Location: Colomendy Pub, Cadole, Flintshire.

Present: Dave Butler (chair), Jonathan Fagan (u10s), Steve Thomas (treasurer, Ladies and u16s), Mike Jones (u10s), Dave Cooper (u14s), Matt Jones (u11s), Anna’s dad (U14s), Alun Thomas (u14s), Rhys Cooper (u14s), Wynne (u16s).

Apologies: Stu Sigsworth, Philippa (CWO) and Chris Owens.

Matters at hand:

1. Minutes from last meeting – approved.

Points from last minutes as follows:

1. Still not got all the coaches signed up to training courses. Mike Jones (u10s) has signed up for the Leaders Course and completed the First Aid and Safeguarding modules since the last meeting.
2. No other coaches have signed up. Dave Cooper and Alun Thomas (u14s) aiming to do the courses in May/June.
3. Gap – they had 2 weeks after the last meeting to send us over their proposal for next season and onwards. Nothing was forthcoming. Deadline passed so nothing else to do. Mike Jones noted that Gap have started to provide girls football coaching at £2 a session on a Thursday night. Lee Breeze (Flintshire Council?) appears to be running it – years 3-6. Decided that these minutes should be an update for anyone interested in the situation regarding Gap – Northop Hall Girls FC will be running as an independent club next year and no involvement will be had with Gap from this point onwards. The main need for Northop Hall Girls is pitches and Gap have been unable to offer or provide any at the times to suit the different age groups or to host matches.

1. Minutes – proposed that these minutes are posted across the club Facebook account, twitter and the website – so that parents who want to be informed can check out the latest club news.
2. Dave Butler reiterated the importance of the club having qualified coaches at every age group. At present not enough coaches have completed their Level 1 courses and this needs to be rectified as soon as possible.
3. Training nights. Dave Butler also reiterated how important it was to have at least two adults at each training session. Ideally both of these need to be DBS checked and with coaching qualifications. No coach should ever be on their own at training. Rhys Cooper volunteered to help out as the 2^nd adult if any coach is ever short. Just need to phone him and check availability. Rhys’s number is 07956 656499.
4. Grants – lots of discussion about funding for next season. Not clear what we need funding for, but Mike Jones is going to look into what grants there are available and report back to the next meeting with a full breakdown. Jonathan Fagan suggested asking a parent to act as the Grants Officer so that anytime we do need funding they can deal with the relevant paperwork and research where and how to apply.
5. Age Group Reports:

Ladies. There are 20 players currently in the side. Not all subs have been received yet for the year. Steve Thomas working on this. Knocked out of the Welsh Cup in the ¼ final but 3^rd in the league with games in hand. 8-9 matches still to play. Steve expects some money from the WFA for the cup run.

U16s. Currently 16-17 girls playing. 2 games played this year – problem has been other teams not having enough players. Ladies have started refereeing for the u16s which has helped on that side of things. Knocked out of Welsh Cup but good run had.

U14s. 17 girls at the moment, 2^nd in the league and into the semifinal of the cup. Other teams struggling for players again but things going well. Subs up to date.

U12s. No report provided.

U11s. OK for subs. Team are 2^nd from bottom, but anticipated as this is the younger under 12s side playing girls a lot older. Getting the games in and currently have a squad of 12 players.

U10s. Squad of 16 players with a waiting list of 4 girls for next season. Have organised and played in a mini-tournament at Mold astroturf since the last meeting which went well.

U8s. No Report provided.

1. League News – nothing to report. Teams cancelling and league have been told about it. Matt Jones has asked Steve to check at the last meeting what the point of the team sheets is and whether it would be better if each coach just turned up with the registration sheet for each player and showed it to the other side.
2. Finances – Steve has £1,056.68 cash in hand and £5,126.78 in the bank. Paid out £200 to Northop Pavilion for games from September to February. Spreadsheet available of finances for anyone interested in seeing it – contact Steve Thomas.
3. Website and social media. Emma from under 8s now running the club twitter account. Any news needs to be sent to epricero@hotmail.co.uk. Proposed that Steve give Emma access to the Facebook account as well to tie the two together.
4. Decision made as follows:

To order coats for all players in the different age groups with the sizes as indicated to Steve. The coats will say “Northop Hall Girls FC” on the back of them but will not have player initials or a club badge on. This will enable the coats to be reused within the club like the previous ones. Under 8s and Under 10s to send Steve sizes so he can place the order asap. The colour voted on for the coats was black and/or red. Steve will be placing the order with Macron.

1. Northop Hall Girls FC Tournament 2^nd and 3^rd July – all Northop Hall age group u8-u12s teams are in this – proposed that we have a sub committee for organising event. There is a lot of work to do but not needing discussing at the main meeting. Jonathan Fagan coordinating the tournament and reported that over 20 teams have signed up at u8-u12 level. Dave Cooper and Alun Thomas queried why the u14s were not involved and it was agreed that the club would put the u14 option out on the advertising to see what response we get and try to do something on the Saturday as we have not had as good a response for the u8s-u10s sides on this day. Wynne has volunteered to help out together with a number of the ladies and u16s. Gary Bell has offered to source free food. Jonathan asked everyone to let the parents know about the tournament and see if anyone else wants to volunteer to help set it up. Meeting date to be organised.
2. Charity – as part of the process of setting up the tournament it has been realised that turning the club into a charity would be beneficial for a whole host of reasons, mentioned briefly at the meeting. It was resolved that Jonathan Fagan would set up the charity and the first three trustees would be Stu Sigsworth, Dave Butler and Steve Thomas.
3. Pavilion – now charging us £10 a pitch every time used for a match. There is a meeting at the Pavilion on the 25^th April about the future of it. Discussions were had about applying for grant funding to get adequate drainage put into place which would improve the surface. There is an online pitch booking system planned for next season which will be very useful.
4. Dog poo at the Pavilion – Steve mentioned that an under 16 player recently had the pleasant experience of slide tackling a pile of the brown stuff. He has raised it with the Pavilion and they are trying to improve matters. The local police officer is checking the ground as part of her beat.
5. Anna’s dad (apologies – forgot to ask name!) from the under 14s indicated that he may be able to use one of his fields to host football matches in the future, but work would be required first.
6. Dave Cooper raised the old Corus Sports and Social Club as a future option to look at for pitches. He is going to enquire as to availability for hire in the short term and also the cost. Discussion was had as to the good quality of the pitches and good option for the club to consider in the medium term if the rugby club manage to get the relevant grants in place to keep the ground going as a sports club. Dave Cooper has been told that the rugby club have a 25 year lease and a grant of £180k over 3 years to support the work there so it is hoped this will be something to consider in future.
7. There are two goals still missing – left at the Pavilion but no longer there. Mike Jones going to check and see if they have returned. Steve said he may have seen them there.
8. Matt Jones raised a query regarding girls joining during the season and girls getting injured – agreed to reduce subs accordingly. Coaches have discretion on this.
9. Trophies – Steve Thomas going to check and see if last year’s supplier is OK to provide trophies this year.
10. Presentation night – suggested by Matt Jones that we have an earlier date this year. The season finishes at the end of May so why not go for the first weekend in June. Steve Thomas going to ask the Navy Club for availability on the 4^th or 5^th. Important to avoid the Euros!

Finally – just after the meeting Steve Thomas mentioned that the club will fund 2 tournaments per age group this year and anything after that needs to be self-funded by the parents. Exception for the under 8s and 10s who get less games than the other teams.

No other business – next meeting will be in 6 weeks time.