General

Midland Masters AC Flickr Group

After the recent Masters Inter-Area Match at Solihull, Louis Satterthwaite has kindly set up a Flickr Group for Midland Masters Photographs. If you have any images that are relevant to Midland Masters AC then you too can upload them onto the Group page after first joining the Group. Lou will administer this part of it. Go to http://tinyurl.com/mq8uzjl and take a look. Then consider joining the Group and add your pictures for everyone to see.

New Channel 4 Show

Of special interest to our members this proposed new show is just for you …..

Please take a few minutes to read the letter explaining what it’s all about and fill in an application form.

All the details are on our “Notice Board” page at http://tinyurl.com/bm6a6sn 

Inter-Area T&F Outdoor Challenge 2013

The Inter-Area take place on the 21st July 2013 at Solihull. Important information plus all details can be found on this website under the “Club Events” page, look for the relevant sub-page or click on the following direct shortlink …….. http://tinyurl.com/q8st34u

Latest Committee News

At our committee meeting last night (27th February), two important decisions were made of interest to members.

Firstly, we co-opted Tony Porter as our Track & Field Team Manager responsible for the teams in the Midland Veterans Track & Field Team. Tony volunteered after my appeal for someone to come forward and more details will be available very soon.

Secondly, we unanimously agreed to go ahead and join the British Masters Athletic Federation online entry system. Once set up, members will be able to pay their subscriptions online and be able to update and amend their profile themselves. Eventually, probably gradually phased in, we will also be able to offer an online entry for our events. Integrating with the BMAF means that members will not be able to enter BMAF or International events without being a paid up member.

Maintaining this online database will drastically reduce the administration work involved with membership issues and will make handovers easier to succeeding officers.

Further details will be available soon.

Related articles

• Final Appeal for Team Manager (midlandmasters.com)

Membership Subscription Reminder

Membership subscriptions are due for payment from the 1st January. If you haven’t renewed yet please go to the “Membership” Page; sub-page “Membership Renewals” for all the information.

Leonard Berry

We have received sad news of the death of a previous Midland Veterans AC member #80940, Leonard Berry, who joined in June 1984. His daughter writes ………….

I am writing to let you know that my father, Leonard Berry, passed away on 18th December aged 82. He was a member of the Midland Veterans during the 1980’s when he won a silver medal for England in the Steeplechase in, I believe, 1985.

His funeral is on Thursday 3rd January at noon in St John the Baptist Church, Great Rissington, Gloucestershire. Please can you pass on the news to any of his contemporaries that may like to know.

Regards
Clare Mayo

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 49,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 11 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

Merry Christmas

On behalf of myself and your committee I wish all Midland Masters AC members a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope that you all remain injury free and attain all your goals during 2013.

EA Registration – MMAC Survey Results

The following is a report on the results of our survey carried out recently. It was not a scientific survey but I believe it conveys the views of most of our members.

Owing to the surprising announcement at the end of September by England Athletics about the increases in registration fees and a change in structure and the potential impact on MMAC, I quickly produced an online survey on our website seeking our member’s views. This survey ran for approximately 7 weeks and had a total of 147 participants.

The following questions were asked:-

1. Are you a member of a UKA Club? YES/NO
2. Are you a 1^st Claim Member to MMAC? YES/NO/YES track & field only
3. Are you happy to pay a registration fee to EA? YES/NO
4. Do you recognise the need to pay a registration fee? YES/NO/Please help us understand why you selected this answer
5. If you answered YES to question 4, what would the maximum amount be that you are prepared to pay? £7 to £10 /£10 to £15/ £15 to £20/ Other option
6. Do you agree to a two tier system? i.e. road runners pay less YES/NO
7. Are you satisfied with what you get from the registration scheme? YES/NO/Please help us understand why you selected this answer
8. What would you like to see EA provide out of this extra fee? To your Club/As an individual/Please help us understand why you selected this answer

The above questions were a ‘knee jerk’ reaction to the announcement and with hindsight would probably be either different or phrased differently. However, I felt it important to seek views immediately so that I could present the results at our November Committee meeting. Subsequently to the EA announcement, their own AGM was held where Clubs expressed strong views and as a result a series of Forums have been set up by EA.

Following are the results received to the questions giving both numbers and percentages.

Question 1 – Are you a member of a UKA Club?

136 answered YES (94%); 8 answered NO (6%) – there were 3 who skipped the question

Question 2 – Are you a 1^st Claim Member to MMAC

25 answered YES (17%); 113 answered YES (79%); 6 answered YES Track & Field Only (4%) – there were 3 who skipped the question.

Question 3 – Are you happy to pay a registration fee to EA?

97 answered YES (66%); 50 answered NO (34%) – No skips.

Question 4 – Do you recognise the need to pay a registration fee?

113 answered YES (77%); 34 answered NO (23%) – No skips and 108 comments.

Question 5 – If you answered YES to Question 4, what would the maximum amount be that you are prepared to pay?

52 answered £7 to £10 (44%); 19 answered £10 to £15 (16%); 16 answered £15 to £20 (14%)

31 answered ‘Other Option’ (26%) of which 68% wanted £5

Question 6 – Do you agree to a two tier system? i.e. road runners pay less.

144 answered NO (74%); 38 answered YES (26%) – there were 3 who skipped the question.

Question 7 – Are you satisfied with what you get from the registration scheme?

80 answered NO (56%); 64 answered YES (44%) – 3 skips and 104 comments.

Question 8 – What would you like to see EA provide out of this extra fee?

68 answered ‘To your Club’ (64%); 39 answered ‘As an individual’ (36%) – 40 skips and 113 comments.

General Observations

The overwhelming thing that stood out from the comments was the ignorance of members of either what EA is or does or where we as a Masters Club benefit. Even 1^st Claim status was not understood by all as a few ticked YES both for a UKA Club and MMAC, thus shifting the analysis slightly!

As we would expect, the majority of our members belong to a UKA Club (Q1) but the numbers claiming to be 1^st Claim members was too high at 17%, the actual figure being nearer 11% (Q2). The majority seem happy to pay a registration fee and do recognise the need (Q3 & Q4) however some did question what EA provides for the veteran/master athlete competing in only a few events per year. Others thought that a nominal fee was acceptable but not the large 4x increase. The majority 44% were prepared to pay between £7 and £10 (Q5) and as most members were against the two tier system (Q6) then an across the board registration fee of £10 seemed to be acceptable. It’s interesting that although members generally are happy for a registration scheme the majority are not satisfied with what they get from it (Q7), many not seeing any benefits particularly as veteran/master athletes. From the comments made this is mainly through a lack of understanding. Members wanted EA to provide more to the Clubs than individuals (Q8) but there was a range of comments from wanting more to be done for youngsters through to more for the older athletes.

Conclusions

More education for our members on what EA provides and why we have a registration scheme in the first place is required. I can reply to some of the concerns expressed on the survey to explain or allay their fears and misunderstandings.

This was not a scientific survey and only 22% (147) of the potential 652 members on email/internet actually took part. But it is a guide as to how our members feel. The bottom line is that most are happy to pay an increase up to double the current fees providing it is across the board i.e. road runners and track & field pay the same.

Tom Morris – 23rd November 2013

Appeal from Birmingham Cross Country League

An important appeal from Chris Holloway of Tipton Harriers who is researching into the history of the Birmingham Cross Country League. I reproduce his letter below…..

I am starting to research the development of the badge used for the various awards in the Birmingham & District XC League over the years to record for posterity.

I would like to ask for help on a couple of fronts from your more “senior” members.

Firstly I am seeking examples of Midland club badges that have included a “wooden gate” as part of the design.

I seem to vaguely recall that older clubs such as Small Heath Harriers or Lozells Harriers may have had this. There may have been others. If so does anyone have a good quality drawing, photograph or picture (or could take one/scan one) of each badge for me?  The badge may be on a letterhead, vest, blazer tracksuit or other item of memorabilia.

My second appeal is to try and trace the various specific designs used for BDXCL medals over the years since 1925 when the league was formed. I understand that the basic design was probably standard across all divisions and placements (1^st, 2^nd 3^rd etc). I have examples from the 1930’s & 40’s but would like to obtain any other variations that may have existed.

What was the badge like in the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s & 90’s and up to the present day? Did it in fact differ?

Ideally I want to obtain good quality digital photographs that show the detail of each medal.  I can take photographs if I can borrow the medals so if people are willing to lend them to me I would be very grateful to know.

If any of our members can help please contact Chris direct on tipton.harrier@yahoo.co.uk