Mike’s eNews – 23 April 2014
Many thanks to the people who emailed me to say eNews was a good idea. There were several queries regarding whether it could be copied on to club members and asking who it had been sent to. The original eNews of 4 April 2014 was sent to all club and association chairs, secretaries and where we have contacts for them, publicity officers. Please feel free to recirculate if that is your wish.
Several people commented that fortnightly may be too often, it may well be and I’ll try it for a while and see how it goes. I’d rather do little often than a lot infrequently. I’ll leave it a couple of months and then ask for your opinion on the frequency.
You’ll also see I’ve not yet got around to trying to make eNews a little smarter – when there’s time I’ll have a go but it may need to wait a few weeks!
JK 2014
I was around on Friday and Saturday and managed to catch up with a few people which was great. Friday looked a real spectacle and, with around 2,000 entries to the sprint, was the largest sprint yet at the JK. Sally our Major Events Manager attended her first JK and it will be interesting to talk with her about the feedback and review. Sally will be collecting feedback from participants about the event; watch the news on the website for more information about how she will collect the feedback.
Xplorer
The Xplorer season is starting and some of you may have seen or even had a go at Xplorer on Friday at the JK. Xplorer was designed to offer families with young children an introduction to our sport through simple map reading and navigation. Xplorer events take place usually in small parks, which are easily accessible and family friendly. They are delivered by trained ‘activators’, usually Local Authority Sports Development staff, who aim to show families that orienteering is a fun sport for all the family to enjoy. Although Xplorer does not adhere to the same strict rules as traditional orienteering, the principles are very much the same; navigating to controls using a map.
There is a lot of work to do this year in seeing how we can work with some of you and your clubs to try to entice people that have been taking part in Xplorer along to club activities and training nights. Our research at the end of 2013 suggested that 10% of Xplorer participants had subsequently attended an orienteering event, which could equate to 6,000 new participants if we hit our target of introducing 60,000 people to Xplorer during the year.
Annual General Meeting
The AGM seemed to go smoothly and several members commented on how well it was organised and chaired. ‘Well done’ to Martin Ward who chaired what could have been a challenging AGM.
In brief the following decisions were taken:
a) The 2013 Accounts were adopted
b) Grant Thornton were appointed as auditors for 2015
c) Membership fees will remain the same as for 2014 (£5 per senior and £2 per junior)
d) Levy will be increased to £1.10p per senior equivalent run from the current £1.00p
e) From 2015 Map Scales at Level A & B events for age classes 10-16 and 45 and above will be determined by the event planner and controller and can be 1:10,000 or 1:7,500. This is of course a simplification of the proposal that was adopted
f) Sir Chris Bonington and Dr John Disley were elected as President and Vice President respectively
g) Martin Ward (South Yorkshire OC) and Judith Holt (Derwent Valley Orienteers) were elected as directors
The Chair of the meeting, Martin Ward, also introduced one of our Independent Directors, Elizabeth Dunn, who attended the AGM and announced that Rosie Williams OBE will be joining Elizabeth and John Flook as the third Independent Director.
Awards and Trophies were also presented to:
· Silva Award Services to Orienteering to Carol McNeill (Lakeland OC)
· University Club of the Year to University of Bristol Orienteering Club
· The Chichester Trophy to Peter Hornsby (Leicester OC)
· The Walsh Trophy to Simon Errington (Happy Hearts OC) for his map of St Albans
Scott Collier (Jesus OK) was thanked for his work as an elected Director on his retirement from the Board. I’d like to add my personal thanks to Scott for all of his support and hard work on behalf of British Orienteering, Scott will be missed!
One last thought, it was disappointing that no club was put forward for ‘Club of the Year’ even though we know there is some fantastic work going on out there. We’ll be doing a bit more promoting of this award next year!
Talent & Performance
Sarah Hague, Talent & Performance Manager, commend the outstanding performances at the European Orienteering Championships of the Performance and Elite Development Squad athletes. Catherine Taylor won a bronze medal in the Women’s Long Distance final and there were two further podium finishes, Kristian Jones was 6th in the Men’s Sprint Distance final and the men came 5th in the Relays. Additionally, Sarah noted that many of the athletes performed above their expectations. Congratulations to all of the athletes and the staff supporting them.
This year, the JK 2014 races were used as selection races to select teams for the European Youth Orienteering Championships (Strumica, Macedonia 26th – 28th June), the Junior World Orienteering Championships (Borovets, Bulgaria 22nd – 27th July) and the Summer Talent Development Camp (Sedbergh, Great Britain 31st – 4th August). The teams for these competitions and camps will be announced at the beginning of next week.
FRONTRUNNER
Peter Buckley our Commercial Manager has recently set up partnership between British Orienteering and FRONTRUNNER who are quickly becoming the market leader for the supply and support of race equipment. They have a great range of event essentials to help you put on your Orienteering events, large or small. They have a proven record of successful event support from the Great North Run to the Dubai Marathon and this year they were at the JK Festival over all 4 days. We hope you had opportunity to say hello and look at the range of JK merchandise.
British Orienteering and FRONTRUNNER are working together to offer our members some really exciting offers and services. Owner of FRONTRUNNER Neil Landry says ‘it is great to be partnering British Orienteering and we look forward to servicing the clubs’ and members’ personal needs, we have a very comprehensive product list specifically aimed at runners and orienteers.’
Peter says ‘We were looking for a partner that was a really nice fit to the sport of Orienteering, FRONTRUNNER have the experience and knowledge to deliver the products that we require, from event essentials, like medals & trophies, fencing and race numbers, Front Runner have it all.’
There is 5% cashback on event essentials ordered via frontrunner exclusive to our members – the more you spend – the more cash you get back. British Orienteering will track your orders and pay you 5% of your annual spend with FRONTRUNNER – this offer does not include JK or British Orienteering Championship merchandise.
If you are interested contact FRONTRUNNER on 01522 684780 and ask for more information and product brochures, or take look at their website www.frontrunner.org.uk. Neil and his team look forward to hearing from you. The latest edition of Focus contained a flyer from FRONTRUNNER highlighting some of the equipment they have available.
Tax and Clubs
Her Majesties Revenue & Customs are currently having a close look at clubs and those people working and volunteering in sport. A number of clubs and coaches have been fined recently.
If you pay self-employed coaches make sure you follow HMRC rules. If you fail to follow them you could be liable for up to 6 years back tax and NI contributions – not a nice thought.
You should also be aware that as officers of a club you are legally required to maintain accurate and legible records of payments made and received. Your coaches need to do the same. The club can be fined up to £3,000 for failing to keep appropriate records.
Note also that any ‘benefits’ provided to volunteers can be liable to tax and in some cases are classed as payment and may also incur NI contributions.
You can find out a little more at http://www.gbsport.org.uk/. This is the company that produced a recent article for Focus which several of you commented on. If you live in or around Nottingham they will be running a tax workshop in Nottingham on Friday 9th May; you can find more details at the above link if you are interested.
Kind regards,
Mike
Mike Hamilton
Chief Executive, British Orienteering
