toke City South West Supporters Club
Minutes of meeting held Tuesday 13th October 2009 at the Dog Inn, Old Sodbury, South Glos.
Officers Present Apologies
Mike Alderson – Chairman / Secretary Dave Shenton – Travel
Ian Yearsley – Treasurer/Membership Rory McNulty –Website
Mike Jennings – Tickets Julian Boodell – Publicity & Promotions
Oli Duerden
1. Approve Minutes of last Meeting
Minutes from the last meeting were approved by Ian Yearsley and Seconded by Mike Jennings.
2. Matters Arising from minutes of last meeting
Membership
Ticket Purchase
A text has been sent to all members advising that the club can only purchase tickets for future games for fully paid up members.
Application Forms
Badges were sent out to all members but no application form. This will have to be accessed through the South West Stokies website as necessary.
Tickets
Club Contact
Mike J was pleased to be able to report to the meeting that Stoke have agreed to contact our club to sort out our requirements. Mike e mails the club with our requests and they call him back. This is working very well and saves an inordinate amount of time.
Travel
Public Liability
Dave was unable to make the meeting so the question of public liability insurance when hiring mini busses was deferred.
Julian was also unable to make the meeting and therefore Mike A will make contact with him to ascertain if he had been able to find out what arrangements the Southern Supporters club had put in place.
Promotions and Publicity
Barmy Flag
Rory was unable to make the meeting and therefore the costings of a “Barmy” flag could not be discussed and was deferred.
Any Other Business
Fans Forum
Mike A will contact Julian to see if he has made contact with the FF re our desired level of involvement.
3. Membership
Ian advised that we presently have 64 members but only 40 had renewed their subscription for the current season. However, he expects more subscriptions to be paid very shortly now that we have informed everybody that we will not be buying tickets for anyone unless they are a fully paid up member.
4. Tickets
There is strong demand from our members for most away games, and Mike advised that most of the time he is able to satisfy people’s requirements. Stoke are being very helpful and this is making it a much easier process for our members to get tickets than it would be if they had to deal direct.
5. Travel
Dave was unable to make the meeting because his car broke down on the way to the meeting. We therefore communicated by telephone.
Dave advised that he had a minor accident whilst driving the bus back to his house after the recent trip to Everton. The hire company standard insurance gives us a possible £500 excess on any claim. The damage to the bus is estimated at £150, and this should be the extent of our liability. The rental agreement suggests that there is no excess on third party claims. So far Dave has had to pay £500 from his own pocket until the claim has been settled.
The committee agreed to cover the cost of any liability with club funds. However, going forwards would not wish to enter any rental agreement unless it was possible to have any excess waived. Dave will therefore investigate the cost and availability of this cover with Hareclive (The rental company we have used) and report back to the committee. If Hareclive are unable to offer such cover at reasonable cost we will check the position with other rental companies and if necessary change to a different hire company.
Dave advised that he would not be organising travel for home games unless requested to do so going forwards because he has had very little response from people. He will play a reactive roll if contacted by the membership rather than the proactive approach he has taken up to now.
6. Finance
Ian advised that there is presently £750 in the Bank, with a further £60 to pay in. A cheque had been issued to Julian for £160 to cover the cost of the badges and when this is banked our balance should drop to about £650. This will rise again as the outstanding membership monies for the current season are received.
7. Promotions and Publicity
Since the last committee meeting Julian advised that due to a change in working hours he will be unable to attend any more meetings and would happily step aside for someone else to take on his role if they are better placed to do so.
We therefore invited regular traveller Oli Duerden to attend the meeting. Oli was a great help to us recently with the communication to members and indicated that he might be able to get more involved if needed.
Oli advised the meeting that he would be able to help at certain times when he was not so busy with band activities. He advised that he does a lot of work publicising his band “Left Side Brain” through a dedicated website, facebook and twitter, and would be happy to look at how we might improve our use of these mediums to better communicate with members and potential members. Oli will speak to Rory about the website and will implement a twitter function.
A club logo has been designed by our member Mike Hall but needs completing. Mike J will ask Mike Hall to contact Ian when he meets with him at the next game.
8. Social
The next social event is arranged for Friday 13th November at the Dog Inn Old Sodbury from 7pm. It will be preceded at 6.30pm by the AGM. There will be sandwiches laid on and a free drink for all members. There will be live music from singer, songwriter Ross Edwards between 9.30 and 11.00 followed by bread and cheese. The pub indicated a cost to us of £3 per head for the food but we need to give an idea of numbers 48 hours in advance. Oli will communicate with the membership and advise them of the event and ask for people to advise if they can attend. In the communication he will also advise of the AGM, the names of those standing for the various posts and asking for any other nominations to be received 7 days ahead of the meeting.
On the night of Saturday 19th December following our game at Aston Villa we have been invited to attend a social function at the club close to the ground that we went to before the game at Villa Park last year. The New Seekers will be playing there. If there is sufficient interest we will consider running transport to the game and social event. Oli will communicate with the membership and advise them of the event and ask for people to advise if they are interested in attending.
9. Any Other Business
Mike J advised that those people who had booked the hospitality package with him for the game against Blackburn on 6th February could pay in instalments if they wished provided that he received all monies by 6th Jan.
10. Date of Next Meeting
AGM Friday 13th November.
Committee Meeting Tuesday 15th December at 6.30pm
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