Nmc committee minutes 2014 1corrections

NMC Committee Minutes Tuesday 28th January 2014

Attending John Dalrymple (JD), Adrian Wilson (AW), David Angel (DA) , Peter Flegg (PF), Ian Birtwistle (IB), Andrew Shanks (AS), Ed Sciberras (ES), Alastair Boardman (AB)

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Apologies John Spencer (JS), Jim Aiken (JA),Eva Diran (ED), Ian Ross (IR), Gareth Crapper (GC)

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Approval of Minutes of last meeting Minutes approved with corrections

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AGM Review and Action Points •

AGM minutes are to be circulated to the committee before next meeting – action on AS

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IB noted that the lack of speakers was a recurring issue at the AGM

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AW raised the point that expenditure on winter speakers had to be justified in terms of the club's purpose

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The committee agreed to open talks by big name speakers to other clubs as a commercial proposition

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IB proposed a single big name speaker, and multiple local or lesser-known speakers.

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AB proposed Andy Turner, Mark Savage and Adam Watson as potential speakers

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Action on ES to lead in developing a speaker's calendar for next year to follow the strategy above

IB proposed that the first Wednesday night meet of each month be dedicated to encouraging climbers progressing from indoor to outdoor climbing, to be promoted by posters at local walls •

AW proposed Q&A session at Byker Wall to promote these nights.

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DA proposed straw poll of members to determine if enough members were willing to help new outdoor climbers to make this idea viable

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PF proposed that membership forms and cards be made available at the meets

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PF proposed one person take responsibility for promotion at each of the major walls

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PF raised the question of liability. The committee believes BMC liability insurance applies

ES proposed another T-Shirt issue to improve the visibility of the club •

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DA will be following this up

AW proposed letting the membership drive the question of pursuing a new hut and circulating a request for proposed agenda items 6 weeks in advance to gauge interest

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Correspondence •

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IB intends to apply for funding for website and newsletter

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AW will apply for funding for a learn-to-lead course

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The committee agreed to apply for a grant in the Gear category for helmets, nut keys and bouldering mats to support the introduction to outdoor climbing nights.

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The possibility of applying for help putting people through SPA training and assessment and was rejected in the absence of interest from members.

John Vaughan has offered to arrange for self rescue training – AW to follow up and find out if this is still happening.

Membership •

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AW reported that the BMC will be accepting applications for funding in early March

AW announced that the NMC now has a direct debit system for payment of subscriptions ◦

Subscriptions are to be taken on the last day of February each year

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52 Members have signed up for direct debit, including 20 at the AGM

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Many prospective members who did not convert to full members were removed from the rolls

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We have four new prospective members: Sonia Byers, Dan Leadbetter, Lindsey Turner and Ian Gill

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All prospective members who joined last membership year have converted to full membership with one exception

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3 members are not renewing subscriptions.

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AW revealed that the BMC is still collecting fees from the club for Honourary members

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IB circulated the revised New Member's guide

Working Groups •

IB wants to retain the core idea of working groups and simplify the implementation

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AW proposed selecting single issues to focus on when they arise and calling for volunteers, rather than a fixed working group structure

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AW proposed working party to focus on redeveloping communications strategy to take increased importance of push-based communications into account ◦

DA, JS and AW have volunteered for this

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AOB •

Publishing of the NMC handbook is to continue, with a downloadable pdf to accompany it

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Report from the BMC area meeting

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Wooler was confirmed as the venue for this year's festival, with Highburn House campsite as the most likely accomodation

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The festival is to take place on the weekend of the 12 th of July

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The festival is to be focused on being a celebration of North East Climbing

AW has been in comunication with Hadrian Leisure to negotiate new terms for the use of Burnside wall ◦

Hadrian Leisure has agreed to a reduction in the charge to the NMC to £80 per night

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More options for reducing the cost are being investigated, such as reducing the number of hours used each night

Date of Next Meeting Tuesday 4th of March