MINUTES OF THE KDCS COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 26/02/2024
MINUTES OF THE KDCS COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 26/02/2024
Attendees: Steve Warner, Anne Brookes, Brian Woodward, Dave Wills and Will Beck. Apologies sent from Martin Slader.
FINANCE REPORT
Martin as treasurer had already circulated the accounts covering years 2019 to 2024. Our current surplus stands at £245.95. In the financial year 2022/23 we had expenditure of £130 which included the affiliation fee of £88 to Cycling UK, and a payment of £42 towards the Christmas Social Event. We still remain in a healthy financial position at present and have sufficient funds to meet our forecast 2024/25 commitments but recognised that we will need to ask members for voluntary payments as we have done in the past if we are to meet our commitments next year.
MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
Anne reported that we have had 7 new members this year (3 road and 4 MTB) but to her knowledge very few of the new road riders had been on any of our road rides. 57 members are on the road riders e-mail contact list but it is estimated that around half are active riders. Will Beck advised that there are now 67 MTB members on his list with around 25 of them regularly riding at some point. 15 of these consistently turn out for rides. Brian will once again check his system MTB membership list against Will’s list to ensure they are all active KDCS members. Our insurance offers protection for ride leaders and riders in some circumstances so club membership is essential.
Action 1: Brian to check his KDCS e-mail list against Will becks MTB members list to determine whether they are all club members.
RIDES CALENDAR STATUS AND INTENTIONS FOR THE YEAR INCLUDING ROAD, MTB AND EASY TUESDAYS
2023 again saw a healthy programme of rides offered to members ( Road, MTB, Easy Tuesday evenings ). The MTB group ride almost every week and have a hard core of leaders and a good number of riders out. There are weekend road rides every fortnight, some ad hoc mid-week rides and easy Tuesday rides most weeks between May and September. These are attended by a small number of regular riders but very few new members actually come out on the rides. There are also only a small number of volunteer leaders for the road rides and we need to generate more. It is not clear why attendances for the road rides are not higher.
It was agreed to maintain existing schedules. Themed rides were popular e.g early morning ferry breakfast rides. Tim Goffe submitted a proposal to put on a monthly ‘Café Bomb’ ride which would involve scheduling every month a destination cafe that members could make their own way to maybe to have a coffee / lunch. The committee therefore debated this proposal and agreed it was a good idea. Whilst it’s impossible to predict the popularity of this we thought it worthwhile to put this on as a midweek event once a month. (We did not wish to overwhelm cafes at their busiest time at weekends particularly if members were only seeking teas / coffees). Tim to be advised of the outcome and asked to nominate the cafes and monthly dates for Anne/Dave to schedule.
Action 2 - Steve to advise Tim of the outcome when sending him the minutes from this meeting.
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
Dave as Social Secretary listed the activities put on over the year. Sprint Mill Barbecue event, Christmas Social, Martin’s early morning Breakfast ride and Martin’s Winster café ride. Jo Macdonald had proposed a fireworks ride and a social ride from their house, both of which, unfortunately, had to be cancelled. Our goal is to put on at least 4 such events a year. The barbecue and breakfast ride will be annual events and we intend to put on an all members open meeting maybe with accompanying slide shows / talks and food as we have had in the past. It was felt that this would give attending members the opportunity to say what future direction and content they want from their club. Dave will continue in his role and it was agreed Steve would assist him. Members can however propose events for consideration.
Action 3: Steve to work with Dave to organise an all members’ open meeting and confirm any other planned events in year.
PLANNED TRIPS
The MTB group have already held a meeting and organised a number of trips away. Some of these will be open to road riders. It was agreed once again that any road rider specific trips need to be left to members to organise themselves.
Action 4: Anne to send an email with all details to road ride list. Will to keep Anne informed when new MTB trips are planned. Anne/Brian/Dave to post trip outline summary onto the KDCS blog page (and hide once complete).
WEBSITE UPDATE / FACEBOOK GROUPS AND ANY NEED FOR CHANGES TO INCLUDE SECURITY BREACHES ETC.
We agreed that our current website and FB groups need little adjustment. The Chairman’s page will be changed to Committee page. It is a secure site with very few issues arising. We do however need to ensure our front page content is up to date and any old posts checked and removed / archived as appropriate.
DIRECTION AND FUTURE OF THE CLUB INCLUDING FUTURE MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS
Our average age range remains in the upper age bracket and we again discussed the need to attract more members and to get them to participate in our road rides. This would help to ensure we have a good future outlook. We therefore need to generate ideas to help with this including publicity, business cards, bike shop listing etc. Whilst we still have a successful hardcore of members and riders and well-established ride programmes this is something we need to not lose sight of. Our members’ meeting may assist us with this going forward.
COMMITTEE POSITIONS TO INCLUDE REFLECTION / RESIGNATIONS
Steve is standing down as Chair of KDCS and will not be taking up a committee place. Anne has agreed to take over the role. All the existing committee agreed to remain in post for the following year. Steve will however assist Dave with social activities as a volunteer. He thanked the committee for their support over the past 20 years. Steve wished Anne and the committee all the best for the future and wishes to put on record his confidence in them for maintaining the future success of KDCS. The committee reciprocated with thanks to Steve for his commitment and hard work during two stints as Chairman.
AOB
Tim Goffe had put forward 4 items for consideration. The ‘Café Bomb’ proposal has already been cleared and approved.
He also asked whether a list of MTB routes could be compiled that could be accessed digitally by members. After debate and given the complexities of GPX, members own devices that would enable this etc. this was not approved. Dave Wills does however intend putting on a small list of popular MTB routes with maps similar to the 50 road routes we already have on the site.
Tim also asked if an official KDCS WhatsApp group could be set up. This was to enable rapid notification of ride changes, weather forecasts, urgent news etc. This was declined as the MTB group already hold e-mail addresses and phone numbers including emergency contact numbers and not everyone is on WhatsApp or can access it.
Tim also raised the issue of a survey / questionnaire to members to determine needs preferences, likes, dislikes, suggestions, improvements etc. This has been done in the past and could be considered following an all members’ meeting. At this point we did not approve such a communication.
Tim has also volunteered to become a member of the Committee and this was approved.
Action 5: Steve to advise Tim of the outcome of our discussion on his points and thank him for his contribution.
There being no other business Steve thanked all the committee for the hard work put in to make our club the success that is. Without their effort there would be no club. It’s not easy putting such an extensive range of rides together and ‘ encouraging ‘ members to lead the rides as well as maintaining and managing a website and social calendar.
Steve Warner - Chairman KDCS