AGM 9th March 2008
Minutes of the AGM
Sunday 9th March 2008, approximately 4pm, Taynuilt Hotel
Present: Mark Hill, Suse Coon, Carol Burnapp, John Coon, Ross Lilley, Andy Dale, Niall Urquhart, Paul Frost, Lynne Walker
1. Welcome & Apologies
Andy Dale welcomed all to the 2008 EckO AGM. Short introductions were made.
Apologies were received from Gill Berrow, Andy Beveridge, Fiona Berrow, Dave Bleazard, June Bleazard, Kincaid family, Julie Watson, Alison Duncan, Mary Greig, Kate Hunter.
2. Minutes of the 2007 AGM
The adoption of the minutes was proposed by Paul Frost and seconded by Ross Lilley.
3. Committee reports
- Chair (Andy Dale)
Andy circulated a written report (see below). In summary, EckO have had a very successful year although it has been different in character to last year. Many local events have been held, EckO members have competed for the club at the 11 person relay. Mapping continues to be a major growth area, with Stirling Surveys struggling to keep up with our demands! In 2008 the Purple Thistle will be based in Oban, the Scottish 6-Day event will come to Oban in 2011; with all this the club is looking to expand the load of event organisation. Schools remain healthy and the club should be thinking of developing a junior group to develop the experiences the juniors have.
- Secretary (Lynne Walker)
Most of the secretarial work is the dissemination of information that comes from the SOA, British Orienteering and other clubs. Apart from that, there is the usual committee business to keep on top of – and other committee members to chase up for responses!
- Treasurer & Funding (Ross Lilley)
Ross circulated the accounts for 2007 – 2008 and reported a healthy generation of income through the local events. The club income was boosted this year by the funds received from helping at Day 1 of Spey 2007. The pattern of income is consistent over the past few years.
- Publicity & Membership (Paul Frost)
Paul continues to develop the website and John Coon complemented him on his work in this area. Club membership is still on the ‘sign up to email’ basis and Paul recommended that this continued for the moment.
- A&BOP, Stramash & Active Schools update (Niall Urquhart)
A&BOP has been wound up, with the accounts audited.
Stramash won the COSLA Excellence Award as the winners of the Health Improvement category.
Active Schools has received funding for 3 more years.
4. Membership fees / structure for 2009 (Ross Lilley)
As previously discussed, it was decided to continue with no club membership fee.
Entries fees for events in
2008 will stay at:
£2 junior
£4 senior.
Proposed: Andy Dale Seconded: Lynne Walker
5. Events 2007 / 2008
- Winter Series 2007-8 (Andy)
Andy reported that we have been able to maintain an event a month since October 2007 to March 2008. Discussion focussed around the question “Should we have more ‘normal’ events” as we have had two bike-O in this time.
- Spring Series 2008 (Andy / Ross)
A series of 7 events has been registered. The main organisers will endeavour to involve an assistant organiser.
Courses available will be yellow / orange / green (or red if terrain is not suitable for green)
Start times 6 – 7pm
Paul might try to put on a couple more events in the Cowal area between the two planned at Kilmun (30th April) and Lochgoilhead (21st May). He will not use a Wednesday evening. Ross agreed to take on organisation of Coille Nathais from Paul to ease his event organisation burden and in turn seek Dave Bleazard’s interest in organising the Ardchatten event later in the spring programme.
- British Champs April 2008: Saturday help (Lynne)
Club members attending the British Champs at Culbin on 19th April will be required to give help for part of the day. Lynne will issue details as soon as they are known.
- Scottish 6 days Event 2009 - Tay, Day 2 (Monday 3rd August), Kinnoull Hill, Perth (Lynne)
EckO are involved in Day 2. Ross & Niall have indicated hat they would like to plan or control. Lynne has received responses from Solway & Roxburgh Reivers. Clyde have yet to respond.
- Autumn / winter training events 2008 / 2009 including planning / organising local events: what events would people like to have?
There was a suggestion of a ‘Long-O’ using Coille Nathais, Fearnoch & Creag Mhic.
The planning of the programme was devolved to the new committee.
- SOL, Sunday 3rd May 2009
EckO have been awarded a SOL on this date. Location – Oban area.
6. Permanent courses in Argyll
- Inverawe – in place.
- Islay – Ross will try to get out there (and have time to do it!).
- Kilmory – Niall is liaising with the FC who are putting the course in place.
- Bishop’s Glen – Alison Duncan had mentioned that there were on-going works. Paul will investigate.
- Ardkinglas – there are to be changes in this area so Carol will investigate.
- Glenbranter – in place but 2 posts missing. FC have been informed and we await action.
- Glendaruel – in place.
- Sutherland’s Grove – Andy has found all the current posts but total re-planning is required.
If we are unable to place a course in either Ardkinglas or Bishop’s Glen, the club would consider Lochgoilhead in partnership with the Scout Centre.
It was suggested that the charge would be £2.50 per map, with 50p of this going to the vendor.
7. EckO club equipment (Paul)
- Ross will research a ‘suitcase generator’ of the type the Mountain Rescue team are investing in.
- Paul spoke about the problems of protecting the electronic equipment at events in our damp climate.
- Club O Tops: Paul will chase up Ultrasport for swatches of material and then circulate club members for orders.
8. Election of committee
All the committee were prepared to stand for re-election and were elected unopposed.
- Chairman: Andy Dale
- Secretary: Lynne Walker
- Treasurer: Ross Lilley
- Publicity & Membership: Paul Frost
- Committee members:
- Lorn: Niall Urquhart
- Cowal: Carol Burnapp
- Child Protection: Gill Berrow
John Coon mentioned that both Suse and he would be interested in playing an active role in the affairs of the club from about 2009 onwards.
9. A. O. C. B.
(a) Relay entry fees: after discussion, it was agreed that the club would pay the following for people representing the club:
Seniors: 50% of the entry fee
Juniors: 100% of the entry fee
This would be implemented for the Compass Sport Cup on Sunday 16th March. It would also apply to BOC Relay 2008, SOC Relay, 11 person relay.
(b) Lynne made those present aware of some points from the BOF AGM minutes. These were to do with the proposed levy for 2009 and the election of the BOF Directors. All postal votes have to be received by BOF by Monday 17th March.
(c) Ross mentioned that Lynne Walker had been awarded the SOA President’s Medal in May 2007. He felt that this was a well-deserved award.
10. Date of 2009 A. G. M.
The 2009 A.G.M. will be held on a suitable date in March 2009. The location will be advised nearer the time.
11. Award of club trophies
After receiving some nominations, the Chairman decided to award the club trophies to the following:
- Forest Trophy (for services to the club or excellent results): Paul Frost & Lynne Walker
- Grammar School Shield (junior performance): Briony Kincaid
- Wooden Compass (for a mistake you wish you had not made!): Paul Frost (for missing out 5 controls at the Tinto Twin Night event, not realising this until download when he was asked ‘Did you get bored then?’ and, even now, thinking he had a good run that night!)
Chair’s Report
It has been another very successful year for EckO. We’ve maintained a regular series of events, especially considering the small size of the club. This is important for us, given our remoteness from events put on by other clubs and our geographic spread. But we’ve also been involved in the wider orienteering world. We again put together a team for the 11-person relay, this year in Perth, which was an enjoyable occasion, and will be taking part in the CompassSport Trophy, to be held next week in Edinburgh. I see these club trips/events as a very positive thing and would hope to see them continue.
Our stock of maps and areas has continued to grow, with more to come. Notable maps in the near future will be Kerrera, to be mapped this spring for the Purple Thistle event in August, and Glen Aray, to be mapped in time for the club championships in the autumn. Both are good areas and will be professionally mapped. The club received a grant from Argyll and Bute Council to share the cost of the Kerrera map, and hope to develop it as a tourist map with the cooperation of the islanders. We have also been granted copyright of the Airds Park map by the Scottish Orienteering Association. This is another top notch area which hasn’t been used much recently. Our first use of it will be in the spring series this year.
With such a healthy map stock we will be able to spread the pressure on landowners and give variety to our events. There will also be challenges for us – to keep these maps up to date and to use them before they get out of date. We need to maintain our regular local events, and at the same time respond to the wider orienteering world which wants to orienteer in Argyll. We have maps and terrain that are held in very high regard! Most notably, the Scottish 6-days, to be based in Lorn in 2011, will be a big occasion for us and although organised by the wider orienteering community it will involve a lot of groundwork by us over the coming years. So there is a clear need to spread the load of event organisation and to use the enthusiasm of some of our newer members to help with putting on events.
Orienteering in schools has had another healthy year, with many new coaches trained (Niall). There lies another challenge for the club, to involve some of those who are experiencing orienteering outside of our club events, and perhaps to develop a junior group for those kids who want to take the sport further allowing them to develop their skills and travel further afield to events.
Looking forward to another successful year!
Andy Dale
Posted on 09th Mar 08
by Paul Frost - Website, Membership, Publicity
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