South Axholme
Sharks Annual General Meeting
held at
The Red Lion Hotel, Epworth
on the
27th November 2007
Present: Simon Latham (Chairman), Jackie Buxton, Sandra Temperton (Secretary), Margaret Gray, Jill Watson, Jim Cook, Bev Webb, Cris Lewis, Jackie Buxton, Claire Windle, Jan Simm, Eddie Crick, Robin Halls, Tony Lockey, Caris Sterling, Paul Edgar & Mo Leggott.
Apologies:David Gray, Jeff Buxton, Lynn Crawford, Julie Hirst.
Introduction
Simon thanked everyone for taking the time to attend the AGM and continued with the Chairman’s report for 2007:
As club chairman I am justifiably proud of the club & want to pass on my personal thanks to all those people who helped with the organisation, running & delivery of the swimming club throughout 2007. As parents & swimmers we have all played apart in maintaining SAS as a force to be reckoned with in the leagues that we compete in.
There have been highlights this year, the first being the achievement in gaining ‘Swim 21’ recognition, this was a massive accomplishment & testament to Magaret, David, Peter & Alistair Gray for putting together the rather large portfolio of evidence required by the ASA for submission & attainment of the award. Swim 21 is an ASA charter mark that all swimming clubs aspire to, it helps us all to ensure that the club functions correctly & provides guide lines to be worked to.
Another highlight of the year was our first ‘Halloween Open Meet’ held at Beverley Swimming Pool on Sunday 28th October 2007. The event was an incredible success & a true testament to the incredible hard work that was put in behind the scenes during the preparation phases. I want to especially thank Jim Cook who sorted out the entries & announced on the day, Chris Lewis who is our resident IT expert, programme editor & publisher, Sandra Temperton our secretary, Julie Hirst for sorting out the t shirts & sponsorship.
The day it self could not of happened had it not been for the great help & assistance provided by all the visiting officials from various clubs + all other help received in one way or another from Helen Mayfield –Ella, The Watson family, the Smith Family, The Buxtons, The Hirsts, The Webbs, The Simms, The Crawfords, The Grays, The Lairds, The Cooks, The Windles, The Starbucks, The Lewis’s, The Tempertons, The Leggotts & anybody else who very kindly supported us in any way on the day. (I apologies if any names have been missed) You are all a great asset to the club & should be justifiably proud of your achievements.
All the feed back so far received has been extremely positive & although as promoter I was busy on the day no great problems were encountered. Thepool at Beverley has already been booked for Halloween 2008 on the 26th October, where we will build on our success & make the event even better still.
Back in September our chief coach of 7 years decided that it was time to move on to a new challenge & very suddenly exited from the club. The club would have faced a major challenge in replacing Kev, we were saved from this by Jeff Buxton whom after being approached by Jim Cook on the day of Kevs resignation very kindly agreed to be Head coach for a period of 6 months. I am working on him to try & persuade him to stay on beyond that, so far the jury is still out.
Kev was an employee of the pool, Jeff is a volunteer giving up a substantial amount of his own time, not only coaching 3 nights a week but also attending gala’s, open meets & club + regional meetings. Coaching is an incredibly responsible, time consuming & at times thankless task. Although he has only been head coach for the last 3 months the work he has done with the assistance of Eddy Crick, Margaret Gray, Geoff Squires & Paul Edgar has been nothing but extraordinary. He has gained the respect of both swimmers & parents alike, instilling discipline, providing quality coaching & managing the poolside coaching teams. He is also developing plans to implement pool life saving programmes for swimmers to take part in as an alternative for those club members who may not wish to swim competitively. He has the unanimous support from both myself & the committee. I also want to acknowledge the efforts of Jackie (Jeffs wife) who with out even being asked stepped into the role of team selector & administrator for our gala’s & who has produced team selections for the last three months.
I also want to acknowledge the incredible efforts of Clair Windle whom has recently spent in excess of 20 hours updating the times & results of our swimmers transferring them onto our updated software.
Both of these examples typify the extra distance all our committee are prepared to go in continuing to make the club a success.
Another major issue facing the club at the moment is whether or not the club becomes independent from the pool, currently in case you were not aware the club is administered financially by the swimming pool,ie pool fees & ASA membership + 3 pool employees If we were to become independent the club would become totally self administered, only paying the pool for hire of the pool & providing our own life guards, staff etc. I have tasked & am chairing a sub committee group that is looking into our various options. No decision has been made either way & once the sub committee has reported further meetings will take place between the club & pool management. You will all be kept up to date on such developments via minutes of the meetings published on our notice board.
South Axholme Sharks is a very family orientated swimming club, as a committee we encourage any parents or swimmers who wish to help with any aspect of the functioning of both the club & the committee to assist in any way. We rely heavily on parental support for the organisation of & attendance at events & swimming galas, presentation night, social functions etc. To put it bluntly we need all the help we can get if the club is going to carry on succeeding. As a committee we welcome fresh ideas from parents & swimmers. If you or anybody you know feels that they can help in any way then please let one of us know. The club as you are all aware will not function by itself.
Finally I want to thank all our swimmers who train & compete for the club with out them there would be no swimming club your support & commitment is paramount & with out it we would not be we are.
Simon thanked Sandra Temperton in particular and said the she has worked tirelessly as our club secretary & treasurer & giving up a lot of her own time answering letters, making phone calls, running the swim shop, adding up monies, writing cheques & balancing the books & producingstatements. She will not be easily replaced & I thank her for all her hard work & dedication. Thank you Sandra & please keep your promise & help us out with next years Open Meet.
Please accept this as a thank-you from both myself & the committee.
Minutes of the last AGM
Agreed as a true record.
Matters Arising
Paul asked the Committee if they knew whether Epworth Pool had achieved Charitable status, which Jim confirmed they had earlier this year.
Looking at the Sharks Accounts, it looks like the take-up spanner and spool for the lane ropes has been paid for by the Club however, it had been agreed previously that the Pool would pay for these on behalf of Sharks. Jim is to look into this and reimburse the Club, if a mistake has been made.
Tony Lockey expressed his concern about the Committee’s contingency plan, should Jeff Buxton decide to leave as Head Coach, as his initial committment was for six months. Simon advised that although a contingency plan had not been fully discussed, Simon has already spoken to Jeff and advised him of his willingness to share the responsibilities if Jeff decides to stay on, which of course we all hope he will.
Concerned was also expressed about the level of coaching for the Club, particularly on the Wednesday evening session, as there is usually only one adult coaching and sometimes there seems to be children helping as young as11 years old. Some parents are concerned about the lane coaching in this respect, as it does not meet their expectations and does not give them ‘value for money’. Is there a legal issue here? Is everybody CRB checked? At the moment, the Pool has the ultimate legal responsibility and must ensure that they provide at least the minimum standard of care etc. for the swimmers. The Swim 21 concept would recommend that there be at least one lane coach on each lane however, the number of swimmers in each lane needs to be taken into consideration as well. We need to clarify this and make enquiries from the Pool management to ensure that the correct number of qualified staff are on poolside at every session. Simon to look into this and he will also discuss this at the next poolside meeting for coaches and poolside helpers, which should be held before Xmas. It was pointed out that the Club does need more poolside helpers/lane coaches who are willing to spare a little of their time and we are always on the look out for anybody who is interest, all help will be greatly appreciated. The cost of training someone in order to gain a coaching qualification has increased substantially over the last few years and we are now looking £360 for an assistant coaches course (level 1), the time it takes must also be taken into consideration for anyone who wishes to take this on board.
Head Coaches Report for 2007
by Jeff Buxton
As you are all aware I became Head Coach at the beginning of September and hence apologise that this report may be lacking in details about the early part of the year. However, I am delighted by the performances of many of our swimmers and wish to thank all the Committee for the support offered to me during the last 3 months.
The Sharks Halloween Open Meet has received much well deserved recognition and praise. It was well supported by our swimmers, particularly in the younger age groups. In total our swimmers won 42 ‘top 6’ trophies plus numerous speeding tickets. Special mention must go to the 1st places:
Chris Watson – 100m IM, 50m Breast and 50m Back
Beth Edgar – 50m Back
Anna Laird – 50m Breast
Molly Simm – 50m Fly
Lily Webb – 100m IM
Holly Lewis – 100m IM
Bridie Smith – 50m Free
It was a great idea to include the Cannons as they really increased the atmosphere on both the poolside and the balcony. Our morning team did well coming in 3rd place and our afternoon team swan brilliantly to win and lift the trophy! I am not going to say more about the Open Meet – I am sure it will be covered in a separate agenda item, but would just like to add my thanks and congratulations to everyone involved. It is more than 25 years since I became involved in swimming and the only other local club to have run Open Meets is Dartes. You should all be enormously proud to have achieved such success at the first Sharks one.
We have competed in four Leagues this year: the Lincs Junior League, the Lincs Senior League, the Barnsley League and the Dinsdale League.
In the Barnsley League we finished 3rd out of the 5 teams in our Division and therefore remain in the same Division next year.
I am awaiting confirmation of the Dinsdale League final placings – our last gala was only last Sunday and I’m not sure whether some of the other clubs have still fixtures to complete.
In the Lincs Senior League we reached the A final and came 5th which was an improvement of one place from last year.
In the Lincs Junior League we finished in 3rd place for the second year running. Again there were some great swims from our younger children.
The DMASA Team Championships were an exciting event back in May. We finished in 4th place (just behind Askern Spa – we need to aim for 3rd next year!). More recently in November the Individual Championships brought medals for 11 of our swimmers which is a huge increase on 6 swimmers who got medals back in 2006. Well Done to Lily Webb, Dan Leggott, Matthew Hirst, Luke Shyplka, Declan Neary, Chris Watson, Holly Lewis, Hannah Hirst, Charlie Cocks, Johnny Pennell and Anna Laird.
The Barnsley Individuals also produced some excellent swims. Dan Leggott swam particularly well to win Gold.
The Club Champs ran smoothly again and there were some particularly good swims from the younger swimmers. In the New Year I am keen to try and boost our membership numbers in these age groups – it’s a concern that only one boy swam in the 8 and under age group.
Sharks continue to feed swimmers into Dartes. Some have achieved fantastic results in Yorkshire and North East Championships. I don’t intend to include the results here as I am not familiar with all the details and don’t want to risk offending anyone by missing them out! However, I would like to give special mentions to Matthew Hirst for winning a gold medal in the Yorkshire backstroke and to Holly Lewis for last weekend achieving a silver medal in the North East Counties. Well Done to them both.
Our Masters squad continues to attract new members and it was good to see Sharks well represented at both the Rotherham Metro Open and the Yorkshire Championships. Swimmers came away with medals in both and we were able to enter relay teams. It has also been great to see our Masters swimmers competing in some of the other club galas, particularly in the Dinsdale League.
Just before I move onto 2008 I would just like to thank some people for their assistance:
So – what’s in store for 2008? Our training schedules have increased in distance and we are starting to see some good PBs coming through for many of the swimmers. That should continue and put us in good shape for the future. An outline of my thoughts and plans are:
To start off the New Year I would like to have a Sprint Night one Saturday in January, hopefully the 19th, at Gainsborough pool. PBs will of course count towards the Sprint Ladders. It will also be opportunity for our Masters swimmers to enter the ‘Postal Swim’ and I would like to try out a ‘handicap’ race. My proposal for the session is:
5.30pm Warm Up
6.00pm All ages 50m Front Crawl and Butterfly (25m for 9 and u)
6.30pm (approx) 30 min Postal Swim for Masters
7.10pm All ages 50m Breast and Back (25m for 9 and u)
7.45pm Handicap Race for everyone (50m F/S based on 60 sec)
In conclusion I would like to say I am very optimistic for the progress of all Sharks swimmers and the club as a whole. Lets have a great year in 2008!
Committee Proposals
None.
Election of the Committee
Resignations:- The committee received two letters of resignation from Lynn Crawford and Julie Hirst. Lynn apologised for not being able to make the AGM and has decided to resign as a Committee member due to other commitments on Tuesday evenings but she will continue to help the Club as much as possible. Julie again apologised for not being able to make the AGM and has decided to resign due to Hannah and Matthews committment to DARTES but again will help the Club as much as possible including arranging the fixtures list.
Sandra Temperton advised the Committee that should would like to resign as Secretary and Treasurer but would still like to be a member of the Committee and again will help the Club as much as possible. Jeff Buxton via Jackie advised that he would like to resign as Education Co-ordinator but still wishes to be Head Coach.
Simon accepted these resignations and thanked these committee members for all the help they had given the Committee and the Club during the time they had been members and their continued committment to help us going forward is much appreciated.
Elections:-
Chairman – Simon Latham proposed by Sandra Temperton and seconded by Bev Webb.
Vice-Chairman – Margaret Gray proposed by Jan Simm and seconded by Bev Webb.
Secretary and Minutes– Bev Webb proposed by Simon Latham and seconded by Claire Windle.
Treasurer - Stuart Watson proposed by Simon Latham and seconded by Bev Webb.
Head Coach – Jeff Buxton proposed by Simon Latham and seconded by Margaret Gray.
Open Meet/Gala Secretary – Jill Watson proposed by Simon Latham seconded by Bev Webb.
Education Co-ordinator - Paul Edgar proposed by Simon Latham and seconded by Claire Windle.
The remaining existing Committee members, who had not resigned (Jan Simm, David Gray, Jim Cook, Claire Windle and Sandra Temperton), were unanimously proposed to stay on the Committee in addition to the above members. The Committee decided that Stuart Starbuck should not be re-elected and would like to thank him for his committment in the past and are grateful for his committment as a lane coach on poolside.
This therefore left vacancies for 4 other new Committee members. Volunteers wishing to be considered were Mo Leggott, Paul Edgar (as above), Robin Halls and Tony Lockey. 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.
Any Other Business
We now have a list of the Swim 21 job descriptions, which the Committee would like to take forward as soon as possible. Simon advised that he thought some of these jobs could be done by the same person, as they are connected and combined should not cause too much anyone too much time. It was suggested that we should try and discuss these with a view to allocation are the next Committee meeting in December.
The Meeting ended at this point.