South Axholme Sharks Annual General Meeting
held at
The Red Lion Hotel, Epworth
on the
12th December 2006

Present: Simon Latham (Chairman), Kevin Dunne (Head Coach), Sandra Temperton (Secretary), Margaret Gray, Jill Watson, Jim Cook, Bev Webb, Margaret Pennell, Tim Blackham, Lynn Crawford, Cris Lewis, Jackie Buxton, Jeff Buxton, Angela Shpylka, Claire Windle, Julie Hirst, Jan Simm, Pat Simm, Pete Smith, Gail Riggott & Jeff Squires.    

Apologies: Stuart Starbuck, David Gray, & Mary Lambert.

Introduction

Simon thanked everyone for attending, particularly to the non-committee members who had taken the time and interest to come to the AGM. He also thanked Kev and all the other coaches and parents who support their children with their swimming; these people and their efforts make South Axholme Sharks a fantastic Club and every child and parent should be proud to be part of it.

Minutes of the last AGM  

Agreed as a true record.

Matters Arising

None.
 
Head Coaches Report for 2006
by Kev Dunne

Firstly, I want to begin with the encouraging signs I have observed over the past year and my time as Head Coach of South Axholme Sharks Swimming Club. At last years Annual General Meeting I mentioned that we had developed a strong under 12 structure and I was confident of further success in 2006. Our junior swimmers did not let me down and as predicted they represented the club with distinction, achieving an astonishing 3rd place in the Lincolnshire Junior League out of 12 competing teams. This was our highest ever position after achieving 7th place in 2005. These 9-12 year old are to be congratulated on their effort and enthusiasm Firstly I want to begin with the encouraging signs I have observed over the past year as my as only Lincoln Vulcan’s and Cleethorpes finished above them. The future of the club is certainly in good hands judging by these performances and I predict we will continue to do well in this league in the years to come.

With regard to league swimming, we did of course drop out of the Pocklington and Dinsdale Leagues in 2006 as we felt that competing in 5 leagues throughout 2005 was far too much for the club to cope with. This left of course just 3 leagues to swim, the Lincs Junior as mentioned; the Lincs Senior and the Barnsley Minors League.

In the Lincolnshire Senior League we just missed out on the ‘A’ Final between the top 6 teams in Lincolnshire but were well placed to do well in the ‘B’ Final for the 7-12 placed teams at Yarborough Pool Lincoln. After a very competitive fight with Louth Dolphins we came away worthy winners of the B final for the 2nd year in a row. Also because Boston failed to show for the A final we were rewarded with 6th place in the final league table. Our objective for 2007 of course will be to try and make the A Final and finish in 6th place or above legitimately. The Senior League culminated with the Squadrons team event held on 30th September. Our open girls 4x50m Medley Team finished in 2nd place for the 2nd year running. This trophy adorns the Sharks display cabinet and hopefully more will join it next year when the Squadrons change format to include 4x50 for the 10 & 12 yrs and 4x100 for the 14s and Open.

The Barnsley Minor League for 2006 consisted of 19 Teams split into 4 Divisions with Sharks competing in Division 2 having been relegated from Division 1 at the end of last year. In this league swimmers who finish in the top 8 in the Yorkshire Championships or above cannot swim that stroke. We now have several swimmers who cannot swim because of this. Despite this drawback Sharks still managed to finish in an excellent 2nd place being beaten only by Rotherham Metro but finishing in front of City of Sheffield, Chapletown and Borough of Barnsley. Therefore out of the 19 competing teams we really finished in 6th place overall. With Rotherham going up to Division 1, 2007 will see Sharks renewing our good rivalry with Wakefield, Askern Spa and the previous latter mentioned teams in this league, making promotion to Division 1 tough. The League Culminated with the Barnsley Minor Individual Championships celebrating 25 years on 4th November where Sharks took 21 Medals consisting of 6 Gold’s, 5 Silvers, 4 Bronze and 6 minor places.

We continue to support our affiliation to the DMASA and the DARTES elite swimming Scheme. The DMASA swimming events began in February and March with the John Harriman Championships. 11 swimmers represented us in February producing 14 Gold Medals, 5 silvers and 4 Bronze medals. Our 9-year-old girl swimmers took Golds in both the 4x25m Freestyle and Medley Relays. Despite only 5 swimmers from Sharks taking part in the March Harriman’s the medal tally was still good; 3 Gold’s, 5 Silvers; 3 Bronzes. This made an overall tally of 17 Gold, 10 Silvers and 7 Bronzes from 16 swimmers. The DMASA Bridon Shield team relays event in May saw Sharks take 4th place overall, just missing 3rd spot by 5 points which was taken by Askern. Armthorpe and Adwick battled it out for top spot as usual. The DMASA Individual Championships held in October 2006 saw our club take 45 medals, with 7 Golds, 11 Silvers, 6 Bronze and 21 minor placing medals, finishing 4th place club overall. Hannah Hirst was top girl in the 11year age group.

Sharks continue to be a good feeder to the Dartes Elite training Scheme with approximately 15-20 swimmers attending sessions during 2006. Some of those Sharks swimmers have gone on to make County, District and National finals whilst swimming for DARTES and no doubt the DARTES coaching staff will recognize those Sharks swimmers in their respective end of season report so I don’t intend to go into those achievements fully. However congratulations to Sharks Senior Girls Captain Alison Pennell on her 8th place in the National 16/17 Age Group 200m free final and for her Silver medal in the 100m free at the N.E.R Championships. Congratulations also to Yorkshire Finalists Hannah and Matthew Hirst, Holly Lewis, Anna Laird, Emily Fordham, Beth Edgar Jonathan Milnes, Katie Lindop and Chris Watson I am very proud of our Teachers at the club who have got these swimmers and all other DARTES attendees to the elite standard required by the training scheme. I do hope however that those swimmers at DARTES and future prospects taught by Sharks staff remember their roots; where they learned to compete, continue to support South Axholme Sharks and Sharks fixtures. I do urge them not to loose contact with the club. Arrangements have been made with Roy Shepherdson, the Head Coach of DARTES to visit Sharks in February 2007 for a workshop to take place and for him to advise us on what he expects and wishes to see.

We have encouraged swimmers to take part in a number of Open Meets throughout the year. Some of these have been well supported such as the Stocksbridge and Barnsley Xmas meet but others have been poorly supported compared to previous years. An example of which was the Falcons Open in November, in 2005 we came 2nd out of 27 clubs with over 20 swimmers taking part. This year 6 turned up and I was really disappointed. Interested has also waned in the Dartes B, Harrogate B, Fenland and Lowestoft Opens. I know that the Open Meet Secretary has been trying to rally people to attend but Sharks have not been supported like we have in previous years. In the past all parents would sit together and cheer the kids on. In the past we would have a mass of support and often win the best-supported club. However I feel this side of Sharks somewhat disappeared at Open Meets in 2006 but hope to see it back to normal in 2007. However I do appreciate that swimmers in the DARTES training scheme now have race black-outs and are not supposed to compete at certain times of the year and are expected to compete at meets selected by DARTES so this could be just one reason for such a demise.

The Masters section continues to thrive with an increase of 7 new members to this time last year. We now have 23 “Basking Sharks” as they are affectionately known Hopefully that number will increase in 2007 as there has been a great deal of interest from other parents who are keen to get in the water. South Axholme Sharks Masters have attended the Yorkshire Counties and North East Counties events in Scarborough together with several other Masters events throughout the year. In the Yorkshires at Scarborough in May 12 Masters scooped between them 7 Golds, 12 Silvers and 10 Bronze medals. Although only 4 masters went to the North East Counties again held at Scarborough in September, it was worth the trip as Shirley Hinchliffe was rewarded with 9 gold medals and also declared the winner of the Leo Batty Trophy for accumulating the most points throughout the year in the Yorkshires and District Masters events. This is a fantastic achievement for Shirley and has also helped to put the name of South Axholme Sharks truly and firmly on the masters swimming Map, Well Done Shirley!

Sharks currently have a membership of 170 swimmers, which is 2 more than this time last year. The membership is broken down as 58 in Killer (which includes 6 non training members who train at DARTES) 40 Tiger Squad, 49 Reef Squad and 23 Masters. Swimming Lessons are well attended and they still provide a good feeding system in the Sharks Reef Squad. 9 swimmers from lessons will be moving into the Reef Squad in 2007. Due to my recent retirement I have been teaching at lessons and identifying talent early to push them through the system, this seems to be working well.

The 2006 Club Championships have been supported by about 60- 65% of the membership with about 100 swimmers participating. Over the 4 galas during the year 29 new short course club records and 80 new Club Championship records were attained, a terrific achievement. Indeed talking of records, in the whole of 2006 113 short course club records have been broken at the 43 Swim meets sharks swimmers have been involved in.

To get such results over the season we need the dedication of poolside staff so I would like to thank Eddy, Margaret, Jeff, Rebecca and Charlotte for their help throughout the year. My special thanks also go out all the members of the Committee who work so hard in trying to make this swimming club the best in the region. I think you all agree that Chris Lewis deserves a special pat on the back for his work on developing the clubs excellent website. Jill Watson has also put a lot of her own time in collating entries for Open Meets and also deserves a big thank you. The Gray family especially Peter have worked warily to try and get Swim 21 recognition for Sharks and hopefully that will happen in 2007. Thanks also to Jim Cook who has been working hard in getting sponsorship for the club. Lastly in my thanks I must mention Sandra Temperton, a jack-of-all-trades who has worked relentlessly in her roles has Secretary, Treasurer and Swim Shop raconteur but to name a few

So what would I like to see in 2007, I would especially like to see more parents being involved in helping out, either Team Managing, Teaching or in an Officials Capacity? We desperately need an Education coordinator to help run assistant teachers courses, timekeeper’s courses and further our contact with the DMASA. We also need a results/records officer to come forward for 2007. We will of course need all the help we can get if our planned first Sharks Halloween Open Meet gets off the ground in October 2007. We already do a lot of good things, let have more of the same please and lets have another great year. Thank you for your support and I am extremely proud again to be Head Coach of South Axholme Sharks Swimming Club.

Committee Proposals

The Committee proposed and agreed that there should be no more than 15 Committee members at any one time. On looking at the Constitution this was already the case.

Election of the Committee

Resignations:-  Mary Lambert, Gail Riggott, Tim Blackham & Margaret Pennell. Kev thanked these committee members for all the help they had given the Committee and the Club during the time they had been members. And I am sure they will continue to support Sharks in as many ways as they can in the future.

Elections:-
Chairman – Simon Latham proposed by Sandra Temperton and seconded by Julie Hirst.
Vice-Chairman – Julie Hirst proposed by Kev Dunne and seconded by Bev Webb.
Secretary – Sandra Temperton proposed by Simon Latham and seconded by Jim Cook.
Minutes Secretary – Bev Webb proposed by Simon Latham and seconded by Kev Dunne.
Head Coach – Kev Dunne proposed by Simon Latham and seconded by Bev Webb.
Open Meet/Gala Secretary – Jill Watson proposed by Kev Dunne seconded by Sandra Temperton.

The remaining existing Committee members, who had not resigned, were unanimously proposed to stay on the Committee in addition to the above members – Jim Cook, Stuart Starbuck, Lynn Crawford, Margaret Gray & David Gray.

This therefore left vacancies for 4 other new Committee members. Volunteers wishing to be considered were Jeff Buxton, Jan Simm, Claire Windle and Angie Shpylka. The existing Committee members agreed that all four of the candidates should be invited onto the Committee and all four accepted. Welcome to these new members. It should also be noted that if David Gray wishes to resign from the Committee then Pete Smith would be eligible to take his place on the Committee.

Any Other Business

Jim advised that Epworth Pool were about to achieve charitable status very shortly all being well and Camelot had been very generous to Epworth Pool by granting them £10,000 from the Camelot Fund. Jim advised that out of this money the Epworth Pool Committee had agreed to repair the damaged lane ropes, buy a new take-up spool and a special spanner for use with the lane ropes. The Epworth Pool Committee also proposed to buy a new portable PA system for use by Sharks at Galas. Thank you to the Committee at Epworth Pool for these.

Jeff Squires told the Committee that he was concerned about the emergency procedures that were in place at Epworth Pool. As we are aware, with the Swim 21 status which we are aiming for in 2007, we need to have an emergency procedure in place, which everyone concerned is aware of. Jeff advised that there had been incidents at the Pool that he felt were not dealt with effectively. Jim advised that this was a concern for the Epworth Pool Committee and he would bring this up at their next Pool Committee meeting and suggested that when any incident occurs that causes any concern, the pool staff should be made aware of it as soon as possible, in order that it can be taken of quickly.

Jeff also wanted the Committee to be aware that there had been a few incidents of mis-behaviour at the Pool, which concerned him and that swimmers should not leave their belongings unattended and should keep them locked up in the lockers provided.

The Meeting ended at that point.