Board Meeting Minutes | 1 June 2010
Last Updated on Thursday, 15 July 2010 22:07
PUBLIC RELEASE
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY SUPPORTERS SOCIETY LTD
MINUTES OF THE SOCIETY BOARD
Meeting held in the Box 15, SWFC, Hillsborough, Sheffield on 1 June 2010 at 7pm
PRESENT
JOHN GATH (JG) (Chairman)
PETER SHAW (PS) (Senior VC)
RICHARD DAVIES (RD) (Deputy VC)
PAUL HOLMES (PH) (Finance Director)
JEFF WILLIAMS (JW) (Services Director)
DAVE BARLOW (DAB) (Community Director)
DIANE COCKAYNE (DC) (Director)
IRMA KENNEDY (IK) (Director)
1. Apologies
Apologies were received from Darryl Keys and David Blunkett.
2. Minutes of previous meeting
The minutes of the board meeting held on 4 April 2010, which had been circulated prior to the meeting were corrected to show that PS will be preparing the programme notes for the Crystal Palace match. The minutes were then approved.
3. Communications and Correspondence
Reports of meetings between JG/PS and LS/NP on 15 May and between JG and NP/RG on 21 May have been circulated. NP attended the Members Q&A meeting on 26 May. A report of this meeting will be posted on the web site.
Some members have commented that we appeared to be too supportive of NP and the SWFC Board. We must be careful to maintain an acceptable balance without interfering with the flow of questions from the floor.
RG has said that he will attend a future members meeting.
4. Use of Directors Forum
PH asked if everyone was happy with the Directors Forum. He explained that the forum was closed - only those with permission could get beyond the login page.
JG asked that directors should use the forum for group discussions rather than using emails which quickly become over long and inconsistent in content.
5. Supporters Direct Conference
PH explained the arrangements for the SD Conference on 12/13 June in London. The six directors taking part were asked to choose the workshops they wished to attend. We will be travelling in two cars. Directors will be responsible for their own accommodation expenses.
6. FSF Fans Parliament
DAB gave details of the FSF event at Wembley Stadium on 24 July tickets cost £10. DAB said he would be going even though it clashes with a pre-season friendly at Scunthorpe. Anyone else wishing to attend will need to arrange this with DAB as soon as possible.
7. Box 30 Meeting - 21 May 2010
Individuals and groups of fans had been expressing an interest in fans investment in SWFC and we had offered to facilitate a meeting by booking a venue. Those attending agreed to work together on trying to develop ideas and strategies. A two part process has been suggested - the first part involving initial investment of enough to secure the agreement of the club and loan note holders. The second part will be to raise further funds to put into the club after control has been secured. Some ideas for raising funds from the general fan base were discussed.
A second meeting of the group will be held in the first week of June.
8. Elections to the Board/Election Management Group
The EMG are meeting today to finalise their part in the Board election process and will be emailing their report with the list of accepted nominations shortly. It appears that there are insufficient nominations to require a ballot.
Concerns were expressed about the difficulty in attracting candidates and we should look at how we might encourage more members to come forward in future.
9. Updates / Reports
Web Site: RD trying to keep the site up-to-date and would appreciate more involvement from others to help with this. JG reported that we now have control over the domain and the registration will be renewed. We can then look at the hosting of the site.
Car Park: DAB said that we need another person helping out at the car park. It was suggested that volunteers should be sought - preferably a number so that a rota system could be set up.
There is also a need for someone to be available to deal with Wednesdayite memberships, enquiries and other match day issues at the car park as well as at the lounge. JG suggested that this activity at the car park needs to be separate from any other car park duties.
JG asked if any discussions on the future of the car park had taken place recently. DAB asked if PH would be dealing with any issues regarding the lease.
Car Park details for next season need to be advertised as soon as possible. It was agreed that RD would look into the printing of the car park permits.
Smile Tickets: DC agreed to prepare guide notes and contact details to help whoever was going to be looking after this project next season.
Volunteers: There is a need to widen the volunteer process. It was suggested that the volunteers should be encouraged and recruited through the working groups so that volunteers for specific tasks could be sought rather than trying to set up a general pool. This would mean that individual project leaders could recruit and then develop relationships with volunteers.
10. Working Groups
DAB was concerned that apart from the membership group, he did not feel that the other working groups were active. He said that the membership group had been asked to involve the rest of the board in what they were doing but this did not seem to be the case for other groups. It was pointed out that the membership group had made proposals to change the membership structure of Wednesdayite and this needed approval of the board before proceeding. The forum had been used successfully for discussion of the proposals and the implications arising from them and agreements had been reached on much of what the members group were putting forward.
Other groups were indeed active and working on issues which did not involve changes or need additional approvals. Reports and actions from working groups were being posted on the forum and comments sought.
DAB said he was asking for clarity of the procedures. JG said that the process was clear and had been discussed and agreed at previous board meetings. This view was supported by other board members. DAB asked if there was a section for each working group on the forum. It was confirmed that this was the case.
11. Events
The AGM will now be moved to the end of July to avoid any clashes with the World Cup. The June meeting will be cancelled. It was suggested that we should invite HW and AI to talk to members at the AGM but this would mean that the date would depend on when they are available. It was agreed that RD would look into arranging this with HW and AI.
A meeting with the other SWFC directors could be looked at for August.
12. Board Meetings for July
DAB said that we should not leave a board meeting without fixing a date for the next one. It was agreed that this was normally the case and is desirable but the arrangements in the summer are always difficult when meetings need to be arranged for a weekday evening. In the case of the next meeting, the date could not be agreed as it is dependent on other events but needs to take place before the AGM. The forum has been used to agree dates and this would be done for the next meeting. It was agreed that we should aim for the early part of July and try to agree the date by the end of this week (6 June).
We will have the fixtures for next season at the next board meeting and so we will be able to fix the meeting dates for the season.
13. Any Other Urgent Business
PS reported on a discussion with CA who said that if we could prepare a leaflet it could be sent out to season ticket holders with the team cards if we pay for the extra handling costs involved. It was agreed that we should do this and a four page A5 leaflet will be prepared.
PS also reported that we were being asked if we could consider a joint membership deal with the SWFC membership scheme. Ideas and suggestions were discussed and an offer was agreed for PH to put to CA.
Steve Adams has offered to provide a free session at his summer training camp for children of Wednesdayite members.
14. Date of Next Meeting
A date during the first or second week of July will be arranged following consultation.
Meeting closed at 9:15pm.
Note that if any headed section includes ‘(abridged)’ then that section of the Minutes differs from the official Society version of the Minutes in order to protect confidentiality or sensitive information, where considered to be in the Society’s interests at this point in time.
