Minutes of Committee meeting held 18 Jan

Meeting held at the Plough, Whitchurch.

Present: Hywel (Sec), Les (Treasurer), Grant (Training and Child Protection), Rob, Matt M., John N. , Richard

Apologies: Andy (Chair), due to sickness, Steve M (Vice Chair) and Phil P. (prior engagements)

1. Financial report and Pool fees. Treasurer reported £785.22 in the current account, £70.35 in deposit. Last term's pool fees (£33 per session) totalled £390 had been paid. The amount in the current account included a number of advance annual pool fee payments - £100 payments (for families), £60 for individuals. These represented a 50% discount on the full weekly fee if every pool session was attended. This meant that alothough we had money in hand, weekly income would be reduced as of course those families/individuals would not be paying again until next September.WCA affiliation cost £124 last May. Similar amount would be expected this year. 

A discussion on the introduction and implementation of the scheme of annual payments following. It was agreed that it should be made clear to all new and existing members that the option of weekly payment was still open to them. Matt and Les will arrange that those who have paid up-front will have a membership card marked to show they have paid so that if the pool register isn't available for some pool session they will have some proof to show to whoever collects the fees on that day.

There was concern that the 50% discount was too large: the Treasurer suggested that it should be only 33%. It was proposed and agreed that this should be discussed again in another meeting, no later than May this year, so that all would have fair warning and that a change could be implemented at the start of the next school year.

2. Coaching scheme. Grant reported on developments concerning WCA's Local Coaching Organisers (LCOs). For the future the idea is that a coach offers to organise one event for their region. Grant had offered to run one for the South-East Wales region, and was thinking he might organise a slalom coaching session or a session on chase boating or rescue. The Committee congratulated him for making the offer and asked to be kept in touch as, if possible, they'd hoped the Club would offer any practical support it could.

3. Community Chest grant. The Secretary reported that he'd received a letterdrawing attention to the fact that the closing date for applications this year was drawing close. The Committee asked him to formulate a proposal, incorporating giving more children experience of kayaking, aiding more members to obtain coaching, safety or first aid qualifications, and seeking equipment to support those aims.

4. Child protection. The Child Protection Officer drew attention to one issue which he had leant of in a training session. This concerned the potential dangers of an adult being in the company of an unaccompanied child. In our context, there seemed to be two situations in which this could arise. First, when outside trips involved shuttling of paddlers, either on the trip - to start or finish points on ariver trip, or back to home. He advised that adults should avoid being alone in a car with a child. Second, at the pool, the situation of being in a changing room alone with a child could be risky.

Grant was thanked for raising our awareness of the risks. Means of managing the risks were discussed. The main means, already adopted by the Club, is that children under 12 can not join without a parent/guardian also joining, and parents of children under 12 are expected to remain in attendance at pool sessions. While there was no rule concerning attendance on outside trips, we could not remember any occasions when unaccompanied young children had been on trips, nor were any envisaged. Ensuring that an adult was never alone with a child in a changing room would be virtually impossible to ensure: an adult could be in the changing room alone when a child walked in or an adult could walk in when a child was already there. The first scenario could not be avoided by the adult. The second could be quickly corrected by the adult walking out again but that was not necessarily a reasonable expection on the adult. The meeting was concerned that no aspersions should be cast on adults simply because they found themselves in these situations. The main responsibility lies with the parents. They are responsible for being aware of where their children are. If they are concerned that their child is in a changing room alone with an adult, it is the responsibility of the parent to rectify the situation, not the responsibility of the adult. It was agreed that the action that needed to be taken to minimise the potential risks was to raise awareness of the risks. The Secretary was asked to include a note of the discussion in the minutes (done by this blog). The attention of members would be drawn to the matter also by informal discussion.