequently the committee has raised the membership price from £5.00 to £7.50 for the 2010-2011 season. This has been done in advance of the AGM as the membership forms have already been released and it would be very difficult to obtain the additional £2.50 per member at alter date in the season. The committee asks the AGM endorses the membership price to rsie from £5.00 to £7.50.
Meeting Note: The proposal to raise the membership subscription to £7.50 sparked a lively debate as members explored alternatives to raising the price. This included ways of cutting costs such as printing fewer newsletter issues, reverting to printing the newsletter in black and white, scrapping BRSC badges, getting members to collect (rather the post) their newsletter and switching to e-newsletters. There were questions asking if the committee and the right to raise the membership price with prior approval from AGM. The constitution seems to suggest that it was possible for the committee to do this but it was recognised that this was not ideal. However the timing of events was dictated by the BRSC constitution. Finally, there was a vote seeking the endorsement from the AGM for the price rise this was passed with a majority. It was also recommended that the constitution should be reviewed, redrafted and presented for consideration at the next AGM.
6. BRSC PLAYERS’ AWARDS – RESULTS SEASON 2009/10
Player of the Season – Winner of the Vince Dyer Memorial Cup:
In first place – Julian Salvi
In second place – Luke Watson
In the third place – Joe Maddock
Young Player of the Season
In first place – Nathan Catt
In second place – Matt Banahan
In the third place – Jack cuthbert
Try of the Season:
In first place – Nick Abendanon against Leeds 08/05/2010
In second place – Olly Barkley against Wasps 24/04/2010
In the third place – Duncan Bell against Quins 27/03/2010
Personality of the Season
In first place – Luke Watson
In second place – Duncan Bell
In the third place – Olly Barkley
Season’s Unsung Hero:
In first place – Stuart Hooper
In second place – Andy Beattie
In the third place – David Flatman
Ladies Dish:
In first place – Olly Barkley
In second place – Danny Grewcock
In the third place – Butch James
7. Committee Nominations
Chairman: Vacancy
Honorary Treasurer: Tom Riley* (re-election not required)
Honorary Secretary: Vacancy
Membership Secretary: Georgina Barratt* (re-election not required)
Members: (*Re-elected)
Barry Cleeve Proposed Jennifer Cleeve
Seconded Lesley Moore
Penny Dale*: Proposed M Bembridge
Seconded Kay Duck
Kate Dale Proposed S Nicholas-Williams
Seconded Penny Dale
Kevin Lawrence*: Proposed Pat Lawrence
Seconded Tom Riley
Tom Riley* Proposed K Lawrence
Seconded G Barratt
Glyn Edwards* Proposed Erica Edwards
Seconded Kelvin Brunton
Georgina Barratt* Proposed Paul Isaac
Seconded John Asnad
Mike Warrington Proposed Rebecca Knapman
Seconded Mark Knapman
Jan Warington Proposed Sue Andrew
Seconded Anne Woodman
Emma Sparks Proposed Emma Sparks
Seconded Jan Warrington
________________________________________________________
Nominee not selected by vote:
Nicola Curtis Proposed Helen Curtis
Seconded John Curtis
Andy Thatcher Proposed Kevin Lawrence
Seconded Pat Lawrence
Jonny cooper: Proposed Jan Warrington
Seconded Mike Warrington
May Lawes Proposed Not Known
Seconded Not Known
This year there were 14 nominees for the 10 committee posts, a vote was held to allow the BRSC at the AGM to select which nominees should be elected to the committee.
8. Any Other Business.
No new topics not already covered by the Agenda were raised.
9. Close.
The AGM closed at 9pm; Members were thanked for their attendance and participation.