ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 23rd MARCH 2023
Record of Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of the Dorking and Mole Valley Athletics Club (DMVAC) was held on Thursday 23rd March 2023, starting at 20:00 at The Pavilion, Pixham Lane Sports Ground, Pixham Lane, Dorking. 34 members were in attendance.
Chair Jo Lloyd (JL) started the meeting.
1.0 Apologies for Absence received - confirmed by Secretary Paula Carter (PC)
Patrick Martin, Howard Jones, Charles Wheeler,
Rob Russell, Rachel Brunswick, Chris Parrot,
Gary Lloyd, Keith Winter, Kevin Irvine,
Chris Edwards, Lou Ionascu, Kate Morris,
Wendy Wakelin
2.0 Approval of Minutes of Previous AGM March 2022
Copies of the minutes from the AGM 2022 were distributed by email to all club members in advance of the AGM.
Approval of Minutes:
Proposed by: John Jelly
Seconded by: Brian James
Passed unanimously
3.0 Chair’s Report (Including club awards)
A copy of the transcript of the Chairs Report is attached.
In summary, JL ran through the competitive achievements of the club in the past year including a report from Rob Russell about the youth squad – read by John Baker.
Two new Awards for Youth Squad were shown - The Alan Archer Award and the Lesley Taylor award – for outstanding individual performance for the Youth Squad. To be awarded when Pixham training start.
Seniors Awards - Most Improved Athlete of the Year - Mens and Womens category.
Awarded to Nikki Hutton and Charles Wheeler.
JL finished her report with thanking coaching team and officials and giving an update on Pixham, potential training track and thanking Sam and Kate for the club kit management and the committee for their help.
4.0 Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer Paul Hundermark (PH) presented the annual accounts for the year ending 31 December 2022. Copies of the draft accounts were distributed.
Pleased to report – club stable.
In 2022, there was a return from discounted fees (during Covid) back to regular fees
Membership growth by 40 up to 360.
Membership Sec Nikki Hutton (NH) has worked to encourage fees to be paid – shown good growth
Income
• money back from insurance £5000 covering cost of garage replacement
• Dorking 10s – contributed greatly £5000 in 2022. One of the only events running previous year
• Donation from Surrey Playing Fields Association
Expenditure
• Contribution towards Pixham Sports Ground plus extra for utilities
• Garage replacement £3000
• Invested in club with the hiring of facilities, coach to the National Cross Country
• Cost of container whilst garage was being replaced. This cost now gone.
• £2000 to coaches courses
• Entry fees into races £1700
• New website
• New equipment such as lights, medicine balls, shot puts
We had a strong surplus due to income from fees, garage, Dorking 10s.
Allocating this towards the track to train on would be fantastic use of funds
PH confirmed that the accounts need to be sent to auditors.
David Phillips asked about the cost of track
JL replied – approx. £80,000 for shorter training track (Active Track)
An example track with 4 lane sprint track up to 1km long cost £280,000
David Draper from Mole Valley District Council advised, get planning permission and the grants will follow
Sport England would probably not contribute as they are currently focused on underprivileged areas
Stonegate could be an option - funds for the community may be forthcoming as part of the Mole Valley Housing Plan
Football money – where there is investment in football there is often money for other sports.
The Active Track option is a lot more affordable - £1 mil for 400m track
South London Harriers paid £800,000 8 to10 years ago for 400m track.
Active Track is more realistic option.
Also potential community grants for this. It would not be exclusively for the club. Football / cricket club could also use it.
Motion to approve 2022 accounts
Proposed by: Kev Stroud
Seconded by: Nick Seaman
Passed unanimously
5.0 Election of Auditor
PH requested re-appointment of The Accountancy Practice in Horsham as Auditors.
Proposed by: John Jelly
Seconded by: Brian James
Passed Unanimously
6.0 Election of Officers and Committee
JL handed over to John Jelly (JJ) in absence of a current president.
JJ thanked the two new main members of committee – PC and JL
JJ also asked, in his role as Race Director of Dorking 10s, for help with distribution of the 5000 flyers advertising the Dorking 10s. Contact JL, Martin Schlaeppi or JJ to help.
Election of chair
• Jo Lloyd (Chair) #
Proposed by: Brian James
Seconded by: Ruth Kirkpatrick
Passed unanimously
All current Committee Members stood for re-election. A block vote was agreed for the rest of the committee.
• John Baker (Vice Chair) #
• Paula Carter (Secretary) #
• Paul Hundermark (Treasurer) #
• Nicolette Hutton (Membership Secretary) #
• Howard Jones (Coaching Co-ordinator) #
• Kevin Stroud (Welfare Officer) #
• Ruth Kirkpatrick (Welfare Officer)
• Kevin Irvine
• Chris Edwards (Youth Representative) #
• Hannah Morris
• Jacqui Cooper
# = Club (or UKA) official post.
Block Vote for rest of committee
Proposed by: Ness Kingham
Seconded by: Sam Knivett
Passed Unanimously
JL asked for any further nominations for the committee – no-one stepped forward
7.0 Amendments to Constitution
Amendments needed to the constitution:
• change to membership grades as a result of new fee structure for young people (Youth then Student) – Suggested at last AGM.
• change the role of President as an optional role within the committee.
JL asked for any questions about amendments to constitution.
Martin Schlaeppi – Constitution currently does not allow charitable donations from the club. Could amendment to constitution be considered to give club the ability to make charitable donations with club funds. JL opened for discussion
Discussion points included: Reason could be that we cannot chose to give other people’s money away when they have given it to athletics. Can it be voted on if agreed? – would need to be at AGM. Could we nominate a Club charity? Is it a legal matter? Ask England Athletics for guidance. Is there anything to stop us donating proceeds of BBQs to charity? Potential to add £1 to cost of meals after handicaps. Some of Dorking 10s proceeds to charity. Check with other clubs as to how they are set up and how they manage donations.
JL confirmed that the committee will look into it and revert.
Lawrence Bate asked about fee for students over 25?
JL confirmed that we would take each on individual merits and make special dispensation if needed.
Motion to approve amendments to constitution
Proposed by: Jacqui Cooper
Seconded by: Hideo Takano
Passed unanimously
8.0 Membership Fee Proposal
The Committee recommended some minor changes to the current subscriptions as follows (changes shown in italics):
• Individual Adult Member (over 25) £45.00
• Family Membership £90.00
• Young Persons Membership for 18-25yr old £30.00 (must be 25 and under on April 1st)
• Youth Membership up to 18 years old £40.00 (not including EA licence - compulsory for 11-18yrs)
• Second claim members £30.00
• The EA licence has been confirmed as £17.00. Please apply and pay for this when renewing your club membership and as an element of the same transaction
• We will be trialling a new (hopefully simpler) online payment system this year to encourage prompt payment (Go cardless)
Joining part way through the membership year – new members only
• 1st 6 months (From April up to end of September) – Full fee £45
• Next quarter - October to end of December – Pro-rata £22.50
• Final quarter – January to end of March – Pro-rata £11.25
JL confirmed that a lot of other clubs offer pro-rata rate to new members only.
Free Club T-Shirt for U13 when they compete for first time for the club. Trial this year. Junior coaches will receive a supply of club T-shirts. Remove a block to competing and encourage.
Lawrence Bate – Membership cards? As easy to check on membership – easier to check those turning up for training are paid up members. But would people would forget them?
Dorking Sports Centre – Changed from card to QR code – on phone.
JL agreed we would ask webcollect if possible to create one. Committee will look into it and revert.
Motion to accept membership fee proposal
Proposed by: Ruth Kirkpatrick
Seconded by: Nick Seaman
Passed unanimously
9.0 Life membership nomination
The committee would like to proposed honorary life membership for Lou Ionascu, in recognition and thanks for her many years of competing, both captaining the Ladies Team and running in a DMVAC vest so very successful many times, and volunteering – which she still does today – Nick Seaman says he would really struggle to run his Thursday group without Lou’s support and input, and her continued support for the club and all its athletes – JL commented she has run many a muddy and wet xc race to find Lou on a corner shouting encouragement and taking photos. We really do appreciate and benefit from her continued engagement with the club and long may it continue.
Motion to approve Life Membership Nomination
Proposed by: Kev Stroud
Seconded by: Nick Seaman
Passed unanimously
10.0 Any Other Business.
No formal issues were raised prior to the final agenda.
Katie Doddrell from Youth Squad had been considering joining the committee but with her current study workload, has decided not to. JL confirmed that committee will invite her to a meeting where Youth squad would be discussed for her input.
ATTACHED – CHAIR REPORT
CHAIR’S REPORT
DMVAC 23rd MARCH 2023
PREAMBLE
Thank you all for coming, I just want to go through some of the highlights and key points from the last year.
Let’s start with the competitive elements.
The Summer Handicap took place during the summer of 2022 and the Phil Sears Winter Handicap 2022/23 ongoing. Jacqui Cooper and Fiona Fidgett have done a fantastic job running both series. With their timekeepers, Graham Taylor and Martin Crayton and Finish Marshal Brian James along with other regular marshals plus John Jelly and Caroline Whelan who set up and dismantling the course markings every time.
Results of Summer Handicap 2022
Mens:
1. Mark Cobbold
2. David Proctor
3. Tim Taylor
Womens:
1. Dominique Helberg
2. Wendy Eales
3. Nicola Cobbold
The Summer Handicap will not take place during 2023. The races take a lot of organising and were relatively poorly supported last year. Whilst after covid - well supported, not since. So reluctantly we have taken the decision to pause for this Summer Not holding the races does give us training evenings back at Pixham.
We are hopeful that we will get some summer BBQs going again this year as well – thanks to Martin Schlaeppi, Chris Brown, Nick Sharples and Charles Wheeler and Martin and Jane Ferrit for stepping up last year and getting a couple underway.
The Phil Sears Winter Handicap
This is still ongoing with one race to go next Thursday. Currently there is plenty to play for. In the mens the top three are separated by 12 points:
1. Phil Parrott
2. Paul Persad
3. Ian Giles
And in the Ladies, a slightly bigger gap of 18 points separates
1. Geraldine Tucker
2. Emily Friend
3. Ness Kingham
All to play for!
Dorking Tens
Arrangements for the Dorking Tens are going well. The date is set for Sunday 4th June and entries opened on Feb 1st. Just passed 100 entries. Please keep a close eye on the Newsletter and social media for requests for help for this event. It is our major fund raiser. If not running, please help. As a Surrey Championship leg all the big clubs from the South-East have runners and teams entered and the local papers send reporters to cover the races, so as always we need to ensure it goes well.
David Phillips (Chief Marshal) requested that if you are running, either come early to help or provide someone to help.
The Bench To Bench will (probably) be on Tuesday 20th June this year.
MABAC – as you know we won the 2022 league again – a huge thanks to all who turned out for each race, not always in the nicest of conditions(!) to score the points that propelled us to the win.
Current position 2023 after two races in 2023 shows us back in the lead - ahead of Reigate and Wimbledon and as always it is the numbers turning up that makes the difference in this league
For 2023 there will be a change in venue for the Dorking leg – we have struggled with car parking at Holmwood Common for a while now and feel that permission is unlikely to be granted this year. The team at Denbies are kindly allowing us to hold it there on a Tuesday evening – please put June 6th 19.30 in your diaries! We cannot do food as Denbies will be closed but Denbies are not charging the club for this race.
National Trust may give permission in the future if there are marshals at all the car parks.
It will be Tues after Dorking 10s – so a big ask for volunteers and we appreciate all help offered.
XC League:
In the league both the Mens and Womens teams competed in Division 2 this year, with the men having been promoted from Div 3 last year.
Dorking Men finished the season in 4th place overall, behind Clapham Chasers, Ranelagh Harriers and Epsom and Ewell Harriers, but ahead of Fulham, Reigate, the Stragglers, Wimbledon Windmilers and Walton. Strong turnout – outstanding finish. 4th place in Division 2 is a good season for the club and gives us a solid base to build on for next season.
In the overall rankings, Charlie Wyllie was the 2nd best individual across the season, with Team Captain Bruce Harrold coming 3rd in the V40 rankings.
In the V60 rankings Charles Wheeler was 4th and Alan Everett 5th.
The Womens team finished a strong 6th place both in the final race at Morden and across the whole season, out of 29 teams. In the overall rankings, Rachel Brunswick was 2nd in V55 Hannah Morris 5th overall.
Our thanks to Team Captains Bruce Harrold and Hannah Morris who have really built a strong competitive community. And a big thanks and well done to everyone who turned out in all conditions throughout the season.
We also sent a team of men, women and Juniors up to the English National Championships which were held this year at Bolesworth Castle near Chester on Saturday 25th February. – long way away! Our numbers warranted a small coach, and we helped out a few athletes from neighbouring Reigate Priory AC. Good day had by all. The course was comparatively dry, especially compared with some of the more recent Parliament Hill races but described as quite a long slow slog!
The Surrey County Cross-Country Masters competition was held at Nonsuch Park in October and we had a strong turnout from both the men and women. Incredibly warm weather!
• Medals went to Rachel Brunswick who took Gold in the W55 and is therefore the Surrey Champion!
• Bruce Harrold took the Bronze medal in the V40
The other big news of the year was Luke Caldwell pulling on a GB vest for the marathon at the European Championships in Munich last August. On the day the conditions meant his race didn’t go according to plan, but still a tremendous achievement.
Youth Squad
Rob was absent due to Covid. John Baker read his report of Youth Squad highlights.
U13 SQUAD REPORT
The U13 squad has continued to be very active, with around 30 athletes in our squad during the summer months, and around 20 continuing throughout the winter. While enthusiasm for competing for the club varies amongst the squad, more than 15 of our athletes have represented the club at events during the summer and winter seasons, including some strong performances, especially in Sportshall. Our core coaching team of Lesley, Kevin, Chris, and Ken has worked closely together through the year, with Kevin, Chris, and Ken all achieving their full coaching qualifications over the past year. We’ve been fortunate to be supported by Dawn, Ailsa, Chris and other parents, who have helped with training and coordinated our representation at local events. We are also grateful to Josh for taking the lead in mobilising our U13s for Sportshall events over the winter.
Sportshall:
The U13/U15 Sportshall season was a great success. DMVAC competed in 3 competitions, on each occasion fielding teams of 16-24 athletes per competition. The season was filled with stunning team and individual results. Our U13 Boys team was the strongest team across the 3 competitions this year, winning 2 and finishing runners up in 1. The U15 Girls team were extremely consistent finishing 4th, 2nd and 3rd across the 3 competitions. It should be noted that these results were achieved against some of the strongest clubs in Surrey including G&G, HHH, SLH etc.
Individually, 6 DMVAC athletes were invited to the Surrey Sportshall U13/U15 Trials, with 4 of our athletes consequently being selected to represent Surrey at the Regional Finals later in Feb.
Sprint Group:
Since taking the Sprint Group on in late October, Josh and Jon have been working with a small group of around 8 athletes, to develop their fitness and conditioning for the track season. The majority of this group have also competed in Sportshall Athletics alongside their winter training!
Rachel and Rob’s Group:
Our groups work closely together to develop endurance athletes. At the start of the year, about half a dozen athletes progressed fully from Rachel’s group to mine. We have had a number of successes in the groups with three athletes making their county debuts. We have had several athletes make their first appearances in club vests over the cross country season and we hope several will take to the track in the upcoming summer season.
Finally, I would like to mention that Fran Davey retired from active coaching at the start of the winter season. Fran has been a superb asset to the club for many years. Her dedication and enthusiasm had brought many young people into the sport. She has also been an excellent mentor for other coaches. Many thanks to Fran.
Fran Still very active in Surrey Sports Hall
Senior Athletics:
2022 saw the welcome return to the Vets League with 8 clubs competing over 4 meetings at Epsom, Kingston, Croydon and Walton) in a variety of track and field events. Charles Wheeler took on the mantle of Team Captain this year from Richard Grassly and fielded an enthusiastic team from DMVAC of over 20 athletes across all the meetings achieved 4th in the Men’s and 6th in the Ladies’ and amassed between them 12 Club records and 34 personal bests.
4 meetings are provisionally planned for 2023:
• 24 April - Kingston,
• 22 May - Epsom,
• 19 June - Sutton
• 17 July at Wimbledon
• Always Mondays – a picnic ensures a sociable fun evening
The Southern Athletics League also resumed this year and it would be terrific to see a bigger turnout during 2023 – please watch the newsletter for details. Club members Kev Stroud and Ness Kingham both took part in multiple sprinting/jumping events throughout the summer… and it would be great to see more members joining them.
In readiness for this years athletics season, we enquired about the possibility of renting the track at Guildford Spectrum for a couple of evenings until we have Pixham open. They have very limited availability plus centre of track is football so this may have to be revisited next Winter. Pixham will open on Thursday April 27th. Niki Dargue taken over marking of track – will be chasing for track markers in due course.
Awards
We have 6 awards to hand out this evening:
We introduced two new awards this year – both are for an outstanding individual performance for the Youth Squad, and they have been named after two people who have made an enormous impact on the club over the years, both as athletes and coaches.
The first is the Alan Archer Award for an outstanding individual performance and the Lesley Taylor award for an outstanding individual. Nominated by coaches.
Junior awards - not presented at the AGM. They will be awarded at Pixham when Pixham opens. JL showed the awards, hiding the names.
Enormous thank you to David Holloway who designed the 2 new awards.
For the Seniors there are 2 awards both for the Most Improved Athlete of the Year, Mens and Womens category. The coaches have selected:
Ladies award – Most approved female – Nikki Hutton.
Nikki has improved considerably over the last few years and 2022 saw her set PBs at parkrun, 10k, Half Marathon & Marathon distances. The highlight of her year was the London Marathon where she improved her PB from 3 hours 42 min to 3 hours 23min. This trend is set to continue in 2023 with new PBs already achieved of 20.06, over the 5k, & 94 mins over the Half Marathon. With London & Exeter Marathons entered for 2023, we look forward to following her progress.
Men: Charles Wheeler - The Club V65 category saw some great rivalries in 2022, and Charles had his work cut out against John Baker on the track, Glenn Morris on the roads, and Alan Everett in the Surrey Cross Country League. On the track, Charles led from the front, having taken over the captaincy from Richard (of vets league), and ended the season with age group records over 800m, 1500m & the mile, whilst on the road he took the 10k record. Charles also set a parkrun PB of 22:53 at Southwick Country Park.
Another notable award this year was Rob Russell who was awarded Coach of the Year in England Athletics’ South East Region Volunteer Awards for 2022.
Testimonies from some of Rob’s athletes featured in the evening. “He has been a brilliant source of support, encouragement and advice. I consider him one of the most important figures in my development as a person as well as an athlete.”
Many congratulations Rob.
Coaching Team
This brings me nicely to the coaching team and our officials which has seen a few changes this year. Fran Davey stepped back from coaching after many years service to the Club to concentrate on her new grandchildren. She remains heavily involved in Sports Hall both with us and at a Surrey level.
We also gained some new coaches, with Chris Edwards and Kev Irvine gaining their stripes, and Richard Grassly knocking on the door to gaining his as well. Also Joshua Gorecki and Jon have stepped forward and are actively working towards their qualifications.
Huge thank you to the entire team for everything they do for all us athletes.
We do always need more coaches so please approach any committee member or one of the coaches if you’d be interested in hearing more. Training costs are refunded by the club if you continue to coach at DMVAC.
Not forgetting Graham and Lesley Taylor and Martin Crayton who continue to represent us as EA officials.
Rob and Jo have also gained their Level one Endurance officials licence and are actively working towards Level 2.
If anyone would like to learn more approach any of us who can explain the role further.
To finish (I can hear the sighs of relief), a few bits of housekeeping to report:
The garages have now been completed and kitted out, we will try and add a solar powered light this summer to make life easier in the evenings. We have yet to choose a new shed, and that is on the list of things to do. Also in conjunction with Dorking CC and the Football Club we have signed a new 99 year lease on the Pixham Ground with MVDC. We also applied for and received a grant of £600 from the Playing Fields Association which we used towards the purchase of a new long jump cover.
John Baker and I have had numerous meetings with David Draper of MVDC over the last six months trying to progress a winter training facility. We had hopes for doing something in conjunction with Ashcombe as they are now an academy but unfortunately our last meeting just a few weeks ago confirmed that won’t be possible because of concerns over the ownership of the land itself, and then ongoing maintenance and so not willing to proceed. However, we are undeterred and are in conversation with Dorking Wanderers (Chris – CEO) over possible use of the site at Westhumble where there are already flood lights. Meeting week after next.
There is a recognised need for a training facility in Dorking and a permanent all weather track which would wind around existing sports fields could be the answer. The Westhumble site is owned by Fields in Trust exclusively for sports use.
The club kit is now being very ably managed by Kate Morris and Sam Knivett, and a big thanks to them for taking it on and running it so well, and thank you to Caroline Whelan who has stepped up and taken on the newsletter from Jacqui and Ruth.
Committee Members
I am pleased to say that our committee remains stable, and that all existing members have agreed to continue with their roles. We are without a President currently, if anyone has any ideas of someone who we could approach please committee members.
I would like to formally thank all committee members who have been as engaged and committed as ever in trying to ensure the club remains a welcoming, sociable and competitive environment for all members.
And also thank you to all those who volunteer to help us run the club in every way, no matter how big or how small. To quote Helen Keller – “Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much”.
Jo Lloyd