VALE OF AYLESBURY ATHLETIC CLUB
2008 AGM CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
1. After 10 years as Chairman of VoAAC, I have decided that the time is right for me to step down and to give the new Executive Committee the opportunity to review the Club’s current situation and objectives.
It has been a great honour to be the Club’s Chairman and to have been associated with the outstanding successes achieved by our athletes, coaches and officers during the last 10 years.
2. As many of you will already know, work has, in fact, already commenced on a new Development Plan for the Club and I am extremely encouraged by the real progress that has already been made.
Athletics is, of course, very much an ever changing sport and I am reminded of the fact that the 1997/98 Executive Committee was elected on the basis that the implementation of an ambitious Development Plan was urgently required and that VoAAC should not be satisfied with merely being a feeder club for the bigger athletic clubs in the region. The Executive Committee was supported by a strong and dynamic Young Athletes Management Group and in the years that followed the Club was successful in retaining its elite athletes, developing our young athletes and achieving record membership levels.
With collective ambition the Senior Men achieved two promotions to Division 1 of the Southern League and in 2005/06 won the Chiltern League X C Team Title.
The Club’s young athletes won promotion to the prestigious National Young Athletes’ Southern Premier League and the Club’s National Junior League Team has been an incredibly successful initiative. What was also immensely satisfying and indeed extremely motivating for all the Club’s athletes, coaches and officers were the record numbers of nationally ranked VoAAC athletes published in the
A W Listings and the national graded performances achieved by VoAAC athletes.
Other outstanding successes during the last 10 years include the Club’s Under 20s Men’s Team winning bronze medals at the SEAA Road Relays at Aldershot and the Club’s Male Vet 50 Team winning the SEAA X C Championship Title earlier this year.
3. With regard to the organisation and management of events during the last 10 years, the Club has maintained its excellent reputation by successfully hosting at RAF Halton two Bucks X C Championships and two Chiltern League Fixtures.
In Track & Field, the Club has continued to successfully host Home Meetings and has stepped up to organise two NYAL Home Meetings at our Stoke Mandeville
track which could not have been achieved without everyone’s total commitment and enthusiasm.
The Waddesdon 5K Road Race is now firmly established and generates an extremely healthy profit. The Princes Risborough 10K, Boxing Day Road Races and the Waddesdon Race For Life also generate invaluable additional income for the Club.
Collectively, the Club’s events have significantly contributed to the Club’s strong financial position for its current circumstances.
4. The award of the Sport England Club:Mark accreditation is also another outstanding success for the whole Club but the challenge must be to retain it!
5.During the last year, membership levels have fallen and Team Managers have found it increasingly difficult to field full strength teams in both Track & Field events and
Cross County events.
Unfortunately, the Club’s new Team in the London Inter Club Challenge League was not a successful initiative.
It is hoped that the Club’s decision to withdraw from the National Young Athletes’ League and to concentrate on the Eastern Young Athletes’ League will prove successful in generating more interest and commitment among our young athletes and will be better suited to the Club’s current circumstances and requirements. This was obviously a very radical decision but, as in the case of the London I C C League, we are doing our best to meet our members’ requirements by trying new initiatives.
6. The continuing shortage of senior athletes is becoming ever more critical especially as our superb veteran athletes are getting older! This problem together with the impact of competitive veteran athletics also means that there are fewer senior athletes to qualify as coaches when they retire.
It is also a matter of concern that in recent months a number of our elite athletes have moved to more competitive Clubs although it is obviously very satisfying to have contributed to their development. The retention of athletes, the election of a Development Officer, better promotion/publicity and possible sponsorship are, of course, issues which the Club’s new Development Plan will address. Nevertheless, committed and enthusiastic people will obviously be required to help the new Executive Committee implement the proposals. Its obviously easier to make real progress when more people are on board and, as they say at Tesco, “every little helps!”
7. Club Hut/Athletics Track
No progress has been made concerning either new accommodation for the Club or the refurbishment of the existing Club Hut since last year’s AGM.
Essentially, WheelPower/BWSF have stonewalled the Club’s original initiative for a new Club Hut and have still not organised the proposed meeting of all the interested parties with regards to the use of the athletics track to discuss the alternative Joint Venture option and the way forward for athletics at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium.
8. In addition to WheelPower/BWSF’s active support, the Club would also need to ascertain the views of its whole membership before formally putting any proposals to either an AGM or EGM.
9. Athletics does not appear to be a current priority for WheelPower/BWSF and the current state of the athletics track is unsatisfactory.
This year’s Home Meetings for the Club’s Senior Men’s Team and the National Junior League Team will be staged at Jarman Park. Apart from the new Track Certification issue concerning the Stoke Mandeville athletics track, it is simply cheaper and easier to stage Home Meetings at Jarman Park.
10. The Track Charges for 01.04.08/31.03.09 are still being negotiated but the Club’s position is that the only increase involved should only relate to the floodlighting element in view of the current unsatisfactory state of the athletics track and its facilities.
Finally, I would like to place on record my sincere appreciation to all the athletes, coaches and officials who have contributed to the Club’s activities during my chairmanship. I am proposing to remain involved with the Waddesdon 5K, the Waddesdon Race for Life and the Princes Risborough 10K and wish the new Executive Committee and every Club Member every success in this great sport!
To quote the Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”.
Yours in sport
John Gibson
26 February 2008.