AGM Meeting Minutes - 5th July 2021

Members Present:

• Colin Smith (Chair & Manager U11s)
• Paul Walker (Treasurer)
• Sarah Mudd (CWO)
• Laura Ward (Minutes Sec & Manager U8 Girls)
• Liam Wilson (Manager Seniors)
• Scott Petty & Kevin Challis (Managers U13s)
• Alan Blakesley & Lee Morrell (Managers U12s)
• Paul Caley (Manager U11s)
• James Gates (Manager U9s)
• Michael Kelly (Manager U9s)
• Jamie Collins (Manager U9s Girls)
• Scott Hines (Managers U8s)
• James Preston & Lee Bishop (Managers U8s)
• Chris Langsley (Manager U7s)
• Darren Wingrove (Managers U7s)
• Darren Ridgway (Manager U7s)
• Andy Moat & Mike Slough (Managers U6s)

Graeme and Claire Howlett have stepped down from their positions on the committee prior to today’s meeting. As such, Colin Smith will assume the position of Chairman and lead the meeting. The first item to be addressed therefore is voting in the new committee.

The nominations, and results from the vote were as follows:

• Chair – James Gates nominated unopposed and elected unanimously.
• Secretary – Colin Smith nominated unopposed and elected unanimously.
• Treasurer – Paul Walker nominated unopposed and elected unanimously.
• Vice Chair – Alan Blakesley nominated unopposed and elected unanimously.
• Minutes Secretary – Laura Ward nominated unopposed and elected unanimously.
• CWO – Sarah Mudd - nominated unopposed and elected unanimously.

The new committee was agreed, and the meeting commenced with James Gates elected as the new club chairperson leading the meeting.

Statement from Chairperson
Thank you for voting me in as chair, it is an honour and a pleasure. 

I want to achieve two things. 

1. Draw a line under the past and leave it there. I want us to move forward.
2. Make this the best club that we can. We can do this by
   1. Investing where it matters
   2. Supporting each other
   3. Talking more regularly and listening

There are a lot of things that we want to do, and you will hear about many of those tonight. They will take time and effort, and won’t all be achieved straight away but we have a great team and we will do all that we can. 

From a financial perspective we need to assess what we are going to receive (more on that shortly) and we will put together a budget so that we can put as much money back onto the pitch as possible.

The atmosphere at the common recently has been fantastic and I would like to keep that going.

Thank you for your support and I ask you one thing. If you ever have an issue, please come and talk to me and we will do our best to resolve it. We are all the club.

Rule Changes 
The new committee proposed some rule changes, the first of these referred to the existing rule 5 and suggested either removing all mention of sub committees or stating that no sub committees were allowed. It was also motioned that a new rule be put in place, being that any donation or purchase over £2,000 requires the approval of at least 75% of the Committee and is to be disclosed to all members before it is paid. The members present unanimously agreed that these were good additions to the club rules, and the motion passed. The wording of these changes and additions to the club's rules are to be agreed by the committee with a new version of the rules to be issued shortly.

Finances
The newly elected treasurer, Paul stated that despite the large reduction to the legacy fund, the club's finances are quite healthy right now, with just over £22,699.92 in the club's bank account. The account has recently been changed from Santander to Lloyd's bank, due to potential access issues.

The budget for the forthcoming season was discussed and will have to be agreed post AGM, Covid has meant that some players from last year are due a refund for half of their fees from last season due to lockdowns affecting the ability to complete a full season of games. It was discussed that these can either be refunded, or rolled over to next season for players who have remained at the club. This will be discussed with the parents and after this is decided it will be easier for the committee to review the budget and see what can realistically be done in terms of spending.

Membership Fees
Following the discussion on fee refunds, the focus turned to the topic of membership fees for the upcoming season. It was decided that the fees will remain the same as last year but be treated as one fee for the whole season, to include membership to the club, training and matches. The fees can be paid in full or in two tranches and anyone in need should contact the committee to discuss payment plans as it was said that it is important that grassroots football is accessible to all. 

U6 to U8 teams will pay £135, U9 to U12 teams will pay £155 and U13 to Senior teams are to pay £175 for this season. It was confirmed that each team will continue to receive a free membership fee for the manager. In teams where there are multiple parents coaching, this can be split between them, as each team may only have one free membership. In addition to this each person holding a committee / CWO / Volunteer position (who is not also a manager) will receive a free membership fee. There is a plan to review what members receive for signing on fee, many ideas were discussed, such as training tops, footballs, and kit bags. This is to be decided when the budget is reviewed post the AGM, but the discussion was positively received by those present at the meeting.

Teams
Beginning the discussion about the teams for the coming season, the committee asked what equipment was required by each team with most in need of new footballs. We have a few new teams this season and the new managers introduced themselves to those at the meeting (Andy & Mike - U7 Lions and Laura U8 Girls). It was explained that all new managers require FAN numbers to link them to their specific team on the FA Whole Game System where there is also a record of DBS checks as well as safeguarding, first aid and coaching qualifications. There will be a push in the coming weeks to ensure that all parties receive the required  training. New first aid kits will also be issued to all managers.

The committee have created a new manager welcome pack, which will be distributed to any new managers joining the club, with relevant contact information and information about what is expected of managers. The FAN numbers discussed previously will also make it easier for managers to record the results from their own games, as opposed to sending their results and scoring to the secretary in order to send the information to the league in a timely manner. The exact process for recording results for the coming season is still to be confirmed.

The new girl's teams are going from strength to strength, with more girls playing football at the club now, 3 teams at present expected for the coming season. Sarah (CWO) discussed having accessible sanitary products in the clubhouse from Saturday (10th July 2021). The girl's teams will be entering an all-girl’s league.

Presentation 
The presentation evening was discussed and trophies for each team have been ordered, however, due to Covid it will not be possible to have a whole club presentation evening this year, so teams are encouraged to organise their own individual events that the club are happy to host this at the common. It was discussed that next year the presentation will be a bigger celebration in the summer.

Kits
The committee talked about a possible new supplier for kits. Concerns were raised about getting kits in time for the season as previously teams have been without kits for their first few games, it was agreed that the club would strive to provide kits as soon as possible. The committee also wants to do more to thank sponsors and discussed sending the sponsor a framed photo of their team in the kits with their sponsor's logo on as a thank you, along with advertising their sponsor on the club's website.

Pitches
The pitches have been seen to be in need of a fair amount of maintenance, the grass is either too long or in some areas missing. Pinnacle cut the grass every 3 weeks when it is out of season, but sometimes it has been noticed that it's left longer so Colin will contact them in due course to ask about the grass being cut. The committee will discuss plans to try and repair the pitches where possible over the summer.

CWO
The Child Welfare and Safeguarding courses were discussed, these are mandatory FA approved courses for all managers within the club. There is a need to expand the child welfare team at the club to make it more visible at training and matches. Jemma and Sarah have offered to join the Child Welfare team and more volunteers will be sought. Sarah will be able to lead and guide the team.

Fundraising
Sarah suggested that maybe kids could get sponsors to do challenges throughout the summer to raise some money for the club to keep our financial position healthy enough to go back into grassroots football. It was also suggested that the club could start to run holiday Football Schools for a fee per child, as other clubs do. Liam Wilson would be interesting in running these and the committee will look to arrange for this summer.

Referees
We have 2 young referees (Tate and Harry) who we are working through their qualifications presently. Tate is almost finished with his qualification and is happy to come back for next season. Harry is looking to start asap and is also happy to return. We have a new female referee Isabelle who would like to start her qualifications soon, she isn't 14 until November, but she is an experienced player and keen to start her courses and gain some experience refereeing. Former treasurer Brian Chester is an experienced referee and could perhaps take on a role as mentor for the young referees.

Clubhouse 
There was an update on the structural problems with the clubhouse. Insurance assessors are monitoring the movements and it is expected that they would cover the cost of a rebuild if required subject to an excess of £1,000 payable by the club.  The building is currently considered safe, but repairs are definitely needed. 

Social media 
Liam has someone in mind to help the club with social media, the assistant manager for the Senior team. He is moving away to uni but would still like to be involved with the club so the role may be ideal for him. The club's social media was said to be lacking, but a new Instagram account has been opened as well as a new public page on Facebook. The group on Facebook has been tweaked so it's easier to tell when someone is involved with the club, as the wait time for joining was up to 6 weeks.

Managers Views
A manager suggested finding a venue for tournaments in order to raise money for the club. Training jackets were suggested for managers, so people knew who to look for at the common if they were interested in joining the club. Training tops for players were also suggested. A photo board in the clubhouse displaying all of the committee members, managers and CWO’s was suggested to make people more visible to new and existing members. This would make sense to do once manager kits are provided so all have the same kit in the photo’s.

AOB
Parking has been a great source of contention between locals to the common and the club. The club is making an effort to rectify this by putting out new branded cones and signs encouraging those using the common to park responsibly and considerately. The committee is going to write to the council, the Thundersley Facebook page and all of the local residents regarding the parking situation hoping to reassure locals that the club is doing what they can to ensure that people are considerate.

The meeting ends               

Signed:                                 Colin Smith – Secretary                                 James Gates - Chairperson