Please find below notes from our 2019 AGM, which was held on Sunday 7th July 2019 at Moreton Hall Community Centre:
Present:
Ashley MacDonald, Arron MacDonald, Andrew Borkett, Seb Benford, Rob Fisher, Mark Knight, Bruce Whiteman, Sam Whiteman, Lynne Quelch, Glenn Collins, Andrew Binns, Adam Maddison, Jason Sykes, Sam Howard, David Wise.
Apologies:
Andrew MacDonald, Matt Bullock, Louise Sparks, Matthew Spurling, Angie Williamson.
The AGM was opened by Ashley MacDonald at 18:33
1. Management Committee Reports for 2018/19 Season:
- Chairman’s Report - Delivered by Vice Chair Ashley MacDonald on behalf of outgoing Chair, Andrew MacDonald It’s been a great year for our club. We’ve been more active and vocal as a committee and a club, we have a vision for the future, and we’re executing that vision. Next year will be huge for us.
The more people involved, the better. Whether that’s players or volunteers – we’re simply looking to continue growing, whilst maintaining a focus on retaining our family ethos, even though we may be twice the size we once were. We’re going to hear from the other officers in the club shortly, and I’d like to thank every volunteer for the work they do for our club. The last thing from me is that we’re happy with where we are and where we’re going – and I’d call on all members, their friends and family to ensure we’re all supporting the club at every opportunity moving forwards.
- Secretary’s Report – Arron MacDonald Echoing Mac/Ashley’s sentiments, it’s been a year of growth for the club, particularly in the Junior Section. We’ve received no fines across the club, although have once again forfeited fixtures across Junior and Senior teams. Club fundraising events have been positive and relatively well supported. We’ve done a lot of work towards Clubmark and expect to see real progress towards attaining the qualification in Q3/Q4 2019. In terms of Club Publicity, in addition to being on BBC Radio Suffolk, we’ve featured in the EADT, BFP & Bury Flyer. Our online presence continues to grow. Social media followship is up by approx. 50% year-on-year, and in less than two years we’ve gone from <200 followers to circa 1500. We receive >1000 social media views daily, and have had approximately 8000 website hits in the past twelve months. The most important work we’ve undertaken has been relating to our constitutional changes – which I’ll detail shortly. These changes ensure we are working to our values, and that we have a robust committee of volunteers with defined roles, and everyone adding value. On behalf of the Committee, I implore the members to ratify the changes.
- Treasurer’s Report – Glenn Collins The growth of our club has seen a dramatic upturn in our income – and outgoings - this season. We’ve run a number of new sessions, such as Skills School and Get Back Into Basketball, each of which have helped our financial position, and our two fundraising events resulted in a net positive of almost £400.00. At the prior AGM, the Committee voted to move operations to Skyliner, and we were a little concerned that in doing so, we could see a small loss year-to-year. That has not been the case, as we’ve ended the year with a £672 operating profit. It should be noted that we’ve had £2000.00 in future NBL sponsorship received, and have already paid £1400.00 out for entry fees (although we expect some back shortly), and the net £600.00 represents the majority of our operating profit for the year. We have additional sponsorship monies to be received shortly, as well. The club shop turned a profit this season, however, this was offset to some extent by the loss of £499 against match fees – almost all of which related to the game fees for the Juniors in the ABA Central Venue League.
- Head Coach’s Report – Arron MacDonald It’s been another relatively successful year on-court, albeit without collecting any silverware. The growth of the juniors in number and performance has been pleasing, as they collected significantly more wins than the prior season. In the Seniors, both Suffolk sides earned playoff spots, but we found a return to the Cambs League a little tougher, finishing fifth.
Player availability has again been an issue for the coaches, with the First team forfeiting two games and neither of the Senior sides fielding a full-strength team throughout the season. The Teamo app has made session planning, etc. easier for the coaches – when properly used by players. However, it became overloaded and “glitchy”, and we’ve now grown too big for the free version, and as such, will leave each coach/team manager to manage their team as they deem appropriate next season. Our new ventures (Skills School, Get Back Into Basketball & Summer Camp) have seen us attract more players to the club and with the advent of the NBL sides and Girls/Women’s sessions, we’ve created a pathway that allows players to join our club and continue to play for as long as they’d like. The coaching curriculum has made session planning a little easier for our coaches, and ensures we have structured skill development sessions for our Junior Players. I must say a heartfelt thank you to Seb Benford, Rob Fisher and Glenn Collins for their work this season, and a big welcome to Jo Brawn who joined the club at the end of the season. Lastly, I want to thank the players, parents and volunteers who make our club what it is… but also ask for those same people to step forwards and volunteer to help us grow. We’re still in need of team managers, and always need assistance with fundraising and club events.
Our Key Challenges moving forwards from a coaching perspective are: - Re-skilling a number of lapsed coaches around the club - Upskilling potential coaches to add to our numbers - Finding more available hours at appropriate venues to facilitate the potential to grow the club - Building improved relationships with schools to grow our membership, and lead to primary-aged basketball in the near future.
2. Constitutional Changes to be Agreed
i. Ensuring that we are shown as a “Not For Profit Club” with a Charitable Dissolution Clause, as shown in Section 6 (“Finances”), parts (g) and (h) of the constitution. The proposed changes were accepted unanimously by the members
ii. Amendment of Committee Structure & powers. Splitting into a Management Committee with Club Business, Club Service and Club Technical Sub-Committees, as shown in Section 5(“Committee”), parts (a), (c), (g), (k) and (m). The proposed changes were accepted unanimously by the members
3. 2019/20 Competitions Summary - Senior NBL Team competing in Division 3 East - U16 Boys NBL Team competing in NBL Regional IV - Senior Men LL have two teams, one in SSL Div 2 and one in Cambs Div 2 - Junior Boys & Girls Development have sent EOI’s to the NYBL in U11, U13, U15 & U18. Also awaiting notification of competitions available in ABA. - Senior Women won’t start until season is almost underway – so too soon for a league. Will look to arrange friendly games throughout season, once numbers are established.
4. Election of Officers for 2019/20 Season The following officers were elected unanimously to the Management Committee by the club Members: Chair – Ashley MacDonald Vice Chairs – Mark Knight & Glenn Collins Secretary – Lynne Quelch Treasurer – Seb Benford Welfare Officer – Lynne Quelch
As per the Club Constitution, the Management Committee will then appoint subsequent volunteers into all other committee roles, and seek to appoint members to vacant roles, where required.
5. Club Sign-Up Day Arron explained about the changes to the BE Membership Portal and that the club were holding an event to support its’ members in registering, in light of the changes.
CLOSE The AGM was closed by Ashley MacDonald at 18:59
Management Committee Meeting
7th July 2019
Present: Ashley MacDonald, Glenn Collins, Mark Knight, Seb Benford, Lynne Quelch and Arron MacDonald
Apologies: None
OPEN: Ashley opened the meeting at 19:15
1. Appointment of Officers The following officers were unanimously appointed to roles within the club: - Head Coach – Arron MacDonald* - Deputy Welfare Officer – Matthew Bullock - Publicity Team – Andrew Borkett, Sam Howard, Arron MacDonald* - Senior NBL Manager – Lynne Quelch* - Girls Development Team Manager – Alex Bartholomew - Senior Women Team Manager – Angie Williamson - Get Back Into Basketball Session Manager – Matthew Bullock
It was noted by the committee that the following roles are presently vacant, and it was agreed that efforts would be made to find suitable candidates at the club: - U13 Boys Development Team Manager - U15 Boys Development Team Manager - Senior Men Local League Team Manager - U16 Boys NBL Team Manager - Fundraising Team Lead & Members
* Please note that the member who was nominated for the role abstained from this vote.
2. Date of First Committee Meeting It was agreed that there should be a Club Committee Meeting prior to any Sub-Committee Meetings, and that this should happen in the coming two weeks.
Provisional Agenda: 1. Agreement of Fee Structure for 2019/20 season 2. Provisional Agreement of Club Calendar for 2019/20 season 3. Initial sub-committee meeting dates set
Committee Meeting to be arranged prior to the commencement of pre-season, date TBC.
Meeting Closed at 19:43
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