Committee meeting minutes – 24th January 2017

LEWES WANDERERS COMMITTEE MEETING ON 24th JANUARY 2017 AT BRETT AND LISA DAVIS’ HOUSE, HEATHFIELD AT 8 P.M.

PRESENT: Chris Martin (Chairman) Richard Meed (President), Paget Cohen (Press Officer), Brett Davis (Membership Secretary), Emma Gearing (Social Secretary), Graham Jeffs (Treasurer), John Mankelow (Club Secretary), and Ian McGuckin (Club Runs Secretary)

1. SOCIAL SECRETARY

The Chairman welcomed Emma Gearing to the meeting as the new Social Secretary.

2. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were received from Bob Evans, Paul Gibbons, and Tom Glandfield.

3. MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 8 TH NOVEMBER 2016

The Minutes of the last meeting were agreed.

4. ACTION ARISING FROM THE LAST MEETING

(a) Trip to Velodrome Graham was waiting for the result of his application for 2 dates. Priority for places would be given to those who had been unsuccessful last time and then on a first come first served basis. Bearing in mind the subsidy by the Club there would be a fee of £20 if successful applicants did not then go to the session.

(b) Club Rules The new Club Rules had been agreed at the AGM although Rule 8 (subscriptions) required amendment. A revised version would be submitted to a later meeting.

5. COLD WEATHER POLICY FOR CLUB RUNS

A suggestion had been made on Facebook that the Club should consider adopting a formal cold weather policy similar to one used by Crawley Wheelers. The Committee agreed to adopt a procedure for a message to be posted on Facebook if the ride was cancelled for any reason, otherwise all members could rely on the Runs Leader being at Boots at the required time. A decision would then be made by him as to whether or not the weather was bad enough to cancel the ride. For competitions, a decision on whether or not to hold the event would continue to be made by the organiser in the normal way.

6. CLUB RUNS

The Committee considered that the B run should be extended through the Summer if possible and that consideration should be given to the location of tea stops so that the B run could get back in a reasonable time. It was agreed that Graham and Ian would fix alternative stops for the B run where it was necessary to avoid a late return. The start time for the Summer programme would be 8.30am. It was also reported that Jon Collett had volunteered to run a club reliability trial next year.

7. WARNING STICKERS

It was reported that a safety campaign was being run in the West Midlands to encourage motorists to allow a 1.5m gap when overtaking a cyclist. Car stickers promoting this were available. Whilst recognising that not everyone would wish to display a car sticker, it was agreed to purchase some to distribute to club members.

8. COMMUNICATION BY MEMBERS WITH THE COMMITTEE

There had been some criticism of the procedure for including an item on the Committee agenda. It was confirmed that the present arrangement was by a request to the Secretary a week before the meeting to enable an agenda to be sent out. It was agreed that in future an individual email would be sent to Members asking for any agenda items.

9. OFFICER REPORTS

(a) Membership Brett provided the Committee with a list of members that hadn’t yet renewed. A further email would be sent and if they hadn’t then renewed they would be treated as non- 3 members and removed from the Facebook group. Organisers of club events would now be able to check valid membership at signing on.

(b) Treasurer The current balance was being maintained at over £10,000 and any suggestions for expenditure that benefited all club members would be considered.

(c) Road and Track Storage of equipment had been consolidated at Chris’ house. Bob had sent an email confirming that enough volunteers had been found to run this year’s events and he was in the process of preparing a Crits Handbook, specifying all the tasks/responsibilities. Darren Benedict Haynes had offered to take on the overall role. The entry system would open in mid April as usual. This year he proposed that we abandon the ‘first come gets a place' system, instead leaving us to choose entrants. This would also affect LWCC riders and it was left that Chris would discuss a new system with Bob and report to the next meeting. It was agreed that this year all riders would have to show that they had undertaken a training course. It was hoped that this might avoid the crashes that had happened recently but if it proved to be unworkable it would be dropped. There was also a requirement for some minor expenditure on flags, a lapboard and counter etc and this was agreed.

(d) Time Trials Dom Lowden had volunteered to run the Gents GP and Nick Smart-Jones would promote Chailey. It was noted that there would probably be a minor course changes at the finish for Earwig. There was also a need to buy some items of equipment and this was agreed.

(e) Club Runs Ian was compiling the Summer Programme and the venues for both A and B runs (see above) The Jumble Sale would be on October 28th

(f) Press There was nothing exceptional for Paget to report. There had been one press report so far this year

(g) Social Secretary Emma had a number of ideas for social events. These included a trip to the Velodrome (spectating), a picnic/barbeque, a weekend trip to Dieppe which had been suggested by Dom Lowden, a quiz night and a curry night. There was also a day of events at Goodwood. Consideration would be given to a club subsidy on the basis that events would be open to everyone. It was also suggested that a minibus could be hired for a trip to one of the classics. (h) Off Road There was nothing to report. 10. CLUB KIT It was agreed to try and obtain samples of skin suits from Kalas in different sizes to have on display at early season club events.

11. FEMALE SPECIFIC EVENTS

Emma was following up an approach for the club to be involved in special events for female cyclists. It was agreed if possible to identify a ladies’ representative.

12. TIMEKEEPING

It was likely that Richard would not be available for timekeeping duties for part of the season. He was trying to source help from other qualified timekeepers and would be encouraging others who might be interested to undertake the timekeepers course.

13. NEXT MEETING

The next meeting would be held on Tuesday 28th March 2017. The meeting ended at 10.24 p.m.