Meeting Minutes

 

Lancaster Whites Committee Meeting – 14th November 2013

 

Present – Stephen Horrocks; John Powell; Lucy Morris; Rebecca Holden; Neil McGartland; John Holden

 

  1.  A discussion took place about the fact that we have attracted no students from the universities in the last couple of years and how we can try to address it.

    Action: Lucy is going to set up a Facebook page.  She will also put up posters at Lancaster Uni, to include details of the website, email address.  Rebecca will set up Twitter and an email account.  She will also email posters to Lucy.

 

  1. Finances – Stephen reported we are regularly losing money on the home buses; £52 on the Millwall game; £47 on the Ipswich game; £34 on the Yeovil game; £37 on the QPR game.  Because of this a 35-seater has been booked for the Huddersfield so that losses will be minimised and we might even make a profit.  It was agreed to monitor the situation and Stephen will try to be flexible in the size of bus booked, depending on the interest shown.  Lucy suggested some of us would be willing to car share if required.  This was agreed to be a good idea but not something we want to do on a long term basis.  Having said all this, our financial situation is not bad.  We have got £800 in the bank as we have just received Lifeline money.  Action:  Stephen to look closely at the numbers for each bus.

 

  1. Football cards – the ones we have had were useless as it was impossible to use the ‘scratch’ bit.  Action: Rebecca will buy some better quality ones.

 

  1. Annual Dinner – this will again be at the University of Cumbria, on the 8th February 2014 following the home game against Bournemouth.  The guest speaker will be John McGinlay.  After much discussion it was agreed the cost would be £22 for members and £27 for non-members.  It was decided to try to bring the timings forward – 7 for 7.30.  Action:  Stephen to speak to Andrew Dean about the club providing prizes for the raffle.  He will also ask John McGinlay about making a speech and having a question and answer session.  Rebecca will speak to Jenny about getting some John McGinlay stuff.  Jonno to get menus together.

 

  1. The next meeting will be on Thursday 9th January 2014, at The Boot and Shoe.

BWSA Lancaster – Annual General Meeting held on 27th June 2013

Present: there were 29 members present.  A list exists should anyone wish to see it.

1.        The Chairman called the meeting to order at 8.05 and opened with a brief report:-

For the 2012/13 season we had 101 members, including 66 adults.

There were several highlights for the club – the Stuart Holden evening; Fabrice Muamba attending the Annual Dinner; again having one of our junior members as a mascot at the match against Sheffield Wednesday.  (Next season Hughie Ellis will be mascot for the Yeovil game).  The end of season get together was also an enjoyable event.

At this stage John Powell took over and reminded members that since the end of last season one of our stalwart members – Warren Mason – had passed away.  Such was our affection for him that it has been decided that the ‘Fan of the Year’ award will now be the Warren Mason Memorial Shield – an idea approved by Ann Mason.  Ann will present the first one and she will also attend the annual dinner.

2.       Treasurer’s Report – copies of the accounts were made available for members.  It was noted that there was a small loss on the year but this was due to the fact that we made several donations to good causes.

3.       Election of officials – Stephen Horrocks was re-elected as Chairman; John Powell as Treasurer; John Holden as Secretary; and Alan Salkeld, Rebecca Holden, Bob Anderson, Bill Jay and Neil McGartland as committee members.

4.       Membership fees – for 2013/14 have increased to £8 for adults and £5 for juniors.

5.       Pre-season friendlies – there are a number of games coming up when members may wish to attend.  Stephen Horrocks will take names of those interested and details will be posted on the website.

6.       Coach Arrangements – the costs from the coach company have been held so we have held our prices too.  We shall continue using the same times and pick up points as last season.  For this to run smoothly we need to be able to contact members if there are delays.

 

Action Point – the mobile phone numbers of key personnel to be written in front of book.

 

It was decided to reinstate the ‘Football Scratch cards’ on the buses as a fundraiser.  Rebecca Holden agreed to be responsible for the administration of this with John Holden as backup.

7.       Travel to away games – for financial reasons we shall be running coaches to only a limited number of away games, though there could well be a minibus to others.  A minibus is being taken to Rotherham and Shrewsbury (August 6th), and a coach to Burnley.  Anyone interested should contact the Chairman.

8.       Lifeline – the Treasurer appealed for more members as this is a good fundraiser for the club.  The monthly draw was done – 2nd Prize – Roger Smith; 1st Prize – Susie Powell.  It was agreed to keep prizes at the current level.

9.       Website – Jeremy Floyd was thanked for all his sterling work.  Minutes of meetings will be posted on the site in future.

10.   Player Visits – Stephen will try to get a player in either October or November.

11.   Annual Dinner – John Powell asked for comments.  Bob Anderson said he is happy with what we do.  Gary Ellis said having really good guest speakers has been key.  Colin Styan suggested Dougie Freedman as a future guest.  Other suggestions were John McGinlay (Josie Bolton) and Jimmy Phillips (Rebecca Holden).  Sid Cumbus said the dinners had been great except for people feeling too pressured to buy raffle tickets.  Action Point – committee to look into who to invite asap.  A more general discussion ensued – it was agreed to up the cost to £25 and a provisional date of 8th February 2014 was agreed.

12.   AOB – Margaret Floyd thanked members for looking after her in adverse circumstances and Alan Salkeld was given a special mention.  Colin Styan asked if the website could be linked to the main one as Andrew Dean has said this would be ok.  Action Point– Stephen Horrock to speak to Andrew.  John Powell thanked Stephen Horrocks for all his hard work on behalf of the club.

The meeting closed at 9.15.

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