Apologies: Sue Landon
Last year’s minutes were circulated and approved.
Matters Arising – Nil
Chairman’s report – thanked all present for attending the AGM and
reminded them of the content of the Chairman’s letter sent out with the
subscription renewal request (enclosed with these minutes on file). He invited
any questions concerning his letter – there were none.
He stated that he was keen to encourage the recruitment of new committee
members and volunteers to join in with the club activities and, in particular
would like more representation by those groups not currently on the committee
especially group members and windsurfers. It
should be a broad church. Any
offers of help with any aspect of the club are very welcome, however short.
Treasurers Report – A copy of the accounts was presented to all present
and is attached to the file copy of these minutes (available from myles@riple.demon.co.uk
if required). We have a very stable
income. The Treasurer went through
the accounts highlighting some areas where there were significant changes and/or
future developments. The land
rental and the boats access fee had both just risen due to the 3 yearly BWB
review. Insurance had significantly
risen in line with national trends. In
particular the club were insuring more club boats since we now owned more.
Electricity had risen due to showers and heating.
Cesspit emptying charges were now a significant cost due to the showers.
The security firm FTS regularly increased their fees for maintenance of
the fire and anti-theft security coverage.
The cost of replacing the water supply was a one off.
Questions – Is it standard to transfer £5000 to
another account? Treas – purely
cosmetic
Who supplies electricity? – Treasurer – Powergen.
Suggestion to research other suppliers to see if cheaper.
What is %change in membership fees?
Treas – not straightforward since different users pay different fees eg
groups and the abolition of the family membership category.
Individual membership had gone up from 40 to 60.
New income if 125 members renew would be £1500 extra.
Unless extra income was generated, then no further site works would be
possible.
What is group membership fee? £100
One member felt that £120 per annum was not good value.
Heating of the clubhouse was raised – treasurer
explained that changing heater on any given day had no effect that day but
raised costs for future days until it was restored.
Several people felt that some source of instant heat on winter days would
be good. One member suggested that
they could bring their own electric heater on any given day.
Door protocol would help – i.e. not lodging external
door open, and keeping partition door shut to retain heat in the “dry” area.
A member wondered if replacing the door mechanism might
not be useful to save £1000 a year, but it was explained that the £1000 was
not just the door security but all the alarms etc.
Question was based round what to do with key card while sailing – it
was pointed out that keycard was waterproof and could be put in sailing clothes
pocket.
Proposal that the accounts should be put on a proper
profit/loss basis and that therefore the transfer to the Development a/c would
be properly accounted. Treasurer
agreed.
Membership
Sec – Reported 125members with 11 of them being groups
75 dinghy members
50 boards
25 new members in 2004
24 have renewed so far this year which is par for the
course.
Site developments –
1/ Complete final part of dinghy park – soon
2/ Clubhouse – repair damage to roof from gale and
improve roof tile attachments
3/ Replace entry door
question – was there any comeback on the original
builder for the latter two items? No
Racing – In absence of Shaw Brown, Ian reported.
Wednesday nights
David Lawson won most of the series.
The series had been well attended with a slight drop in
Laser numbers replaced by other dinghies joining in, so that the handicap fleet
had outnumbered the lasers. Nice to see lots of new faces.
A nice racing scene which was very popular.
Sunday monthly series
– successful. Pursuit race format
on the first Sunday of each month. Well
enjoyed
Winter Sunday series
– less well attended by “outsiders” but a regular 10 or so boats
2005 plans explained
- spring/summer/winter Wednesday series for which all the dates are on
the website, starting on March 30th. A summer Sunday series starting on 5th June would
follow a handicap race format but later in the summer, a pursuit race format
would occur bimonthly in August, Sept, Oct before returning to a handicap series
for the Winter.
Other racing events
to be held at the club were aired – An Enterprise open with a date to be
confirmed, a Topper and Bosun regatta on the w/e of 30th April, 1st
May, a Miracle Open on 22nd May, a Junior Topper open on Sat 18th
June and the 24 hour race for which a club entry was approved on 17/18th
Sept.
Safety aspects –
The Sunday series needs volunteers to act as OD and rescue boat crews.
Volunteers can opt in via the website.
Andy Trull commented that those racing should be those tasked for this,
and this was agreed to generally be the case.
Myles mentioned the option of safety boat training at
West Kirby on Feb 12th.
KSA website is
well used and has had 280 hits already in 2005
24 hour race –
The KSA had entered this event for the first time and had had a very successful
first entry. It was approved that
the club should support the entry fee providing any club member had an option of
being part of the team. It had cost
£200 last year including a donation to Sail4Cancer and the insurance costs.
Great thanks were expressed to Pete Lawson for generously providing the
boat for the event.
Elections to Committee – Chris Bell was due for re-election as was Gem Hart.
Chris was proposed by Ian Downs and seconded by Rob Blair.
Elected nem. Con.
The Sec agreed to contact Gem Hart to see if he was
willing to continue as a committee member
Nobody else present volunteered when asked!
AOB
1/ KSA “Try a
Sail” day would be held on Sunday 21st August this year and
volunteers were asked to put the date in their diaries.
Last year it had raised £264 for RYA Sailability which supports disabled
sailing.
2/ Ian Downs reported on the ruthless pruning in the dinghy
park earlier in 2004 where some dinghies had been removed to safe storage
elsewhere at Nick Whitely’s house. GP14,
Wayfarer, Graduate all still there and nothing heard from any owner.
It is proposed to run an advert to try and find the owners so that in due
course we can dispose of the hulls if nothing is heard.
Apologies were expressed to Mark Brown whose dinghy had been
inadvertently removed!
There was a waiting list for berths currently with 4
people on it. Procedure required
people to be members before they could be put on the waiting list.
Andy Trull enquired whether it was possible to install a
laser stacking system but several present felt they would not be strong enough
to lift their boats up on to a shelf. Works
well for group use when many hands are present, but not for solo sailors.
3/ Maurice Burn.
Had recently and unexpectedly died.
Thanks were expressed for all his hard work in creating the new
clubhouse. The chairman explained
that a memorial plaque had been commissioned for him (and for John Baron –
another leading light in the development).
Meeting closed at 21.00