Good year for competition progress.  We now have 25 members competing, 10 of them at grade 4, with many of these likely to progress to grade 3 in 2005.  Not a bad year for results either, even though competition entries were down on the previous year due to both unavailability and illness/injury.  The club development plan now includes the need to support possible Grade 2 competitors in 18 months or so.

The annual accounts were approved.   We broke even through the year, but that includes income from fundraising & volunteers.  Even that doesn’t leave us enough headroom for equipment – hence increase in fees by £5.  These rates are in line with other trampoline clubs in the area and cheaper than the gym, drama and many other clubs. It was suggested that the fee for the 1hour session was a bit high compared to the 1½ hour one, but the proportional difference has been reduced from last year.  Since no-one has complained and no-one came along to the meeting to object, we’ll leave the fees as proposed and review again in March.
Part of the funding problem has been a turnover of members – illness, changed personal circumstance, teenage interests etc.  This has left spaces on sessions as we’ve changed over each term.  It seems to have stabilised now.  Another problem has been inconsistent fee collection.  To address this, we will ask one of the parents (Teresa) to oversee fee collection and recording, since the coaches are generally too busy during sessions to sort this out reliably.
Action: Coaches to keep Teresa updated on all fees paid

We’ve had 3 regular coaches throughout the year – Toni, Rachel & Chris.  This has enabled us to take on a few more on the Monday & Friday sessions.  We’ve also extended the Monday sessions by 30 minutes for the higher-level performers to get a bit more training.  Numbers haven’t been able to grow as we had hoped though, due to equipment shortage / coach shortage distributed over different days. (Fridays short of equipment, Wednesdays short of coaches)
Recently though, Emma and Wendy have come along – both club coaches.   It looks as if Emma can help Toni on Wednesdays and Wendy can help on Fridays.  Once they’ve settled in, we can expand numbers a bit, but this means we could do with another trampoline (see later!). 
There are coaching courses running in the coming year, and we would like to get some of our older members and parents onto these if possible.
Coaches’ remuneration/expenses/benefits were reviewed.  Coaches are usually expected to pay for their own training courses, but they can then earn back the expense (and more).  We generally exchange coaching sessions for free bouncing sessions, but higher grade coaches of long standing are also given a contribution towards their travelling and other out of pocket expenses, as agreed by the committee.  At present, this is payable to Rachel.  Toni is paid a small wage as Head Coach.

Chris got his club judging qualification in June.  We now have Dianna & Chris judging regularly, with Hannah & Jo helping out for some comps.  Emma & Wendy may also be available.  In order for our members to progress beyond grade 3, we have to provide at least one county level judge – this may be as soon as 18 months from now at the current rate of progress.  It is hoped that Dianna & Chris will continue to judge at as many competitions as possible in order to get the necessary experience to qualify at the higher grade.
There have been 3 judging courses run this year, but only one attendee from our club.  This was disappointing, since we rely on volunteer officials to be able to compete.  To try to encourage volunteers, we will pay £5 expenses to judges, marshals and recorders at competitions.

Rachel has been appointed as Club Welfare Officer.  Her contact details will be made available to all members.  Our members should also be aware that Teresa also has CRB clearance and is present on Wednesday and Friday (late) sessions to listen and help when Rachel is unavailable.

We’ve raised about £150 from the web shopping site and collected about £60 worth of Kingsmill tokens.  Awards 4 All was refused (seems like it’s only Awards 4 Some!).  Other than that, no fundraising initiatives materialised.  We really need to get some parents interested in this.  Noted that Toni will be able to put a significant amount of effort into fundraising during Q1 2005.
Action: Toni to get us lots of money!
There was a suggestion that we could sell second-hand sports gear through our website – e.g. outgrown leotards. 
Action: Chris will investigate how this might work.

We’ve managed on 3 trampolines throughout the year – all 6mm.  Now that we are getting more members through to grade 4, they really need better equipment for training.  To this end, the club has acquired a new 6x4 (competition standard) trampoline that is arriving in about 3 weeks time.  This has to be well looked after, so it will only be assembled/folded under the supervision of our own coaches.  We will also train some of the older members on how to help with this.
Mats – many of the younger children have problems pushing big mats in, so another small mat has been ordered.  This should also arrive in the next couple of weeks.
Belts – we now have 2 tumbling belts for use in the rig
Training weights, skipping ropes, stopwatch – being bought – Action: Toni to arrange.
We’ll also get a lockable box, so that the equipment can be kept safely at the centre – Action: Chris to arrange.

In order to retain credibility as a sports club, it is evident that we have to get ‘GymMark’ status.  Without it, we could be refused grants etc.  This is now underway.  From our perspective, it is primarily a ‘paperwork’ exercise, documenting what we already do.  We do need to get some additional training courses done though.
As part of this task, we are creating links to local schools.  Fernwood comprehensive have expressed an interest, which we are pursuing – we’ve had a couple of discussions already concerning school courses and talent spotting.  Harvey Hadden High are also interested.

Nothing happened last year on this.  We’ll try again this year, with the suggestion that we give a choice of tracksuit / fleece / T-shirt.  One of the club parents is believed to have contacts we could use! 
Action: Chris will ask Mr. Bee to contact Toni about this.