Bathgate A.S.C. AGM Minutes 2014

r0 Page 1 of 12 Meeting Date: 7th

December 2014

Venue: Fairway Hotel, Bathgate.

Date: 7th December 2014.

Meeting commenced 19:10hrs and concluded 20:19hrs.

Attendees : Andrew Millar (Chairman), Nigel Kelly, Ruth Gill, Martin Kelly, Antasha

Wolmarans, Andrew Revell, Chris Farrell, Ralph Crooks, Niall Bell, Terence Davies,

Patsy Kelly, William Stirling, Craig Hossack, Elizabeth Archibald, Neil Quinn,

Annette Bell, Ronnie Morgan, Annabell Drummond, Sharon Gill, Iain Sinclair, Jillian

Sinclair, Callum Sinclair, Evan Wolmarans, George Hossack, Anna Kelly, Nyah

Archibald, Jessica Service.

Apologies: Joe Robb

Minutes by:

Andrew Revell, dated 24th December 2014.

1. Welcome:

Andrew Millar welcomed everyone to the meeting and outlined the agenda.

2. Approval of Previous AGM Minutes & Matters Arising:

Previous Minutes (AGM of 14th

November 2013) accepted with no amendments.

Proposed by Patsy Kelly. Seconded by Craig Hossack.

3. Club Captains Report:

3.1. The Club Captains (George Hossack and Anna Kelly) and Junior Captains (Nyah

Archibald & Jessica Service) spoke to the meeting about their first year in these new

roles.

George and Anna have been swimming with the club for a long time and, in their new

roles, have been able to pass on their experiences to some of the other older swimmers.

They thought that their experiences of some of the pressures of study and exams, and

of time spent in the performance pathway in Swim West Lothian (SWL), was

particularly relevant. Nyah and Jessica were able to encourage and support some of the

younger swimmers who were entering their first competitive galas. They all wanted to

use their own experiences to inspire younger swimmers.

They all said that they enjoyed being involved in the organisation of events; presenting

medals at the Tadpole champs, choosing team tea shirts, assisting at galas.

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December 2014

Looking forward, they would like to have more opportunity to contribute to the

running of the club and have closer ties to the committee. They would like to present

some of their ideas at a committee meeting. They also wanted to get more feedback

from the swimmers, about what the swimmers wanted from the club and how the

captains could help.

4. Presidents Report:

4.1. Andrew Millar thanked the Club Captains and Junior Captains for their very

interesting and enthusiastic presentations to the meeting. He picked up a strong

message, that they are keen to be more involved in the running of the club and would

like to attend a committee meeting to present their ideas.

4.2. Andrew then presented his Presidents Report, outlining the clubs challenges and

achievements during the past year. A copy the presentation is attached with these

minutes (Attachment ‘A’).

5. Treasurers Report & Appointment of an Auditor:

5.1 Martin Kelly provided an overview of cash flow and cash balance over the

previous 12 months. A handout, detailing income & expenditure and monthly bank

balance, is attached (Attachment ‘B’). Cashbook balance at the end of September 2014

was £5,435, considerably less than the historical balance of £12k to £13k. The bank

balance is dropping every month.

5.2. The peak in the bank balance in March is due to SASA fees. In response to

questions from the floor, Martin clarified that the reason SASA fees incoming &

outgoing do not balance is that the club pays the fees for coaches, as well as a ‘family

discount’. Income from kit sales is correct; the large discrepancy against expenditure is

due to inclusion of coaches kit, caps, the printer and notice board, all of which need to

be re-coded in the accounts.

5.3. Martin then spoke about club fees. At the previous AGM (2013), there had been

some uncertainty about income and expenditure, particularly related to the club

starting to pay coaches and whether an effort to increase membership could cover this

additional expenditure. However, it was agreed that squad fees would not be increased

at the AGM and if it did become necessary to increase fees mid-year, then an EGM

would be called. This did not prove necessary.

However, there has also been an increase in pool hire charges and this has contributed

towards a continual drawdown of the bank balance, throughout the year. Therefore, it

is now considered to be necessary to increase the squad fees.

The SASA fee has also remained unchanged for the last four years, however an

increase is now expected next year. The fee is the major part of the club membership

fee, therefore it will be necessary to also increase our club membership fee

Bathgate A.S.C. AGM Minutes 2014

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December 2014

accordingly.

5.4. Martin proposed that the existing auditor (Jeanie Thain) should be retained for

the next year.

… All in attendance agreed to the proposal with a show of hands.

6. Proposed Changes to Constitution & Bye-Laws:

No changes were proposed.

7. Club Fee Increases:

7.1. Martin Kelly presented proposals to increase Squad Fees and the Club

Membership Fee, the background to which he had outlined earlier in the Treasurers

Report.

He added that, provided the proposed increases are implemented, and together with the

increased membership which the club is now achieving, then the club finances should

stabilise. However, the club must expect further increases to pool hire costs next year.

Cost reduction measures should still be sought, for example reducing pool hire

durations where they are not being fully utilised.

For comparison, Tadpole fees are currently cheaper than Xcite swimming lesson fees

and even after the proposed increases, will still be 70p cheaper than Xcite.

7.1.1. Proposed increased Squad Fees:

Tadpoles £22 (currently £18)

Transition £25 (currently £18)

Bronze £32.50 (currently £25)

Silver £42.50 (currently £35)

Gold £47.50 (currently £40)

Masters £20 (currently £15)

7.1.2. Proposed increased Club Membership Fee:

Membership Fee £45 (currently £40)

The club currently pays the SASA fee for coaches. It is also proposed that those

coaches who are now paid by the club, should pay their own SASA fee.

7.2. Andrew Millar summarised the financial situation; the club is currently losing

money every month. We should also expect further increases in pool costs next year.

He invited questions from the floor.

7.2.1. Billy Stirling said that the club must fill the top squads, as not doing so had

Bathgate A.S.C. AGM Minutes 2014

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December 2014

missed a lot of income over the last year. Nigel Kelly replied that six swimmers had

gone to other clubs. There were also swimmers going direct to SWL from Silver

squad, which was clearly wrong and indicated that the ‘pathway’ needed to be looked

at. There were, however, lots of swimmers in Transition squad who should move up in

the next 6 to 9 months.

7.2.2. A question was raised about fundraising; Martin Kelly said that the club did

very little; other clubs do a lot more, for example raising up to £4,000 bagpacking. Our

club used to have an active fundraising committee, however swimmers left and the

parents were not replaced. Andrew Millar agreed that there need to be new parents

recruited and a fundraising sub-committee formed.

7.2.3. Chris Farrell suggested the club seek charitable status; this could facilitate

grants, matched funding from companies, gift aid, etc. Andrew Millar agreed and it

should be discussed further, next week.

7.3. Vote taken on Proposal to increase Squad Fees (as detailed in 7.1.1 above);

… All in attendance agreed to the proposal with a show of hands.

7.4. Vote taken on Proposal to increase Club Membership Fee and changes related to

paid coaches (as detailed in 7.1.2 above);

… All in attendance agreed to the proposal with a show of hands.

8. Election of Officers:

8.1. Proposed posts and post holders for the 2014-2015 ‘BASC Management

Committee’ was included in the handout given to all attendees (Attachment ‘C’).

Unfortunately the last page was omitted, so Andrew Millar read out the omitted

proposed posts and post holders, as follows;

… Competition Advisor: Billy Stirling

… Committee Remits Reviewer: Nigel Kelly

… Masters Rep: Craig Hossack

… Squad Administrators: Natasha Martin (tanks 1-3), Heather Long (tank 4 &

transition), Catherine Gegan (bronze), Jennifer Stirling (silver & gold)

8.2. Election of Executive Officers was proposed and seconded, as follows;

President - Andrew Millar: Proposed by Patsy Kelly, Seconded by Annette Bell

Vice President - Neil Quinn: Proposed by Martin Kelly, Seconded by Chris Farrell

Secretary - Ruth Gill: Proposed by Annette Bell, Seconded by Chris Farrell

Treasurer - Martin Kelly: Proposed by Nigel Kelly, Seconded by Chris Farrell

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December 2014

8.3. Election of all Non-Executive Officers; as listed in the handout (Attachment‘C’),

plus the posts omitted from the handout which were read out by Andrew Millar and

listed in 8.1 above;

… Proposed by Ronnie Morgan, Seconded by Annette Bell.

9. Potential Help from New Members:

9.1. Andrew Millar outlined the ongoing problem which the club has filling roles and

securing help from parents for the many other tasks necessary for the smooth operation

of the club. The club has been growing every year and the administrative workload

just gets bigger.

9.2. There followed a discussion; it was proposed that all parents of new swimmers

joining the club, should be obliged to help in some way. However, it was suggested

that it was only really when swimmers progressed to the competitive squads, and

started to compete in external galas, that the most help was required. It would still be

sensible to approach every new parent, to see if they could help or if they brought any

special skills to the club. However, only when the swimmers entered the competitive

squads, should the parents be obliged to help. Helping could be taking a committee

position or, for example, attending a time-keeping course and officiating at galas.

9.3. Vote taken on a proposal: that when a swimmer reaches the competitive squads,

then one person from each family must assist the club in some way, either taking a

committee position or undertaking one of the many other duties;

… All in attendance agreed to the proposal with a show of hands.

10. Other Relevant Business:

None proposed.

Next Meeting: TBC.

Attachments: Att’A’: Handout: Presidents Report

Att’B’: Handout: Income, Expenditure & Bank Balance

Att’C’: Handout: Proposed Management Committee 2014/2015

Bathgate A.S.C. AGM Minutes 2014 (Attachment ‘A’)

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December 2014

President’s Report 2014

Timetable of Key Events 2013 – Nov 2014 Nov 2013 Club Champs

Alana Wait wins Lifetime Achievement Award at VSGWL 2013 Awards

Dec Revision of new tadpole pool layout

Jan Good Sport Contracts introduced

Club enters the first Scottish Swimming 5K event – Graeme Burton is second

nationally in age group

Friday night land training introduced for Masters

Feb Regular slot in the West Lothian Courier secured

March Introduction of new Adult Improvers group

April Introduction of Club Captains

May 1st Choice Blinds and Shutters New Club Shirt Sponsor

June New BASC noticeboard on display at pool

Club is honoured to participate in the Queen’s Baton Relay event

August Natalie Ellis completes UKCC Level 1

First entry as a club at the Great Scottish Swim in Loch Lomond

Sept All Water Helpers encouraged to register for Saltire Awards

Oct Top squad coaching support secured from Oliver Waddington until 31 Dec

Successful recruitment of new club volunteers

Nov 2014 Club Champs

New tadpole format – medals presented on the night by Club Captains

Ruth Gill wins a Judges Discretionary Award and George Hossack is runner

up in the Sports Volunteer category at VSGWL 2014 Awards

Club announce plans for 2015 Open Water Swim Camp in Annecy – 35

swimmers to enter the Lake Annecy Swim in August 2015

Club banners researched and in production

New seasonal club newsletter launched by senior swimmer – John Fisher

New Squad Administrators in place

Gold squad trial new resistance land training kit with Xcite

Bathgate A.S.C. AGM Minutes 2014 (Attachment ‘A’)

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December 2014

Record Breakers

48 Short Course & 14 Long Course Club Records were recorded with 11 swimmers recording club records in 2014: Matthew Revell, Gregory Revell, Rebecca Stirling, Natalie Reilly, Caitlin Drummond, Nathan Robb, Sophie Morland, Laura Crawford, Katie McGhee, Jessica McKee & Rachel Donald.

Coaching news

Head Coach Following the birth of her beautiful baby Evan, Antasha is now back in her role as Head Coach. Antasha is the lead coach for the club and is the main point of contact for parents in relation to coaching and training queries. The coaches worked together to ensure there were cover plans in place each week during Antasha’s maternity leave and maintained continuity in her absence. The Club have secured some additional temporary coaching support from Oliver Waddington from Swim West Lothian. Oliver is also providing invaluable professional development support to our younger coaches. Additional Coaches The club has gone through a period of change with coaches moving on and new ones coming in. Lisa Kelly has now started university and the club wishes her well with her studies. Natalie Ellis qualified as a Level 1 Coach just after the summer and Ailsa McApline, Graeme Burton and Rosie Kane are all going through their Level 1 Coaching qualification at the moment. We have 2 senior swimmers who are shadowing coaches at the moment, George Hossack and Jack Burnside and we hope they too will progress onto their Level 1 qualification in due course. Nathan Robb is also going to be involved in coaching in the New Year. The club promotes volunteering to its older swimmers and we have a very committed group of water helpers supporting our youngest swimmers in the tadpoles section. Our Water Helpers are actively encouraged to register for the Saltire Awards which recognises their efforts through accreditation of hours spent volunteering and is endorsed by the First Minister. Club Captains The club introduced the roles of club captains earlier this year and we have 2 Junior Captains (Nyah Archibald and Jessica Service) and 2 Club Captains (Anna Kelly and George Hossack) in post. There was a great deal of interest in these roles from our swimmers and our younger swimmers look up to our Captains as role models for them. A report from the Captains will follow. Venue Hire Like all sports clubs in Scotland, we are facing significant increases to our venue hire costs. West Lothian Council have already increased the hourly cost of their pool hire and we expect additional increases in 2015 in light of the ‘Delivering Better Outcomes’ agenda. The local authority have to save £30.4 million between 2015 and 2018 and we expect further cost increases both with WLC venue hire and Xcite facilities in the coming months.

Bathgate A.S.C. AGM Minutes 2014 (Attachment ‘A’)

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BASC Swimming Pathway The BASC swimming pathway continues in a positive way. With the introduction of new pathway we embarked on new era of competitive swimming within the club. There have been numerous club records broken in the last year, with countless gold, silver & bronze medals won at various galas. The committee have made efforts to strengthen the pathway from the club onto Swim West Lothian. The club now benefits from skills and expertise of 2/3 top SWL swimmers attending our training sessions once a month. Our swimmers benefit a great deal from seeing these high quality athletes in action and it demonstrates the progression routes from the club to both parents and swimmers alike. We have also secured the support of Oliver Waddington, Assistant Head Coach of SWL who team teachers with our coaches at Armadale Academy on Tuesdays. This partnership has provided high quality professional development opportunities for our own coaches. The committees approach to partnership working and building on the pathway sees our largest contingent of Bathgate swimmers in SWL since 2011 and we will be revisiting our squad criteria in the new year to ensure swimmers are able to progress through our squads up to Gold and then onto SWL. The club has grown its membership from 160-180 helped by a revision of our Learn-to-Swim programme. Working in partnership with Scottish Swimming, the club has built additional capacity into the Tadpoles sections thanks to the new layout and format. We have also introduced a new squad for adults to improve their swimming technique which runs alongside the Masters squad. As a result, we now have the largest number of Masters swimmers ever in the club demonstrating the age range of our club membership. For our younger swimmers, it is important they can see swimming is a sport they can participate in at any age.

MEMBERSHIP NUMBERS 2007 – 2014

Nov-07 Nov-08 Nov-09 Nov-10 Nov-11 Nov-12 Nov-13 Nov-14

SWL 12 10 6 13 15 7 5 11

Top Dev 11 11 12 6 9 14 14 12

Dev 24 24 22 15 20 27 35 30

Tadpoles 53 46 41 54** 60 77 87 103

Masters 5 11 14 16 17 19 19 24

Junior Club - - 8 13 16 - - -

105 102 103 116

137

144

160

180

Bathgate A.S.C. AGM Minutes 2014 (Attachment ‘A’)

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Competitions Attended 2014

East District Age Group Champs Pt2 29/30 Nov 2014 Edinburgh & Midlothian Schools 23 Nov 2014 Carnegie Mini Meet 23 Nov 2014 Coast Grand Prix 14-16 Nov 2014

East District Age Group Champs Pt 1 1/2 Nov 2014 Carnegie Winter Meet 25/26 Oct 2014 West Lothian Championship 12 Oct 2014 Bo'ness Mini Meet 5 Oct 2014 East District Time Trial 4 & 5 Oct 2014 Scottish Team Championship 27 Sep 2014 Stirling autumn Meet 21 Sep 2014 West Lothian Schools 21 Sep 2014 Haddington 100 Meet 14 Sep 2014 Iain MacFadyen Meet 6 Sep 2014 Dunedin Challenge Meet 30/31 Aug 2014

Welsh Summer Nationals 2 - 8 Aug 2014 Scottish National Age Group Champs 25-29 Jun 2014 Aquanauts Graded Meet 22 Jun 2014 East Lothian Distance Meet 21 & 22 Jun 2014 Trojan Time Banded Gala 8 Jun 2014 INCAS Distance Meet 31 May/1 Jun 2014 SASA North Grand Prix 30 May/1 Jun 2014 Bathgate Procession Gala 28 May 2014-Girls Results Bathgate Procession Gala 28 May 2014-Boys Results SWL IM Tough Meet 16-18 May 2014 LDD Graded Meet 11 May 2014

Carnegie So Long Meet 3 & 4 May 2014 Midlothian Spring Meet 26 & 27 Apr 2014 FIRST Open Meet 19 & 20 Apr 2014 Scottish National Open Championship 3-6 Apr 2014 East Lothian Novice Meet 29 Mar 2014 Warrender JAG Open 23 Mar 2014 Glenrothes Spring Meet 22 Mar 2014 Portobello Mad March Meet 15 Mar 2014 Scottish Schools Championship Final 7 Mar 2014 East District Challenge 1 & 2 Mar 2014

Bellshill Sharks Open 15 & 16 Feb 2014 East District Age Group Champs pt3 11/12 Jan 2014

Bathgate A.S.C. AGM Minutes 2014 (Attachment ‘A’)

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2014 BASC League Results

2014 BASC League Results SWL Splash League 14 Nov 2014 – finished second overall FVJL 16 Nov 2014 FVJL 21 Sep 2014 SWL Splash League 5 Sep 2014 FVJL 24 Aug 2014 SWL Splash League 30 May 2014 FVJL 1 Jun 2014 Lothian Intermediate League 10 May 2014 Lothian Intermediate League 12 Apr 2014 FVJL 16 Mar 2014

Lothian Intermediate League 8 Mar 2014 FVJL 23 Feb 2014 SWL Splash League 7 Feb 2014 Full Meet Results Splash League 7 Feb 2014 2014 BASC Masters Events Attended

Masters Events

East of Scotland Masters Champs 22 Nov 2104 Scottish Masters SC Championship 17 & 18 Apr 2014 SASA 5K Championship 24 Jan 2014

Bathgate A.S.C. AGM Minutes 2014 (Attachment ‘B’)

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Bathgate A.S.C. AGM Minutes 2014 (Attachment ‘C’)

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PROPOSED BASC MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE 2014 – 2015 Subject to nomination process at AGM

Executive Officers:

President Andrew Millar

Vice President Neil Quinn

Secretary Ruth Gill

Treasurer Martin Kelly

Non Executive Officers:

Assistant Treasurer Patsy Kelly/Elizabeth Archibald

Minute Secretary Andrew Revell

Competition Secretary Stuart Reilly

Niall Bell Waiting List Secretary

Trophy Secretary Terry Davies

Head Coach Antasha Wolmarans

Press/Communications Chris Farrel

Newsletter Tony Read

Club Captains Anna Kelly & George Hossack

Junior Captains Jessica Service & Nyah Archibald

Forth Valley Leagues Jennifer Brown

Swimming Technical Official Craig Hossack

Child Protection Officer Drew Elliot

Swimwear Co-ordinator Fiona Watson

Membership Secretary Patsy Kelly Fundraising Committee/ Event

Organisers

Sharon Gill, Maria Glendinning, Umasha

Thilakarathna, Elizabeth Archibald

FVJL Team Manager Ralph Crooks

Training Coordinator Antasha Wolmarans

East District/Lothian Region Rep Ruth Gill

Swim West Lothian Rep Joe Robb & Donna Morland

Open Water Camp Links

Gwen Fleming/Carol McGurk/Craig

Hossack/Andrew Millar