Annual General Meeting - a short informal report from the webmaster!

Frayne handing out a certificate
Frayne Perkins (out-going Chair) handing out Age Group Certificates at the AGM. Thank you Frayne for all your hard work!

The annual general meeting on the 13th January marked a big change for Bottisham Swimming Club. Frayne Perkins, who has been with the club for about a decade stepped-down as Chairman - one of his last tasks being to distribute the Age group trophies (see picture above). For those of you who don't know Frayne and what he has done, he has worked incredibly hard for the club - not only as Chairman, but also organizing the ASA memberships, pool bookings, accounts, achievement certificates and club championships. I'm pretty sure I've missed something Frayne has done, there was so much! Sorry. If any committee member thinks they are burdened these days, it is surely nothing compared to what Frayne has done year-in/year-out for as long as I have been with the club. Thank you Frayne for all of your hard work.

We also need to thank Maureen and Russell Hawkins who were the Membership Secretary and JFL team manager for much of the last year. Many thanks for your hard work. Barbara Johnson also leaves us this year as Child Protection Officer. Barbara has work quitely and efficiently in the background for many years ensuring our CRB checks are in place - thank you!

Other departures include Rex Morgan and Sally Sharpe. Rex ran the swim shop for many years and supplied vast quantities of timming cards - which we will be gradually using up over the next few years! Thanks Rex! Sally was a JFL team manager and a poolside helper. I think we all miss Sally on poolside - many thanks for all your hard work. Katie Korniotis, who did some coaching for us this year, also left us to take-up up a Teacher Training Course. Well done Katie for getting your place, and good luck with the teaching! Many thanks.

Of course departures are always balanced by some new arrivals. Andrew Slaymaker is taking over as Chair (see photo below). Andrew is a keen swimmer and cyclist. We look forward to his wise leadership. Chris Loughlan joins the poolside team and is helping to raise our coaching still further. Thank you Chris! The Committee is joined by Ashley Johnson (who already takes a lane on Wednesdays). Ashley has boundless enthusiasm for swimming and if ever any swimmer gets a bit depressed with their performance my advice is go talk to Ashley! We are also joined by Kate Haydock on the committee - Welcome Kate! I got elected to the position of Membership Secretary, a job I started doing towards the middle of September. Sorry about the bullying emails about Membership Fees, but someone has to do it!

Andrew handing out a trophy
Andrew Slaymaker, incoming Chair handing out the Age Group trophies - a job that he will hopefully be doing for a good few years. Welcome!

There are a lot of people who are neither leaving or arriving but who continue to work very hard for the club. Jackie Gowlett has been a constant presence for the swimmers both on poolside and at galas. Jackie does a great job of both her teaching and the organization of the swimmers. Jackie, thank you for your continuing hard work. Brian Dear has also done a splendid job as coach - many thanks for your hard work, we all appreciate it! Steve Johnson is our treasurer - many of you will know Steve for his plumbing work as well as his swimming (there is no truth to the rumour that he swims so well because of the practice he gets at work!) Steve has continued working hard for the club on poolside and as treasurer despite the departure of his kids from the club. Thank you Steve! Also frequently on poolside is Mark Nunn. Mark also organizes the JFL team. He is a model of friendliness and efficiency - great job Mark, keep it up! Frances Johnson continues as our Secretary and SFL/Anglian League team manager. Many thanks Frances! Finally, Mark Lavers continues as Head Coach, setting our training program for the year. Like all coaching jobs it can be tough. Many thanks.

Finally I continue to plod along with the website. When it looks a mess and stops functioning, when links are years out-of-date and the information you are looking for is buried deep in the last place you look - sorry, it's my fault. I hope that the Members Area will grow over the next year - it is already much bigger than you might think. The website has our registers, swimmer times and contact details embedded within it, as well as enabling mass emailing and some accounts management. I will try and match our swimmers' enthusiasm in their sessions with my coding in PHP - but on the whole I would rather be swimming too!

Have a fit and fast 2008!

Christof Schwiening, January 2008.