Committee minutes 24th July 2025

Wimbledon Windmilers Management

Date: Monday 24th July2025

Start time: 19.30

Finish time: 21:35

Venue: Dog & Fox library

Attendees

  1. Claire Morgan (CM) President & Membership Rep
  2. Richard Cohen (RC) Chair & Men’s Team Captain
  3. Anne Davies (AD) Secretary
  4. Dieter Schlegel (DS) Treasurer
  5. Linda Zietsman (LZ) Membership Representative
  6. Simon Wright (SWr) Men’s Team Captain
  7. Andy Tan (AT) Multisport Rep
  8. David Wood (DW) Communications Rep
  9. Kate Carter (KC) Social Rep
  10. Caroline Ferrari (CFe) General Member

Apologies

  • Ella Waddingham (EW) Women’s Team Captain
  • Sally Windle (SWi) Events Rep
  • Bernadette Maher (BM) Women’s Team Captain
  • Duncan Newbury (DN) Events Rep
  • Peter McCloskey (PM) Coaching Rep
  • John Gorst (JG) General Member
  • Shirley Twist (ST) Welfare Officer

Minutes

  1. Opening comments & regular items (minutes approval, welfare, health & safety, open actions)            
    1. The committee minutes from 22nd May 2025 were approved: Approved x 7, Not approved x 0, Abstain x 2 (9 present at the time of the vote)
    1. Welfare, Health & Safety – no issues raised
  2. Membership status (renewals picture)
    1. CM reported that there are 518 members as of today, down from 565 at the end of the 2024 membership year.  There are currently 327 individual members, up from 302; 99 Family members, down from 121 (Family accounts dropped from 55 to 46); 87 discounted members, down from 136.
    1. The number of renewing members was lower than for 2024. Of 565 members in 2024, 450 renewed. Of 572 members in 2023, 463 renewed. Given the different membership starting points (565 vs 572) this is within tolerance.
    1. Of the 115 who left or let their memberships expire, we heard back from 77 about their reasons for leaving. Of those 77, 28 moved away (last year, 21); 18 said they weren’t using the club (a rationale that didn’t really come up last year); 9 mentioned injury; 4 lack of time; 3 had taken up other sports; 6 explicitly mentioned the fee increase (and/or AGM motions) as one factor, or in a couple of cases the only factor, in leaving.
    1. A number of members changed from Family membership to Individual membership because only one family member was using the club.
    1. The reduction in number of discounted members was largely because of the increase in qualifying age from 60 to State Pension age. Seven members eligible for discounted membership chose not to take it.
    1. It was noted that there is currently no option to provide free of charge membership to those for whom discounted membership is unaffordable.
    1. It was agreed that the Membership team is authorised to offer discretionary free of charge membership to those for whom discounted membership is unaffordable
    1. Expired members have been removed from the WhatsApp Community, Facebook and Strava running accounts
    1. ACTION: AD to remove website access for expired members
    1. ACTION: AT to remove all expired members from the Tri/Cycling Strava account as well as review the club ZWIFT account
    1. DW observed that there are significantly fewer than 518 members in the Waffle mailing list
    1. ACTION: DW/AD to reconcile Waffle mailing list with club membership database, noting that several members have actively opted out
  3. 2025 club survey (actions and strategic club plan)
    1. RC noted that news posts summarising the outcome of the 2025 survey will be shared with members, alongside an invitation for members to attend any of a series of member drop-in sessions
    1. ACTION: AD/RC to provide a Waffle paragraph to DW to promote member drop-in sessions in the Waffle
    1. AD requested that the proposed member drop-in sessions can be used to gather member input towards a consistent club description to be used everywhere that the club describes itself (on the website, social media, England Athletics, British Triathlon and in the welcome message to new members). DS noted that there can potentially be an important difference between how the club currently positions itself and what members want from the club in the future.
    1. AD summarised the outcome of a successful ‘best practice’ web call held with 4 other London ‘Run & Tri’ clubs on 23rd June. The intention was to share experiences with other clubs that manage a multisport/triathlon section as a part of a running club, and to open an ongoing opportunity for similar clubs in the London area to help each other.
    1. RC volunteered to initiate and lead a working group to establish a clear club vision and goals. CFe, two multisport coaches (TBC), AD and DS volunteered to participate. KC volunteered to assist with social aspects of drop-in meetings…I.e organising venues etc
    1. ACTION: RC to prepare and communicate the stages towards preparation of a club vision and goals, and to invite the working group to a first meeting.
    1. DW asked whether the [email protected] email address, which is advertised at the foot of each Waffle newsletter, is producing member feedback. CFe reported that there has been minimal use of this feedback channel so far.
    1. DS noted the central importance of the club calendar as a comms channel, and questioned whether it was being kept up to date
    1. ACTION: DW/AD to review which club activities are missing from the club calendar and how to recruit volunteer(s) willing to ensure that these are kept updated
  • Multisport
    • Swim slot SOP
      • DS offered a view that the main factor preventing full inclusivity by making all swim slots individual PAYG slots instead of block-booked slots is the high cost of Eventbrite online transaction fees (currently 19% of the £6.60 swim fee).
      • RC commented that the price differential between the PAYG and block-booked price was defensible given the flexibility it gives to members. The price difference arises because there is a transaction fee for online PAYG bookings, but no transaction fee for block bookings paid directly into the club bank account, with the end result that the club receives the same amount per swim, regardless of the booking method. Alternative online booking methods with lower transaction fees are under review.
      • AD commented that there is member demand from frequent swimmers who want to book blocks rather than individual swims, so elimination of block bookings to improve inclusivity may not necessarily match what members want.
      • DW asked how many members are unable to book a swim slot because of lack of availability. AT answered that the number is unquantified but not insignificant.
      • CFe questioned whether block bookings were fair if some members are unable to get a swim slot.
      • AT confirmed that the ratio of block-booked to PAYG individual swim slots will be defined in the final swim slot SOP. This ratio is independent of the projected average weekly swim attendance figure that is used to set the price for the term and which is projected by the Multisports team based on actual attendance (ie average attendance is not projected by the committee).
      • ACTION: RC to join the webteam to facilitate the launch of the new club website that already has a lower cost online booking system using Stripe instead of Eventbrite
      • ACTION: AD/DS/AT to edit the swim slot SOP to include edits agreed in this meeting, after which the SOP is in principle approved
      • VOTE: Do you approve the proposed swim slot SOP in principle, subject to the inclusion of edits agreed in this committee meeting? Yes x 9, No x 0, Abstain x 1
    • Coach training budget
      • AT requested to add £800 budget to the Multisport coach training budget for two further British Triathlon Foundation coaches, since this year 4 volunteer coaches have come forward instead of the anticipated two. The new triathlon coaches will coach run sessions as well as swim sessions. It was noted that cycling remains member-led and there are no club-led or club-coached cycling sessions.
      • DS noted that the club expects a minimum commitment from new coaches, as defined in the Coaching Policy
      • SW reminded the committee that in previous years the multisport group had struggled to find coaches to train and had therefore had underspent their budget. Some years are better than others.
      • RC stated that PM has confirmed he does not anticipate needing the surplus run coaching budget in 2025 because run coaches have not so far come forward for the run coach training budget, noting the need to ensure that there is not an ongoing pattern of transferring running budget to multisport.
      • It was also noted that multisport coaches are also suitable run coaches and will also support the running activity within the club.
      • CFe expressed concern about whether the availability of coach budget for 7 new run coaches this year has been advertised sufficiently well, especially given that the club’s run sessions need more run coaches. It was noted that the two additional triathlon coaches are both runners as well as swimmers and participate in the full life of the club. AD suggested that since the 2025 budget includes a higher number of new EA-qualified coaches than in previous years, yet no members have so far volunteered, it may be worth reviewing how new run coaches are advertised and recruited.
      • CFe suggested that we could consider having guest run coaches, as has been done before with Mara Yamauchi and Tom Craggs, who provided successful track sessions sponsored by EA.
      • It was noted that there are also other budget lines with potential to underspend in the 2025 budget  – namely our discretionary charitable giving donation and a series of further first aid courses budgeted. Each of these line items would alone generate just under the requested amount.
      • VOTE: Do you agree to re-allocate £800 from the run coaching budget to the multisport coaching budget, to fund two new British Triathlon Foundation coaches? Yes x 10, No x 0, Abstain x 0.
  • Race & league events
    • SW updated the committee on the action item for a potential Surrey League race on the Common. This fixture will instead be hosted in Richmond Park by another club, in October 2025. SW recommends that Wimbledon Windmilers considers co-hosting the event, which would be dependent on providing 5-10 marshals as well as fielding reasonable sized teams. Wimbledon Windmilers may also consider hosting a Surrey cross country League fixture for the 2026-27 season.
  • Policies & risk assessments
    • The updated Finance and Membership was approved in principle, without a vote, pending final edits to specify that the maximum time window within which a free swim slot can be allocated is 24 hours before the start of the session.
  • AOB/FYI
    • RC informed the committee that a working group will be formed to assist the Kit Representative with kit management
    • DW welcomes any feedback on club communications
    • AD informed the committee that there will be two places available to attend an England Athletics Regional Club Forum in Fleet Street, London, on Saturday 27th September 2025. This is a good networking opportunity with other clubs.

Next meeting date: Thursday 23rd September, 19:30 online

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