WCA AGM Held on 24th Feb 2008

 

Present

Shelagh Hargraves        Private Member

Edwin Hargraves          Private Member

John Deeley                  OVW (& WCA Chairman)

Julia Jones                    C100MRCC

Tudor Thomas              Bynea CC

Chris Woolley              Acme Whs

David Davies                VTTA

Tony Howell                 OVW

Graham Howell            OVW

 

Chris Deeley                 Observer

 

Apologies

Phyl & Terry Harradine (CC Topp will not be re-affiliating this season)

Robin Field

 

Confirm all present are private members or delegates of affiliated clubs.             Confirmed

 

Chairman’s Report (John Deeley)

All 2007 Welsh Championship events ran well.

Thanks from the chair to all event organisers and their helpers (including BAR Lunch organisation)

Thanks to Teresa Deeley for the organisation and co-ordination of the 2007 MD series, also to Martyn Heritage-Owen for taking on the role for the 2008 season.

Age group awards were generally seen as a success in 2007.

John announced that he would be standing down as WCA Chairman.

 

General Secretary’s Report (Julia Jones)

Julia confirmed that she had carried out the Secretary role for part of the year.

 

Apologies to Tony Heaven who was inadvertently “bounced” into organising the WCA 50 Mile Championship event in 2007. The 2008 has a different organiser.

 

The Association struggled to get organisers for a full season on Championship events and it was noted that the WCA could not continue to operate with the minimal practical support currently being offered by affiliated clubs.

 

The 2008 10 Mile Championship course will need to be changed from that advertised in the handbook due to road works affecting the planned course. This may impact other Championship events too. CTT to be advised and new course publicised.                                            Julia Jones

 

Julia advised she would be standing down as WCA Secretary

 

Treasurers Report (Tony Howell)

Details of the years “ins” and “outs” are attached to these minutes.

There will be a list of affiliated clubs advised by the Treasurer to the Secretary following this meeting.                                                                                                                 Tony Howell

 

 

 

 

 

 

Treasurer also questioned whether any assistance might be forthcoming for his organisation of trophies and BAR lunch at the end of the 2008 season as “Treasuring” for the WCA whilst also leading the effort on the trophies and the lunch, holding down a full time job as well as looking after a cycling family and Chairing Ogmore Valley Wheelers whilst trying to keep “cycling fit” himself was wearing him down!!!

Chris Woolley suggested he may be able to provide some support which he and Tony would agree at a later date.

 

The Treasurer reminded the meeting that he gave 12 months notice to quit the position at the last AGM. He had now worked his notice period and would be standing down.

 

Competition Secretary’s Report (Edwin Hargraves)

Edwin confirmed that he had attended the long distance events during the 2007 season (namely the 100 and 12 hr Champs).

Edwin also did the difficult job of collating the seasons results for BAR and Points competitions to determine what went onto the various WCA trophies and plaques awarded at the 2007 BAE lunch.

Edwin proposed that any age related awards at Championship events should be at the discretion of the event organisers. This was supported unanimously.

 

Edwin needs to hand over the Comp Sec role to someone more local to South Wales than him in Wem.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At this point a discussion ensued about whether the WCA could continue to promote the events it currently does and even if all of the 2008 events were going to be viable. Although the meeting was very constructive in the main, there was disappointment at the turnout and the general lack of support for the WCA from Welsh clubs in general. Robin Field’s current state of heath and impending surgery could put him in an impossible position regarding running of the 2008 25m Championship. It was proposed that we should discuss cancellation of the event with Robin; however, knowing that this would put Robin in a difficult position in his CTT District Committee role the proposal was abandoned.

It is clear that the Championship calendar for 2009 will be severely restricted if Welsh club members do not get off their collective backsides and pitch in. YES that means any and all of you!! All of you know Tony Howell, John Deeley, Robin Field, Tudor Thomas or Julia Jones so you know who to offer your support to.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Election of New Committee

Bearing in mind the previous reports it was clear that the WCA would collapse if the Chairman, General Sec, Comp Sec and Treasurer all leave their post simultaneously. This prompted a proposal for an EGM on the day of the Championship 10 where all affiliated clubs can send 2 delegates, (you’ll probably be there to race anyway so you might as well attend).

The EGM agenda will include moving the WCA AGM to August in 2008 and future years to align with the CTT date fixing process. It will also include election of a new committee. The existing committee members are all willing to help in new blood to the positions. If you step forward to assist you will not be left high and dry. The proposal was accepted unanimously.

 

President

Proposed – Shelagh Hargraves                                                             Unanimous

 

All titled other positions (Sec, Chair, Treasurer, Comp Sec)

No other positions were voted upon because all incumbents agreed to stay in current roles until August as caretakers only. There were no objections raised to this “re-instatement” process.

 

 

 

General Committee Members

This is made up of WCA Champs Event Secs, MD Organiser and other volunteers.

Tudor Thomas, Chris Woolley, Robin Field, Martyn Heritage-Owen, Dai Davies, Graham Howell

 

2008 Events

There will be a number of course changes due to road works on a number of the Championship courses. Event organisers to advise the Welsh cycling public and the CTT as soon as possible about alternative arrangements.                                                                       Event Organisers

 

Concerns were raised about whether MD1 police forms had been put in and whether an HQ had been booked. WCA Gen Sec to confirm all is well with MD1.                              Julia Jones

 

Matters for Special Consideration

A proposal was put forward in advance of the meeting to incorporate an espoirs category into the Champs events and the season long Champs competitions for both women and men. The proposal was amended to say that individual event organisers could include the award at their discretion and the series long award but that the series long suggestion remain the same.

The amended proposal was carried unanimously.

 

AOB

Chris Woolley to shadow Tony Howell to learn some of the committee roles through the season with a view to Chris helping out with some of the workload.                         Tony / Chris

 

12 hour “Food on the Day” and Chief Marshal jobs are currently vacant, any one willing to help out please contact Edwin Hargraves via the WCA website (welshcycling.org)

 

Shelagh suggested that we look at taking out “Amateur Sports Insurance” for the WCA trophy collection. On understanding the value of some of the trophies the treasurer agreed to look into the documentation Shelagh provided.                                                                         Tony Howell  

 

Gen Sec to arrange a date for the next meeting.                                                 Julia Jones

 

Meeting Closed

 

Minutes prepared by

Tony Howell

 

Additional Notes following meeting.

 

Following the AGM Ryan Evans very kindly approached the committee and has been co-opted on. Thanks very much Ryan for your assistance. The WCA has also been approached by someone who is prepared to undertake the role of Comp Sec, and hopefully this will be put into place at the next WCA meeting. However, this still means that in order for the WCA to continue to be as active in promotions etc, we still need people who may be prepared to take on the roles of Secretary, Treasurer and Chairman and also people to volunteer to help with race promotions. Please think about whether you could spare just a few hours a year to help keep the WCA promotions going. It is not a question of financial viability, just the fact that those of us who are doing it at the moment cant carry on without help. I would also like to personally thank the people who have rallied round to help with the 1st Championship (25), i.e. fellow committee members, Tim Frenzl, Paul Durrant, Kevin Jones, Les Thomas, Gordon Butler, Geoff Rees, Alf Williams and members of the Byways.

 

Julia