Prior to the AGM I wanted to take the opportunity to share with members some thoughts and ideas as we plan for the future. Whilst these will be shared at the AGM I thought it would be helpful to outline them now rather than just talk about them next week.
I do hope that the changes and developments taking place and those we are planning over the next few months, will be seen as a positive and constructive way forward.
My basic hope is that we have an open club that allows everyone the opportunity to feel included and involved.
The six point plan:
We have already introduced a Social and Events team who have started to take responsibility for both setting up and supporting events so that the planning burden does not fall just on one or two people. The team, led by Cher Jones includes Adrian Cox, Paul Keyte, Teresa Eaton and Jean Eaton.
I am proposing some Committee changes as I am sure we do not need up to 16 people meeting once a month to run the club.
The two roles of Club Development Officer and Staff Development Officer will combine.
We will not have someone on the committee to take the title of Inclusion Officer as we have very competent and experienced people in the club to assist in this important aspect. I have therefore, with the full support of the Committee, invited Julie Watchorn to take on a role as ‘Inclusion and Disability advisor to the Club’. Julie does not want to take a committee post and I have therefore suggested this as a positive way we can use the knowledge and skills Julie processes in this subject. I would also like someone else to share this with Julie and would welcome offers. Occasional attendance at Committee meetings will simply be as considered helpful and will be non-voting.
We will not continue to have a Communications Officer as this has been fulfilled by the Club Secretary over many years. Mandy will therefore continue as Web Manager with responsibility for all social media, press contact, the Perry Beeches website and the new Swim Manager software we have introduced this year.
The role of Vice Chair will remain unfilled.
We are asking for nominations for only one Welfare Officer.
Other developments will be discussed with the Committee over the coming months, including developing the role of Workforce into a team including Workforce, Welfare, Swim21 and the Staff & Club Development Officer. This will be the second ‘Team group’ we will operate with as we already have a Finance Team that includes the Treasurer, Finance Control, Membership Secretary and the Grant and Funding Officer. I am very much in favour of team work rather than a burden on one person.
In the past few weeks our Acting Head Coach, Tom Reader has spoken to me about his role at the club. Because of personal and work commitments Tom is unable to continue in his present role but is very happy to stay with Beeches and continue to coach our Masters and Senior swimmers. If we advertised for a Head Coach we would lose Tom, as any new appointment would naturally take the Masters and Senior swimmers. I therefore shared with the committee an idea to bring in a Director of Swimming. An experienced volunteer who would lead and support the Coaching and Teaching team providing administrative help and giving of their experience in developing the skills of our present teachers. I have therefore approached Dave Marsh to take on this role as a Committee member. Dave is well known at Beeches having been our Head Coach up to two years ago. This appointment will also mean that we keep Tom as our Masters and Seniors’ coach. A win/win situation I feel.
To ensure parents and members feel included I would like to introduce a yearly get together where parents can meet with the coaches, teachers and committee members. My thinking is that this would be similar to a school open evening where parents can speak to the teachers about their children’s swim progress as well as share a social evening and have an open meeting about the club where questions, shared ideas and future suggestions can be voiced. ‘How are we doing, what can be improved, what should we do differently etc….’ I have asked Kal Gaddu as our Parent Swimmer Liaison and Phil Payne to organise this together, both smiled and said yes! The Social and Events team will organise the programme. A date will be announced in the near future.
We also need to ensure that our teenage swimmers have a voice and to this extent I will be talking to the Club Captains to organise a yearly or twice yearly get together where we can also hear their views on the club, how they would like it to develop and what can we do to improve and support our swimmers.
For those who are able to join us on Wednesday I look forward to seeing you at Beeches for 7pm.
Midland Open Water Championships (incorporating the Warwickshire Open Water Championships)
Sunday 5th July, Bosworth Water, CV13 6PD
Click here for meet information and entry forms – Closing date for entries 14th June.
There is still time to take part in a taster session at Cliff Lakes Water Park, B78 2DL on Saturday 6th June 9.00 – 10.00am. For more details please email Claire Thorn
The club’s AGM will take place on Wednesday 17th June at 19:00 in the lobby at Beeches Pool.
This is your opportunity to hear how the club is running (both financially and numbers), to share new developments and ideas for the future and see which of the volunteers are happy to stand (or restand) for committee positions.
The club is run by volunteers – if you wish to help out in any way please talk to someone at the sweetie desk at Beeches or contact Elaine Gale (Workforce coordinator) for advice via volunteer@perrybeechesswimming.co.uk.
Please note – Only fully paid up members who have reached their 16th birthday on or before the date of the AGM and volunteers (who are category 1, 2 or 3 ASA members) are entitled to make nominations or vote on all matters.
Widths Classes
Due to the success of the club in the last few months, and the number of new learn to swim members who have joined us, we have several widths classes that are currently full.
This means it is no longer possible to automatically be able to attend a different class to the one you normally attend (it will depend on the alternative group’s class size).
If you wish your child to swim in a different group please contact us or speak to the teachers/ committee members at the pool.
Week 12 – W/C 28.06.15 : hand out of moving/award slips, collection of awards from desk
Please note there will be a cost of £2.20 per award.
May we please remind parents/carers that our teachers are professionals who reserve the right to work in a supportive environment. Therefore if you do have any questions, queries or concerns in regards to your child’s lesson please contact the chief instructor, Abigail Turner, at chiefinstructor@perrybeechesswimming.co.uk.
Competitions we have competed at:
Well done to all of our swimmers who have competed at the following competitions:
7, 14 and 21 March 2015 – Warwickshire County Championship 2015
3 – 6th April 2015 – City of Birmingham Open Meet
18th April 2015 – Nuneaton & District Junior Swimming League Round 1
19th April 2015 – Worcester Winter League – Round 3
25 April 2015 – Mercian League Round 1
9th May 2015 – Nuneaton & District Junior Swimming League Round 2
Easy Fundraising
www.easyfundraising.org.uk is a great way to raise money for the Club whilst doing your shopping. Why not take a look!
Bonus Ball
Congratulations to S Roberts, J Garlick and D Marsh – May’s winners of the Bonus Ball. Why not have a go? For £4 a ball a month, you have a monthly chance of winning some money, whilst helping the club raise some much needed funds. For further information please visit the desk at Beeches Pool.
Congratulations to our Beeches Masters
March 2015 – Perry Beeches Masters Swim Team had an excellent day at this year’s Staffordshire Masters Championships. In total they won 27 Gold, 11 Silver and 8 Bronze medals – a great all round team effort. Swimmers on the day were Charlie Wheadon, Paul Bates, Steve Dunn, Ryan Coley, Stuart Fuller, Wendy Phelps, Dianne Doolan, Jenny Powell and Angelika McDonald – all ‘looked after’ on the day by Coach Tom Reader.
May 2015 – Our wonderful Beeches Masters completed the epic 2Swim4Life’ event. Run by Lesley Zimmerman and Jim Boucher, the intrepid bunch – made up of Paul Bates, Charlie Wheadon, Steve Dunn, Claire Thorn, Ross Emery and Stuart Fuller – swam 24 miles in 24 hours – a massive endurance test for anyone.
May 2015 – Perry Beeches swimmers Jenny Powell, Diane Doolan, Ryan Coley and Paul Bates continued their great swimming year by winning four Midlands Swimming Championship Titles in Royal Leamington Spa. They produced a great performance to win the four Midlands titles, plus three silvers and two bronze medals between them. All four of the beeches swimmers have already won Staffordshire county swimming titles back in March, will now try and complete the triple crown of major swimming titles, at the British Swimming Championships in the Autumn.
Dates for your Diary
13 June 2015 – Mercian League Round 2 (Tamworth)
27 June 2015 – Nuneaton Junior League Round 3 (Wyndley)
4 and 5 July 2015 – Boldmere Water Carnival (Stechford)
Wednesday 17th June (at 19:00 in the lobby at Beeches Pool) will be the club’s annual AGM.
This is your opportunity to hear how the club is running (both financially and numbers), and see which of the volunteers are happy to stand (or restand) for committee positions.
The club is run by volunteers – if you wish to help out in any way please talk to someone at the sweetie desk at Beeches for advice 🙂 or contact Elaine Gale (Workforce coordinator) for advice via volunteer@perrybeechesswimming.co.uk.
Please note – Only fully paid up members who have reached their 16th birthday on or before the date of the AGM and volunteers (who are category 1, 2 or 3 ASA members) are entitled to make nominations or vote on all matters.
Thanks for helping to keep the club a FUN and Friendly place to be.
We would like nominations for the following roles for this year’s AGM – please send any nominations through to secretary@perrybeechesswimming.co.uk no later than 19:00 Monday 7th June – this will allow us time to advertise the nominations before the AGM.
The main committee roles available are as follows:
Committee Position
Chair
Vice Chair
Treasurer
Secretary
Welfare Officer
Workforce Officer
Membership Secretary
Grant and Fundraising Officer
Swim 21 Coordinator
Parent / Swimmer Liason
Plus many other roles!
None Committee Posts
Officials
Fixtures
Club Captains
Social Events
Plus many other exciting roles. Any queries please email secretary@perrybeechesswimming.co.uk – all nominations to be sent through by 7th June 2015 – Thank you.
