Minutes of NWOA Executive Committee meeting
at Boot and Shoe, A6 south of Lancaster (01524 63011) 6.30 p.m. February 7th 2011
Present: Bob Roach (Chairman), Steve Round (Treasurer), Sue Birkinshaw (Hon Sec), Steve Buckley, Mike Atherton. Dick Towler (BOF Rules Group) and Richard Tiley (NW Fixtures) were present for part of the meeting.
- Minutes of Exec meetings held on November 1st 2010
Agreed to be a correct record - Matters arising, not covered below
Safety of lone mappers and planners– next meeting
BR will speak to Jon Carberry about Coach licensing. - BOC 2012
A report was received from Lynne Thomas (event co-ordinator) with a draft of a flyer. The flyer was approved. BL have agreed to put on a Warm-up event at Low/High Rigg on the Friday. It was agreed that an urban event in Kendal on the Monday would be a good addition to the weekend. It is necessary that LOC firm up on this, for the purpose of advertising. They might need help from other clubs .
It was felt that there is a degree of urgency on some aspects of the event organization: the budget, obtaining formal permission (especially for the proposed assembly area) and getting the competitors to Dalegarth. MA and SR will arrange to meet Lynne soon. - Other major events
Reports were received from:
JIRC 2011 – well in hand. An e-mail Exec decision was made in December 2010 that the event could keep any profit generated, towards future costs of Norway trips.
BSOC 2012 – all in hand
Northern Champs 2012 – an unexpected access problem has arisen with YMCA. Help to understand the problem would be appreciated. - Lakes 5 2010
Press releases about the donation to the Pakistan Flood Relief have been sent to all Cumbrian papers, and articles have been published in Focus and CompassSport. Thanks to Angela Whitworth and Tony Richardson for their work.
The accounts should be finalised by mid March.
Trevor Roberts had received feed-back from about 190 competitors, and their comments will be considered in the planning for 2014. No further survey will be undertaken.
Lakes 5 2014
DT had approached all the NW clubs and received helpful suggestions about possible areas – DT was thanked for his report, particularly because it gets preparations for 2014 off to an early start.
MA will write a set of criteria for the 2014 event and will present this, along with DT's recommendations for areas, to the CDM in March.
Shared advertising with WOA and SOA would be valuable. - Rules Committee
DT reported on issues raised about Level B events. A terrain assessment will be made at least a year in advance. Controllers and Planners will need to be appointed by then, too. Proposals for 2012 are needed by March 2011.
He will produce a list of the minimum courses needed for a NW level B event.
Map scale remains a contentious issue. In future it will be dealt with by Map Group, and there is unlikely to be any flexibility from 2012 onwards. We must monitor this development.
DT has contacted all NW controllers. He finds that there are fewer than 20 active Grade B controllers – only just sufficient for our level B events. A course for Grade B controllers will be put on if it is required – clubs to talk to their Grade C controllers about upgrading.
An embargo problem had arisen with respect to NWJS training on a 2011 level B event area. In line with the Delamere event, it was agreed that the trainees could still run competitively but the event details should state that this had occurred. DT has reminded Controllers of NWOA's embargo policy. - Fixtures Committee
RT said that all events will be registered by the clubs as level D, with the region then having the authority to upgrade them to level C, and National Fixtures to upgrade to level B (as above) - NW O League
The 2010 results have been published on the NW website. Very few errors had been spotted.
The Working Party was thanked for getting the 2011 League underway. No interim results have yet been produced, held up by delay in getting access to the BOF membership database. A statistician is required.
A solution is needed to the problem that courses with less than 10 competitors are not included in the BOF Rankings (Black courses sometimes come into this category). SB to follow this up.
CompassPoint would like a higher profile as sponsors. Sponsorship and prizes will be reviewed for the 2012 League.
Advertising the League continues. It will be stepped up in the Autumn when a programme is available of 2012 events. The working party was asked to review the arrangements for the League and report suggestions for amendment for the 2012 programme. - Finance
SR reported that the accounts are in good order, but are held up by the delay in fixing club subscriptions for the year.
Money is available for two NW courses on Safety. Clubs are urged to send people on these courses before they become a requirement for event organisers. The courses will be free to participants and it was agreed that NWOA would not put in further funding e.g. for travel costs. - Marketing and Publicity
BR and SR had had a meeting with Svend Elkjaer of Sports Marketing Network. They were impressed by his experience of engaging at a local level with clubs from many sports. He suggested a three stage project involving market research, workshops and mentoring
A 7-page report is available on request, from the Secretary.
After lengthy discussion on not only the project, but the usefulness and advisability of calling in professional help with marketing and publicity (which we admit to being bad at), it was agreed that a market survey as proposed by Svend might be a suitable way of using NW funds. SR to consider making a proposal to the CDM.
An offer has been made by a NW member to put on a workshop on writing press articles, with follow-up mentoring. To be discussed further. BR to seek guidance from BOF. - Supporting smaller clubs
After discussion on the relationship that small, satellite and community based clubs have with the region and their neighboring clubs, it was agreed that efforts should be made to support them. It would help to find out how these relationships operate in other regions. The subject could be considered by BOF. - EGM and CDM March 12th 2011
The EGM is to be called to vote on club subscriptions and the WCOC amendment to the Treasurer's proposal. The Secretary to send the clubs formal notification of the proposal and amendment by mid February. The EGM will take place before the CDM.
The CDM agenda to be sent to clubs at the same time. John Woodall to be invited to the meeting. - BOF
We appreciate the link with BOF via John Woodall.
We note that the post of Regional Development Officer is to be discontinued. - NWOA website
We thank Mark Sammon for his work in updating the website. RT has access rights to parts of the website – other people could be given similar rights. Further discussion is needed on website content – whether names and contact details of Officers and NW Reps should be added, and whether Exec Minutes should be published. It was agreed that more information on the Junior Squad and event standards should be included. - NWOA Constitution
It was noted that minor updates are required with the change at BOF level from Council to a Board. Proposals will be made to the AGM in the Autumn. - Communication between the Exec and the Clubs
It is felt that this is patchy and the topic needs wider discussion.
Next Meeting.
April 4th, 6.30 at the Boot and Shoe.
