2018 SKIPTONFNC AGM
Thanks to everyone that attended the AGM at the club rooms on the 21st of Nov.
The past season has been a very busy one for our club and a much happier one after the disappointment of previous years. Many changes have been made on and off the ground and court. The atmosphere in which our club operates has changed markedly and the work load on volunteers is growing. In recent years the expectations of reporting and compliance to governing bodies has grown, the amount of funding required just to run all our football and netball has increased, let alone be competitive.
Clubs like ours must be run as a business to survive and prosper. As a result of these changing times the committee has made several changes to the way we operate in order to be as professional and business like as a volunteer run organisation can be.
These changes are as follows:
GOVERNANCE
We have implemented an appropriate governance structure with documents laying out clear roles and responsibilities for all officials of the club. These structures acknowledge the various policies from the AFL and Netball Victoria such as racism, drug use, alcohol, cyber safety etc with which we must comply. Any policy decisions are still the responsibility of the Football and Netball subcommittees with the governance being purely an administration tool. Many thanks to Tory Kennedy for helping us get this documentation in to shape.
STRATEGIC PLAN
Thank you as well to Maggie Sheehan who had the task of trying to get the committee to come together with our Strategic Plan being the result. You will be seeing more of this plan around the club next season or before on the website. For those unfamiliar with the process involved in formulating a Strategic Plan, we worked first on our vision for the club, ie; to come up with a short, memorable statement that’s sums up our vision, then identify a statement that defines our purpose, following that with shared values that we
can check off in our decision making.
STRATEGIC FACILITIES PLAN
In conjunction with the Rec Reserve Committee of Management the club has secured a grant to bring in a consultant and an architect to properly map out our existing facilities and work out the communities’ priorities for improvement or redevelopment of the reserve. This will give us a clear, cohesive, prioritised plan with costings on different options and allow us to target grants appropriately.
FINANCE
Further in the pursuit of professionalism treasurer, Kate Morcombe, has been working with our accountants to have all our accounts online, properly reporting GST, and with the help of Kiernan Molloy preparing accurate budgets. Thank you Kate.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
This season we introduced several new committee members, being Melissa McKenna, Liz Williams and Al Wills.
These people were fantastic assets to the committee.
Melissa doing an amazing job of re building the club website and keeping it current, keeping Facebook up to date, and getting reports into the community news. If anyone hasn’t seen our website check out Melissa’s great work. Liz and Al combined to help Kiernan with sponsorship, taking it to new heights. Liz and Kiernan organised a fantastic sponsors day, with Melissa stepping in at the last minute to provide magnificent catering. The sponsors’ day was one of the best events we have run and really put us in a great space with our sponsors and we received plenty of good will as a result.
James Collins graduated from Club clothing to Food and Beverage which was a huge step, but he was able to do a fantastic job. Once again the figures speak for themselves. James made huge savings in getting us some favourable deals with suppliers, allowing the bar and canteen to run much more efficiently.
Darren Fletcher worked the fundraising role to its Max, whether he was organising sheep, grain, raffles or riding around the ground on a tiny motorbike, he was always busy, thank you Darren for ably filling an important role.
Tony Boyer and Natalie Clark filled the football and netball Chairperson roles, both also filling roles within their subcommittees as well, and continue to work at recruiting and preparing for 2019. It is good to be in the position of having all coaching positions filled by the AGM, giving everyone clear air to work on the coming season. Well done to you both.
Milton Savage filled a general committee spot, doing a power of work all around the club. If he wasn’t umpiring he was in the kitchen or behind the bar. Without people of Milton’s energy the club would be much harder to run.
It is difficult to give Simone Smith the credit she deserves for her tireless efforts on behalf of not just our club but the League as well. Simone puts her hand up to help the inter league as team manager, attending all the training sessions. Recently she has just re worked the league draw to all clubs satisfaction after the league secretary had trouble with it. Thank you Simone for your energy and enthusiasm.
Rob Dunn filled an important role this year, his dedication and application to keeping everything well maintained is greatly appreciated.
SEASON 2019
We have an exciting season ahead in Netball with some new faces coming and a new coaching panel taking the reins. Thanks to all last season’s coaches, especially Amelia and Hayley for taking on a tough job at a late stage. Our netball and football juniors in general performed admirably, behaviour was excellent and all worked on improving their skills.
The highlight was of course the Under 15s premiers and champions. The way they dismantled the second best side in the competition on grand final day was amazing. All contributed and congratulations to Kelvin Scott and Al Wills for guiding the boys capably through the season, making sure they kept their focus throughout. Biggest congratulations to our Under 15 League Best and Fairest Blake Scott, Blake’s game developed and matured as the season progressed and he is a very well deserving winner. His year was capped off being the only CHFL player to play and represent the league in the VLine squad.
Greg Middleton with assistance from David Poulton and Graham Layley have been working tirelessly on our senior list, with some quality signings to reward their hard work. After taking some big steps last year and winning 6 senior games and 5 reserves, we have a good foundation to base season 2019 upon. The list is much more settled, the players much more familiar with each other and keen to get going. Look out 2019!
RETIRING COMMITTEE
I thank the retiring committee members, Darren, Kiernan and Liz. They have set very high standards in the roles they filled and will be missed from the committee but luckily not the club. They will all continue to be very much involved as members and supporters.
An absolutely essential part of our cub and one that should never be taken for granted are the magnificent volunteers that keep everything working. The parents and supporters that fill all those jobs that allow sport to take place. Team managers, umpires, canteen and bar staff, coaching staff, ground keepers, parents and many others, thank you. Finally it’s welcome and thanks to the new committee members for 2019, it is important and satisfying to see the committee constantly evolving, making use of the many skills we have within our community.
NEW COMMITTEE 2019
We would like to welcome Angela Gowans to the general committee for 2019 and also Dione Gardiner as Grounds Director.
NUMBER 1 EMU
For season 2019 we are proud to announce Lindy Robertson as our number 1 ticket holder.
LIFE MEMBERS
Both Stan Foote and Graeme Harrison have been added to a long list of great club people becoming the newest inductees to SkiptonFNC Life Member group.
For further updates on the club check out our Website and Facebook pages.
Thank you.
Andrew Bodman.