Download Good evening and welcome to the 2011 Wey Valley AGM and thank

Good evening and welcome to the 2011 Wey Valley AGM and thank
you all for taking time out to attend the AGM of a club that is a very
important part of our lives but more importantly a key and influential
part of the swimmers lives.
Before we move into the formalities can I welcome Ann Tizzard our
Club President who has been so committed to WVSC over many years
and who turns up to all of our internal galas and events and is
wonderful with all of the swimmers whether they are medal winners or
not.
In advance of the formal apologies for absence, one important
absentee is worth mentioning up front - Chris Beckett our head coach
cannot be here as he has been summoned to an emergency council
meeting in Aldershot about recent rioting between Nepalese youths
and white youths. The council think that sport is an answer! Jo Weston
as Lead Coach of the Junior and Pre Comp squads is here to represent
herself and Chris.
As a committee we have a reasonably clear idea of the direction for the
club and we make decisions based on that direction and that is what we
have been elected by the membership of the club to do, however we
are the representatives of the membership and rely on and recognise
the importance of member input. Later in the agenda we have
included ‘Open Floor’ agenda item and that is the chance to review
recent changes made and consider the future priorities. As you will
hear later we have a small financial surplus at the end of this financial
year and there is a specific opportunity to contribute on how we spend
the surplus. So I would ask that you consider the comments you hear in
the various reports in preparation for the Open Floor agenda item.
Two jobs – Apologies for absence and the receiving and approval of the
2010 AGM minutes.
2011 AGM WVSC CHAIRMANS REPORT
Firstly, I would like to thank all of the committee members, all of whom
are here this evening - who have served on the committee in the last
year giving their time, hard work and enthusiasm to the successful
running of Wey Valley Swimming Club.
I am sorry to have to announce that three of our committee are
resigning from the committee at this AGM but they all remain
committed to the club doing jobs outside of the committee. Firstly,
Krystle Hargreaves who is expecting her first child in September and
will be taking some maternity leave before returning to lead the
teaching on Saturdays, has decided that her new responsibilities at
home will mean that the club committee is probably one commitment
too far.
Then Michele Kearsey after three years on the committee is standing
down and lastly Karen Tuddenham who has been on the committee for
four years has decided that she wants to see new blood on the
committee with younger children – however Karen will be continuing in
her other jobs in the club as Gala Secretary which of course includes
organising the swimming at all of the internal competitions’ as well as
officiating, helping Andy with the website and providing team coordination advice to the coaches.
So although we are losing three committee members all three remain
committed and involved in the club. Can I take this opportunity to
thank Krystle, Michelle and Karen for their hard work and valuable
input as committee members of Wey Valley and we of course look
forward to their ongoing commitment to WV.
As your committee we decided earlier in the year that each member of
the committee should have specific responsibilities as opposed to
general appointments and in addition to the three named officers –
Chris Michael as Secretary; Mark Edwards as Treasurer and myself as
Chairman, we have Sarah Gregory as ASA & Swim 21 co-coordinator
and Suzanne Hoslett as Welfare Officer. The club’s constitution requires
three named officers and up to five other committee members.
I am delighted that we have three new committee members who have
been proposed and seconded for election tonight. Firstly Helga
Mepham who has two children swimming on Saturdays and subject to
election will be coming on to the committee with two remits, firstly to
represent the Saturday section of the club and ensure that the channels
between the two halves of the club are effective; and secondly to work
on the marketing of the club to new members.
Secondly we have always had a coaches or teacher’s rep on the
committee and Jo Weston, Lead Coach for the Pre Comp and Junior
squads expressed a wish to join the committee, with Chris Beckett’s
approval, replacing Krystle as the coaches/teachers rep.
The third person, who has been proposed and seconded to serve on the
committee, is Nicola Hall who will take on the currently vacant role of
Team Manager. This role includes within its remit taking the teams
from the coaches, posting the team sheets on the board and on line on
Teamer, contacting swimmers directly if necessary, making sure that
everyone has an emergency number in case of a late withdrawal,
ensuring that every swimmer/parent knows where to go and when to
be there, publishing results and league tables on the board and
communicate to members the format of each of the competitions. As a
competitive club and galas are at the heart of what we do, and this is an
important role in the club.
While I am on the subject of specific roles in the club – a key volunteer
function within the club is that of Head of Kit and the sale of club and
swimming kit. This role is in effect provides a financial return for Wey
Valley but is also a service for parents and swimmers that is not
available at all clubs. In the last couple of years Julie Wilkinson has
done a terrific job for us in this role and with three daughters in the
Senior squad is happy to carry on in the role of Senior squad Kit person
but understandably cannot commit to the other squads in the club –
thank you to Julie. Any volunteers to take on this role please contact
Chris or Mark
I should also thank all of you who are volunteers and the significant
number of other volunteers, most of whom are swimmer’s
parents/relatives and swimmers as well, who have given their time and
commitment in a myriad of social, organisational, gala, training,
transport and any number of other activities. A club such as ours relies
on the contribution of volunteers, and although I am delighted with the
contributions from so many people we can always find work for more
volunteers, please do your best to encourage more people to put
themselves forward.
Two years ago at the AGM there was a significant debate about the
future of Wey Valley Swimming Club and whether there should be a
‘merger’ with Guildford City Swimming Club, to effectively become
their new ‘Competitive Development’ section. At that time the proposal
was overwhelmingly rejected on the grounds that the membership felt
it was important to preserve the ethos and principles of Wey Valley. I
know that you will agree that this was the right decision and that the
continued progress of Wey Valley two years on, is testament to that
fact.
The commitment by the committee at that time was to ensure that the
ethos and principles of Wey Valley should be retained and in fact be
accentuated. I thought it would be helpful to remind ourselves of what
the key elements of the Wey Valley ethos are:
 An inclusive club with attainable entry criteria, offering
opportunities to as many as possible
 An Ambitious club for swimmers who want to improve
 An Accommodating club allowing the pursuit of other activities
and family life in parallel
 A Participative club relying on the active involvement of many
volunteers
 A Cooperative club with a partnership between coaches/teachers
and families
 A Competitive club with a means of achieving personal
improvement
 A Sociable club with friendship between swimmers, coaches and
parents
 Lastly a Community-oriented club which serves the community by
helping the development of swimming in the local area
At the same it was important to ensure the stability and the future of
the club which was put into question by some outside the club and
more importantly we had to ensure that the swimmers were not
affected by the short term instability.
In the last two years the club has become more stable and I believe that
the club is delivering against the elements within our ethos that I have
just outlined, but equally I believe that the next year is the time for the
club to move forward again with some new initiatives both in and out
of the pool.
In summary what has happened over the last year?...
1. Membership grew to 215 swimmers from 205 a year earlier with a
churn of 25% versus 30% in the previous year
2. We now have 81 lane hours per week versus 77 at the start of the
year
3. We have more volunteers working across the club, which as I
pointed out last year was 50% more than we had in 2009 - I
should also point out that as a club we routinely provide more
officials, from timekeepers to judges and referees at local and
regional meets & galas, than any other club of our size. However
we still want members to enroll on timekeeping courses and
judging courses – it makes a long day at an open meet or evening
at a league gala go much quicker!
4. Wey Valley was asked to host two Rother League galas and one
National league gala (ahead of Guildford City!) in the last 12
months, again significantly more than any other club of our size,
reflecting the acknowledged ability of our club to run really good
galas. Additionally the club ran a very successful the Guildford
Primary Schools gala at the Spectrum in March which was the
largest both in terms of swimmers and spectators to date.
Additionally we ran the annual Club Summer Sprints and Club
Championships – All of these events were only possible thanks to
the terrific contribution and organisational skills of our
volunteers.
5. Jo Weston will report separately on the Swimming but a key focus
over the last year has been to create a seamless move for
swimmers from Saturday teaching into the competitive squads.
To this end the introduction of the pre-comp squad has been an
important development - the new pre-comp squad sits between
Saturday teaching and the new Junior Squad, before swimmers
then transition into the Senior Squad.
6. It would be fair to say that the resolution over the re-building of
the Godalming Leisure Centre occupied a great deal of time and
thought in the last twelve months and the final outcome of the
retention of the existing site while the new site is being built was
a terrific outcome. Those of you who attended last year’s Club
Awards evening will remember Chris Michael’s presentation of
how the new centre will look - well we are now able to see at the
site is the early stages of that vision coming true. I will also take
this opportunity to publicly thank on behalf of the whole club, the
efforts of Chris Michael and Mark Edwards as a key part of the
project to get the new Leisure Centre built on a new site thereby
protecting swimming at Wey Valley during the period of the
build. Both Chris and Mark worked very hard at lobbying,
meetings and writing papers to ensure the club had continuity of
swimming – a very special thank you to both of them and all of
those who joined in the on line lobbying process or otherwise
added value to the process.
Currently we and Godalming SC are working with Waverley
Borough Council on the detailed spec of the pool including
spectator seating and a timing system – can I thank Chris Davison
who stepped forward to help us with the spec and selection of
the timing system to be installed at the new pool. There is no
doubt that the new pool will provide the club with new impetus
in 2012 and will of course make us more attractive to new
members. I will take this opportunity for another commercial
break and ask for any volunteers to help in the process of cocoordinating the clubs applications for grant aid for the timing
system.
I have highlighted the small increase in swimmers in the last year but
we do have available spaces in some squads and given that we do have
around a 30% churn of membership each year, we need to be
continually marketing the club to new members. This marketing has
been increased in the last year but we need to a much better job of
targeting local schools and swim schools in particular the primary
schools in the area. We would ask all parents and members to market
and sell the club when talking to friends and schools.
Mark Edwards will present the club accounts later in the AGM but I am
sure he will not mind me announcing that the club has a surplus for the
last year reflecting both sensible financial management and a vibrant
club. Considerable thanks to Mark for his diligent work as treasurer and
for producing such strong financial results. In advance of the new pool
opening in 2012 this surplus gives us the chance to look at some new
funded initiatives which could include specialist coaching; club kit; proactive marketing; and team kit. The Open Floor agenda item is designed
to expand on some of these ideas and get opinions from the members
present.
In the last year we have yet again had a number of very successful
social events including a very well attended BBQ last June and the Club
Awards evening in December for which Chris Michael, in just of one of
his areas of significant contribution to the club, should take enormous
credit. Also two very successful Junior Squad social events – Bowling at
Christmas and the Easter Egg Hunt organised by Jo with terrific support
from a team of mums. Whilst we are a Swimming Club with an ethos of
enjoyable and successful swimming, we also want swimmers and
parents to see the club as a sociable environment and I know that both
Chris Beckett and Jo Weston see this as being a key component in
retaining swimmers as they move through the squads.
As you all know the club swims at three pools and whilst I have talked
about the new pool at Godalming which will give us so much impetus in
2012, there are also changes at The Spectrum, where Guildford
Borough Council have announced this week that a new operator has
been appointed to run the Spectrum and the Lido, after the council
decided to hand over management to an outside company in a ten year
contract. The new centre will be managed in a partnership between GLL
and Freedom Leisure – they already run the K2 centre in Crawley
together. We would of course like more pool time at the Spectrum and
have had a number of meetings with the existing management team to
that effect – we will make an early contact with the new operators to
establish a relationship and press for a more equitable allocation of
pool time between clubs.
Lastly and driven by Chris Michael with his normal energy, we have the
first WV Club tour in September where the swimmers will spend time at
a PGL site before swimming in a gala with Jo Weston’s home club of
Caerphilly. This is a terrific development for the club – but will only be
successful if we get as many swimmers as possible on the bus and at
the gala.
Lastly, as Chairman who frankly contributes a limited amount to the
club and is in awe of the contribution made by so many members, I
have been very pleased with the continuing progress that the club has
made in and out of the pool this year and I know that we have a very
exciting year ahead of us particularly with our new ‘home pool’ opening
next year.
To finish a very special thanks to our group of coaches and teachers
who enthuse, cajole, encourage, coach and train all of our swimmers –
they are at the heart of the club.
Mark Hammersley
Chairman WVSC
June 2011