1. Present: Dave Brock, Bob Everett, Jane Farrier, Quin Broadbent, Steve Simpole, Clare Thurgood, Peter Bulaitis, Colin Lutman, Tim Wright

2. Apologies for Absence

Maxine Joyce, Mary Armitage, Bill Bennett, Jim Dawson, Steve Bunce, Andy Lunn,

3. Minutes of Previous Meeting and Matters Arising

Alan Dickin is initially agreeable to taking on the clubhouse cleaning and odd jobs. Mary Armitage will publish a list of qualified first-aiders. Steve Simpole will check with the Corporation on progress on pinning the internal wall and tackling a leak in the roof. The short planning meetings before home fixtures had only been attended by the usual members who bear the brunt of organising races; we need to share the work accurate.

4. Hon.Secretary’s Report

Marcus Wadsworth who had been a member for 50 years and captain from 1953 to 1957 died over Christmas. He was instrumental in keeping the club alive after the war and helped negotiate the clubhouse lease. It was agreed to dedicate a club trophy in his name.

There are 4 new Members: Melanie Sewell, Chris Brogan, Grant Ramsay, Adam Thorpe.

5. Hon. Treasurer’s Report

While £4,800 of subscriptions has been received, there is still £3,000 outstanding including those of a number of active runners. The Committee took the view this level of outstanding subscriptions was too high. Notices will be put up reminding non-payers, Dave Brock, Steve Simpole and Peter Bulaitis will chase late-payers, starting with the active runners, Bob Everett would consider excluding unpaid members from races (the Junior section does this and it has helped tackle unpaid subscriptions).

6. Affiliation to England Athletics

The Hon Sec. set out the implications of this in more detail. The club will have to provide details on each competing member (name, contact details, dob, membership of other clubs, etc) and the fees are due on 1. The Hon Sec. is checking what information is needed in relation to other members and volunteers. All members will have an England Athletics membership card sent to their home, which will act as a competition licence for competing members. Colin Lutman agreed to work to get all this information ready for England Athletics, but he would need more information from the juniors section on "young seniors". The club would bear the individual affiliation fees (£3 per competitive member per year) in 2007/8 from existing funds, but the AGM would need to consider an increase to the membership subscription for competing runners to cover the affiliation fees (£5 per competitive member) in future years. We would need to keep our existing insurance unless and until we were sure the England Athletics’ insurance covered all our risks.

7. Summer League and Summer Fixtures

Orion had been relegated to Division 2 and was hoping not to host a fixture in the League. Quin Broadbent is finalising the summer fixture list, though we will need volunteers to support the home fixtures.

8. Orion 15

We have had 80 entries and £600 in donations so far for the club’s flagship event, which is ahead of normal. If Bill Bennett is not available, Steve Simpole will co-ordinate marshals and trail layers, though this is dependent on their being sufficient volunteers.

9. Club Dinner and Dance

Tickets are £30 and forms are available on the website, as the club returns to the larger and better venue, the County Hall Hotel this year. The food will start at 6.45 and the bar will run til 12.30, with music til 1am. Thanks are due to Clare Thurgood to organising this.

10. Any Other Business

The clubhouse door had been left open 4 times in the previous 3 months, on Wednesdays and Sundays, and that nothing had been stolen or damaged owed more to luck than anything else. The captain was arranging for a door closer and a yale lock to be fitted to make the clubhouse secure.

There had been a lot of positive feedback (on the course, the clubhouse and the marshalling), as well as a good turnout among our runners at the Essex League race the club hosted last month and the event was seen as a success thanks to the efforts of those involved.