Minutes AGM 2019

Minutes of AGM 2019 Glossopdale Harriers 30^th January 2019 – The Oakwood – Glossop

Apologies: Christine Smart, Kate Bowden, Anthony Walker, John Ryan Preston, Claire Campbell, Phil Swan, Josie Swan, Ezme Brack, Andy Brack, Frank  Fielding, Darren Clarke, Alice Wilson, Clive Hope, Bill Buckley, Cheryl Stitt, Jackie Sheldon, Paul Skuse, David Christie-Lowe, Jonathan Haggart, Laurie Barlow, Darren Ashworth, Julien Minshull, Mary Jeal, Ella Thompson, Sikobe Litaba, Rod Holt, Steve Crossman, Joe Travis, Emma Rettig, Charmaine Brierley, Emma Peters, Dan Ellingworth, Alan Critcher

Attendees: Rebecca Ashworth, John Stephenson, Alison Holt, Andy Burnett, Caity Rice, Guy Riddell, Luke Holme, Mark Davenport, Tim Culshaw, Joanne Brack, Lucy Wasinski, Jude Stansfield, Matt Crompton, Tim Budd, Rachel Walton, Lynne Taylor, Ben Naylor, Elanor Swan, Caitlin Swan, Chris Webb, Charlie Eaton, Imogen Trinder, Steve Page, Ian Crutchley, Daniel Stinton, Jeroen Peters, Zoe Barton, Andy Oliver, Greg Wasinski, Phil Swan, Josie Swan.

Minutes of AGM 2017 – 2018 agreed

Chairperson’s Report – John Stevenson

John S thanked all those present for attending. 2018 has seen good growth within the club again. There has been lots of running and social events. There has also been a good attendance for the champs 2018 with more than ever competing. We hope that this year’s champs will be inclusive enough for everyone. John S commented that 2018 had been a tough year for the club and committee, firstly losing the Chair John Hewitt and secondly losing Nev McGraw. John S mentioned that this has been a challenging time but the club reacted well in support for the families involved. John thanked the club for this support. John S thanked Tim B for all his hard work in compiling the weekly report of club activities, all have enjoyed reading this weekly treat. John S reported that Tim B had now managed to build a group of people that were willing to support in the creating of the weekly reports that are a great way of finding out amazing things that members have been up to! Thanks to Dan S, Steve P and Ian C for their input so far. 

Secretary’s Report 2018 – 2019 – Rebecca Ashworth

The Committee have formally met on 7 occasions in 2018 not including the AGM

In February we met to discuss the ideas that club members had emailed to the Club Secretary regarding spending some of the growing club funds. The Committee discussed all the proposals and suggestions thoroughly, some of the suggestions we had already purchased, such as flags and banners. The Committee agreed with the suggestion to purchase a pop up tent. Also we agreed that it would be a good use of club funds to hire the open air swimming pool at Hathersage for members and their families to enjoy. Dan Ellingworth kindly arranged this. At this meeting the Committee also agreed to fund a Ceilidh/band for the Summer party – Ben kindly offered his workshop again and all who attended had a thoroughly super time. It was also agreed that the club would fund navigation training on the hills for members that were new to this and were keen to learn some navigating techniques. Jude our Women’s Captain did a fine job of arranging this and, 24 attending in total of the club members enjoyed some excellent tutoring by Tim and Lynne

Sadly our former Chairman John Hewitt passed away on 15th March, John was passionate about his club, fell running and comradery between rival clubs (John encouraged and fully endorsed members to get to know other clubs, spending time and revelling in the banter, persuading people to try races) he was an inspiration to all that had the pleasure of spending time with him. John embraced our welcoming, friendly club. As a Chair of the Committee we miss him deeply, when we struggle to make decisions, you can often hear one of us say would John H approve? We then refer his character to guide us in our decisions, when we’ve answered this, we have an answer to our issue.

We next met on 22nd March, sadly we had received the devastating news that John had passed away that week. We agreed to rename the Shelf Moor race the John Hewitt Memorial Shelf Moor race and that an article about John should appear in the autumn edition of the FRA magazine. Additionally we also agreed that there was to be a one minute silence at the start of the Herod Farm race. Decisions were also made regarding Northern Athletic Association request for affiliation, we agreed that GDH would not affiliate at this time as we have never participated in any of their events and therefore it would be an unwarranted expense

We again met on 30th April to discuss the inheritance the club had received from John Hewitt and how we could best ensure that we did the right thing. It was decided, after much discussion and deliberation, that the kit would be itemised and we would hold a silent auction at the Summer party and money would go to the club funds. Additionally we had been informed that Carnethy wanted to donate a trophy to the club to be awarded in John Hewitt’s name. The Committee agreed that the trophy would be awarded to a member of the club that was new to fell running and enthusiastically embraced it as John had. GDPR was also touched on and a date agreed for the Swimming party.

The next meeting was in July and was prior to the Summer party where we set about itemising the kit for the silent auction, discussion around organising a band and Ben cooked us a delightful dinner!

The Summer party took place in August the on the nearest Saturday to John Hewitt’s birthday. It was a great success again, attended by old and new members and their families. Many thanks to Dom and Ben for letting us use their workshop/home. Thanks also to Tim and Lynne for organising the ale and all our wonderful members that attended and brought food to the bring and share. All was delicious.

September and tragedy hit our club once again, this time with no opportunity to prepare ourselves for another loss of one of our members, Nev McGraw was one of our longest standing members and

was tragically killed whilst out doing what he loved, running. Again this was a terrible loss to our club, we had lost another passionate member who loved to share his passion of running, always encouraging, enthusiastic and inspirational and supporting everyone that put on a pair of running shoes. He had many of us chase around the local area trying to keep up on his mystery running tours on Thursday evening club runs.

The next meeting in September was regarding the Club Championships for 2019. The Committee agreed that we would appoint a Committee member to support them, a presence for the Champs Coordination Committee to consult if required regarding race choice, expectations and moreover to affirm our backing, so that choices can be fed back to the Committee so we can endorse their selections. Every year we have a group of 3 members to select races for the Champ races, any member who would like an opportunity to take part in the selection group can approach a member of the Committee/email me. We also discussed renaming or reviving a race in Nev’s memory.

24th October we met to discuss the Champs races and agreed guiding principles for the Champs Coordination Committee. Also agreed was a name for the trophy kindly donated by Carnethy to the club to name and award. We all agreed that it should be called the Spirit of John Hewitt Award.

27th November the main agenda for the meeting was the Christmas shenanigans and prizes for the Champs, definitely the easiest meeting of the year.

I just wanted to give a special thanks to the Alison, the Membership Secretary who has stepped in to take the minutes of a couple of meetings when I have been unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances.

Treasurer’s Report – Zoe Barton

Zoe mentioned that the club had inherited £500 from John H and the Committee managed to spend some of the money as promised. At the start of the financial year 2018, GDH had £5031.74 in the account

At the close of the financial year 2018, GHD had £ 4093.04 in the account

Money spent

A new tent for XC and events: 302.49

Pool Party: 150

Band for Summer Party: 500

Relay entries for Hodgsons and FRA Relays: 485 

And 440 for flags and coasters, which belongs in last year’s account but worth mentioning as it came out of the account in FY 2018

Income summary:

Herod Farm Race: 238

Shelf Moor Race: 231 

John Hewitt bequest: 500

Sale of J Hewitt’s equipment: 116.29

Membership Secretary – Alison Holt

Update for GDH Annual General Meeting for the year ending 31 December 2018

Membership Statistics

AH reported that the Club membership had continued to increase during the year:

As at 31 December 2018	Prior Year
Total membership:	241	213
Total female:	94	83
Total male:	147	130
EA Registrations:	110	95

Membership Fees 2020

AH reported that the Glossopdale Harriers subscription for 2020 will remain unchanged at £10 (£5 for unwaged).  The EA registration fee had increased by £1 for the past few years but had remained the same for 2019 (£15). The Club will continue to provide a £5 subsidy to those members who want EA registration so GDH plus EA registration in 2020 will be £20 (£15 unwaged).  Junior membership is free alongside active parent membership of the Club.

Membership Fees for 2020 proposed and approved.

Coach Report 2018 – Jeroen Peters

In my report last year, I was able to boast about an increase in participation at the Coached Sessions on the Tuesdays. Not only can I report that this growth has continued, indeed it may even have accelerated. It also proves to be a major reason for new members joining the Glossopdale Harriers. The number of runners turning up for these session now often exceed 30 and has even reached the dizzy heights of 40 turning out for a hill-rep session. But an increase of attendance is not limited to the Tuesday sessions, Chris Webb’s XC sessions during the XC season which run in Bankswood Park in Hadfield on a Wednesday are showing a healthy increase in runners attending, with great feedback of these mudfests.

The growth of these sessions confirms that there is a desire for organised training sessions. The reasons that runners give me are various and range from :

* It is motivational to come out with others

* Wanting to run faster (don’t we all?)

* Improve running technique and posture

It is in particular with regards to the latter, running technique and posture, that I have introduced changes the sessions over the past year. Many years ago now, the sessions were still called “speed sessions”. The focus on a range of running sets working on increase of VO2Max, endurance and pace. Now, there is also attention for other aspects that have a huge impact on a runner’s performance. They include the importance of a good warmup, injury prevention, core strength, posture and gait, as well as the important basic ABC’s that are the foundation for any physical activity: agility, balance and coordination.

As many regulars can testify, this may occasionally lead to some strange glances from passers-by when we engage in drills as well as some entertaining videos from David Munday. And as entertaining as they are, they also are testament that these sessions cater for a wide range of abilities. Again that is very positive as they are aimed at all members.

However, I am also increasingly aware that this creates an issue. Currenty, I run these sessions largely on my own, with most welcome support from Charmayne Brierly. Her assistance allows me to give a little more one-to-one feedback. I would love to be able to do this more and have the time to answer questions and queries from many runners both during the sessions and after and indeed consider putting on another Coached Session each week to offer the opportunity to attend for those who are not able to make the Tuesday. This will however depend on members being prepared to help and commit. Not necessarily every week but on a kind of rota, as an assistant coach. The club has the fund available to help with training and if you were interested, please come and speak to me.

The new markers for the trail in Simmondley is still in the pipeline. Unfortunately, I missed the cycle of funding and by the time everything was ready, a number of councillors who had promised funding, had already committed their allocation for other community projects. However, they have all reaffirmed their support. I will have to explore if we can go ahead later this year.

And finally, last year I mentioned that had signed up for another Distance Running Coaching course, run by England Athletics. I passed this on 24 June last year, at the first time of asking

Women’s Captain Report 2018 – Jude Stansfield

Women’s membership has continued to strengthen in 2018, as has training, racing and winning, alongside organising, supporting and socialising. We made another good effort at the British Relays in Grasmere. Thanks to runners Zoe, Becky Smith, Rachel, Alice, Jo, Charmayne, Ali, Lins and I and especially to Tim Culshaw and Andy Brack for stepping into the team. Ladies, I’m hoping we can get full teams when closer to home this year!

Well done to the many women and girls who have been turning out regularly for all the fantastic training sessions, parkruns and races. The group camaraderie is good to get out for. Yet others have been further afield racing long distances alone in our colours: such as Kasia in Wales and Scotland, Jenny in the Alps, Lucy in Derbyshire, Sue Clapham all over the country (we’re never sure where) and Marie who has amassed an amazing 16 marathons over the year – including the 4 in 4! Well done all for representing GDH.

Jo Brack has been an outstanding all-rounder this year, well done in our championship and also to Immy, Emma, Ali. Likewise to Kirsty who continues to excel at cross-country. The girls are getting faster and gaining many prizes, well done to all the junior girls and boys and Josie on her 50th parkrun this year. I think we also had the first GDH FV70 win this year from Beryl. It has been great to see the GDH family growing and widening in age and family activity and support going on. I’m sure it’s a double-edged emotion having your daughter beat you, but well done to Emma Peters for managing that in 2018.

This year I hope to organise more navigation training for members. Huge thanks to Lynne and Tim for training 24 members last year, 18 of which were women. And there has been great feedback from the 3 days:

I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I felt everything was covered.

At the beginning I was a bit confused but by the end with lots of practice I understood.

I enjoyed the course and now need to put this into practice.

Really enjoyed the course and the way that you both delivered it!

I promise to practice!

Overall it was a really enjoyable course and has really given me the appetite to practice some navigation and get out into the hills.

I would certainly be interested in attending any further course you may be running.

The course was great and can only be improved by having follow up courses which are in line with this learning i.e. future dates to help with goals.

I know many have put their new skills into practice and I hope all our members can have the confidence to train and race on the fells.

Thanks to women members who are doing a lot behind the scenes, especially Becky and Ali; also Rachel as RO and Emma now doing champs.

The GDH family is a supportive and inspiring club to belong to. Even those who have flown our nest continue to inspire us; flying British colours, or flying along the Pennine Way. Well done to Caity and Jasmin. Thanks to everyone for being

inspirational, to those we will always remember and to our new and young members.

Men’s Captain Report – Tim Budd

Captains log- stardate -303919.56985667185

Rather than go into full on drone state and give you a list of EVERYTHING that happened in the last year, I’ve made up a short list of notable things that we should probably muse upon and consider as inspiration for the next year’s worth of derring do. 

Thanks to the Hodgson Brothers relay team, Immy Trinder, Dan Stinton, Chris Webb, Mark Harrison, Jamie Helmer, Paul Peters, Mark Davenport (and me) – Special mention to Immy who hopped down a hill due to a dodgy knee. 

Thanks to the FRA relay team – Paul Skuse, Andy Oliver, Jamie Helmer, Julien Minshull, Andy Fox and Greg Wasinski at the relays. Indeed, thanks to the rest of everyone that was there who managed to get Greg to the start line in time for his leg. 
A massive thanks to the often under mentioned Jeroen and Chris for their various (and nefarious) training sessions 
Thanks to Charlie for organising the “annual” Glossop/pennine challenge. We’ll win it one day. 
Congratulations Ben Tetler with his stonking results this year, and how can I not mention the man whose name I seem to have typed more than any other this year: Tony Hillier – just too many V70 prizes to mention!
Steve Crossman – an excellent foray into Ultra running, debuting with a 1st place at the Oldham way ultra.

I should certainly mention Andy Burnett for his ceaseless promotion of Target Sprint -his running has certainly come along due to the extra incentive from the competition, not only that, but he has been instrumental in bringing Paul Skuse on-board with the whole thing who ended up taking Bronze in the English Champs. Speaking of Paul, I can’t really not mention his frankly amazing morph from ultra-runner to 5k and Short Fell run V40 prize winner. Superb racing this year from him. 

Long distance-wise we should certainly be taking inspiration from Kasia and her epic Paddy Buckley earlier this year, battling around in very hot conditions, she showed absolutely indomitable spirit. Dan Stinton needs a mention for completing the Lakes in a Day in pretty disgusting weather and Chris Webb should also be mentioned not only for his completion of the Ronde Del Sims on his 3rd attempt, but also for dragging me around the Ramsay Round.

No report could be complete this year without talking about Paul Peters and his constant upward trajectory. His training is certainly paying off, and we should all be inspired by his his awesome and well-earned 5 and 10k times. 

I’ll finish by saying thanks so much to those that have stepped in to help with the weekly reports, Dan Stinton, Ian Crutchley and Lucy and Greg Wasinski. Not only that, but thanks to all those who send in reports and photos on a regular and not so regular basis – it really helps a lot. 

Thanks very much, this has been a lovely stint as captain, but I feel that it is time someone else took the reins, good luck to whoever they may be. 

Herod Farm Race report 2018 – Sikobe Litaba

Sikobe’s 4th year as RO of this event. This (2019) will be his last and 5th year as RO. 

We are looking for someone to take over RO – to shadow Sikobe in 2019 and take over for 2020

2018 race: 110 runners entered and over 20 GDH members kindly volunteered to help.

Financials: Takings £330, Outgoings £92, Profits to GDH £238 to Club Account by BACS on 19/7/2018

BACS transfer to Glossopdale Account.

HF 2018 net proceeds. Amount £238=00

2018 Race accounts as follows:

Takings:      £330 (£3 x 110)

Expenses:    £92

Balance:     £238

Expenses:

£20 race numbers

£10 printing / photocopying

£60 Club wear – 4 x fascinators – Race/GDH club property in safekeeping with Alison Holt

£2  Stationary

sub-total £98

Shelf Moor Race 2018 – Rachel Walton

Rachel reported that she is standing down – Emma Rettig taking over

This was the first year of the race being renamed – John Hewitt Memorial Shelf Moor Race

Well supported by volunteers as usual

Weather good – special mention to 2 ‘nuns’ that ran – to be encouraged at further events

(see Treasurer Report for finances)

Election of Officers

All the committee were willing to remain apart from Tim – standing down as Men’s Captain

Matt Crompton offered to step in as Men’s Captain – Becky A proposed – Alison H seconded – all approved

This meant there was a vacancy for an ordinary committee member – Tim Culshaw put himself forward – Caity R proposed, Tim B seconded

AOB 

Lucy W – requested details of RO role – Alison H mentioned that this job description had been posted out when Sikobe announced he was stepping down – Becky A will request Sikobe repost the details again.

END OF MEETING