Draft – Minutes of HCC Virtual Committee Meeting held online at 7.30pm on Monday 7th December 2020

Committee Present: Paul Morgan (PM), Chairman Alison Hardy (AH), Secretary
Ben Hardy (BH), Development Officer Lesley March (LM), Finance Officer Liz Owen (LO), Membership Secretary
Neil Smith (NS), Equipment Officer
Apologies: Dale Clarke (DC), Trips and Events Officer Mike Dallaway
Others Present: Paul Hunter Richard Matthews
Kat Smith Chris Tooze

Minutes: These having been previously circulated and amended were accepted as a true record.

Chairman (PM):

  • EM update – PS had attended the recent EM meeting. No matters arising from that which hadn’t already been shared by KS through HCC’s Facebook page.
  • Stanton Lakes Walking Market – Unfortunately this could not go ahead with COVID restrictions although HCC had offered the SUP coaching “prizes”.

 Club Admin (AH):
Meeting minutes – draft minutes of the review meeting on 16th November 2020 had not been added to the website prior to this meeting as the website had temporarily been unavailable. Minutes to be added now. Action: AH

  • HCC Website – down for a short time, web license now renewed. Site needs updating along with Risk Assessments as paddling has currently resumed in groups. Action: AH/DC
  • Western Power Grant – Notified grant application was unsuccessful
  • Additional Application – AH offered to see if HCC could apply for the “Not Having a Work a Christmas Party” fund. PM advised he had tried BC for additional funding but was advised not eligible for current funding but they will get back to him as this may change. Action: AH
  • BC Affiliation made – £353.80, AH to be reimbursed as had to pay on personal credit card as no option to request an invoice. As previous year, this includes 6 waterways licences. Action: LM to refund AH
  • Certificates – AH has not resolved this yet for Salim and other club members who believe they are still waiting for certificates for courses from either BC or Paddlesport. Action: AH
  • AGM Plans – notification period for HCC AGM, 5th March 2021. Venue to be confirmed, likely to be virtual. Constitutionally 21 days beforehand e.g. Family Membership rates which was raised previously as the current rate for Family memberships has been queried. Discussion followed as to what constitutes a Family e.g. should the adult(s) and children to be from same address? Also, current disparity on the cost of a Family membership, which is a cheaper for two adults with children than the price of two separate adult memberships without children. All present agreed that the cost of a Family should be lower than individual Adult and Children costs combined but should not to disadvantage other Adult Members. Action: AH/LO to look at Family Membership rates charged by other Clubs. A change to current rates would need to be formally proposed at the forthcoming AGM.

Finance (LM, joined meeting at 8pm):

  • Bank Balance – balance £7,288.56 as at 24/11/20. Still owes AH for Affiliation refund and MD for the remainder of his roof claim. Ideas sought for thank you gift for roof replacement. Action: LM

Equipment (NS):

  • Kit – last meeting claim on the insurance £250 paid for the stolen canoe after £50 excess for the £300. No news on canoe trailer Paddle Plus, John Dow is a Scout Leader and may be able to access one if we need to borrow this. Discussion around towing and possible need to train. Mike Dallaway had previously offered to tow if needed. Electrics – Martin Walker put post on Facebook page for internal electric’s parts. Chris Hill enquired through his work £450. Main priority is to get the power to the container. £418.16 quote for Paul Taylor who was the person to do the digging out. He hoped to join the meeting today but was unable to.
  • Working Party – potentially 19/20th December 2020 still waiting to hear from Martin Walker. Action: NS

Events and Trips (DC, sent apologies):

  • Trips and Events – Richard Ashby Canal to Shenton. May need to make decision closer to the event dependent upon COVID restrictions applicable at the time. Action: RM

Club Development (BH):

  • Coach Dave Beecroft – since the last meeting to check the kit so haven’t managed to coordinate a meeting yet at the Lake. Plans for training to hopefully go ahead for Jan 2021. Action: BH

 Membership (LO):

  • Paid Membership renewals – Static at 145 members. Couple of refunds and an email from a family (2 adults, 2 children) who joined late in the season and haven’t been able to take part in any club activities . Discussion around possible credit/extension of their membership period. Action: LO
  • Extension of General Membership – discussion around a possible extension of the Membership year, possibly to give a “free” 3 months, as a thank you for supporting the Club 2020. LO to determine if this could be done on the membership system and if so, the best way to do this. An alternative could be to offer a limited number of free sessions each, but this could be more costly and harder to manage. Current renewal date is the same for all existing renewals and new members who join on 1st April 2021. Could maybe set a reduced renewal cost for existing Members. LO acknowledged HCC lost some income from Thursday evenings and pool sessions but did get some additional funding from Sport England and Tesco. Action: LM to provide some financial information for LO to determine if this is viable and not detrimental to HCC.

 Any Other Business:

  • Entrapment of Paddle Boarder on recent Loughborough Club Trip – An incident occurred on the recent trip which resulted in a rescue of a SUP user. In a section of moving water, the ankle leash of the SUP user had become caught beneath the water level under a branch. Credit was given to the various members of the group who assisted NS to rescue the entrapped SUP user. As a result of this incident, the Club will only take SUP users on to moving water if they have a waist leash rather than an ankle leash. HCC to purchase a quantity for use with Club SUPs. Discussion also to ensure paddlers where suitable clothing for the conditions. The incident will be formally reported to BC and highlighted to other Sup users and Club groups on Facebook forums.
    • Action: NS to purchase waist leashes.
    • Action: Smith Family to complete a “Near Miss Accident Report” to BC.
    • Action: BH to enquire if a coach, ideally Barry Hughes, could advise coaches on how to develop SUP users for moving water.
    • Action: KS to make enquiries into recommendations via East Midlands meeting.
    • Action: Trip Leaders to insist on a minimum of a wetsuit and cagoule this time of year. Helmet advisable for SUP users too.
  • Trips COVID Risk Assessment for each trip. NS had attended a recent BC webinar linked to COVID restrictions in place at that time advising the need to be socially distant before and after a club activity e.g. meeting points of car park, kit conveyancing etc. BC implied that the group size was subject to the ration of coaches/leaders rather than a specific group size. However, BC will update their guidance in view of any changes to national recommendations. It is still important what the general public sees the club complying with social distancing particularly if there is a large group of people present. Still potentially easier to operate in smaller groups, “Because you can, doesn’t mean you must”. Limited to who can coach within each County within the current Tier structure, other issues if people are unable to travel to different tiers which is anticipated.

 Next meeting and Location:        Virtual Full Committee Meeting 7.30pm Monday 11th January 2021.