by Sally Hunter
Welcome to the 2020 Annual General Meeting.
As you can see, the start of the evening is the reports from the secretary collective – I’ll give a general overview, Chris, Fixtures Secretary will report on the championship, Kevin, Membership Secretary will give an update on membership and Brian, Treasurer will present the club accounts.
We will then have the election of officers, the presentations, then something to eat and finally the legendary quiz.
Overall
It was an interesting year for Whaley and for us: we had high temperatures for the Whaley Waltz causing problems, followed by the record rain falls and the dam incident. Several members had to be evacuated, helped out by friends. One member lost her house. A number of members helped out during the incident, either as part of the rescue teams or as volunteers in the feeding stations.
We still managed to get together to run and I know we are all very grateful to be sat here tonight and for the running club to still have a home town!
Committee
I would first of all again like to thank the committee for their commitment and efforts through this year. I’m aware I say this every year and it’s easy to think that this is just part of the proceedings. But I really would like to emphasise what a great bunch of people they are. Without exception everyone pulls their weight in ensuring the club is successful, both in actions and lively debate! Round of applause for the committee.
Tracy – Social Secretary and Eccles Pike Race Manager– thanks to Tracy for organising the important aspects of this meeting tonight – i.e. food, drink and quiz!
Chris Bowen who has done a brilliant job in creating and managing the championship races.
Kevin Day who administers the membership and liaison with the UKA
Brian Holland who manages the finance,
Helen Parry who manages the Kit
Chris Tetley, our comms guru who does a fantastic job in keeping us up to date on races etc., along with Pete Fotheringham who manages The Strider.
Lucas Jones – general committee member and until this year, Whaley Waltz manager.
Mark Rusto,. current Whaley Waltz Manager
Roy Whittle and Jane Adlard.
We do have spaces for club officers and committee members this year which we will sort out when it comes to the election of officers. Even if you don’t sign up, remember you are always welcome to come along to the meetings..
Club Runs
Regular club runs continue to get good numbers as do the Wednesday training sessions – thanks to Mark and those that have continued whilst Mark has not been able to run – I know Mark won’t want a fuss but just to say we’re all looking forward to seeing him back to full strength.
All the away runs were also well attended, thank you to all the away run leaders. We are always pleased to have new volunteers stepping forward to lead an away run. If you are interested we will be asking for leaders next month.
The members races were well attended, the Magic Mile – organised by Kieran and Brian, and won this year by Wilf, Kieran’s son. Terry’s Race organised by Chris Bowen was very muddy and led to interesting variations in time, with a few seconds in between the first 3 places – good job the timekeeping is so precise! Look out for the dates of these in 2020.
Races
Three of the races hosted by GVS achieved an increase in runners this year and an increase in the charity donations. Our thanks go to the race managers. Mary and Lucas and Matilda are handing over the baton this year to Mark and Tracy. Round of applause for the fantastic job they have done over the past few years – it’s a lot of work folks!
Buxworth 5, managed by Kevin Day had 189 runners and raised £895 for The Prostrate Cancer Charity.
Whaley Waltz, managed by Mary, Lucas and Mark had 237 runners and raised £915 for the Thomas Theyer Foundation and £242 for the Carnival Rose Queen Charity. Quite eventful with people suffering from hyperthermia – Louise was called upon yet again to help on route, and I know Helen P was very busy back at base. Louise had a special mention in the FRA magazine for again putting others before herself in a race.
Date change for Whaley Waltz due to dam anniversary celebrations and the movement of the carnival.
Eccles Pike, managed by Matilda Simon and Tracy had 212 runners and raised £850 for Mountain Rescue .
The GVS 10k trail race also managed by Kevin & Rebecca had 153 runners and made £900, with donations to the National Park and the National Park Foundation Charity.
This year Brian and Sue also organised the Dammed if you Don’t race, on the back of the dam incident. This raised £250 each for Buxton Mountain Rescue and the RNLI, and £35 for Taxal Scouts.
Well done everyone involved. Having people sign up quickly as marshals makes a huge difference to the amount of stress. Using Crazy Legs has also been a major factor in stress reduction! Having Helen P on call as medic enabled more profit to be made for the charities, as did Crazy Legs waiving their fee for Eccles Pike.
Communications
Chris has again kept up the great work he does on our website, keeping it up to date, promoting our races and results, and providing a wealth of useful information on our championship and members pages.
Pete has also done a great job with our online newsletter The Strider, Pete himself has written a number of articles in his series “A view from the back” and put up content from Col, Chris T, Chris Bowen, Matt and Mark Whelan. Thanks to all contributors and the usual plea…. Please think about sending Pete a few words from your own experience for inclusion.
Chris has also maintained our Flickr account – which is popular with participants in our races as it is our depository for race photos – again other contributions are welcome.
The closed Facebook page has proved popular. We continue to use the public page to attract new members and promote events We also have the Cluster group which is important for those that do not use Facebook, along with the club emails. We continue with Twitter, and this year, Instagram – although this will take a bit more work.
If you have any thoughts on how we can improve communications please let the committee know.
Team GVS
Team GVS have again been tackling the mud in the Manchester XC, well done James again for getting people organised.
Thanks to Aidan too for his work in getting the FRA Relays team together for this year’s event in the Derwent Valley. It was a great day for running and the teams did themselves proud.
People
Firstly we had some extremely sad news this year as Mick Wren died whilst out running. Mick joined us whilst working on a project for GMPTA and staying in a bed and breakfast on Reservoir Road, travelling home to Hertfordshire at weekends. I was never able to hold a conversation with him while running – but often travelled on the train with him to Manchester when he was always great company, and he quickly became a popular member of the club. He joined the club on away weekends and started to support club members who were taking on challenges like the Bob Graham Round. When his work took him back down South he continued his involvement with the club, travelling to support others and building many close friendships.
He was able to realise his dreams by moving to the Northern Lakes, setting up a bed and breakfast with his wife Rosie, which a number of members visited. His most recent involvement with the club was supporting Col on the first leg of the Bob Graham Round and he was looking forward to running the Lakeland 100 as well as continuing his role as dad and grandad.
To commemorate Mick, we are introducing a new Vet 60 category in the championship and the new Mick Wren Trophy. A small group have also been making plans for a club run in the Lakes this year – more details will be posted soon – but please save the date: Fri 8th – Sun 10th May 2020.
There have been many examples of club members taking on challenges this year. One of the most inspiring is Pete Hardman, on his recovery from a horrible accident. A mixture of determination – and stubbornness – has meant that despite the odds he has been rejoining us on a Saturday morning.
Also inspiring is our Rebecca – who continues to not allow diabetes deter her from entering the big races.
Col, Paul and Amelia, Mark, Linette, Helen, James, team Bullock Smithy, team Four Inns – have impressed us all this year. A special mention to Shaun, who despite some nasty chaffing in a sensitive area on the Four Inns, bravely got on a see saw with his daughter the next day…… and let’s not forget the early arrival of daughter no. 2 whilst travelling to Stepping Hill.
Mr Ambrose held training on Navigation both class room and practical.
Finally a huge thanks to Pete Hill, who has been our Chair. Pete is a founder member of the club and over the years has been a keen racer, organiser of club events, fancy dresser, socialiser, karaoke-er, and a steady presence at the helm at meetings.
We want Pete to stay in contact and we are making him club president this year. Pete, please accept our thanks and this small gift.
Election of officers.
Chair: Lucas Jones Nominated: Seconded Mark Ruston
Secretary: Jane Adlard Nominated: Seconded Tracy Vernon
Social Secretary: Jan Smith Nominated: Seconded Louise Smith
Fixtures Secretary: Chris Bowen Nominated: Seconded Lucas Jones
Treasurer: Brian Holland Nominated: Seconded Chris Tetley
Membership Secretary: Kevin Day Nominated: Seconded Moira Hunt
Communications: Chris Tetley Nominated: Seconded Sue Holland
Kit: Helen Parry Nominated: Seconded: Vickie Heathcote
New committee members: James Hobson, Linette Ruston
Remaining committee members, Mark Ruston, Roy Whittle.