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Sunday May 11th 2008 Annual General Meeting of the Oxford University Underwater Exploration Group | |||||
Apologies | |||||
o Tim Bond - Neil Carter - Rachel Locklin - Blair Lindsay | |||||
Present | |||||
o Alex Lewis - Elizabeth Jones - Glynn Taylor - Conor Proud - Luke Sanders - Paul McCloghrie - Huw Jenkins - Martin Crow - Brian Patton - Joanna Ratcliffe - George Hamer - Alice Calvert - Anthony Dyson | |||||
Minutes from 2007 AGM | |||||
o The 2007 Minutes had previously been published on this WebSite, and were approved by this Meeting | |||||
Changes to the OUUEG Constitution | |||||
o The following Motions to amend the relevant sections of the OUUEG Constitution are beingput to the Meeting by the President, and are to be voted upon by the Meeting once due discussionhas taken place. o Quorum for Committee Meetings The current OUUEG Constitution requires seven voting Committee Members to be present to form a Quorum for a Committee Meeting. As there are only eight voting Members on the Committee this is difficult to achieve in practice. It is suggested that this requirement should be amended in order that four voting Members will be deemed to form a Quorum, such Quorum to include either the D.O. or President, with the Treasurer’s presence being required for financial business as at present, or another relevant officer where matters within their remit are being considered. APPROVED o AGM Procedures It is suggested that the Constitution be amended to allow the Agenda for any General Meeting, including the Annual General Meeting, to be issued 7 days before such General Meeting, (to be held with at least 14 days Notice in advance). It is also suggested that the election of the Diving Officer be clarified to state that the Candidate should be qualified to a minimum of BSAC Advanced Diver level, or to have similar qualification with the approval of the current Diving Officer, or to be referred to Sports Federation where no suitably qualified Candidate can be be put forwards. APPROVED | |||||
Presidents Report - Alex Lewis | |||||
o The new Committee took over at an interesting time in the Club’s history. There had been a problematic year resulting in weak membership and difficulty filling Committee posts. The new Committee aimed to address these points by improving recruitment and making the Committee positions more fun and more manageable. Outstanding issues were cleared up in the initial months, particularly with regard to some financial matters, to ensure the Club had a clear start to the year. Re-organisation of the kit provision was also started at this time. At Freshers’ fair we advertised a trip to the Red Sea, a trip to Weymouth and our training program. Take of the Red Sea trip was poor, I suspect because it seemed a little too expensive for students, but not at a good time of year for non-students. The idea of an overseas trip has worked in the past but consultation about appropriate times and costs would be a good idea before repeating this idea. Take up on the Weymouth trip in October was very good and this idea should be repeated. The training program aimed to work intensively in Michaelmas term to complete Ocean Diver, following on with Sports Diver later. This proved hard work, but was successful in attracting and retaining a large number of Novices, so we recommend this process is continued this year. As an incentive to train more new Instructors we offered to cover the IFC fees (half from Sportsfed, half from the Club) for Instructors who made a substantial contribution to pool and open water training. This generated three extra Instructors and would seem a successful scheme. o We held the annual dinner in January, where Jonathan Cole gave an interesting talk. The dinner was well attended by older members, but few new members came along. It was disappointing to lose two Committee members during Hilary term, and I urge people standing for the posts to remember they are making a full twelve month commitment to carry out their duties. Special thanks is due to Tim Bond for covering the positions of both these people through until the AGM. On a similar note, it has also been disappointing to have to spend time chasing payments from trips and courses, and rectify problems such as the return of the Gordon Foundation Landrover. All members have an obligation to the club, not just the Committee. o The remainder of the year saw a successful ET, followed by two successful Weymouth trips. A third trip was cancelled due to boat electronics failures, which were not corrected on time by a third party supplier. This has been a successful year, leaving the club in a much better state, and with a more enthusiastic body of members than when we started. It is now up to the new generation of student members to maintain this enthusiasm and be committed to keeping the Club running and diving an active sport within the University. To this end, some positions still have no Nominations, so please keep them in mind for the elections. Finally, thank you to all the committee members and other people who have helped out this year. APPROVED | |||||
Secretary's Report - Summary by Alex Lewis | |||||
o This year we have had two Secretaries. Kieran organised Freshers’ fair and an initial batch of BSAC memberships well. However, some problems were encountered with novice BSAC renewals in November, with the majority eventually being sorted out. I began to receive complaints about BSAC memberships from continuing members, at which point Kieran resigned, citing ill health and a D.Phil. Tim agreed to act as Secretary in March and the majority of memberships are now in good order. There are a few outstanding issues which will need to be addressed by the incoming Secretary, but on the whole things are in good order. o Membership list, see Appendix. APPROVED | |||||
Treasurer's Report - George Hamer | |||||
o The 2007/2008 Accounts are listed here at the bottom of theses Minutes APPROVED | |||||
Diving Officer's Report - Paul McCloghrie | |||||
o Training: o Lots of training done. TO will cover the details. I'm very encouraged by the standard everyone has reached. The only concern I have is that because of the bad weather on ET etc people now have qualifications which let them dive quite deep but haven't had much depth experience. Recommend that the new DO keep an eye on that. Also advanced training has been somewhat lacking this year. People have done lots of instructor coarses and other things like boat handling though. I think we are in a strong position in terms of qualified divers going forward. Safety: No major incidents to report. One minor incident (Luke's valient boat fending). o Diving: o Last summer the club diving was very heavily focused on chartering hard boats and the Club Boat only saw limited use. During last summer we did some day trips to Weymouth and proved that this is a very cheap and easy way to dive. More diving could have happened but didn't mostly due to not enough people wanting to sign up for trips. Over the winter the inland training days worked very well. Interested in comments from the trainees on whether they thought these days were a good idea. o ET was organised and run very well and proved to be very cheap. Weather stopped us doing more and better diving but I think ET was still a big success. Since ET there have been a high number of Club Boat trips and I hope this will continue through the summer. It is very cheap and easy to organise a weekend from Weymouth and I hope more people (particularly Sports Divers) start to organise things. We need to run trips that let the people from ET do some good quality diving and build their experience. APPROVED | |||||
Training Officer's Report - Huw Jenkins | |||||
o Training this year began with 15 novices doing the Ocean diver course over Michaelmas. Pool training took place over a 2 hour slot on Monday nights at Headington School from Week 0-8, with Theory on Tuesdays at Wadham. For the pool training, Week 0 was a try dive, with the rest of the sessions devoted to Ocean diver training, the odd dry suit dive, and the Sports diver pool session in the final week. This was the right amount of time to book the pool, as we were just able to get everybody through all the exercises, and would have struggled if we had less time. The pool at Headington was okay, although we were largely reliant on Alex and his Landrover to get all the kit there – we may have struggled without him as most of the students did not have cars. Theory training went well, and served as a point for the Club to meet down the pub afterwards. Everyone (bar one) has now passed the Ocean diver exam. o Open water training took place over 2 weekends at the end of the first term at inland sites. This was cold (for the students) who weren’t well equipped with gloves/hoods etc. However, 11 people completed the Open Water dives. I think 4 people who completed their pool training still need to finish off Open Water dives – Hadrian, Tina, Polomee and James Major. Sports diver training took place over Hilary Term, with theory again held at Wadham, and Open Water training taking place at ET. 14 people signed up to this course. 5 people completed the course at ET. Tom Morgan, Amelia Ng, Alice Calvert, David Bowman and Cherry Alviani need to finish off dives – Tina, Polomee, Dragana and Barnaby hope to start the open water dives over the summer. 10 people still need to pass the exam. Due to the conditions at ET, I would encourage all Sports divers to gain more experience with the Club at depth on the Summer trips. o There is a gulf in the Club between people who are trained to run trips and dive regularly, and the novice divers. I think this is due to novices using the Club just to get a cheap qualification for holiday, and not continuing diving in the UK. I think it is important therefore to train those who decide to remain with the club further so they can begin to arrange and run trips. Dive Leader training is planned this term, with 4 people currently signed up. 2 people have finished Boat Handling training, with a further 3 signed up who hope to take the practical lessons over the summer. Plans are also (loosely) in place for a marine radio and diver cox test. I suggest we think about running Advanced Training from the start of the next academic year rather than focusing our resources at this time solely on teaching novice divers, as the Club is in great need of more qualified divers. I think overall training has gone well this year, and thank all the instructors who have taught in the pool, open water and classroom. 4 club members have taken their IFC this year, and I’m aware of one Club member becoming a full BSAC Instructor. I think we were stretched with the number of people we were trying to train vs. number of active Instructors in the Club and the kit we have available. I think therefore it is worth considering the number of Instructors who will be happy to instruct next year before committing to teach a large number of new divers, especially if this teaching is not going to lead to Club continuity, as evident from the difficulty in filling Committee positions next year. APPROVED | |||||
Equipment Officer's Report - Alex Lewis & Tim Bond | |||||
o Alex – Julie made an excellent start at organising the hut and consolidating our kit to 15 good sets, with 7 each of less demanded items such as dive timers, reels etc. Spare kit was moved to the boat hut and additional kit purchased where appropriate. Records were updated for the purposes of servicing and inventory, and kit sign out lists were created. The standard of organisation and record keeping previously was severely criticised by the safety department, and even now I am still in the process of addressing their concerns. It is therefore extremely important that high standards of organisation and record keeping are maintained. It is in our interest to keep the safety department on side as they are willing to provide extra money for courses etc. o However, as Michaelmas term progressed, Julie found it difficult to keep on top of running kit maintenance and decided to resign in January. Tim filled her position and organised kit servicing and maintenance, as well as the sale of some of the excess items. It is disappointing that some items of kit have disappeared and others have been damaged. The new kit officer will therefore need to maintain accurate sign out records and check kit regularly. That facility for taking kit deposits has been introduced to help with this. The consolidated kit is more manageable than before, but the level of kit available must be kept under review in terms of both cost and time input required. o Tim - The club is currently aiming to maintain 15 sets of diving kit We have incurred some unnecessary costs over the last year as a result of people not looking after kit, particularly from flooded regulators. This needs to be addressed both in training and by experienced divers. We have decommissioned all our US Divers regulators and now have only Apeks and Aqualung regulators which were all serviced. o We have put the club's computers and drysuits up for sale We currently have a mixture of Buddy and Northern Diver BCDs and wings, with one Buddy BCD missing and being tracked down. There have been problems with keeping records of kit used by trips and the incoming kit officer needs to address this by working with trip organisers to make a more foolproof signing out and accounting system. o Specific feedback on our progress from the Safety Officer: - Richard Dodsworth o Equipment Records o Thanks for your time this morning. I know you are aware of the importance of accurate record keeping with regard to your club equipment and I think that the club has made progress compared to this time last year when the records were ‘indifferent’. I know that you have looked at the Town Club and realised this and made efforts to redress this. I still think that although improvements have been made, further progress on the completion of all forms e.g. Expedition sign out sheets, pool equipment sign out sheets (even if all kit is used) etc. Some sign out sheets had no dates for example. Ideally you should as a club be able to provide a summary of all club outings each year and be able to cross-reference all the equipment logs for each individual trip. o Faults. It was good to see that faults were being raised and logged although it would be even better if you can state, how, when and by whom it was repaired and cross reference any service/maintenance logs against individual entries. This will complete the audit trail. I am sure this can be rectified. Also – “good practice” for the Club/Kit Officer to record any inductions/training given to existing or new members of the club with reference to club equipment as this shows that you are providing club members with clear instruction on club procedures and protocol. A club record as well as an individual log would be recommended with members signing to say they have received instruction being even better. o Sorry if I am being picky on the above. All I want to see is that the club itself is 100% happy with the above and if ever asked to produce evidence that such records are immaculate and show that the club has done everything correctly. Furthermore, as mentioned to you – the role of the Kit Officer is vitally important and I know that the costs of maintaining such equipment is an issue with your club. I know that I have helped you with some finances towards courses e.g. Trailer Towing etc although I have never been approached and been asked for a financial contribution towards equipment maintenance. I am more than happy to contribute money on a regular annual basis (at the start of the academic year) towards the maintenance/servicing of the club kit – if your club can at the end of the year give me a guide figure as to the level of expenditure spent for this academic year. APPROVED | |||||
Boat Officer's Report - Anthony Dyson | |||||
o I spent a lot of time in Jan/Feb getting the boat trailer in order, changing the wheel bearings and mending the fully ceased up handbrake. All bolts/strop assemblies were wire brushed and greased. The boat itself was cleaned out of all the leaves and junk and the electronics checked and the tubes reinflated. Also the boat storage area had to be cleared of undergrowth and brushed down before any work could commence. The GPS was fixed recently (by Jenny) and at present all seems to be working well with the boat. The engine is due for a service and this has to be arranged. I am currently giving the boat house a good clear out and getting the map library together. APPROVED | |||||
Social Secretary's Report - Cherry Alviani | |||||
o No report was received | |||||
Expedition Officer's Report - Luke Sanders | |||||
o Member's were referred to the ET Report, and others, on this Website APPROVED | |||||
Kit Outcomes | |||||
o Kit was discussed with reference to ensuring the Kit Officer position is manageable and that safety requirements are met. The following outcomes were arrived at: 1) sell all masks, fins and snorkels as they are relatively cheap to buy and this will encourage novices to make a commitment to diving with the club. Not having large numbers of small misplacable objects will make the kit officer job easier, and the hut less cluttered. The first pool session will take place in second week to give novices a chance to buy kit – easy to do online or at the Oxford Dive Centre. 2) Continue with sale/disposal of other surplus kit. 3) Make new sign out sheets which list each item individually and have space for sign out and sign in, as well as for logging of faults. Faults should also be written on the white board and communicated to the kit officer. The person holding the key to open the hut will have the obligation to remind people to sign kit in and out, and all present agreed that signing in/out was reasonable and could be straightforward. All members are reminded of their obligation to sign out/in any club kit they remove from the hut. 4) Ask Richard Dodsworth for a contribution to servicing costs at the start of each year. | |||||
Committee Elections | |||||
Officers were unanimously elected as follows: President – Martin Crow Secretary – Conor Proud Treasurer – Andrew Griggs Diving Officer – Luke Sanders (availability addressed as follows – very good eMail and phone availability at all times; generally available at weekends but not for pool training – must nominate a suitable deputy for this purpose) Assistant Training Officer – Brian Patton Assistant Boat Officer – Conor Proud Huw Jenkins continues in post as Training Officer Neil Carter continues in post as Web Officer – members reminded to email info directly to Neil, members of new Committee to work on content in more detail. Jonathan Cole continues in post as Senior Member Anthony Dyson continues in post as Boat Officer The following positions were not filled: Kit Officer Assistant Kit Officer Expedition Officer Social Secretary Anthony Dyson offered to assist with kit on a temporary basis but it was felt very important that this position be filled, especially with regard to ongoing kit changes. | |||||
Consolidated Accounts for OUUEG AGM 2008 | |||||
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http://www.ouueg.org.uk |
