Dr Stephen Tristram has asked me to post his statement in the running of Chairman at tomorrow evening AGM BRFC Communication: 28 May 2014 Prior to the AGM, The Board would like to issue a communication on the proposed structure of the club.We have prepared the following with the help of a number of distinguished club members who have volunteered to get involved in aiding the Club moving forward. The recession has meant that along with many organisations, we have had a challenging time financially. The effects of which have meant that we will be posting a loss for this reporting period. However,over the past 3 months we have identified areas of overspend and superfluous additional outgoings. The board, along with James Croker and others have now taken steps to significantly reduce this expenditure and we are continuing to thoroughly evaluate all areas of income and outgoings. In truth these things should have been identified more expeditiously, however with the changes in personnel over recent times we have come to realise that the different custodians often had varying priorities. What we are now doing is working to trim the excesses without devolving the rugby section. Since James Croker stepped up to help he has made some huge savings, including the reduction in our Sky Television bill. This will free up £6,000 a year. The removal of a full time Facilities Manager will save us £15,000 from last year to this and changes to the agreements with our brewery should save upwards of £10,000 per annum. Just these changes alone will have saved the Club in excess of £30,000 and this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the austerity measures that we are considering. As we have seen in recent years from Governments to big businesses, losses can be incurred. I believe we have acted now to remedy this and hopefully move onto more affluent times without repeating any previous mistakes. Moving back to the rugby and we have seen many achievements in the last few seasons. The club has moved from struggling to field 2 sides to fielding 5 regularly, we have seen our Academy win their league, as well as numerous successes and growth in Youth Rugby. We have won 2 Hampshire cups and a promotion (offset, unfortunately by last season’s relegation). We now have girls and womens rugby producing good results at all age groups. We are the home to London Irishs Elite Player Development Group (EPDG) program and we have provided 5 players to them to play in their A league side.A large number of our promising youngsters are now playing representative rugby up to International standard. We wish to continue to grow our membership and our links with the community. Our latest initiative in recent weeks has seen us introduce rugby for youngsters requiring additional measures, with terrific numbers attending. These are achievements that everyone in the club should be incredibly proud of, from players to parents and managers to the support staff that work in the club. I can assure you that these sorts of changes are not commonplace amongst our local rivals. As many of you may know, the management structure changed last year to accommodate a possible change to charitable status. On April 1 this year the CASC (Community Amateur Sports Club) Rules changed and these changes mean that a change to charitable status is no longer required. We, therefore intend to revert to our traditional structure of The Board, President, Chairman, Hon. Secretary and Treasurer, but expand the present board to improve our controls and direction, with any Chief Executive, General Manager, or D.O.R reporting into the board. Continuing on this theme, we have some exciting initiatives that we are looking forward to sharing with you at the meeting. These include: A new web site A new marketing manager – Claire Savage A new online membership system including direct debit facility An events co-ordinator, creating a calendar full of events for the club –Gemma Hinze All these initiatives, along with your direct support are ultimately going to strengthen Basingstoke Rugby Club going forward. I would like to thank the following members who have agreed to help the board in a volunteer/consultancy capacity: John Byett, Peter Allen, Sharon Allen, Gareth Lewis, Mick Morris and Richard Hornblow. These people have offered their time and experience to move the club onto what I know will be a period of continued success and I look forward to seeing them all injected into the running of the club once the make-up of the board has been concluded. As ever I would like them to know that their help and support is much appreciated. This will be John Evans final year as President and after all his years of service, I would like to celebrate his longevity in the post with a project – your ideas are required! Finally, I look forward to your support at The AGM, where I will be standing for my 20th year. This,if elected,will be my last as Chairman and I am keen to finish with the most successful season possible, both on and off the pitch and across all sections. In view of my impending retirement the board have decided to contemplate appointment of a new role, Vice Chairman for a season as a view to replacing the role next season. Thank you once again for all your time, effort and continued support. Kind regards Steve Tristram, Chairman
Posted on: Mon, 02 Jun 2014 14:56:15 +0000
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