Present – Roberta Blair (Chair), Paul Breading (Secretary), Sami Coxhead, Martin Jessop, Laura Chiverton (Vice chair, minuting)
Apologies – Aaron Alexander, Nick Cansfield & Heather Nicklinson.
Minutes from previous meeting not shared ahead of meeting and therefore not agreed.
PB to distribute, to be later agreed.
RB asked for any changes in responsibility as an outcome of the previous meeting (see later).
Automatic renews for memberships via PayPal have been cancelled by ATSC but auto-renewing members also need to cancel their end with PayPal. We need to contact those affected as some have paid £16.00 and we will refund the difference to them.
Looking at moving from PayPal to “Stripe” as a payment method.
We raised around £200.00 from the quiz, after deducting prize money & catering costs.
Thanks, expressed to LC and SC for organising.
Special thanks noted for Keane Anderson, Joe Partington, Frank Vincent, Ross and James for attending the quiz night. Shout out to be made on Saturday as RB is working the scoreboard.
Discussion had about our next fundraiser. Ideas mentioned were another quiz night (due to popularity/success), a race night and a comedy night.
RB to calculate total funds available to establish what we have to use towards a future fan initiative. Currently around £1,200 in the bank plus funds sat in PayPal account.
Roles and responsibilities were discussed next. PB – upkeep of website & circulation of player of the month voting emails.
HN – secretarial duties, PB to be relieved.
AA – treasury function for ATSC.
There is currently little memberships responsibility, as memberships now run season to season (no mid-season renewals), so PB will carry on memberships for the remainder of the season.
There are currently some unclaimed vouchers from monthly membership draws (£20.00 to spend in club shop) that are being held by RB. RB to give list of names to LC to advertise on socials for named people to claim by end of season or put towards something else if unclaimed.
FSA meeting was held in October.
Uptake was not great but it was a useful exercise for current committee members.
AGM is to be held at end of season (this will allow due process for committee members to be voted back in democratically, planning for new season like membership package, open days organisation etc.).
Constitution & regulations were discussed.
The minutes from the meeting with the FSA were shared previously in the ATSC WhatsApp group.
Training on offer by FSA to committee members.
It was noted that that are we doing well with communicating with the club, engagement with fans (LC primarily on Facebook / Twitter and HC on Shotsweb).
We need to be better on regulation side.
RB is working with Gavin from FSA. MJ to assist RB with constitution, as previous working knowledge of process with the West Ham supporters club.
It was noted that minutes are not easily accessible to all. RB states they are available on website but not quickly enough.
The future process is to send any minutes to the chair for a first review. Drafts can then be shared publicly, as they are not formally agreed until the next meeting.
Comments can then also be added to the programme notes.
A suggestion was made to keep paper copies of the minutes at the club, as not all fans use social media and/or email.
LC addressed independence perspective concerns from the club. RB correctly noted that we do not have a “base” for collection. It was concluded that ATSC can make minutes available upon request (like FOI request) which will save on unnecessary cost and postage.
The FSA suggestion for frequency of committee meetings was six a year (every other month). These are to be planned in advance for the next calendar year, to ensure as much committee presence as possible. These meetings will be for constitutional content and then working groups or subgroups can be created for events like fundraisers, as and when required.
The location of future meetings was raised based on committee residential addresses and moving more towards a hybrid of face to face and zoom, due to changes as a result of COVID / generation advancements.
Current trend for meetings to be held on Thursday but Monday, Wednesday or Thursday are workable (to avoid midweek and weekend games).
Next meeting to be January and then March.
Any committee absence needs to be reported to chair or secretary by apology, in advance.
The FSA recommendation for the number of committee members was six to ten, currently we are at eight. There is scope to recruit another couple of people. Uptake was not previously great but we may get more interest from exposure and recent fundraising success.
PB enquired as to whether we have had sight of the invoice received from the damage at Boreham Wood (previously disclosed by the BOD, that it had been received at our last meeting).
We have not. RB to speak to club to request this.
Next meeting at club scheduled for 16.12.2022.
No formal agenda agreed yet. Most important items for discussion, if no official appointment has happened, was a managerial update plus the redevelopment “wish list”.
LC asked whether we should to be approaching the club now, reference the appointment. GDPR rules and non-disclosure of information prevents this information really being discussed and therefore we would gain little insight than what is already known.
PB suggests to email the club and ask some less specific questions i.e. do we have a top salary band? Do we have an end date in mind to appoint?
RB discusses previous autism awareness game and about a similar format to be achieved for “level playing field” (disability awareness) or again, autism awareness month in April; working with Foundation to similar for dog autism assistance charity, as a cause she has worked closely with.
SC asked how many tickets are being used each game with the community stand. This number is unknown but is variable.
RB advises that Shahid would like us to work with the community and expand the fanbase to local groups.
SC will ask at the school she is working at, hypothetically, to find out the answer as to whether they would have an uptake on the kids (whether onus is on teachers or parents to be attending).
We agree that we will try to widen the “community” demographic, not just Rushmoor borough area.
We need to do research about local charitable groups and give their details to Jack (at the Foundation) to formally invite.
Cubs, Scouts, Cadets, Brownies were discussed to help build a future fanbase.
LC suggests that HN has a passion for “football for all” and approaching a wider and diverse fanbase. RB to work with HN for suggestions.
PB puts forward an idea about reaching out to sports students from Farnborough sixth form or other academic demographics, who are independent. This could introduce them to the club and supplement and support their studies by creating an opportunity to speak to backroom staff etc.
RB moves the discussion on that we could have communications with other National League clubs’ supporters’ clubs, reference match day experience (parking, pubs, drum being allowed etc.).
This could be insightful and assist our fans travelling on away days.
We are now working towards AGM and planning future fundraising events.
Action points taken from the meeting:
BB to look at future meeting dates (with an AGM in May)
BB to circulate constitution to committee, MJ to assist.
PB to look at moving from PayPal to Stripe.
BB and HC to create a hit list of groups, who the Foundation can approach and invite for uptake in the Community Stand.
Meeting concludes.
