We had our first committee meeting of the year in the middle of January with the intention of laying out plans for the year so read on to discover what is in store!
- Coaching: Dave Clarke and Andy Long are signed up to train as Level 1 coaches to boost our coaching staff. We have also budgeted to fund a Level 2 course but haven’t yet identified anyone for this. We will canvas the club for interest in training to be a coach.
We are requesting a second lane at Cheam for Thursday swimming and Wednesday spin has moved to 6.45.
Chris is canvassing opinion with the 2020 Coach to Tri course to see whether a beginners course or an improvers course is preferred for this year. When we have a view, plans will be communicated.
- Youth Section: Membership declined during Covid but Angela and Sam have got 20 children along to trials in Dec and Jan and we are close to the maximum of 48 members again! Sessions are running on Fridays and Sundays. First target event is Hillingdon Duathlon in March.
We still need to tackle the issue of annual membership deals for Juniors with Everyone Active. March is a good time for this.
- Aquathlon: We are planning to hold a Junior Aquathlon for the first time since Covid and targeting early September. Everyone Active have allowed us to use the pool for free in the past. This will now cost between £500 and £600 which means that the event is likely to only just break even. The committee decided to go ahead because of the other benefits even if it is not a fundraiser for us. We will investigate sponsorship opportunities and will be canvassing club members for ideas.
- Social: We are planning a real life family quiz in March, a picnic day in July and a senior Christmas party in December. Funds to subsidise these events are not available this year and any profits generated will be used for club purposes rather than given to charity.
We also decided to organise some informal social event after Park Run and Spin.
- Finances: Mike is currently forecasting a deficit of around £1,000 based on breaking even at the Aquathlon and funding the training described above.
Basic membership for Juniors will therefore be £12 for next year (annual membership decisions will be made in March pending negotiation with EA). Membership for adults will increase to £30. We believe that this still represents excellent value for money and will help stablise the finances.
- Events: Core events will be a Hampton based sprint, the Banana Triathlon and possibly Hever. We will also promote the London Classics. There has been amazing take up of many events on the Club What’sApp. In future we will distinguish between core club events which will be supported by the coaches by posting them on the announcements What’sApp by James and James will check with the coaches first. Events posted by members on the chat are still welcome.
- Social Marketing Strategy: We have closed the WTC private group on Facebook as we now use What’sApp for this. Maria now has a social media calendar and will be posting on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so get following and posting!! The committee membership will also be updated on the website.
- Club Membership: We have 9 new adult members this year! Renewals will be in March. We will be conducting a survey alongside renewal to collect base data for our Diversity & Inclusion efforts.
- Welfare: Jen is our new Welfare Officer and Junior Membership Secretary – thank you Jen! She will come along to some junior session and is planning a signposting page for the website. She will also establish a renewal calendar for all DBS checks. Lookout for her contact details on the website.
Wow – that was a long meeting! A huge thank you to our hard working committee and to Eli for taking all those minutes!