Brief report on the 2023 Annual General Meeting, held at the Bushy Park Sports Club and via Zoom, on Thursday 28th September 2023.
Written by Dave Griffiths and Simon Webb
Over 50 members attended this year’s Stragglers AGM, at BPSC on Thursday 28th September 2023.
Before starting the meeting, Kevin Price (Chair) paid tribute to Keith Haworth who was a founding member of this club in 1981 and made a huge contribution to the development and running of the Stragglers over 40 years, until his sad death just two months ago.
After the adoption of the minutes from the 2022 AGM, Kevin gave a review of the past 12 months, highlighting the return to a full programme of club organised races, club participation in the Welsh Castles Relay and the Round Norfolk Relay, as well as our own Green Belt Relay, and our third club JOGLE run, whilst we also featured in national competitions.
He highlighted other achievements, such as developing our club HQ at BPSC, and introducing a new range of club kit, as well as launching a new club website and refreshing the information we share with members as well as the public, noting that we continue to look for ways in which to invest in our club.
We have expanded our offer of training runs across the week, for all abilities and indifferent locations, and our membership currently stands at a healthy 585 registered members.
Helene Hill reported that the past season had been the best ever for the Women’s Team, with a strong performance in Division 1 of the Women’s section of the Surrey Cross-Country League, while also taking part in a range of other competitions. We had equally good performances in the Surrey Road League, the Parkland Relays in Richmond Park, the Imber Court Relays and in the Southern Road Relays. Helene also highlighted notable individual performances, including at national level. Simon Brazil reported a strong showing for the Men’s Team in Division 2 of the Surrey Cross-Country League, as well as good performances in several of the relay events, and expressed optimism for the team’s prospects in the forthcoming cross-country season.
Following the acceptance of the Treasurers report and the re-election of Steve Smith as our
honorary auditor, Kevin presented Life Membership to The Stragglers to Pat and Alan Short.
After the Election of Officers/Committee for the coming year, Phil Hall introduced the proposal for the club to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), followed by a Q&A with the members, after which the meeting approved supported further investigation of this and other options.
The presentation of the 2023 Outstanding Club Contribution Award, now renamed The Keith
Haworth Outstanding Club Contribution Award, was made by Kevin to Peter Wedderburn, in
recognition of his race management expertise, knowledge and provision of race day kit to most of the Straggler organised races over much of the 25 years that he has been a club member.
Finally, Kevin set out the club’s vision and aspirations over the coming 12 month period, and then opened the floor for a Q&A session for members.
2023/2024 Committee
Standing down at the meeting was club Secretary Dave Griffiths with Tracey Lenthall elected as his replacement. Tracey joined the Wedding Day 7k team this year, is part of our Welsh Castles Relay organising group and outside the Stragglers is Treasurer of the Surrey Cross-Country League.
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