Wimbledon Windmilers Management Extraordinary Committee Minutes
Date: Thursday 23rd January 2025
Start time: 19.10
Finish time: 21:45
Venue: Dog & Fox Library, Wimbledon
Attendees
- John Gorst (JG) Chair
- Anne Davies (AD) Secretary
- Dieter Schlegel (DS) Treasurer
- Richard Cohen (RC) Welfare Officer & Men’s Team Captain
- Simon Wright (SWr) Men’s Team Captain
- Duncan Newbury (DN) Events Rep
- Diane Carter (DC) Coaching Rep
- Andy Tan (AT) Multisport Rep
- Lindsay Doy (LD) Multisport Rep
- Isabel Gwyther (IG) Multisport Rep
- Kate Carter (KC) Comms Rep
- Caroline Ferrari (CFe) General Member
Apologies
• Claire Morgan (CM) President & Membership Rep
• Ella Waddingham (EW) Women’s Team Captain
• Bernadette Maher (BM) Women’s Team Captain
• Sally Bovill (SB) Membership Rep
• Peter McCloskey (PM) Coaching Rep
• Sally Windle (SWi) Events Rep
• Shirley Twist (ST) Welfare Officer
• Mia Lockner (ML) Comms Rep
• Hannah Carr (HC) Social Rep
• Jack Derges (JD) General Member
AGENDA
- Minutes
a. The minutes of last meeting were approved: Yes 6, No x 0, Abstain x 5 (11 present for the vote) - Finalise expense budget
a. DS proposed that the committee selects one of two approaches to the calculation of membership fees:
i. Calculate fees according to the planned budget, as in previous years
ii. Calculate fees according to a target operating cost
b. There was consensus that membership fees should be set according to what the club wants to achieve during the year. The planned budget includes contingency amounts and adds to a total of approximately £20,000, yet the actual operating costs are likely to be closer to £15,000. Given that we now need to make an increase in membership fees it was agreed that it is fairer to calculate the fees based on (ii) the target operational cost rather than (i) the planned budget. On this basis the individual fee may need to rise by £7, from £27 to £34.
c. KC observed that the club’s fees in 2017 were £33, after which fees were artificially low in order to reduce the club reserves, so an increase from £27 to £34 is effectively a return to pre-pandemic fees. - Identify swimming options including potential funding amounts
a. The Multisport team has requested that the club fulfils a motion that was passed at the 2014 AGM but which was subsequently not implemented: “To use club funds to fund pool hire for weekly swimming sessions on an annual basis, subject to reasonable budgetary constraints, on a par with the running track cost. This would be independent of the cost of coaching which is currently met by attendees.”
b. JG explained that the committee has a duty to fulfil motions agreed by member vote at a general meeting, however the club does not currently have the funds to support the motion. Club income needs to match operational costs so that club reserves are maintained at 12 months’ operating costs. That means a “reasonable budgetary constraint” exists.
c. Usually, the budget and associated financial commitments of the club are set by the Committee, including the annual membership fee. However, in this case, we believe that an increase in membership fees to cover the above 2014 motion would meet the criteria specified in the club’s Decision Making Guidelines of being sufficiently additive, emotive and major. It therefore needs to be a decision made by the general membership via a motion in the 2025 AGM, to request agreement to increase membership fees to fund the requested swim funding amount.
d. If this swimming funding motion is agreed in the upcoming AGM, the 2014 motion will be fulfilled and therefore closed.
e. If this swimming funding motion is rejected in the upcoming AGM, it will not be possible to fulfil the 2014 motion and it will therefore become null and void.
f. Regardless of the outcome of the swimming funding motion in the upcoming AGM, the 2014 motion will be considered fully actioned and therefore closed.
g. DS recommended that it is easier from an accounting point of view to fund a specified amount, rather than tie the amount to a variable such as the annual cost of track hire. An amount of £1,750 (for example) towards swim venue hire would require a further increase of approximately £3.50 on the individual membership fee, on top of the £7 required to cover club operational costs.
h. From a point of view of clarity on the process, KC suggested that the increase to cover the club’s increased operational costs should be separated from a proposal to increase fees to fund swim venues since, if addressed together, the total fee increase may not receive support from members.
i. RC suggested that a phased introduction of swim funding may be more acceptable to members, noting the importance of member communications to ensure transparency on the reasons for the increase.
j. ACTION: DN to work with the swim team to work up the wording for a swim funding motion.
k. ACTION: Multisport Reps to submit a member motion by the 3rd February deadline, putting forward the amount they wish to request for partial swim venue funding. - Age discount
a. The club currently offers a membership category for those aged 60 and over, with a fee set at 50% of the individual fee. DC intends to propose a motion to remove this membership category
b. DC summarised a comparison of other running clubs, which showed that while some clubs do have discounted membership options most do not. Where there are discounted memberships they are often for juniors rather than seniors. Some clubs have a ‘social membership’ category at a discounted rate for those who participate in the social life of the club but not the sports.
c. KC asked whether the club would retain a discounted membership for individual economic reasons. DC confirmed that there was no intention to remove the economic discount.
d. ACTION: DC to submit a member motion by the 3rd February deadline, putting forward a proposal for changing the age discount. - Club participation survey
a. AD asked whether the proposed survey would prepare members for the motions likely to be submitted for the AGM. RC explained that the survey has a wider purpose, to understand what members want in terms of club participation overall. The survey is not specific to multisport. - Taking into account the entire discussion on funding and various options, a committee vote was conducted to agree next year’s membership fees.
a. VOTE: Do you agree to increase the individual membership fee from £27 to £34, with member motions being submitted separately towards swim funding and a change in the age-discounted membership category? Yes x 12, No x 0, Abstain x 0