Brogborough Boardsailing Club
Annual General Meeting: Minutes
Date of Meeting 20th June 2010
Committee Present: John Andel, Annette Young, Tony Tiffen, Alex Garratt-Carmichael, Barrie Laver, Steve Gascoyne, Mike Milnthorpe
Members Present: 23 members present – as a quorum is 10% of the total membership of 170, the members present represented a quorum
John Andel (Chair) declared the AGM open.
I. Reports from Officers – Chair (John Andel)
i. Reported that there was some confusion among members regarding the organization of the club – outlined the current club structure, reported on successful bids for grants, new committees formed, free taster sessions held and current membership levels (see Appendix I: Chairman’s Report)
II. Treasurer’s Report (Barrie Laver)
i. Reported that the club’s bank account balance is £3,777.92 with the following payment commitments: Central Beds Council and TV License Authority.
ii. Reported that cheque signatories needed to be re-established with the resignation of John Boulter from the committee.
iii. Barry Rivett asked about the financial position in relation to last year – BL confirmed that quarter on quarter throughout the year the account balance was more-or-less consistent with the previous year.
iv. John Andel explained that when the safety boat was stolen last year, the cost of the new boat was split with Tony.
v. The club pays the rates on the premises
vi. Mike Sapsard asked if the club has any revenue streams apart from grants. JA replied that there is the money that Tony passes on from the membership fees and any profits from social events.
III. Social Committee Report (Steve Gascoyne)
i. Steve Gascoyne reported that a social committee has been formed a few months ago, consisting of 6 members and regular meetings are held to organise events.
ii. SG reported that Barry Rivett had organized the W4CR event with £7,500 being raised for charity. A bicycle treasure hunt is also being planned for a future date.
iii. SG reported that a club Facebook page has been set up to inform people on upcoming events, but advertising of said events would also be done via emails and notices in the clubhouse. Group name is Brogborough Windsurfing Club.
iv. SG confirmed that the summer BBQ will be 24th July, coinciding with a Simon Bornhoft coaching day.
v. SG reported that a club outing is being arranged to the National Windsurfing Festival at Hayling Island on 4th / 5th Sept, with some members planning to take parts in events being held. Information is available in the clubhouse, and an attendance sheet will be going up in the clubhouse at the end of the July for those wishing to go.
vi. SG asked that if any members have any ideas for events / activities to see one of the Social Committee members – details on the notice board in the club house (Steve Gascoyne, Barry Rivett, Pam Stonebrook, and Chris Foreman).
IV. Race Committee Report – Annette Young
i. Annette Young reported that there was very good attendance this year for the Thursday evening race series, and a committee had been formed to take over the mantle from Tony (Annette Young, Mike George and Dave Lewis).
ii. AY reported that a pamphlet had been put together to explain the format of the races and to outline the rules, and that twenty people raced on the first race evening held this year.
iii. AY reported that one race committee member has decided to retire from racing this year and so there was an opening on the committee for anyone who wished to step forward. Confirmed that an email would be sent out asking for a volunteer – if more than person put themselves forward, a vote would be taken amongst the racing fleet.
V. Election of Officers
i. JA announced that John Boulter has decided to retire from the committee and confirmed that the two resigning members (Alex Garratt-Carmichael and Barrie Laver) would be re-elected if there were no objections or other proposals - none given, re-election confirmed.
ii. JA also confirmed that Steve Gascoyne who had been a co-opted member and had taken on the role of representing the Social Committee, would take over John Boulter’s position if no objections or other proposals – none given, election confirmed.
VI. Any Other Business
i. Pete Sims asked if there were any refunds due for the recent round of instructor training. JA replied that there would be, but the previous year’s trainees’ refunds had only just been finalised and once more information was available from the RYA with regards to refunds available, the instructors would be notified.
ii. BL confirmed that of the initial batch of refunds, most had now been paid out.
iii. No further business
VII. Close
i. John Andel declared the AGM closed
Appendix 1
Chairman’s Report June 2010
Start by looking at the background of the club to give people a clear picture of the structure. There are two arms of the club, inter-related but separate. One is the commercial arm operated and owned by Tony and Pauline Tiffen. The other is the non-commercial arm which is, in effect, a members association. Both trade.
Brogborough Boardsailing Club Ltd (Members' Association) the background
The Association was first set up in October 1999 when we learned that there were various proposals involving the introduction of new activities which would have seriously affected the windsurfing at Brogborough Lake. There were suggestions that the club itself might be sold to outside bodies. 2 brothers had set the Club up in the seventies, but by the nineties were no longer actively involved in the sport of windsurfing. They owned the shop which is on the site, ran the club as a proprietary (private) club and employed Tony as both shop and Lake Manager. Tony started negotiations to buy the club. Initially things went well, but the deal fell through at the 11th hour.
A decision was taken to establish a legal identity for the club membership, and we registered ourselves as a private company limited by guarantee. We were immediately recognised by the RYA and became affiliated to that organisation. As the licence to use the lake was up for renewal and we decided to try and obtain the licence for ourselves - the members.
Despite initial encouragement from the owners and their estate agent, the licence was eventually awarded to the Cliftons for a further five years. Tony remained as Lake Manager. The members’ association de-registered at Companies House, but continued to function in an informal manner, working with Tony to improve amenities at the club.
The wind turbine, solar panel and marquee are just a few of the things that the Association has bought.
The next major event took place in 2005 when Tony finally succeeded in buying the club. The members association continued to tick along informally.
By 2007 it was pretty obvious that the club’s old boat was living on borrowed time, so we started looking at ways of getting a replacement. A lottery grant was one way of getting funding for it. We re-registered as a company limited by guarantee with Companies House, had fresh committee elections and submitted a bid. And re-submitted – and resubmitted. Eventually the bid was successful and we were awarded £10,000. We were also awarded a further £5,000 by mid Beds Council. We bought a RIB and 11 Phantom race training boards.
We now remain a company limited by guarantee with a formal structure, a management committee and articles of association.
The management committee only operates in relation to the non commercial arm of the club, (the members’ association). It has no executive function over Tony and Pauline’s enterprise. Tony owns the shop, the storage containers and is the leaseholder of the lake. We exist to “promote the sport of windsurfing and environmentally sound activities in the area of Brogborough Lake”. The two arms, while separate are in a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship.
The Past 12 Months.
The main structural changes have been the creation of firstly a race committee and secondly a social committee to take some of the burden off Tony and Pauline’s shoulders.
The number of people racing on a Thursday evening has grown steadily over the last couple of years. Mike George, Dave Lewis and Annette Young have done an enormous amount of work on developing racing at the club, trying to balance the needs of competition and fun – not an easy task. It has become evident that our little fleet of Phantoms in woefully inadequate when it comes to catering for those who want to take part.
The Social Committee with Steve Cascoyne, Barry Rivett, have taken over the responsibility of organising the club bbq, the bike treasure hunt and other events. Barry practically single-handedly organised the club’s contribution to w4cr.
Instructor Training
With encouragement from the RYA, the club has now run 2 Start Windsurfing Instructor courses, including the powerboat level 2 certificate and the St John emergency first aid certificate. We now have a total of 20 qualified instructors at the club
Youth Schemes
Again with encouragement from the RYA, we have started 2 youth windsurfing schemes, On Board for beginners and Team 15 for the more competent young people. Mike Sapsard has taken the lead role in organising and coordinating these schemes and he is supported by a band of volunteers.
Free Taster sessions
Very successful again Total numbers 157
New Funding.
We have received approximately £1,500 in grants from the RYA for various projects over the past 12 months. We have just been awarded a grant of £10,000 from Sport England to pay for a second rescue/teaching boat to supplement the RIB and to buy an additional 7 race training boards, increasing the size of the fleet to 18.
Membership figures approx 145 ordinary members plus 35 on Gold/Silver/Bronze scheme.
