The AGM took place immediately after our Annual Relays presentation with only 13 members present!!
Any member who wishes to have a copy of the Treasurer’s Report and Financial Statement should contact me at mmac.sec@blueyonder.co.uk and I will email a copy.
A printable PDF version of the minutes from here ….. AGM Minutes 2014
MINUTES of the 42th Annual General Meeting held at Donisthorpe Woodland Park, on Sunday, 13 April 2014.
PRESENT
13 members
APOLOGIES
Apologies were received from Eric Horwill; Pam Horwill; Julie Bellfield; Lynn Bellfield; Elaine Mee.
MINUTES
The Minutes of the 41st Annual General Meeting were approved unanimously, – proposed Rita Brownlie, seconded Tom Morris.
MATTERS ARISING
There were no matters arising.
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
The Chairman circulated her report and this will be reproduced in the next newsletter. She paid tribute to the committee for their hard work and support during the year, especially Tom Morris and Martin Wilkinson. She pointed out that some of the committee would not be standing for re-election – Pam and Eric Horwill and John Walker. Pam and Eric had been members of the committee for many years and had filled many of the posts, including President. They were not present due to a clash of athletic commitments, but Irene would be visiting them to make a presentation, to acknowledge their many years of service. John Walker was too ill to take on any committee work, Adrian Lloyd passed on a message from John indicating that he would be delighted to see any MMAC members who would like to visit him. He sent good wishes to all members and in response the Chairman recorded thanks for all John had done for the club. She asked that a message should be sent to him, with good wishes and love from everyone.
PRESENTATION OF ACCOUNTS
Martin Wilkinson, Treasurer, circulated his accounts and in his report indicated that a slight loss had been made over the year. There are still large reserves, as last year which allow events to be underwritten. Most events or competitions are run to break even with very little rise in competition entry fees despite a rise in running costs especially in 2013.
Income has increased due to the small increase in subscriptions. There is now a small income from investment of our reserves compared to very little bank interest last year. However interest rates have remained extremely low for business and charity accounts. Expenditure has increased for officials, event costs, the newsletter and the new AREG site. New MMAC marshal’s jackets have also been purchased.
Our balance at the end of the year is very similar to last year due to the increase in subscriptions for 2014. It is likely that there will be further rises in event costs in 2014 but entry fees will be largely maintained to 2013 levels in the hope that competition numbers are increased. It is hoped to keep the subscription fees at the current level until at least 2016 AGM (three years) and no increase is recommended at the 2014 AGM.
Balances: Subs EA received in advance £3782; Lloyds Current a/c £7963; Lloyds Deposit a/c £10,000; Assets £1906; TOTAL £23,381.
During the year two long term investments have been made with Lloyds Bank for £10K each over 12 months and 3 months. This has returned a small amount of interest and is a very low risk strategy, increasing interest from £7 in 2012 to £167 in 2013.
The MMAC PayPal account was opened and subscriptions and competition registrations are now paid via PayPal. This reduces the income by 5% i.e. the profit made by PayPal. There are a number of advantages in tracking payments, taking additional payments and refunding payments. In 2013 we took 508 payments via PayPal which in the past would have been 508 cheques and several trips to the bank. The total cost of PayPal has been £308 with the average cost per payment of 63p. PayPal have been asked if they can recognise MMAC as a charity account with reduced PayPal fees.
We continue to subsidise club vests resulting in greater numbers wearing the vests for competition and publicising MMAC
The Chairman thanked Martin for his excellent accounts. Irene Nicholls proposed, Adrian Lloyd seconded and it was agreed unanimously that they be accepted.
SECRETARY’S REPORT
Tom Morris circulated his report. He had spent a great deal of time setting up the registration scheme for online subscriptions and entries, in line with BMAF. MMAC had been the first area to set this up and it had a ‘learning curve’ for everyone. Members can now pay for events and subscriptions from their own living rooms instead of TM doing it 800 times. Members without internet access are still able to pay their subscriptions and entry fees by cheque.
The official website, midlandmasters.com, continues to receive views from over one hundred countries. The busiest day was 10.6.13 with 686 views. The top five pages viewed were T&F; CC; Membership Renewals; How to Join and Newsletter Archive. Facebook Group has 253 members (an increase of 30% on 2012). We also have our own Twitter feed which appears on our Home Page on the website.
Championship events all proved to be fairly successful although numbers of entrants can always be increased. The relays and AGM at Donisthorpe had been very well received with excellent feedback. Birmingham City Council, sponsors of the National Masters Open Road Relays in Sutton Park, are cutting costs and the organising committee are having to cut back on the less necessary items.
Congratulations were extended to all who represented MMAC and BMAF during the year, and TM concluded with thanks to officers and committee members for their support, with special thanks to Irene Nicholls and Martin Wilkinson for their help. Thanks, also to Peter Kennedy from VAC for his support with the AREG system and to all active members.
The Chairman congratulated Tom on his report and it was accepted unanimously, proposed: Mick Smedley, seconded: Irene Nicholls.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
The Chairman thanked Marcia Smedley for her support and hard work during her year of office and presented her with flowers and a memento, a clock. Marcia had chosen Pam and Eric Horwill as recipients of the President’s trophy, and this will be passed to them. Marcia then presented the chain of office to the new President, David Oxland.
David Oxland took the chair for the election of Chairman – there being no other nominations, Irene Nicholls was elected unanimously.
The following were then elected en bloc:
Vice Chairman: Rita Brownlie; Secretary: Tom Morris; Treasurer: Martin Wilkinson
Proposed: Derek Johnson; Seconded: Adrian Lloyd
Membership Secretary; Tom Morris, Road & CC Secretary – VACANT; Asst. R & CC Sec – VACANT
T&F Secretary; Tony Porter; Asst. T&F Sec.; VACANT
Joint Race Walking Secretaries: Julie Bellfield; Lynn Bellfield; Officials Secretary; VACANT
Media Manager; Brian Owen; President Elect: VACANT
Proposed: Martin Wilkinson; seconded: Adrian Lloyd
Delegates 2014/15
MCAA – Rita Brownlie; BMAF and EA – Irene Nicholls; EAMA – Irene Nicholls, Tom Morris
Proposed: Martin Wilkinson; seconded: Mick Smedley
Co-opted positions:
Handicapper: VACANT; Social Secretary: Adrian Lloyd; Minutes Secretary; Margaret Simpson
Newsletter Editor: Margaret Simpson; Asst. N/L Editor: Louis Satterthwaite
Team Manager MV T&F League: Tony Porter; Team Manager Inter-Area T&F: Elaine Mee
Asst. Inter-Area T&F: Tony Porter; Team Manager International CC; Mick Smedley
Co-opted members
Collin Green; Marcia Smedley
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
To be advised
The Chairman closed the meeting with thanks to everyone for attending
Notice is hereby given that the 42nd Annual General Meeting of the MMAC will take place on Sunday, 13th April at 1.00pm at Donisthorpe Woodland Park, Church Street, Donisthorpe DE12 7PX.
Motions to be discussed at the AGM must be sent, in writing, to the General Secretary to arrive at least two weeks before the meeting. Members are requested to consider promoting one of our fixtures and to come to the AGM prepared to offer their Club’s facilities for this purpose. Any member who wishes to offer him/herself for any of the above posts is asked to notify the General Secretary before the meeting. New blood will be welcomed by the present officers.
AGENDA
- Apologies
- Minutes of AGM 2013
- Matters Arising
- Chairman’s Report
- Presentation of Accounts & Treasurer’s Report
- Secretary’s Report
- Election of Officers for 2014/2015
- Fixtures for 2014/2015
- Date of next meeting
General & Membership Secretary’s Report 2013
What can I say about my year in 2013? Well it has been dominated by our initiation into the world of online subscriptions and entries. At our committee meeting in February a decision was made to go ahead and integrate with the BMAF online entry system, AREG (Athletes Registration). The idea being that all Regional Masters Clubs would eventually join and we would have a unified database within BMAF. Unknowingly at the time in March we were the first Regional Masters Club to use it and we were thrown into a ‘guinea pig’ situation falling headlong into a steep learning curve. Since then VAC and SCVAC are both using AREG both for subscriptions and event entries. As part of this process we dropped the use of our existing Access Database and all paid up members for 2013 were transferred onto the AREG database. We also finished with issuing membership ‘cards’ except to new members and ceased using both paper application forms and renewal notices. We introduced an online application form on our website for new members and also an online renewal form for lapsed members only. This has proved highly successful with all new applicants using AREG to pay their first year’s subscriptions.
As with any new system we have experienced our fair share of teething troubles and many hours have gone into trying to get it right, we are not quite there yet but hopefully it will not be long.
All this means that members can now view and have control of their own profile and can enter our events and pay their subs all from the comfort of their own living rooms. Each member does their little bit once instead of me doing it 800 times, at least that’s the theory!
Of course being engrossed in making AREG work for us doesn’t mean that we have forgotten our members who have no internet access. These members can still pay their subscriptions by the old method of sending me a cheque with a note if any changes to their profile are needed. Likewise they can enter any of our events just by stating what event and sending me a cheque for their entry fee. We have all your details, so no renewal or entry forms. Paperwork is on the way out!
Moving along with the times into the age of electronic procedures inevitably comes at a cost and at our AGM in April the decision was made to increase the subscriptions for the second year running. This increase will not only help to pay for the use and development of the AREG system but also help pay the increased affiliation fees. We hope now to stabilise our subscriptions at least for the near future. More members are choosing the reduced subscription reading the Newsletter online and this saves us a tremendous amount of postage and effort.
Our official website, midlandmasters.com, continues to receive views from all over the world. One hundred countries visited and unsurprisingly the UK and USA paid most visits. The busiest day in 2013 was the 10th June with 686 views on the Track & Field 2013 page. The top five pages to be viewed during 2013 were as follows: – Track & Field 2013; Cross Country 2013; Membership Renewals; How to Join and Newsletter Archive. June proved to have the largest number of views in a month with 6503 averaging 217 per day. We have 207 followers to the site, which means they are notified by email every time an article is posted. Our Facebook Group has 253 members, an increase of 30% on 2012. We also now have our own Twitter feed with our followers increasing daily. These ‘tweets’ appear on our Home Page on the website.
In 2013 we continued to promote our own championship events and all proved to be fairly successful although numbers of entrants can always be increased. In addition we organised our own traditional annual relay held at Donisthorpe Woodland Park for the second year running. This is another event that would support larger numbers and as everyone who competed seemed to enjoy it, giving us excellent feedback, then hopefully 2014 will have an improved entry. Yet another of our traditional annual events was the handicap. Run in conjunction with the Centurion Grand Prix Series this event certainly could do with more support with not all members running entering the handicap but turning up to compete in the Open event. A little frustrating for us!
The big event for us is always the National Masters Open Road Relays held at Sutton Park. Our sponsors for this event, Birmingham City Council, who we are extremely grateful to for their support over the years, are finding themselves having to cut costs and the small organising committee are having to cut back on the less necessary items. We hope that this does not diminish the enjoyment of this event.
Competitively, we were very successful across the disciplines in a range from local to world events. Results of these meetings have been well documented elsewhere, so I am not mentioning anyone individually but congratulations and well done to all who represented both MMAC and BMAF throughout the year.
Finally, I would like to thank the officers and committee for all their support during the year. Special thanks to Irene Nicholls and Martin Wilkinson for their help in various aspects of MMAC events. Also, thanks to Peter Kennedy from VAC for his support with the AREG system. Finally thanks to all our active membership for their support and feedback, this is always appreciated.
Tom Morris – 31st January 2014
| Officers 2013/2014 | |
| President | Marcia Smedley |
| Chair | Irene Nicholls |
| Vice Chair | Rita Brownlie |
| Honorary Secretary | Tom Morris |
| Honorary Treasurer | Martin Wilkinson |
| Management 2013/2014 | |
| Membership Secretary | Tom Morris |
| Track & Field Secretary | Tony Porter |
| Assistant Track & Field Secretary | Vacant |
| Road & Cross Country Secretary | John Walker |
| Assistant Road & Cross Country Secretary | Vacant |
| Officials Secretary | Vacant |
| Race Walking Secretary | Eric Horwill |
| Media Manager | Brian Owen |
| President Elect | David Oxland |
| Delegates 2013/2014 | |
| Midland Counties Athletic Association | Rita Brownlie |
| England Athletics Masters Association | Irene Nicholls; Tom Morris |
| England Athletics | Irene Nicholls |
| British Masters Athletic Federation | Irene Nicholls |
| Co-opted Positions 2013/2014 | |
| Handicapper | Eric Horwill |
| Social Secretary | Adrian Lloyd |
| Minutes Secretary | Margaret Simpson |
| Newsletter Editor | Margaret Simpson |
| Assistant Newsletter Editor | Louis Satterthwaite |
| Team Manager Midland Veterans T&F League | Tony Porter |
| Team Manager Inter-Area T&F | Elaine Mee |
| Assistant Team Manager Inter-Area T&F | Tony Porter |
| Team Manager International Cross Country | Mick Smedley |
| Co-options 2013/2014 | Pam Horwill; Collin Green |
Midland Masters Athletic Club 
Thank you foor writing this
Posted by Henry Andrews | September 20, 2021, 2:55 pm