EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING

7.00pm 03 October 2018

Duffus Park Bowling Club, Cupar

MINUTES

Attendance Present:

Rona McCraw – Chair

Robbie Nellies – Deputy Chair

Hilary Lumsden – Secretary/Treasurer

Michael Kavanagh – Sports Development Officer

Jo Whittet – Active Schools Coordinator

Mandy Strachan – Tayport Tennis Club

Ian Bell – Falkland Tennis Club

George Sharp – DPBC

Gary Anderson – Elmwood College

Margaret Kennedy – Councillor

Welcome and Apologies

Rona welcomed the attendees. Apologies came from Chris Reekie, Andrew Arbuckle and Elspeth Wallace.

2. Minutes from last meeting

The minutes of the last meeting on 11th July 2018 were approved; being proposed by George Sharp and seconded by Robbie Nellies.

3. Matters Arising

There were no matters arising from the previous meeting.

4. Secretary/Treasurers report

[The Secretary started by confirming that the Grants Committee had confirmed the award of £295 to Howe of Fife RFC in support of advertising ‘There’s a Place for Everyone at Howe of Fife – brining unified Rugby to Fife. An award of £500 was made to Bell Baxter HS in support of piloting sports to the wider community opening links to local sports clubs. An enquiry from Freuchie Cricket Club for a Development Grant to help progress a Winter Cricket Programme for Children and Youths was discussed but a formal application was awaited, Robbie Nellies to discuss this with them and ask for a development plan and cost breakdown to be submitted with any future application.] This was not stated during the committee meeting but minutes what was agreed during the Grants Committee discussion, the secretary notes to do this in the future.

The Secretary explained that as she had not long taken over the position that time had been spent looking at the affiliations and contacting the clubs to secure 2018-19 membership, organising the Lead to Exceed workshop, looking forward to the Quiz Night, reviewing the Awards Ceremony process and updating the website - all to be covered as a separate topics. The affiliation process is hampered by lack of up-to-date contact records and clubs not returning the form but simply paying the fee direct.

Income and Expenditure

The Treasurer presented accounts up to the most recent balance of 30 September 18 and confirmed a balance of £18,359.65. The latest bank statement is No.83 to 14 Sept 2018. There has been little activity in the accounts since handover, 13 affiliations have been received.

5. Correspondence

The Secretary passed on thanks from Lundin Ladies Gold Club for its funding. There had been an enquiry from Lundin Links relating to costs of a sports club provided to the primary school and the affordability for all pupils. Michael Kavanagh confirmed this had been passed to him by the previous secretary and that it was in the hand of the Active Schools manager who had responded to the enquiry. Followed a discussion about the council’s role in ensuring inclusion for all in sports clubs, Rona McCraw detailed a comment by Sport Scotland that every child should be able to swim and cycle by the time they leave primary school. Jo Whittet confirmed there are plans looking at access for all to swimming, considering lessons in school are no longer provided. Michael Kavanagh confirmed Active Fife have a referral process working with schools on affordability and that they engage with clubs about this also (eg Ladybank Golf Club, removing membership charges for children to take part) and that any further queries should be directed to him. Margaret Kennedy commented that there is good information available for families in need of help or support.

6. Report on Fife Council Sports Strategy Review Meeting

Michael Kavanagh reported change for the good with the presence of more key ground workers rather than just those effectively at the top of the tree. Sport/Health and Physical Activity all attended, which resulted in effective discussions with Sport Scotland, Health and Fife Council all presenting updates.

There were workshops within the group identifying areas of focus for clubs, for example ‘Why are we here, where are we going, how do we get there and who can help us to get there’. A number of issues were raised such as culture changes needed within families to embrace sport and link it to health and wellbeing (eg. Scandinavian model); the impact that televising strong messages about eg. AIDS and smoking; challenges of transport (esp in NE Fife); Fife Council departments need to link in more (eg. Sport Scotland working with MS society); NE Fife has an ageing population and stats show only 8% of over 65s take part in sport and this only covers 3 sports. There is a 3 year strategy in place. Discussion followed on the opportunities for the council on taking sport in to residential homes and helping to build the message from an early age that Sport if for Life.

SALSC Conference on Young People in Sport

Rona McCraw had attended this conference and reported back strong support for the impact young people made in helping to deliver sport as well as taking part. There had been young representatives elected and one of them, a girl, was from Fife, from Queen Anne HS. Rona McCraw put forward that the council could look to set up a Youth Panel, giving those elected a specific project eg. helping to take sport into residential homes.

7. Sports Development Officer Report

Michael Kavanagh spoke of the recruitment of 3 Modern Apprentices, from 50 applicants, all girls, to work across the teams but focusing on football, cycling and a generic role for a 2 year term.

Michael also spoke of the Saints Academy, an initiative between St Andrews University and Active Fife, which has had 15 applications and is about to progress.

Finally Michael informed the committee that he was undertaking a Post Graduate Diploma in Primary Education alongside his sports development role. The course requires him to undertake school placements throughout the year and the first placement will take place from Monday 22nd October to Friday 30th November. During this time Jamie Moffatt, Community Sport Hub Officer will be the point of contact for both sports councils.

8. Active Schools Report

Jo Whittet reported that Lynne Mackenzie has returned as Coordinator for Madras HS, that Stuart Robertson has taken over as Coordinator for Wade Academy and that Jo’s colleague will be returning from maternity leave to help her at Bell Baxter HS. They have all been busy recruiting Young Ambassadors from the schools to help develop and deliver sport to the catchment primary and secondary schools.

Jo also reported that they had worked on a successful planning process for delivering a Sports Festival in the Cupar area and that there had also been one planned in the Auchtermuchty area, but that weather had got the better of this and that it was to be rescheduled.

9. Report on Website and Facebook Development

The secretary has met with Alan Tomkins from Alpha Tango who provide a WordPress Car package: hosting, maintenance and updates (invoice for £384).

The website needs a lot of work to update the information, which the secretary will work on, as well as setting up and using the council’s Facebook page which she is now admin on. The committee agreed to remove the page on Active Adults though reference should be kept to this on the site somewhere in line with the funding agreement. It was also agreed that minutes for the current year would be kept on site, while the archive minutes would be kept on the hard drive; also agreed was that the newsletters would appear for the current and previous year, with archives as per the minutes. The secretary will review the policy documents with Rona McCraw and add updates plus the Privacy Notice. The funding information and pack also needs updated.

The secretary notes from previous minutes that there is a lack of sporting images to fill the various website pages and so this will be addressed.

10. Digital Banking

The secretary proposed to move to digital banking, incorporating the 2-signatory system, the committee agreed.

11. EFSC Quiz Night

It was confirmed that the event was to take place at the Howe of Fife RFC. Entry fee will be £5 per person, teams of up to 5, prizes for the winning teams would be 1st - £100, 2nd - £50, refreshments not provided, proposed by Rona McCraw and Robbie Nellies and agreed by the committee. Quizmaster to be agreed. The secretary will circulate information to the clubs and promote on Facebook.

12. Awards Ceremony

Rona McCraw explained that there had been difficulties with booking the venue for next year as the Younger Hall was undergoing upgrades and the university could not commit to booking a date in March 2019, but that the secretary had looked into costs for moving to The Old Course Hotel, which had proved too high. Rona then proposed that the Corn Exchange in Cupar may be considered using outside catering eg. Barnetts. The secretary had confirmed costs for the hall as £29.60/hour with a surplus charge for access out with a 30-minute window of booking of £48.40, the hall would accommodate up to 300 with 220 seated at round tables, there is a small buffet room and room in the hall to provide catering; it was also suggested by the secretary to approach SRUC Elmwood’s hospitality team to discuss catering and Margaret Kennedy and Gary Anderson supported, agreed by the committee. Rona also proposed that Fishers were contacted to supply linen.

The date was agreed as 20 March 2019, also agreed was proposal of Richard Brickley continuing as compere on the night. Discussion followed on the video and keynote speaker, it was proposed that Michael Kavanagh and Jo Whittet look at combining the two with a focus on Young People in Sport to follow the Year of Young People – they will feedback on whether they have a candidate capable of delivering a strong speech to the room on the impact of the power of sport. An alternative speaker could be Paul Noble, suggested by Rona McCraw. Margaret Kennedy suggested Rennie Ritchie to help set-up the presentation display etc.

The secretary will prepare the paperwork for nominations, to be sent out at the end of November. This will go on to the website and Facebook. In order to have an online nomination system we would need to build this on to the website which would have cost implications. The digital move to receive these by email and Facebook will hopefully make the process more effective.

13. Update on Regional Community Sports Hubs

The secretary commented that she was liaising with Jamie Moffatt about the Hubs.

Subsequently dates for forthcoming Community Sports Hub Meetings can be confirmed:

Duffus Park CSH Meeting	-	Mon 3 Dec 18 (6.30pm)

East Neuk CSH Meeting	-	tbc

Waterstone Crook CSH Meeting	-	Wed 6 Dec 18 (6.00pm)

13a. Lead to Exceed Presentation

Laura Baxter presented the Lead to Exceed Stage 1 workshop on Wed 26 Septs 2018 at the Howe of Fife RFC to 6 member clubs. This was seen to be a very useful event, inspiring and enjoyable. The clubs involved have been contacted and sent the slides from Laura and an invitation to progress on to the stage 2 workshop, which can be done in a group or individually (per club) which they have been asked to respond on their preference. Laura has sent information on the Level 2.

14. AOCB

Margaret Kennedy asked if links between the council and St Andrews University and Sport Scotland could be strengthened. The secretary has made contact Sport Scotland about a committee contact (which is a constitutional point), Michael Kavanagh suggested with Robbie Stewart would be best contact. Michael also commented that Claire and Gary from the university have previously attended council meetings

The secretary asked if the Viking Direct account could be reinstated for stationary ordering, this was agreed by the committee.

The secretary proposed to move to a paper-free approach, using the ipad to display minutes, agenda and accounts for meetings, this was agreed by the committee.

15. Date of Next meeting

Thursday 6th December 2018 at 6.30pm for the grants committee (as required) and 7.00pm for the full committee. Venue – Duffus Park Bowling Club.