Notes of the meeting on 29th April 2018 at 7.00 pm

Present: Jane Bellis (Chair), Steve Thomas (Treasurer/Vice Chair/Ladies), Stuart Sigworth (Secretary), Marcia Grundy (U13s), Dave Cooper (U16s), Ffion Cooper (Player), Rhys Cooper (U16s), Gareth Sharp (U12s), Jamie Thomas (U11s), Mandy Coutts (U10s Parent Rep), Andy Owen (U12s parent), Mark Small (U12s parent).

Apologies: Dave Butler, Jonathan Fagan, Philippa Havill, Peter Roberts

1. Minutes from 4th March agreed by Jane Bellis and seconded by Marcia Grundy.

2. CHAIRS ITEMS:

i) Pitch update: Positive update from meeting with Claire Wilson regarding Rowleys Drive/Dee Park as a new home ground for the entire club as of next season. Development in certain areas required and long term funding and development of entire site is currently being planned subject to acquisition which is imminent and will be updated by Claire.

For the new season we should have 2 full pitches at the Dee Park site and also use of the pitch at Rowleys Drive for matches and training and specific area will be set aside by the old club house specifically for training for us as well. Far pitch is in need of new goals and this is something being looked into by Claire, and Shotton Town Utd are keen to team up and collaborate with us, sharing their goals and resources wherever possible.

All those in attendance are happy and in agreement that we should go ahead and look at training days and times (Dave C to enquire) and logistics regarding match days for all moving forward for all age groups including the Ladies on Sundays. Dave/Marcia/Jane to facilitate all teams playing a game on Dee park to see what they think and tournament is already set for Rowleys Drive site so parents, coaches and officials will be able to get a feel for the space and give feedback. Moving forward we will look at areas of development and growth with this opportunity for a new start and rebuild the club back to a strong, cohesive unit. We will also ensure that relevant documents/paperwork/contracts are in place and counter checked before signing into to protect all parties.

ii) Club infrastructure & strategy for growth: Jane talked about the workload involved with breaking down previous issues with the management and admin of the club and ensuring that all policies and procedures are accurate and compliant as a priority. Issues still relating to basic details from coaches that need to be actioned immediately and also new systems in place which are being worked on to make sure that all coaches follow an induction procedure and conform to legal obligations from the offset, with clear plans in place for replacements in the event of a coach retiring from the club.

New data forms in line with new data protection laws and as a new start to gather all parent info for each age group is to be implemented immediately – it was agreed that email addresses are needed so that we can start to send out a newsletter to parents with updates and also encourage more engagement and parent volunteers. Each age group should have a parent representative that is also DRB checked and DRB’s are non transferable and should be completed for the club for anybody who has access to the players WITHOUT exception. It was suggested that Dave Cooper consider staying on if Ffion is happy to stay and coach the girls and Rhys is keen to help that he could act as our coach mentor and assist new coaches, particularly if we can plan all age groups training sessions to be together 1-2 evenings per week. This will also help the club to engage more as a whole and players and coaches to interact and see each other more regularly.

iii) Winter training: Marcia suggested that we start to look into block booking 3G pitches for winter training asap so that we can coordinate training together and facilitate the above coach/mentor idea. Mold seems to be the cheapest option at the moment but Deeside/Airbus/Connah’s Quay and Hawarden High were also mentioned. (Deeside too small for older age groups) Those present tasked with researching any pitches they know of and enquiring about fees and availability for multiple bookings, Steve will find out about Mold/Deeside – if no further information is presented by next meeting we will consider pushing forward with Mold as this is our most cost effective option.

iv) Summer Training: Contract at Northop ends on 31st May so Dave C to confirm training nights available at Rowleys/Dee Park going forward to June/July and beyond for whole club.

v) Summer Camp: Rhys has been working on this. Separate meeting and committee to be formed for this. Plan for all ages up to 14 provisionally on 1-3 August at Rowleys Drive (Rhys to check dates and then Dave C to check with Claire and book in). Stuart has done provisional poster to advertise and this can be something to put in a parent newsletter and on all whatsapp groups once confirmed. Safeguarding plans/risk assessments etc need to be checked and put into place which will be done at specific meeting. Initial info to be distributed as soon as dates confirmed so that Rhys can monitor interest and start to plan costs and breakeven figure. £10 per player per day was mentioned as a cost for parents. Inspirational female players and older age groups to be approached to get involved and Rhys will have a stall at the tournament to advertise and gather interest.

vi) Databases, Registration & Signing on: It was agreed by all that we need to start from the ground up with some elements, particularly with new data protection laws so Jane to develop and email out to all coaches a blank database spreadsheet for parent names, numbers and emails for each age group to be actioned immediately. This can also include space for parents to nominate their player of the year to replace the Whole Club Award (Parents Award) This needs to be actioned straight away with no exceptions.

As previously mentioned this needs to be the same with coaches, parent representatives and any other persons coming into contact with players such as assistant coaches, even temporary ones so an ‘officials’ sheet will also be emailed over to each coach in the same format but for anybody wishing to volunteer in any way. With several gaps to be filled in for our coaches this also needs to be a priority and will be actioned within the next few days. Anybody we do not have ALL details for will not be allowed to coach and training/matches will cease until all details are confirmed to be up to date. Dave C to put together ideas for a coaches pack similar to players signing on with rules & regs, code of conduct, policies and procedures and what is required of them with regard to training, DRB, FAW, FLA and first aid and what support is available to them in terms of coach mentoring.

Moving forward there will also be a more comprehensive signing on pack for parents with Registration document (Stuart), code of conduct, and kit agreement (updated with annual kit exchange programme as part of the terms). *We will add a general newsletter from Chair with info about parent volunteers wanted and fb,whatsapp and email newsletter so they are aware of the info sharing and lines of communication. We will have a sign up stall alongside Rhys at the tournament to make the process as efficient as possible so will need to look into printing enough packs and making parents aware that they will need to bring passport photos and sign up there and then. Email address collection will be a priority here.

Safeguarding: Marcia to work with Philippa to look into courses and up to date policies.

3. Treasurers Report: All submissions now in to Charities Commission, all bills paid and £3817 in the bank. New accounting system in place with tax year end as opposed to seasonal which will make it easier to be compliant moving forward. Steve to do a more comprehensive financial report quarterly moving forward with details of what we are spending or planning to spend in line with new growth objectives and club needs and what is outstanding in terms of subs. We will also have plans for funding from Tournament and Rhys summer camp so that we can monitor our effectiveness and make efficient use of funds. Steve to send up to date list of subs to chase to each coach and this to be done and up to date by next meeting. Steve, Dave B and Stuart to produce a trustees report on 2016/17 accounts within the next 2 weeks.

4. Age group reports:

U8’s – no rep (discussed Chris G leaving us soon and action planned replacement strategy with Dave B contacting parents next week to find replacement and new procedure as above moving forward)

U9’s – no rep

U10’s – Mandy (parent rep)

U11’s – Concern raised regarding another club contacting girls directly against league rules. Will monitor and consider formal action if we deem in necessary at any point. No action for now. Other than that all good.

U12’2 – playing in Prestatyn tournament. Will finish middle 6 in league.Awaiting to see who they will be playing for cup game.

U13’s – 3 league games left to play

U14’s – no rep

U16’s – 1 Game left to play. Drawn Caernarfon in Cup game

U18’s – no further progress

Ladies – NEWFA Cup final winners, great news so congratulations to Steve and the ladies! 4-1 against Denbigh. Currently top of the league with 5 games left to play.

*Mentioned a second time that we need to have more assistant/parent reps who are DBS checked and preferably been on leaders and first aid courses so we can have cover for training if someone steps down.

5. Kits: Jane looking into funding for new kits for whole club moving forward (this will take some time so need an interim plan for at least next season).

i) Jane has cheapest quote for £23 junior and £25 adults full kits including printing. Steve to check prices from Queensferry Sports to compare and Andy Owen to check his contact (Jomar) for pricing and availability also. Priority questions to ask will be how much and how quick for a) single kit b) whole team c) whole club. (discount should be applied for bulk orders so we can see whether its worth doing all at once or team by team) Jane to check whether badges are printed or embroidered.
ii) £5k approx. for whole team kits last time so everyone encouraged to research and see if we can get that down.
iii) Kit hand down: Best plan is to continue with sign up day at tournament but set up separate date of Sunday 8th July for a family day at Rowleys Drive to encourage parents to come and check out the new home ground together. Will plan a BBQ, some activities and get the ladies involved to encourage and inspire the younger ages with Rhys signing up for Summer Camp and ALL parents to bring back kits and hand in to coaches (This can all be explained in newsletter and social media in advance)
Kits can then be sorted and distributed down to get us through the next season. Mandy suggested that older age groups hand theirs in first so there are kits to hand down. Jane suggested maybe setting up the activity/bbq to run from 2-5pm but have staggered times for teams from oldest to youngest to come and do kit hand ins from 12pm so we can get them sorted and ready to hand down. Any outstanding registrations forms can also be mopped up here as they need to be in by August 1st. Ideas welcome.

6. Funding: Jane talked about needing to develop a growth strategy and specific ideas for what we need so that we can cost them out and put in some funding bids as there is a lot of funding out there that we are not tapping in to. This is a very big task and difficult for just one person so help and support will be needed. Jane working on ideas for new First Aid kits per team, first aid update training, Goals, Coaches kits, training and match balls etc. More ideas welcome.

7. Tournament: Currently full in most age groups, 58 out of 64 spaces taken which is great so big thanks to Jonathan for his hard work here. 2 spaces left in U13’s, 3 in U16’s and 1 in U8’s

8. Presentation Night: Confirmed as Sat 16th June at Navy Club, Connah’s Quay. Number of players per team required for Steve asap in order to organised trophies. Anybody with contacts for trophies to let us know asap how much so we can compare to Dragon who are expensive. Andy to check with Chester Trophy company. If we have no time to make saving this year will look into alternatives for next year. U8’s have 8/9 players listed as paying subs but over 20 at training? Needs to be checked and confirmed asap.

Steve to send out form per team for Players Player, Managers Player, Most improved player and either Club (usual) or Parents (new) player.

9. Date of next meeting: set for Sunday 27th May at Northop Pavilion at 7pm.