The meeting was held via Zoom.
The agenda was circulated in advance of the meeting via email to the committee members.
All members were invited to attend. Notifications were delivered via Facebook and email.
Attendees
The committee members as named below, plus the following:
Alastair Dawson
Chris Varden
David Harmes
Kathryn Fowler
Marie Coquet
Oti Tozser
Peter Martin
Sam Dunne
Stephen Bradley
Thanavorn Poempool
Wesley Crombie
Quorum
The quorum was met with the meeting initially commencing with 8 of the 9 committee members present and ending with 9 of the 9 committee members present.
Chairing Meeting
Julie Parker, Co-chair
Normal Business
Committee Introductions
Julie Parker – Co-chair
Peter Jennings – Co-chair
Donald Vaughan – Treasurer
Phil Joy – Secretary
Becky Toal – Comms
Honzik Slovak – Tuesday Rep
Abi Stone – Wednesday Rep
Jess Nichols – Welfare Rep (joined shortly after the commencement of meeting)
Edwin Lace – Coach
Chair's Report
Julie delivered the Chair’s report, a copy of which is available upon request.
Treasurer's Report
Donald delivered the Treasurer’s report, a copy of which is available upon request.
There was a discussion regarding the recent price increase, including an explanation as to why this was introduced. Further, Donald confirmed that prices may need to be reviewed annually, as despite the recent increase, the club is still running at a slight loss.
Questions were raised as to how long the club can continue to run at a loss, but there are sufficient cash reserves to allow us to continue running for several years on the current figures.
No further questions were asked, and there were no objections to the club accounts.
Julie therefore confirmed acceptance of the year-end accounts.
Election of Officers
Peter Jennings was elected for the position of Vice Chair. He nominated himself and was seconded by Julie Parker. There were no objections to his appointment.
Marie Coquet was elected for the position of Saturday rep. She nominated herself and was seconded by Abi Stone. There were no objections to her appointment.
The role of Comms Assistant and Social Secretary remain open.
Future Plans – New session
Julie confirmed that the club has provisionally accepted a trial run of a fourth regular session. The session will take place at the newly refurbished Abraham Moss pool once it opens and will be on a Monday evening from 7pm until 8pm.
There were lengthy discussions as to whether Monday is the best day for the session, and how the session should run. It was agreed that the committee will produce a poll to obtain the opinions of the wider club.
Coaching
There was a discussion regarding the current coaching provisions within the club. Edwin has delivered weekly for several years, with support along the way from various people who have kindly offered to assist. Most recently Alex Hopps has been providing regular support, but she can no longer do so due to outside work commitments. Eirini Tsoutsa has also offered support but is currently out of action due to injury. Tom Elphick has agreed to deliver regular sessions and provide additional cover where possible, and Phil Joy has recently completed his Level 1 coaching course to provide emergency support if no other coaches are available.
The committee is grateful to all of those who provide regular or ad-hoc coaching support, and remain committed to funding coaching courses for those within the club.
An email will be circulated to club members offering details on training.
Pride 2023
The club will be taking part in the Manchester Pride parade but ideally, the committee would like someone to take the lead on organising it, given that we don’t have a social secretary.
Neil Smallburn very kindly offered to help last year.
The committee will be looking for support on this evening within the coming weeks and months.
Any Other Business
25th Anniversary
It was noted that 2023 is the club’s 25th anniversary and the committee is planning a pool gala followed by an evening party.
A discussion followed about the various venue options that the committee has considered, and it was noted that it would be best to create a poll asking members for their preferences.
It was noted that the biggest difficulty facing the committee was determining whether there is sufficient interest from members to justify committing to the expense of organising a party.
In addition to polling members for their preferences, the committee will be looking for help from members to organise the party.
Whalley Range Pride
Abi Stone noted that Whalley Range Pride is on Saturday 27th May and the parade starts at the Nip and Tipple at midday. Members will be gathering there from around 11am to make banners. The parade ends in the garden of the Carlton Club, and it would be nice to see members attend if they can.
Recognition of club volunteers
Donald wanted to formally thank the door volunteers for their work over the last year.