SNCC Annual General Meeting

St Neots Golf Club, Crosshall Road

30 November 2016, 7:30 p.m.

The 2016 Annual General Meeting of the Club was held on Wednesday 30th November 2016 at St Neots Golf Club, with 33 members in attendance. The minutes of the AGM follow:

1. Welcome

Having established that a quorum was present, the Chairman opened the meeting by thanking those attending and introduced the Agenda, which had been circulated to members in advance.

2. Chairman’s report

The Chairman delivered his report for 2016. A copy of that report is attached to these minutes as Appendix A

Particular attention was paid to the numerous successful events held throughout 2016, including but not limited to:-

  • Reliability ride
  • Club rides
  • Additional social rides
  • Weekends away
  • Autumn Breeze Sportive
  • Spinning / Cyclone classes which are fully booked
  • Hill Climbs
  • Club TT’s
  • SNCC races; and
  • Social evenings

A special thanks was offered to the Sportive sub-committee and the numerous volunteers

3. Treasurer’s report.

The meeting was informed that Club finances remained in a healthy position.

A detailed report of Club's finances is attached as Appendix B.

4. Fees

Membership subscription fees and competition entry fees for 2017 will remain unchanged at the following rates:

  • Full Members: £20
  • Student members: £10
  • Second claim members: £10 (considered on a case by case basis)
  • Club Time Trial fees:
    • Members: £2 per event
    • Non-members: £4 per event

5.   Election of Club Officials for 2017.

The Secretary outlined the election process and having been proposed and seconded by existing members, the individuals below were elected into the following committee positions:

SNCC Committee 2017

Chairman

Gary Newman

Treasurer

Alistair Henderson

Club Secretary

Ian Burroughs

Social Secretary

Steve Walker

Race Secretary

Richard Ostler

Time Trial Secretary

Simon Richardson

Press and Social Media Secretary

Tom Dunkley

General Secretary

Gareth Mount

General Secretary

Alex Davidson

Welfare Officer

Chris Preston

Plans for 2017.

The Chairman outlined the items set out in of Appendix A. Further detail on individual items will be communicated in due course.

Particular attention was drawn to two key objectives for 2017; a Senior Men’s race team and a Woman’s race team.

7. Any other business

  • Club Calendar

It was noted that the club event calendar needs to be better managed to avoid he clashes seen in 2016, such as the Sportive and the hill climb event

  • Website Clarity

A point was raised from the floor that the club website is not as current as it used to be and has to be fresh and current if it is to add value and to be used.

  • PayPal

The facility for be able to pay subscriptions and other fees via PayPal is being progressed.

8. Meeting Close

The meeting formally closed at 9:15pm

Appendix A: Chairman's report

Chairman’s Report

2016 has proved to have been a successful year for the club with membership numbers rising and the increasing number of activities / events we put on. Our objective is to provide activities of interest that appeal to as wide a section of our membership as possible to encourage more members to participate in club life.

The activities continued from 2015 were:

3 weekly club rides, Hot X Bun ride, Wide Eyed & Legless NYD ride, Club 100 miler, Club TT, Chain Gang, Spinning classes, Club Hill climb & descent, Autumn Breeze Sportive, Yorkshire Dales weekend, Social evenings.

Special mention should go to our members on the Sportive committee who once again organised a successful Sportive enjoyed by many. Our 2015 Sportive allowed for donations of £500 each to MAGPAs and the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

There were also a number of new events / initiatives that we were involved in.

    • Kit redesign

Although it took most of the year we took delivery of our newly designed kit from Castelli in August. I think most will agree the design is a sympathetic modernisation of our team colours and a step up in quality of the garments. As an incentive for members to purchase kit Castelli offered a 10% discount and the club took a further 17% discount from the RRP.

    • Reliability Ride

Towards the end of February the club successfully hosted our first ever Reliability Ride. We exceeded our rider numbers target with a number of members and guests enjoying the fine weather that enabled us to make a significant contribution to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

    • Road Race Hosting

The last two years have seen the club host a single race as part of our obligations for NCRA affiliation, with the advent of the NCRA promoting a summer series of races we were obliged to host a second race. This was successfully achieved in June on the Sawtry course, where we employed the services of motorcycle outriders for the first time.

    • Inter club TT Competition

Whilst not strictly a new event for 2016 the participation from the club in 2015 was lukewarm at best. One of the committee’s objectives for the year was to increase the participation levels in this competition from an average of 3 to 10. We have seen increasing numbers compete for the club throughout the season to the point where we had a full team for the final TT event.

Competing in club colours

Another of our key objectives for the year was to increase further the number of members competing competitively for the club across all disciplines of cycling.

We have seen a large increase in numbers racing either on closed circuits or road events, helped by the introduction of the NCRA summer races. The inter club competition and the Club TT also proved popular as did, although to a lesser extent Cyclocross racing. One area where we haven’t moved forward is organising and supporting the Open TT riders, which we will look to address in 2017.

The club has looked to provide support for those that compete for the club as we appreciate that competing regularly can be a costly business for the rider. The benefit for the club is through having a strong contingent of riders competing and being successful in the local area and this raises the profile of SNCC, this has also proved successful in attracting new riders to the club.

The initial area for support we looked at was a tie up with a local Sports Nutrition Company, myPinnacle Nutrition who have provided pre and during race nutritional products to our race team with subsidies coming from the club. We will look to further enhance this tie up in 2017 and actively look to tie up with other organisations who can help us achieve our objectives.

Club Life

    • Riding standards

A regular occurrence after a club run, usually conducted across social media would be the fallout from a day of poor group riding skills. Whilst the situation is by no means perfect there has been a tangible drop in the number of complaints this year and long may it continue.

    • 2nd Claim Membership

Whilst the committee would prefer that everyone rode for SNCC we appreciate that there could be a multitude of reasons as to why a rider wants to be a 2nd claim member of the club. The club supports the decision of the individual and welcomes 2nd claim members. Our view is that we see this as an opportunity to address shortfalls in what we offer to tempt back those who race for other clubs. This strategy proved successful in 2016 and we anticipate further success in 2017.

    • Two way support

The only way we are able to offer such a broad range of activities is through people offering their support. It was disappointing to note that we were short of volunteers on the day for our June Road Race, with the same faces turning up to help. We appreciate people have busy lives, but for the club to be successful and grow we need a greater commitment from members to help support activities, because without this support they won’t happen.

This also applies to new events such as the midweek summer ride that has been muted for a number of years, without someone coming forward to organise these things they won’t get off the ground.

Objectives for 2017

    • Race Teams

Senior Men’s Team

As already mentioned SNCC have had a very good year on the local race scene with a 3 members (Wayne Tunnah, James Dent & Tom Stead) achieving their 2nd cat licence and they now join Ed Porteus. We will look to concentrate support towards these riders by putting in place a more formal structure to not only encourage stronger riders to the club, but develop the talent we already have.

Women’s Race team

One of the issues facing the club is the narrow demographic of its membership (Male 40-50). One way to encourage female riders into the club is through a formal race team where success can be promoted through the local press. As with the Senior Men’s team we will look to set aside a Budget for the year to support this team.

As previously mentioned we will look outside the club for help to sponsor some of the costs of running these teams.

    • Junior Riders

Our ability to attract junior riders remains poor, with the majority of those that join the club coming as a result of their Father being a member. Our Go-ride scheme unfortunately wasn’t successful and we are limited in what we can offer to those riders under 16, but a cornerstone of our objectives for 2017 will be to increase the number of junior riders within our ranks. This in conjunction with the ladies team are designed to broaden the demographic of our membership.

    • Committee

The structure of the committee will remain broadly similar to its current state. The major change will be the addition of a General Secretary position that ideally would be taken by a female member of the club. The Press Secretary role will be widened to include Marketing, social media and sponsorship. We may look to have roles looking after the two race teams, these won’t be committee positions and will report into the Race Secretary.

Appendix B: Report on club finances

finances 2016