Minutes for Committee Meeting – 14 March 2023

In Attendance

Julie Parker – Co-Chair
Pete Jennings – Co-chair
Donald Vaughan – Treasurer
Abi Stone – Wednesday Rep
Jess Nichols – Welfare Rep
Edwin Lace - Coach
Alex Hopps - Teacher
Becky Toal – Communications
Honzik Slovak – Tuesday Rep

Absence Excused

Phil Joy – Secretary

Chairing Meeting

Julie Parker

Normal Business

  1. Chair's Remarks

No specific comments to note.

  1. Treasurer

Overall bank balance £1,040 less versus last year and is now below £10,000.

  1. Membership

Attendance levels broadly OK across all sessions, Tuesday has had a notable small dip in attendance versus previous years.

Tuesday all lanes’ swimmer numbers have fallen, particularly in the social and teaching lanes.

  1. Coaching

Committee discussed potential ideas to help improve attendance numbers including adding testimonials to the website, rewording swimming ability paragraph and promotion of Tuesday for teaching

Edwin advised that a more dynamic approach to the coaching/teaching on a Tuesday night has been trialled recently. This is to continue.

  1. Welfare

The club will be reviewing the members declaration of disability procedure.

It was agreed that it would be sensible for all coaches and teachers to have completed the Swim England Disability awareness CPD course (free).

Other Business

  1. Swim Mark

Julie advised that most elements of Swim Mark have been approved and we are well on track.

  1. Swim Mark Coaching Rule Update

Julie advised that Swim England have set out conditions for delivering sessions where a level 2 coach is not present. Essentially, we need to make it clear to swimmers via Facebook and poolside that it is a teaching session when a teacher present or in the exceptional event of no coach/teacher that members can swim without instruction. As the pool will still have a lifeguard this is still deemed safe.

  1. AGM

All existing committee members due for re-election with the exception of Pete are going to stand again for their current roles (Abi continues in post for one further year). Pete will stand for role with reduced time requirements.

Committee roles will be advertised via email.

Committee agreed AGM date as Sunday 14 May at 18:30 delivered on zoom.

  1. Abraham Moss (4th weekly session and Gala)

Julie advised that Abraham Moss pool have approached the club to see if we would be interested in an additional session each week. Various evening options may be available for the club. This would be from ‘Summer’ 2023 subject to when the pool is finally ready to open.

It was decided that we would approach the manager with an intention to trial for at least three months on Monday evenings.

Abraham Moss have also confirmed they would accommodate a Gala. If pool not ready we will delay Gala and run alternate types of sessions on planned gala week.

  1. Social Media Updates

Prior to the meeting Becky had circulated an up-to-date tracker of social media followers/following to show the growth she has helped the club achieve in the last few years.

Donald provided a review of potential SEO costs/options for tracking effectiveness of adverts and paid for searches. Donald also gave a review of how high up a google search the club appears and we do sit at or near the top for any relevant search.

Julie requested the Instagram account be updated to be for the whole club and not just Northern Wave Women.

  1. Appropriate Posts on Social Media

Question raised about whether the club should post about swimming jobs in Dubai given the UAE’s stance on LGBTQI+ rights. Committee determined on balance post was ok but good to be reminded to always fully consider anything we post.

  1. AOB

Nothing raised.