The meeting was held in person at Sandbar, 120 Grosvenor St, Manchester, M1 7HL.
The agenda was circulated in advance of the meeting via email to the committee members, and via WhatsApp community to all members of the club.
All members were invited to attend. Notifications delivered via email and WhatsApp community.
These are consolidated minutes for the purposes of publishing online. The full minutes are available on request by emailing secretary@northernwave.org.
Attendees
The committee members as named below, plus the following:
Lucie B, Melissa W, Julie V, Oti T, Kathryn F, Charlie H, Tim O, Sam B, MY L , Mike Ev, David A, Daniel J, Peter M, Ben G, Oona G, Susan F, Eric F, Daniele D, Tim S
Quorum
The quorum was met with 8 committee members with voting rights present.
Chair
The AGM was chaired by Julie Parker.
Normal Business
Committee Introductions
Julie Parker – Chair
Peter Jennings – Vice Chair
Donald Vaughan – Treasurer & Membership Secretary
Phil Joy – Secretary
Honzik Slovak – Tuesday Rep
Abi Stone – Wednesday Rep
Marie Coquet – Saturday Rep
Alastair Dawson – Co-Social Secretary (absence excused)
Andrew Pierce – Co-Social Secretary
Michael Mullan – Co Secretary Comms/Social Media (absence excused)
Sarah Hazelwood - Co Secretary Comms/Social Media
Jess Nichols – Welfare Officer
Edwin Lace – Head Coach (absence excused)
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.
We finished the last financial year at a slight deficit, largely due to pool hire costs having increased over the course of the year (GLL have put their prices up generally, we now hire the 50m pool at the MAC which is more expensive, and we also now hire 4 lanes at Abraham Moss Leisure Centre instead of 3). Consideration needs to be given to our pricing structure to ensure the club remains solvent.
Independent examiner for the club accounts for financial year 2024/25 has been Tim Offer. He has reviewed the accounts with Donald.
No questions or objections were raised. Year-end accounts were accepted and approved by Julie.
Election of Officers
Currently all Executive Committee positions run for 2-year terms, and they all renew at the same time. This leaves us at risk of having an entirely new Executive Committee if all wished to stand down at the same time, and this could be disruptive for the club. Accordingly, the Committee have proposed that the position of Chair and Treasurer be appointed for 1-year terms in 2025, and at time of renewal in 2026 they will revert to 2-year terms. The same is proposed for the position of Membership Secretary, although this is not an Executive position. No objections received to this, either from those Committee members present or from the wider club. It was therefore approved that the position of Chair, Treasurer and Membership Secretary will be elected in 2025 for a 1-year term each.
Julie Parker is willing to re-stand as Chair, for a 1-year term (as approved above).
Nobody else has opted to stand for the position.
Proposed by Phil Joy and seconded by Abi Stone.
No objections received.
Julie Parker elected as Chair, position to renew in 2026.
Peter Jennings wishes to stand down as Vice Chair.
Mike Evans is willing to stand.
Nobody else has opted to stand for the position.
Proposed by Eric Fewster and seconded by Barry Cox.
No objections received.
Mike Evans elected as Vice Chair, position to renew in 2027.
Donald Vaughan is willing to re-stand as Treasurer and Membership secretary, for a 1-year term (as approved above).
Nobody else has opted to stand for either position.
Proposed by Abi Stone and seconded by Tim Offer.
No objections received.
Donald Vaughan elected as Treasurer and Membership Secretary, positions to renew in 2026.
Phil Joy is willing to re-stand as Secretary.
Nobody else has opted to stand for the position.
Proposed by Donald Vaughan and seconded by Andrew Pierce.
No objections received.
Phil Joy elected as Secretary, position to renew in 2027.
Becky Toal stood down with immediate effect in 2024 from her position as Social Media Secretary. The committee identified that there was a need for this role to be filled swiftly and after advertising the role, chose to co-opt Michael Mullan and Sarah Hazelwood into the shared position of Co-Secretary for Comms and Social Media. They are both willing to stand and continue their shared roles. Michael Mullan proposed by Daniel Demarinis and seconded by Chris Kemp. Sarah Hazelwood proposed by Julie Parker and seconded by Michael Mullan.
Nobody else has opted to stand for the position.
No objections received.
Michael Mullan and Sarah Hazelwood elected as Co-Secretaries for Comms and Social Media, positions to renew in 2027.
Honzik Slovak is willing to re-stand as Tuesday Rep.
Nobody else has opted to stand for the position.
Proposed by Pete Jennings and seconded by Abi Stone.
No objections received.
Honzik Slovak elected as Tuesday Rep, position to renew in 2027.
Marie Coquet wishes to stand down as Saturday Rep.
Kevin Soares is willing to stand, both as Saturday Rep and Monday Rep.
Nobody else has opted to stand for either position.
Proposed by Marie Coquet and seconded by Alastair Dawson.
Kevin Soares elected as Monday and Saturday Rep, positions to renew in 2027.
Tim Offer kindly offered to act as the independent examiner for the club's accounts for 2025/26. Nobody else has offered to be appointed in this position. No objections received. Tim Offer is appointed as the independent examiner for 2025/26 accounting period.
Prices
Julie and Donald provided information specifically in relation to the club's ongoing financial position. Donald has highlighted in the Treasurer's report that the club made a loss in 2024/25, and we have recently been told that GLL will be increasing their pool hire charges by 5% this year. We anticipate that such increases may continue year-on-year. The issue of pricing, and specifically the need to increase our income, has been discussed by the Committee several times and more recently the Executive Committee.
At that meeting the primary concern was ensuring that the club makes sufficient income to remain solvent, without wanting to increase prices yearly (it being noted that we are permitted to do this, if necessary, however the Executive Committee did not consider that this feels the right approach for our members).
Donald provided a presentation (slides attached) on our historical price increases. We last increased prices in 2023/24 but the increase only applied to those members who pay for their sessions on the door and pay full price. The changes did not impact standing order charges or concession rates. We later raised the door and standing order charges for Saturday sessions when we returned to our 50m training pool session at the MAC, because the pool hire costs increased when changing from 25m to 50m.
Even with the latest price increases that the club has implemented, we find ourselves continuing to make a loss.
A lengthy discussion was held and detailed notes are found within the full AGM minutes - please refer to those for further information.
Northern Wave Manchester Masters 2025
As announced at the AGM last year, the club will be hosting an international masters competition at the MAC in August. A sub-committee has been set up and working hard to organise the event. Eric provided an update that we currently have 40 swimmers who have entered, the vast majority of whom are from Out to Swim. We anticipate that we will have an increase in entries as the event draws nearer, but we need our own swimmers to support our own event.
All information about the event is on our website. Any members who need to upgrade their Swim England memberships to allow them to compete can do so easily through Northern Wave.
Pride 2025
This year’s theme is ‘love’ and the plan is that we will march again in our swimming costumes or whatever outfits people feel comfortable in. We have asked to march next to the Sharks again.
We will do a kit order before pride so that people can get club t-shirts etc if they wish.
Any Other Business
None