No change to membership fees – AGM review

Saturday 24th September 2016

Ian Beattie short-listed for Leader of the Year

Athletics in Scotland is in a good place at the moment, with positive signs for the future.

That was the over-riding feeling from a lively Annual General Meeting at the Emirates Arena on Saturday morning – just as around 200 coaches gathered for our National Coaching Conference as we seek to raise the bar on learning.

With 23 mandated delegates in the room at the Emirates and a further seven proxy mandates received, the meeting was quorate.

And the good news for members of scottishathletics across the length and breadth of the country is that that AGM approved a proposal for ‘no change’ to any membership fees for 2017-18, following rises of £1 for Seniors and Juniors (U21) which were sanctioned 12 months ago and came into force in April this year.

Chairman Ian Beattie led the meeting from the chair and President Leslie Roy and Mark Munro, interim Chief Executive Officer, addressed the audience as they spoke to the Annual Report – which covered the period from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016.

That period does not include the Olympics and Paralympics but there’s no dispute that a Rio feel-good factor was building from early in 2016 and adding vibrancy to the sport.

Indeed, Paralympic gold medallist Jo Butterfield attended the AGM and her appointment to the board was ratified by the meeting.

2016_Annual_Report.

2016_Financial

‘I want to extend my thanks to athletes, coaches volunteers and officials and also to Board members, Commissions and Committees and staff who worked hard to develop and improve the delivery and performance of our sport throughout the year,’ said Leslie Roy in the Annual Report.

‘It was an exciting period. How would our athletes fare the year after a very successful Commonwealth Games in Glasgow? We need not have worried: athletes raised the bar to ‘Perform When It Counts‘.

‘Major championships were held in every corner of the world and Scottish athletes were present in high numbers and winning medals at the likes of the Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa, the World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia; and the World Championships in Beijing.’

One of the proposals at the meeting rubber-stamped the integration of the Officials Commission within the scottishathletics structure – with the Officials Commission Convenor (currently Margaret Brown) now attending board meetings in a non-executive director’s role.

This brings the Officials Commission into line with the practice for the convenors of the three other Commissions: Track and Field; Road Running and Cross Country; and Hill Running.

‘I’m really pleased we have managed to achieve an integrated board with the Commissions fully involved,’ said Ian Beattie. ‘That was a goal a few years ago and the Officials Commission coming in means that process is completed.’

It was further agreed to bestow Honorary Life Membership status on highly-regarded official Vic Hockley (Livingston AC) and long-serving and respected coach, Bill Walker (Edinburgh AC).

Margaret Brown spoke to Vic Hockley’s nomination while Barry Craighead addressed the meeting on behalf of EAC for Bill Walker’s proposal. Both will now become HLMs at the Annual Awards Dinner.

The meeting also heard from Mark Munro that jogscotland faces significant financial challenges following the withdrawal of public funding for the programme. Talks to establish a charitable consortium are on-going in order to help re-position jogscotland.

Following the AGM, Membership Fees for 2017-18 will be as follows:

Senior Club Member £19

Junior Club Member (U21) £6

Coach Member £25 (for three years)

Official Member Free

Family Member £40

Friend and Supporter Member £19

Senior Member unattached £33

Over 65 Member £11