Committee Minutes

AGENDA COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 2nd 2020  7pm

1 FINANCE 

1. Update Tom Claxton/Andrew Grayson

2. Fundraising activities Del Murray

3. VIP Membership Andrew Grayson / Andrew Ward

4. Subscriptions

2 COVID 

1. Player recruitment & retention

2. Training and Matches

3. Membership fees

4. Therapist

5. Social Gathering Policy

3 FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT 

1. Lights Andrew O’Dell / Del Murray

2. Player kit and merchendise

3. Help for groundsman Del Murray

4. Strength and conditioning equipment Andrew Grayson

5. Ties Andrew O’Dell

6. Website Andrew Grayson

4 COACHING AND PLAYING 

1. Coaches update training Andrew Grayson

5 Social 

1. Social and events update Dave Cooke, Sam Hughes, Jay Thompson

2. Minety 50th Celebrations AG

6 SAFEGUARDING 

1. Access to top fields Andrew O’Dell

2. Disciplinary panel Andrew Grayson

3. Matchday Barriers

AOB

Next meeting October 7th 7pm

Minutes of the

Minety RFC Committee Meeting 5th August 2020

Clubhouse @ 19:00

Attendees : Jay Thomson (JT), Dave Cooke (DC), Andrew Odell (AO), Andy Grayson (AG), Ben Scott (BS), Dellam Murray (DM), Andy Ward (AW), Tom Claxton (TC), Peter McAllister (PMc)

Apologies : Kieran Tillotson (KT), Sam Hughes (SH).

Committee

• Proposal to elect the following to Committee as per article 28 of the articles of association of Minety Rugby Club (AG)

• Treasurer – Tom Claxton Proposed BS Seconded DC

• Press / Sponsorship officer – Del MurrayProposed DCSeconded AO

• MPFA Rep – Andrew OdellProposed TCSeconded BS

• Proposal to award complimentary memberships to Andrew O’Dell and Graham Cooke (AG)Proposed TC Seconded BS

• Thanks to the outgoing Committee particularly Jack Ward, Kevin Holdway, Steve Wilson, Andrew Hibbard, Morgan Aubrey plus James Irvine.

• Andy Brown will be the Referee Co-Ordinator for the upcoming season.

Finance.

• Accounts have been filed with Companies House but will result in a fine for being late. Clarity is required with some of the details provided by the Junior Section.

• TC has contacted Kevin Holdway with regards to handover. 

• TC proposed amalgamating accounts to make things easier to manage.

• AG suggested commissioning Judy Brown to Audit accounts.

• TC to provide a list of Payers and a financial summary each month.

• DM outlined plans to raise funds to buy new kit through the sale of sponsorship boards, events and advertising.

COVID.

• The present COVID restrictions leave things very doubtful as to when we might be able to play. The RFU have outline plans in place for the new season but there are a lot of dependencies. 

• We need to make sure we comply with the RFU COVID guidelines to ensure we are not penalised or lose our insurance.

• As most of our costs are associated with playing games so we will avoid expenditure due to the delay in the start of the season.

• We will also avoid costs on paying for a Sports Therapist until we have an idea when contact rugby will resume. 

• We can now play Touch rugby which is a minor improvement and should help with maintaining interest for retention & recruitment purposes.

• We still need to collect subscriptions to cover fixed costs.

• COVID guidelines are still in place for social gatherings but there should be enough space to accommodate events around the clubhouse if the weather remains fair.

Facilities and equipment.

• DM is looking at playing kit and other merchandise. Orders will be taken for a ‘bundle’ with payment collected upfront. Sponsorship will be sought to reduce overall cost.

• Players to buy their own shorts & socks.

• Spare bobble hats to be given to BS. It is believed that Andrew Hibbard currently has them.

• Big discussion on ties. Proposal to have three new ties – 50+ appearance ties, standard club ties and 50th year anniversary ties. AO and DM to liaise.

• BS said that Mrs Scott will prepare match day food although not every week. BS to create a rota.

• Pitches – hard and cracked due to the weather. The weather this year has prevented any major works from taking place. The grass has been cut and the pitches look fine although we may have an opportunity to do something in the Autumn if the season is delayed.

• Work Parties are required to help the groundsman with erecting the lighting towers, repairing the shed etc. DM to send something out.

• AG requested funds to purchase strength and conditioning equipment – medicine balls, heavy passing balls etc. Estimate of cost to be sent to TC.

Coaching and Playing.

• Currently concentrating on strength & conditioning with social distancing maintained. Groups split into forwards & backs.

• Numbers turning up for training have been good.

• BS suggested training twice a week. AG said that usually one session would be reactive to work on what happened in the previous match and the second session is proactive and looked at the game plan for the next match. Some discussion around the feasibility of this with a preference to have a set ‘one club session’ and then an optional session so that the resources are not split in such a way that we are not able to have a proper training session at all.

• Pre-season matches – an inter club Chairman’s match would be a good social event and fundraising opportunity plus maybe a local game against Cricklade rather than going too far afield.

• AG volunteered to help coach the U10s on an ad hoc basis following a request for support from Edward Wolton.

Social.

• Proposal to have steak night after the RWB match at the Royal Wootton Bassett but we would need to confirm how many they can accommodate.

• The new sub-committee (DC, JT, SH) are looking to run two events each month.

• Ladies night, Xmas Do, Beer Festival, Annual Dinner and 7s are all on the agenda.

• Golf day was well attended and worked well.

• The aim is to promote participation through social media to help with getting players to training and attending events.

• Next year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Club so we need to plan early to mark this occasion. A sub committee needs to be formed which will include ex-players. The intention is to have a big event including dinner, dance & disco with extended invites to help cover costs and get people involved.

Safeguarding.

• We need to ensure that the crowd barriers are put up on match days prior to the game as part of the preamble and taken down when the match finishes.

• Ambulance access to top fields is ongoing. AO

Any Other Business.

• Fundraising – suggestion to sell scratch cards or have a 50/50 draw after each match. Income could also be increased through beer sponsorship following selected matches.

• TC suggested a special 50th Anniversary Tour which would need another sub-committee to bring together. Starting to organise early should help because recent tours have failed to materialise.

• PMc to look at the Articles of Association and the structure of the Limited Company to clarify roles.

• AG to track and recover keys from the most recent Chairmen.

Next meeting 2nd September 2020 at 19:00.