Chair Script
Good evening and welcome to the COPAC AGM and presentation evening 2022 at Manadon Sports Hub. Last year’s event was quite successful here so we’ve come back again. Ultimately we are here to recognise and celebrate the achievements of our athletes, helpers and volunteers.
I’m afraid to say that this year’s report is somewhat of a glass half empty one but let’s start off with some positives. This year we got the hedge removed, a proper path to the containers from the track and a proper path from Albion stand to track complete; Jane qualified as athletic coach and has taken the lead with the Panthers; a few new volunteers to support the minors with a fresh outlook and way of doing things which can only be a positive for the kids; we’ve got a new membership secretary in Gloria and a new kit manager in Natasha.
The relationship with Devonport Sharks Junior rugby club using the Plymouth Albion stand as a joint new clubhouse is working well, although there was an issue with the senior section that required Max to ban them from the facility at the end of last season.
We conducted an athlete participation survey earlier this year. Of the 300 sent messages we had 62 responses. Generally the results were very positive. Athletes want to be invited to competition by their coaches and team managers and you want to know who else is going to the same competition. You don’t all want to compete; you don’t want to travel too far; you’d prefer more local competitions and many of you enjoy the social side of training coupled with the excellent coaching you receive. There are some areas for improvement to do with communication and I am working on some improvements specifically with the notice board to the right as you enter the new clubhouse and we are looking into better communication through news articles and using social media which Tamzin will lead. I am happy to discuss the results in more detail if anyone wants to afterwards.
We would like to hold more local competitions but I think we need to recognise that all events are totally reliant on volunteers. It takes about 40 officials to make a track and field event work. The average age of our current timekeepers is about 75, one is in his 90’s and without new blood coming forward these events are simply not sustainable. So if you want more local competitions we need more volunteers.
On that theme I had intended to cancel this year’s event due to the lack of volunteers to help pull it together but I was convinced otherwise and thanks to Gloria and James who took on the mammoth task of doing the data trawl through Power of 10 we have managed to be here tonight. Please can I ask you to thank them in the usual way Thank you.
As I reported last year PCC has spent over £700k on the refurbishment of the track and are looking to recoup their costs over a 25 year period. Our track hire costs have virtually doubled to ~£30k and you will see from the treasurers report this is the main reason for last year’s deficit of £8k. The sharing we do with Armada, Plymouth Harriers and GTR (Graeme Riley group) has helped towards some of this burden but is relatively small. Recognising the loss made last year I can report that there is no need to increase your subscriptions for this year but we will clearly monitor the situation and let you know accordingly
If you are not already aware you need to know that there are significant developments with the repurposing of the Brickfields site. The Argyle community trust is keen to invest significant funds and turn the site into a wellbeing/community and sports facility for all. They want their junior Academy to be based there; enhance the site boundary, install 3/5G pitches, a covered multi-purpose pitch, the only one in SW south of Bristol, enhance the current sportshall facility, build an academy development building and modify the toilet block to be more of a community hub as well as reinstating the infield as an Academy only football pitch. Their intention is to manage the whole site with a single point of access. Fundamentally PCC have no money and need to pass on the costs to those that can afford it. It does fit in with the City of Plymouth master plan, their pitch plan and their paper on ‘bridging the gap’. Next week we have another meeting with PCC about the current lease for the site that expires in 2027. We will probably lose the old clubhouse with the Devonport Help a Neighbour food bank, which currently supports over 300 families, having to be found a new home and there is therefore a strong possibility we will end up with new landlords. One of the benefits could be permanent ground staff on site to maintain the facility. We are clearly a key stakeholder and there will be a public consultation once the final proposal is published. It is our opinion that this is virtually a done deal but we will endeavour to try and get the best for the club out of this future development.
During the pandemic we introduced the wildapricot administration app to control access to the facility and it has worked well to record members’ details and manage attendance. A massive thank you to those that have become registration takers but recently it has become clear that we need more volunteers and the attendance side of the app is not working as I had hoped to ensure all members are paying their way. This app costs us £100/month and there are still too many that don’t use it or need chasing every month for payments. Our turnover of new athletes is huge and the more members we have the more we pay for the app so it needs constant administration. Don’t get me wrong it is massively better than when I joined the club 17 years ago but it doesn’t fit our current need and has resulted in a huge additional burden for our treasurer and her patience has worn very thin at times during the past few of years. In fact the only time we argue is when COPAC is involved. We are actively looking a way to remove the requirement for a register, maybe when Argyle take over this problem will be automatically resolved.
The new clubhouse has not become the community hub I had hoped it would become. Very few people use it for refreshments or as a meeting place – it is nothing other than access to the track and a toilet facility that again relies on the same few volunteers to keep tidy and replenish the consumables. We pay £2500/year to rent it from Albion – are we getting value for money – is it worth it?
So to the real reason we are here. Without our volunteer committee members, coaches, officials and helpers our athletes would not have the great platform they have to achieve the best of their potential. It is imperative that we continue to recruit and train new coaches. 2 of our current coaches are in their 70’s, Others are in their mid 50’s and early 60’s. Most of these volunteers have more than one role so as always a plea that if you are interested in supporting us please come forward and let us know. Please join me in a round of applause to all those that carry out their fantastic roles.
So to our athletes. Another year of some amazing achievements. Later we will be celebrating the 15 club records broken since last presentation evening, the 19 athletes who have finished in the top 10 of the Power of 10 and the 19 athletes that reached the English Schools finals.
Team Manger reports will be on the website but in summary there was a huge amount of travelling for the SAL so not much interest from athletes but we didn’t get relegated, next year we will compete in the division below with just 4 fixtures one being home. SWAL team finished 5th overall out of 13 with the U20/senior men winners and the youngsters won the Devon sporthall league. Big thank you to all athletes and officials that supported Steve/Jeff/Tamzin/Steve Burns/Steve Blackford
Putting this year’s event on has been challenging and there is a part of me that thinks I’ve been taken advantage of for my generosity. Despite the fantastic work from Paul, Gloria and James I’ve still had to organise a lot for this evening. There have been suggestions of additional trophies for volunteers, coaches and different age groups but it is difficult enough to manage the current ones without any extras. I do not intend to do it again so this could be the last presentation evening for a while. I effectively start a new job at the end of April and I can’t guarantee to be around as much as I have done in the past and I intend to take the treasurer with me. I will continue to support with officiating at local events but I have plenty of other things I want to do and don’t intend to spend even more time supporting the club. As such I am giving notice that both Fi and I will be stepping away from our committee roles at the end of next season. This gives us time to hand over what we know to any potential successors and hopefully see the Argyle development to a suitable point. Both of us have put a lot into this club but it is time for us to move on and do the things we have been planning for some time now. It has been an honour for both of us to be part of a great club.
Probably rabbited on too long, thank you for your patience and enjoy the rest of the night.
Food.
Treasurer’s Report for Year 1/9/21 to 31/8/22
Summary
| Total income for the year 2021/22: | £45,900.18 |
| Total expenses for the year 2021/22: | £54,106.18 |
| Total profit for the year 2021/22: | – £8,206.00 |
| Current Account balance at 30th of August 2022: | £32,688.27 |
| Deposit Account balance at 27th August 2021: | £4,893.60 |
| Cash balance at 27th August 2021: | £257.18 |
| Total balance at end of August 2021: | £37,839.05 |
Financial Summary for the last 5 years
| Assets (£) | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2019/20 | 2018/19 | 2017/18 |
| Bank Current Account | 32,688.27 | 40,697.11 | 29,529.33 | 19,181.97 | 14,763.48 |
| Savings Account | 4,893.60 | 4,892.99 | 4,891.83 | 4,883.93 | 4,874.21 |
| Cash | 257.18 | 278.87 | 400.82 | 910.47 | 926.47 |
| Total Balance | 37,839.05 | 45,868.97 | 34,821.98 | 24,976.37 | 20,564.16 |
| Physical Assets | 5,333.40 | 5,928.41 | 6,588.00 | 7,225.32 | 7,873.38 |
| Total Assets | 43,172.45 | 51,797.38 | 41,409.98 | 32,201.69 | 28,437.54 |
| Income vs Expenses (£) | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2019/20 | 2018/19 | 2017/18 |
| Income | 45,900.18 | 32,648.26 | 38,336.41 | 39,701.61 | 41,527.37 |
| Expense | 54,106.18 | 21,489.66 | 27,250.17 | 35,068.84 | 42,680.42 |
| Profit/Loss | -8,206.00 | 11,158.60 | 11,086.24 | 4,632.77 | -1,153.05 |
Detailed Income and Expenditure by Category
| Income: | |
| Track hire (Armada, Plymouth Harriers & GTR Training) | 2,420.00 |
| Membership Fees (standing orders) | 31,096.00 |
| Stripe Payments(club kit, payg, competition entries) | 10,157.20 |
| Other Income (fundraising, refunds, interest etc.) | 1,100.73 |
| Presentation Evening (ticket sales & raffle) | 0.00 |
| Reimbursement by PCC for their water use | 0.00 |
| Competition (entry fees direct, income towards expenditure) | 610.00 |
| Café Income | 516.25 |
| Income Total: | £45,900.18 |
| Expenditure: | |
| Bills (incl. electric/water/phone/internet) | 1,391.23 |
| Club Kit | 1,294.00 |
| Competitions | 4,602.96 |
| Courses | 1,143.00 |
| Development | 680.99 |
| England Athletics (affiliation fees) | 2,805.00 |
| Equipment (competition, training, kitchen, first aid) | 4,539.28 |
| League Membership | 160.00 |
| Maintenance (incl. equipment servicing, paint, pest control etc) | 917.99 |
| Website & Online Membership & Booking System | 1,128.88 |
| Miscellaneous (incl. office supplies, keys etc) | 426.75 |
| External Coaching Services (Panthers) | 275.00 |
| Café Supplies | 452.15 |
| Presentation Evening | 813.91 |
| Rent (Plymouth City Council & Plymouth Albion) | 2,175.04 |
| Track & Sports Hall Hire | 29,145.00 |
| Transport | 855.00 |
| Treasurer | 1,300.00 |
| Expenditure Total | £54,106.18 |
Overview
Track & Sportshall hire doubled from pre-COVID amount. Bringing in more from other clubs towards this helps (GTR training & Plymouth Harriers). Extra rent for new clubhouse. EA fees increased. Small profit from café, could be increased if we catered at events. Spent a lot more on equipment this year but less on development. Transport costs are mainly included in competition expenses.