2014-04-03 Thu 18:45 - LFGSS CC Inaugural Meeting - Goldsmith, Southwark Bridge Road

Balls - I have been told to get to a work event on Thursday night - I can swing by later as this is on my way home but would be later

I had the same view as finger_jockey. I'm in, unless told otherwise.

1. Velocio (?)
   
2. arantrek
   
3. poots
   
4. NurseHolliday
   T4.
   5.mdcc_tester
   6.adroit
   
5. hats
   
6. Aroogah (?)
   
7. Soul
   
8. HatBeard
   
9. dj
   
10. Rowhan
    
11. skydancer
    
12. WjPrince
    
13. PQR
    
14. Hamishio
    
15. Alfie
    
16. Finger_jockey
    
17. cafewanda
    

There are 2 sets of bike racks outside and across the road from the pub, plus the usual street furniture. I think both sets of bike racks are viewable from the room too.

Unfortunately I am out. Working out of town

So this is tomorrow and adroit will be chairing.

Scary last minute change: I may not be there for the whole of the meeting, a potentially very important meeting for Microcosm has sprung up and I will have to dash off.

The key thing is to get the volunteers elected to the committee, key roles are described in the link that adroit distributed earlier: http://www.cffc.co.uk/assets/membersfiles/1317827590~Governance%20-%20Committee.pdf

It's worth my stating everything that has happened to date:

1) LFGSS CC set up as a Ltd company - this was a mistake, I propose to either change it to a CIC or dissolve it and set up a CIC as a new entity.
2) Club affiliated with British Cycling
3) Velodrome booking made, payment from my personal credit card
4) Jersey design created by 6pt
5) Jersey design approved by British Cycling
6) Jersey production agreed with Milltag
7) Identified an accountant who will process GiftAid and do end of year accounts for a low fixed-fee
8) Identified all of the online tools to ensure transparency and to not require constant committee meetings (Xero for accounts, Shopify for jersey and ticket sales, Google Docs for files and document storage)
9) Did the maths and determined that with extraordinarily low costs, we can offer the club without membership fees and be viable without sponsorship, through jersey sales

The company structure was a mistake. I went for a structure I knew rather than what is now obviously the right structure (a CIC).

I worked under the (now false) assumption that I could create a non-profit via the club constitution / company articles and then run it that way without encumbering it with traditional hierarchical structures, instead allowing the forum to act as a virtual committee, election system and a means of communication.

I was and am very wrong about that. Not using a traditional structure has prevented me from getting the bank account or filing for the club to be a CASC... which has blocked us from then getting the jerseys done or selling tickets for the Velodrome day.

So the key thing is to get a committee elected, if nothing else is achieved this is a lot.

In the coming weeks we'll then delegate and share the tasks of getting the CIC and CASC stuff done, so we can get the kit made and Velodrome tickets sold.

It's worth my mentioning that I have a very clear idea of how I want the club committee to function... it shouldn't dictate to club members, it doesn't Lord over the club members. Instead it provides support and help to club members, facilitating whatever they want to do.

Structurally it's fine in the traditional way, but what I want to avoid is what I've seen in other cycle clubs where the club members don't really feel the club is theirs and don't feel able to do anything. I'd rather turn that on it's head and empower the members to shape the club direction and activities.

I want to have it so that if a club member says "I want to race BMX", the committee is able to say "What do you need from us?". And we support whatever the club members do.

It's reactive, rather than proactive. Not to say committee members can't come up with ideas and support them themselves, but that mostly we should be doing what needs to be done when it needs doing, rather than looking for work to do.

Anyhow, looking forward to it, I'll be there early tomorrow, but will need to dash early too for my other meeting.

Any questions in advance? Ask them now.

Good summary. I should be able to be there around 6.30 at the latest.

Can you just confirm what positions need to be filled on the committee?

From perusing other committees in other clubs, there seems to be some key positions, and some which maybe surplus to requirements, just for now.

I'm assuming Chair, Sec, Treasurer, Membership Sec, and Kit Officer are pretty necessary right now, but Ride Organiser, Publicity Officer, Welfare Officer, Website Manager, Youth Officer, and Event Coordinator not so much.

Looking at the BC proforma, we need a Chair, Sec, and Treasurer to register with IR as a CASC.

Sorry, read the link you included, is that it for this meeting to get things moving forwards as a CASC?

Sorry, read the link you included, is that it for this meeting to get things moving forwards as a CASC?

I believe this is the minimum required and also the major purpose of the meeting.

Sorry, read the link you included, is that it for this meeting to get things moving forwards as a CASC?

Yes

I believe this is the minimum required and also the major purpose of the meeting.

This.

Though I wanted to outline rough the timeline to date to help answer those questions in advance and set expectations about the kind of club this should be (helping support what members wanted to do, rather than telling them) so that people volunteering and voting for the committee members would bear this in mind.

Might be a daft post from me but I'll make it anyway... I have neither the skills nor, the ability to commit my time consistently because of the nature of my job so volunteering for any of the necessary committee positions is out for me. I don't however wish for my personal contribution to the club to start and end with the purchase of a couple of jerseys. So, my question is, 'Is there anything I can contribute? And is there any reason I should be at this meeting?' Apologies if that was a silly question but I don't wish to simply take and not give. Make sense?

I'm hoping that nearly all of the committee and club work will be online, through tools that increase transparency (forums, online book-keeping, etc).

So being a committee member shouldn't be as onerous a task as it is elsewhere... these tools are so good that I run a company with minimal effort using them.

Being a committee member is going to be far more about people skills, the basics of listening to members (via the forum) and working out how you can help them, and then sharing that with the other committee members to make it happen.

So the two points I'd make are:

1) You can contribute by volunteering for one of these roles

2) You can contribute by supporting good people (fair, reasonable, sane) for one of these roles

Even if you don't want to do #1, turning up and supporting the people who are prepared to do #1 is actually very important. The early committee members will help shape the tone of the club and the way it works.

It would be good to know who is willing to volunteer and for what roles.

I'm willing to do anything, but clearly I've already proven I'm perhaps not the most experienced at doing this and that Microcosm will take priority. So I'll put my name forward for whatever role is suitable given that constraint.

^helpful and to the point. Thanks.

Might be a daft post from me but I'll make it anyway... I have neither the skills nor, the ability to commit my time consistently because of the nature of my job so volunteering for any of the necessary committee positions is out for me. I don't however wish for my personal contribution to the club to start and end with the purchase of a couple of jerseys. So, my question is, 'Is there anything I can contribute? And is there any reason I should be at this meeting?' Apologies if that was a silly question but I don't wish to simply take and not give. Make sense?
Good question!

It would be good to know who is willing to volunteer and for what roles.

Me and Hats would like to job share the Secretary role - share the load/provide support etc/we live v near each other and we both have mad admin skills.

Being a committee member is going to be far more about people skills, the basics of listening to members (via the forum) and working out how you can help them, and then sharing that with the other committee members to make it happen.

I really, really like this approach and attitude. Enabling and facilitating is a strong look.

Good question!

For the sake of democracy the more 'members' present for voting the merrier...

it's my intention to come along to be another hand for voting and moral support and whatnot, I'm too shambolic to be put in charge of owt.

and it gets me out of chainbreaker's birthday drinks.

I am interested in nominating myself for treasurer, but also interested in other roles further down the line should those who attend not vote me in as treasurer tomorrow.

Structurally it's fine in the traditional way, but what I want to avoid is what I've seen in other cycle clubs where the club members don't really feel the club is theirs and don't feel able to do anything. I'd rather turn that on it's head and empower the members to shape the club direction and activities.

My experience of cycling club organisation is that the committee is usually desperate to get the members to do stuff, but with a few stalwart exceptions, the members want the committee to hand them everything on a plate :-)

I'm willing to do anything, but clearly I've already proven I'm perhaps not the most experienced at doing this and that Microcosm will take priority. So I'll put my name forward for whatever role is suitable given that constraint.

I don't wish to simply take and not give.

I'd just like to emulate both of these sentiments. Want to help and hopefully will help but a couple of things will always take priority (namely kids/family and work - only 'cos it provides for the family).

Update: Peter Parker will be chairing the meeting tomorrow.

hats and poots, would love you two to share the secretary role if you wanted it, but one of you will need to be the main person as even if you delegate things amongst yourself and share the tasks the point of a committee is to be able to say that there is a person who will ultimately be responsible for a given role.

In reality that means that one of you will be the secretary and that you then delegate and share any tasks with the other club member. It's fine for you to take on the secretary role on that understanding, but a role needs a single person to officially fill it and be responsible for it even if you choose to share/delegate any tasks.

Oh absolutely - was just about to say if you need one of us to be the official/paperwork secretary we can manage that out innit!

^^ Spiderman?!?