Meeting Minutes	
Subject	2004/2005 Nottinghamshire Orienteering Club Committee Meeting
	
Date 	Tuesday 4th January 2005
	
Time	7.30 pm 
	
Location	48 Maitland Road, Nottingham, NG5 4GT

Attendees	Ray Barnes
Nicola Olivant
Stephen Martin
Dave Cooke
Sarah Richardson
Peter Bowen
Pauline Olivant
Steve Wright	

Summary	1.	Apologies
	
	2.	Minutes of last meeting
	
	3.	Correspondence
	
	4.	Fixtures
	
	5.	Mapping
	
	6.	Finances
	
	7.	Coaching
	
	8.	E.M.O.A
	
	9.	Team Management
	
	10.	Junior Section
	
	11.	Any Other Business

Item	Notes	Action by	
1

	Apologies

Richard Robinson

SR suggested that positive confirmation of attendance at the next meeting should be requested by email, with a follow-up phone call for anyone who does not respond.

SR	
2

	Minutes of Last Meeting

PO asked that it was noted that the number of letters sent out to school children offering a free run was in the region of one hundred, not ‘several hundred’ as noted in AOB of the previous meeting minutes
		
3

	Correspondence

•	RB has today instructed BOF that Amanda Greenwood is no longer the NOC Secretary
•	BOF Renewal Form given to Steve Wright to complete and submit
•	PO will distribute ‘Development News’ via email to any interested parties – all to confirm to PO if required
•	DC reported that there has been no further correspondence from Runnersworld re. placing an advert. No action will be taken until they provide the information requested by DC.

SW

All
	
4

	Fixtures 
•	List distributed which was correct as at 6pm on 4th Jan.
•	Byron’s Walk 9/1: Everything in place regarding permissions but usual parking issues in the area.
•	Short Races have been cancelled
•	Blidworth 13/02: everything in place. Parking has moved location and correspondence with the farmer has been very good.
•	Bulwell Hall Park 12/03: Tony Donaldson will be the planner. Controller tbc.
•	DC explained that some NOC fixtures are missing from the latest BOF fixtures booklet. DC had forgotten to send BOF updated details of a few events which subsequently dropped off the BOF list – this unfortunately coincided with the print run for the fixtures booklet. Within days, BOF had been informed and the website was updated to reflect this information.
•	SR pointed out that Byron’s Walk was not on the EMOA website. DC to investigate
•	Bestwood   13/3: Organiser – Garry Drew. Alan Beardsley has offered to plan. RB to confirm
•	Nb – cannot use the quarry area at Bestwood as it is being developed as a Nature Reserve and will be like this for several years yet
•	Bramcote Hills is ok for Little John Relays on 03/07
•	Sherwood Pines bottom end now has all permissions for Juniors.
•	The Summer league was discussed and it was decided to reinstate the ‘League’ element to encourage competition and participation. 8 events will be planned over 3 months (May/June/July) on alternate weekends – Saturday or Sunday where other fixtures allow. Each event will have a minimum of a white, yellow and orange course with another more advanced course (such as a Score) if the event permits. If the planner is confident enough, an alternative course to a Score will be provided (such as ‘reverse map’, ‘Norwegian’ or map memory). DC to organise dates for the league. RB&DC to start to find planners/organisers and a coordinator for the league. NO may be able to find someone to put an electronic league table together. League categories will be Male/Female/Junior Male/Junior Female.
•	Fees for Colour Coded/District Events in 2005 were discussed. It was agreed that, after the Byron’s Walk event, the fees for 2005 will be £4 BOF Members/ £5 non-Members / £1.50 Juniors.  This is an increase of 50p for non-members though there is still a concern that the non-members fee is too low.
•	There was also concern that some non-members are entering events as BOF members. It was agreed that it will be necessary for members to provide proof of BOF membership in future events.
•	Helpers at events are to start being charged £1 entry fee to contribute to the BOF and SI levies incurred for event attendance. This will not apply to any juniors who help.  RB to inform registration group leader.

RB

DC

RB

DC
RB
NO

RB

5

	Mapping

•	Blidworth Map is complete and printed.
•	Byrons Walk: SM has 100 spare maps.
•	Clumber Park: David Olivant has offered to visit the site and see what has changed for updating (not re-mapping)
•	RB has heard from Eddie Nicholson regarding planning the Police Championships at Clumber. They will also run an afternoon event. It was agreed that they should be offered maps on a sale or return basis at £1.00 each. SM to inform Mr Nicholson.
•	Thieves Wood map needs to be updated. Alan Beardsley will take this on within the next 2 months. DC to seek permission from the Forestry Commission to map behind the school room.
•	Sherwood Forest Maps from 1999 are now out of date for orienteering. SM to approach Dark and White to see if they would like to buy these maps. If not – PO to recycle.
•	How mapping and printing is done needs to be fully discussed at the next Committee meeting. SR to add to the Agenda
•	It was agreed that, with the cost of getting an area mapped professionally being between £500 - £1000, our finances can cover mapping one new area per year.

SM

DC

SM
PO

SR
	
6

	Finances

•	Current Account Balance: £3,529
•	Savings Account Balance: £8,134
•	Total = £11,663
•	The above figures include the income from Sherwood and Budby. After levies and expenses are paid the total will stand at about £11,000
•	We’ve had three good C4 events with incomes of £600+ and a profit of around £100 each.
•	RB asked whether we will be expecting any heavy bursaries this year. Possible candidates will be Andrew Llewelyn and Peter Hodkinson this year.
•	SW noted that there have been two recent events (Thieves and Harlow Woods) where we have lost an SI box at a cost of £75 each (to cover insurance excess). Both losses were from a control near the end of a white/yellow course at around half an hour before the events finished.
•	PO queried whether EMOA have charged us to use the mini printer (£20 per time) – as we never use it. SW noted that he has never paid this.

	
7	Coaching
•	NO noted that we are trying to incorporate a NOC training weekend with a BOF one. No progress has been made so far as BOF have not published when this will be.
•	At the end of January (29th) the squad are going to Cannock Chase with a training day on the Saturday. It was agreed that this weekend could be offered as a training event. NO to publicise this at Byron’s Walk on 9th January (asking people to sign up via email) – also to send a note to Pete Hubbersty for inclusion in Black & Green.
•	On 2nd/3rd April the Squad are going to S. Wales for Sand Dune training (traiing on Saturday, District Event on the Sunday). NO to publicise via Black and Green – if enough interest shown, NO to look into organising accommodation.

NO

NO	
8

	E.M.O.A
•	Regional Welfare Officer to go through Club Magazines
•	New BOF Membership proposals have been accepted by EMOA – since they were changed. PO to email any information received between meetings to committee.
BOF Coaching Group:
•	BOF are encouraging clubs to consider ways to encourage coaching (perhaps at District Events?). Clubs also encouraged to make greater use of BOF coaching days. PO to feedback to BOF that sufficient notice of these days needs to be given in order for clubs to take part.
BOF Rules Group
•	Changes have been made to Compass sport cup rules.
•	Courses coming up:  Controllers (2nd and 5th Feb), Planners 2nd and 5th March), Organisers (13th April). Details have been publicised on the web and via the ‘Notes from the Chair’ in B&G. PO noted that it may be a good idea to give members a ‘nudge’ if the committee thinks it would be a good idea for them to attend the course. No action proposed.
•	Papers available on ‘guidelines for effective meetings’ and ‘Ethical Communications’. Request copy from PO if interested.
•	New risk assessment document passed to DC
•	Finish Stations should be staffed – for easy reporting of injuries etc. RB to inform Finish group.
•	EMOA Galoppen is now to be known as the Lloyd Davis EM League
BOF Mapping Group
•	Printers available for laser printing maps vary in quality so Bruce Bryant has done some testing. He has test docs available for clubs to view if considering purchasing a laser printer. Such maps probably not suitale for Regional Events.
•	Reminder to clubs to register map areas  before they are mapped so that mapper is covered by adequate insurance. SM to be aware but mapper needs to do the registration themselves.
RDO Report:
•	Still continuing to offer help with school mapping working closely with LEA. Alan Beardsley is now doing some. Programme of events for schools is that there is nearly one in each disctrict during the Spring – final is on 2nd July at Nottm University.
Matters Arising:
•	It was suggested that we should buy 2 new First Aid Kits from the Red Cross. One should be kept at the Start (as injured competitors likely to return there). PO to purchase these and to write a note for B&G to request list of First Aiders for club.
•	Use of these kits then needs to be added to the Event Organiser’s notes and list of First Aiders to be added to Equipment list. This action has no owner – SR to add to Agenda of next meeting.	

PO

PO

All

RB

SM

PO

SR
	
9

	Team Management

•	RR did not attend the meeting but in his absence it was decided that it is necessary to start putting together teams for the following events, using B&G to publicise:
      JK Relays, Compass Sport Cup, British Relays	

RR	
10

	Junior Section
•	Some Junior successes:
•	2nd in the Yvette Baker Final (an improvement on 3rd place last year and only 10 points off the winners, OD). We beat AIRE – last year’s winners – by 1 point and the top 6 only had 16 points separating them. Level of competition in Green and Lt Green was very good though it was noted that some of these competitors will be moving on to Seniors soon.
•	It was noted that Juniors need some night orienteering practice before the Peter Palmer. PB to put together publicity for the Bulwell Hall Park event on 12th March for Black and Green. PB to also ask Jim Clarke for head torches and dibbers to be available for use on that evening.
•	PB noted that it is important for the Juniors to know what’s happening with the Regional Welfare Officer and what it means to them WHEN it’s a done deal. PO to take this comment to EMOA.

PB

PO	
11	Any Other Business

Club Of the Year
•	It was asked whether we would be entering club of the year. It was decided that we do not warrant it at the moment, so not this year.
E-Membership Form
•	It was noted on previous minutes that this was being developed. RB is working on this  - progress to be reported at next meeting.
Meeting minutes
•	SR was asked how quickly minutes would be available. SR hoped they would be published within one week of the meeting.
Budby
•	SW asked DC what needed paying. The answer was ‘nothing’
Thoresby/Forestry Commission
•	The payment split between Thoresby and the Forestry Commission has been agreed – SW to pay.
Mapping
•	It was noted that Harlow may need re-mapping due to the recent de-forestation. It was agreed that this is not currently a priority – the area could be well-marked in map corrections and there are more urgent areas to be dealt with.
•	SM needs to be aware that the University needs to be mapped in time for the Youth Games on 2nd July. (Pete Hubbersty is doing this)
Night Event timing
•	SM asked why we arrange Night Events with following day Events that are miles apart? This is a larger item for discussion SR to add to Agenda for next meeting.
Forestry Commission Keys
•	DC to arrange for another key for the club. We currently have 2. One in Equipment store and the other out with people running the events.
Club Championships
•	It was noted that we did not have one of these last year and there are no suitable events remaining this year. SR to add to Agenda of next meeting.
Bramcote Hills
•	As a part of PO role as EM Development Officer it is necessary for her to work with clubs on development as well as school events (school mapping & school links are continuing). A way of tying this together is proposed (and was agreed by the Committee):
•	Bramcote Hills school are happy for us to use their facilities for a club training night. We would have access to shower facilities on site and be able to arrange different types of training – outdoor and indoor - for £5 per evening (for the whole club). It could also be interesting to have talks from recognised ‘experts’ on how they have tackled certain courses, any ‘top tips’ they have. It is proposed that we use a Thursday evening – every other week and start in April on the first Thursday that the schools are back after Easter. Children from the school could be encouraged to come along and the school would be willing to advertise orienteering. PO to firm up the first date and SR will add to next meeting Agenda for discussion of details (co-ordinator, programme of events etc.).
Welbeck Estate
•	Harlow and Thieves Wood are both part of the Welbeck Estate but are managed by the Forestry Commission. This was only discovered by accident last year (Forestry Commission have not pointed this out to us when we receive their permission for the areas) so DC did the right thing and contacted Welbeck for retrospective permissions and for the future events in 04/05. Welbeck initially requested a fee of £500 for each previous event and then £100 once DC had refused to pay. This is still considered to be too much.
•	DC has suggested that we offer £100 per year for the use of these areas (say, up to 6 events including small training events) – and then extra if we use the areas more than the specified number of times. This was agreed as sensible by the committee. It will probably be necessary for DC and RB to meet with Welbeck to explain the sport – especially as there is another area on the Welbeck Estate (Manor Hills) which it would be excellent to get permission to map and use for NOC events.

RB

SR

SW

SR

DC

SR

PO
SR

DC

	
12	Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting is arranged for  Thursday 17th February 2005 at Pauline Olivant’s: 89, Southcliffe Road, Carlton, Nottingham, NG4 1ES.   

The meeting closed at 10.30pm