Hinckley Canoe Club AGM Minutes – 3rd March 2017

Stanton Lakes 7.30pm

Welcome

Welcome to the 2016/17 AGM. Thank you for joining us tonight and great to see you all here. Welcome to Laura Southerland who is the British Canoeing Midlands area Development officer.

The plan for this evening is to try and give you some feedback into what has been going on over the last year, and look ahead to next year.

We have the election of the new committee and more importantly we have some awards to present.

Please ask any questions, also feel free to have your say in AOB later on.

Apologies

Phil Riley

Paula Clarke

Chairman’s Report

Well its been another very busy year for HCC.

Membership has stayed pretty stable this year, we now have 148 members. This is a very slight drop on last years 153 but we seem to be keeping more long term members which is a great thing for all aspects of the club.

For the start of this season we have secured a 3yr access and financial deal with Mick and Helen here at Stanton. This agreement includes 8x weekend days per year, which we can use for various things, including coach and paddler development, introductions to paddlesport days etc., Also this year the new toilet/shower block near the camp site should be open for our use.

We still need to be aware and stick to a few on site rules, to make this a trouble free agreement, these include :-

1 : ONLY cars carrying boats are allowed to drive around to the far end of the lake.

2 : Slightly restricted use of part of the lake, so fishing can carry on, on Thursday evenings, within a restricted space.

This long term agreement is part of our long term development plan for the club, and helps us with our long term planning and the long term security of the club. Since the last AGM we have had few site improvements and we have quite a few more planned for the early part of this season, including the racking of the new container, better fencing around the launch area and stepping the grassed area down to the decking.

This years lake sessions and courses are all planned and are on the website. As always we have plenty going on here at Stanton and at the pool. There are lots of trips of all types planned, courses, events and weekends away, and the HCC Hammerheads polo team are still going strong. Hopefully this will keep everyone busy and happy, we hope.

Recently we were lucky enough to receive a Sport England grant, which Sara Wright will tell us about later. A big thank you to Sarah along with Hayley and a few other members, and also Laura for the work you have all put in to enable HCC to get this grant.

A big well done to all the members that have achieved various types of qualifications this year, These include Paddlepower, Star awards at all levels, MWE, coaching qualifications, first aid, WWSR and FSRT and also Polo referee Qualifications. Also a big well done to Hayley Clarke for being awarded the British canoeing regional volunteers award and then going on to win the National award. Very well deserved.

Lastly I would like to say a big thank you to all the committee, coaches, trip leaders, helpers and of course the members for making this such a varied, active and friendly club. Very well deserved.

Grant report

Sarah gave a presentation on how the grant was won, and outlined what the money will be/has been spent on.

Development Plan

This was given in video form by Phil Riley, outlining the improvements to be made and have been made to the site along with information about all the new kit the club now has.

Constitution changes

Previously discussed changes to the constitution :- 5.1,6.3,6.4,7.1,7.3,8,8.3,8.4,9.1.2,9.1.9,9.19,10,3,10.6,11.6,14 passed unopposed.

Treasurers Report

The bank balance is very healthy at approx £4,000.00 with a set-aside amount of £1,00.00

Polo Report

A video advertisement for the Hammerheads Polo team was shown courtesy of Kyle Swinburne. The polo team have gone from strength to strength in the 14months from when it first started.

The team signed up for North West and Central Division 4 and traveled to Manchester twice and Stoke on Trent twice to play in mini tournaments which resulted in them finishing 4th overall in the Division, which for a first time out was a really great achievement.

Hopefully in this coming year we hope to get another pool session going for people that would like to come and have a go. Equipment Officer Report Another video presentation from Phil Riley

Equipment Officer Report

Another video presentation from Phil Riley

Paddlesport Development

2016 season

Over the summer lake sessions we had lots going on including social paddling, Paddlepower, 1&2 star courses, SUP sessions and family paddling. During the year we also had an FSRT, a one day WW Safety day, a 2 Day first aid course, a WWSR course, pool sessions and lots of trips.

We have had :-

29 Pass their 1*

23 Pass their 2*

21 Pass their 3*

5 achieved their First aid course

12 achieved their FSRT qualification

6 achieved their SUP Coaches Module

8 achieved the theory part of their Polo Ref qualification

We also had :-

3 New Level 1 coaches – Paul Morgan, Fraser Watson, Nick Topley

1 New Level 2 coach – Aylwyn Barton, and Nikki Aldridge has done her training ready for her assessment this year.

2017 season

We have a full season of lake sessions including 1&2 star courses, SUP sessions, Beginners & improvers groups, Paddlepower & Family groups.

3* ww Kayak and 3* Canoe courses

Summer pool sessions

SUP Coaching course

WWSR Course

First Aid Course

Alps Trip

Winter pool sessions

Big Thank you to Hayley Clarke for organising the schedule for all these events.

Programme Coordinators Report

An online calendar has been developed to keep everybody in the loop about all planned trips/courses for the coming season. A slide show was presented highlighting all trips/sessions/courses from 2016/17 With early indicators of things for the coming season.

Election of Committee

Chairman – Phil Riley

Vice chair – Hayley Clarke

Equipment officer – Fraser Watson

Paddlesport Development officer – Hayley Clarke

Secretary – Wendy Kendell

Treasurer – Lesley March

Membership Secretary – Nikki Aldridge

Communications officer – Rob Newitt

Polo Rep – Aylwyn Barton

Programme Coordinator – Nick Topley

All positions were unopposed.

Club Awards – Official

Lesley March – 20 years award

Mick Smith Endeavor award – Martin Aldridge

Golden Paddle ( most improved overall paddler) – Fraser Watson

Rubber Duck – Martin Aldridge

Small ducks – Micheal Ward/Dale Clarke (for Alps and Ogwyn swims)

Most improved Males – Kyle Swinburne/ Rob Newitt. Colin Harrison runner up certificate.

Most improved Females – Liz Watson/Denise Swinburne/Katrina Smith. Beka Porter runners up certificate.

Most Improved Juniors – Billy Topley/Arron Watson/Tom Georg/Jocelyn Gibson

Female Polo player of the year – Emma Hooton

Male Polo player of the year – Sam Stretton

Free Membership for 2017 (certificates) – Sara Wright/Ian Jennings/Adrian Steele

Special Thank you (certificates) – Dale Clarke/Martin and Nikki Aldridge

Silly awards

Ross Stephenson – for leaving car keys on a rock on the river bank

Christopher Johnson – Most upside down polo player

Jonny Bennett – Dislocating his shoulder on the mighty Symonds Yat

Mark Harrison – Locking keys in his car at the lake

Martin Aldridge – Best Ray Mears lookalike (second year running)

Matt Kendell – Longest drive for shortest paddle on the Ogwyn

A.O.B.

Dave Clarke signing off as longest standing Chairman of the club – a record 5yrs

The club giving him honorary lifetime membership.

Next meeting 5th April 2017, Ashby road sports club, Hinckley 7.30pm

AGM closed 10.20pm