Dear Members,

Please find the minutes for the recent AGM attached and below:

Blackwater Triathlon Club AGM 2022
Minutes prepared by Katy Rehal
Present:
Rowena de Belligny, Kevin Carley, Andy Jopson, Andy Notley, Katy Rehal, Alison Vincent,
Jack Garwood, Chris Mathlin, Dave Parry, Juliette Elderton, Mark Lawes, Zena Faulkner,
Apologies:
Sam Wilkinson Ross, Louise Woods, Joanne Wiltshire, Valerie McGoldrick, Pete Frankland,

Minutes from 2021 AGM were agreed, and approved unanimously
 

Chairpersons’ Report
This Year focus is on getting momentum, we have had a lot of hard work from too few
people, Thanks for support of current committee, and we hope for more hands after this
AGM.

Adults
 Our club was 8th overall in the East Region standings, despite having VERY few of us
out racing this year
 Great presence at the Maldon Triathlon contributed to this – lots of our new club kit
out there and some fab performances! Tom Ballard on the podium, Tom Anderson,
Andy Notley, Andy Barnard, Jack Garwood
 Tom Ballard won the East region league for the Senior men category
 Stuart Axon qualifying to represent team GB at the European Championships in the
80-84 age group
 Steve Bullman competed in European AG Standard distance Triathlon in Bilbao
 A new qualified coach! Juliette J
 Lots more to add to the longer version of this next week!
 

Juniors
 Tom Ballard and a small team put on a tri-a-tri event as part of the Ride London fun
during the summer at the prom. Was a great success with All Saints school and
plenty of other first time participants.
 Newly qualified Activator – Ben Watley
 Tristan – a few race podiums, selected for Inter regional triathlon championship
team, inter-regional duathlon team and the regional development squad
 Rafael – bronze in the regional series, inter-regional duathlon team invitation
 Arthur – selected a year earlier than most to join the England Next Generation squad
after four top five finishes in the Super Series.
 Izzy – coaching every week, DofE, podium at the Letchworth aquathlon
 Joe Perry – winning east region series for Junior category
 Overall increasing rebuilding membership levels, good attendance, we might have an
excellent racing team next year!

Membership levels
Slight increase from last year in absolute terms, more active overall than last year!
56 adult members
25 junior members

Looking forward to 2023 – Transition to Spond for club activities, continue to increase membership levels.
Work hard to make the club feel more like a club, safe place to train, culture
transformation etc. Junior meeting, racing together makes the club feel more like a club.
Dominate just a few events to make the club feel more like a club.
Next Year
We’re beginning to transition away from our old-fashioned, clubbuzz website, onto
Spond. If you haven’t already, please get on to Spond!
We’re looking to continue increasing levels of membership for both the adult and junior
sections.
In 2023, we will work hard to make the club feel more like a club: a safe place to train,
ask questions, make friends, get and give support… enjoy ourselves, and enjoy triathlon.
We’d welcome help on this – either any level of expertise or experience in culture
transformation, extra practical hands to make events happen!
The ‘club feeling’ can often come from racing together, and especially racing in the same
kit. We’ll promote a few events in 2023 which we hope can be well attended by club
members as a team, supporting each other… and maybe even getting us higher up in the
club rankings!
We’ll be polling, very soon, for preferences on training and coaching schedules. We’ll
probably not use the track in Braintree anymore – those sessions were generally poorly
attended. We intend to use the prom more for running and transition sessions,
especially when it’s a little lighter in the evenings. Hopefully we can work out a day/time
when we could have a really good turn out for a cycling track session in Colchester. We
need 20 participants to break even.
Intend to use the prom more for specific training sessions & days for better turnout for
Cycling training in Colchester

Treasurer’s Report
We’ve made an operating loss of £1027. Our pool hire costs have increased quite
significantly.
In addition to the day to day running expenses, we had a few one-off expenses,
including:
We trained two new coaches (Rowena level 2 and Juliette level 1) and ensured that
our other coaches (Kevin, Katy, Tracy, Andy Jopson and Val) had all the CPD and
training required to still be sanctioned by BTF and insured.
We invested a small amount in some club swim equipment, which is stored behind
the pool (over there!)
We also held a refresher session for our Open Water lifeguards.
After sorting out the cancellation of the charity triathlon, we ended up with a very
small amount left in the pot from people who did not respond to our
encouragement for a refund, or wished to defer their entry to next year.
After we put on the Ride London tri-a tri event, we were also left with a small
amount in the pot… in addition to a gazebo!
We invested in some new club kit. We have a few items in stock, but we’re also due
some payments from members… so the figures won’t end up looking quite so bad.
We did provide a significant level of subsidy though, so this will end up as an expense
for the club.
The committee propose to make two separate increases to members fees for next
year:

First Annual registration will increase to £15 per year for juniors and £25 for adults.
** note – it is too late in the year to implement this increase using the current
system, so an annual fee increase of at least this amount will be implemented for
2024**
 

Monthly subs will increase to £18 a month for one swim per week, £23 for two and
£24 for three.
For families with juniors, subs will be £18 for the first child, £30 for two children, £36
for three children and any additional siblings in the same family will be free of
charge.

Fee increases were put to a vote and unanimously passed, with effect in January 1
2023.

Coaches report
Head Coach’s Report – Kevin Carley
Thanks for coming supporting the coached events,
Coaches cover 4 level 2 I level1 who cover triathlon coaching – Val McCormickspecialist
swim & dive coaches,
6 open water (not tidal) Lifeguards.
Cover 52 wks. year swimming, coached or a set, plus lake swimming April to August.
Cycle – Colchester – great session would be good to use more often, especially for
juniors – safe environment – get back there again.
Training events – 13 a year, practice tri 1x/month, Aquathon in winter, good,
sharpens you up, gives you a benchmark. Juniors’ race during the summer, can
practice transition, how to be comfortable in this environment.
Running, Braintree track has not been well supported, unfortunately may not
continue.
Run sessions Tuesday & Thursday before swimming, led by Tom Ballard & Andy
Jopson
Coaches here to be used. Anyone want to train to be a coach?

Election of Officers for 2022/2023 season – positions and nominees
 Chairperson – Rowena de Belligny
 Vice Chair – Katy Rehal
 Treasurer – Zena Faulkner
 Deputy Treasurer – Pete Frankland
 Secretary – Andy Jopson
 Junior Coordinator – Rowena de Belligny/ Louise Howard/ Juliette Elderton

Election for non-officer roles
 Membership Secretary – should liaise closely with Secretary, Treasurer OPEN
 Communications & social media – Jack Garwood & Sam Wilkinson-Ross
 Kit coordinator – Thomas Ballard/ Kate Harpham (Chloe Prime’s mum) junior section
 Welfare Officer – Sarah Watley/ Chris Mathlin
 Run leader – Alison Vincent
 Cycle leader – Andy Notley/Kevin Carley
 Swim leader – Val McGoldrick & Pete Frankland
 Club league manager – TBC
 Charity Triathlon Race Director – Andy Jopson
 Charity Triathlon Deputy Director - Chris Mathlin
 Charity Triathlon Core Team – 4 persons required (Recruiting the marshalls & getting
the promotions etc, agreements) OPEN
 Christmas Party & Presentation evening 2023 organiser - 2 persons – Alison & Katy
Club Policies
- to be reviewed by secretary, amended if necessary & signed off at first meeting of
2023
- BWTC Key Policies - Safeguarding, Anti-doping, Equality, Diversity 2021 -
- Code of Conduct for Club Officers, Coaches and Volunteers-
- Code of Conduct for Members and Supporters-
 

Website
Jack Garwood has already started to build a website on wordpress.com which we
can look at to play with, vote on paying/paying for domain name etc to be debated
for next meeting.
Will gradually go live as we transition to Spond.
Jack G will attend committee meetings regarding website issues.
Facebook admin – only allowed on FB if members on Spond.

AOB
Chris Mathlin thanked Rowena for all that she does

Meeting adjourned by Rowena de Belligny at 21:05