Participants

Absent

Jonathan Mitchinson (JM) – Chair

Kate Evans (KE) – Secretary

Rob Cook (RC) – Walking Secretary

Will Jones (WJ) – Walking Secretary

Kate Callaghan (KC) – Social Secretary

Hugh Sanderson (HS) – Postgraduate Secretary

Jonathan White (JW) – Climbing Secretary

Sebastien Morales Feliu (SMF) – Web Secretary

Laura Bosomworth (LB) – Welfare and Inclusivity Officer

Conor Smith (CS) – Gear Secretary

Harley Beattie (HB) – Voting Member

Alex Everest (AE)– Climbing Secretary

Matthew Rochester (MR)- Treasurer

Bethany Kippin (BK) – Orienteering Secretary

Kai Pheasant (KP) – BUCS Captain

Item

Original item date

Brief description of original issue + update

Further action required from

7

20^th August

New SU Sport membership

BUMC/SU Sport members

2 membership lists in semester 1, prospective and full. Prospective members were covered under SU sport membership for £20 and full members needed to pay an additional £5 but were insured and able to access gear and trips etc. Prospective memberships are now starting to expire as they are only valid for 3 months.

Update – semester 2 policy

Prospective and full memberships have been extended and over Christmas the lists were merged and some members were lost, so we need to sort out those members who have been lost and get them reinstated. Also need to ask to keep the 2 separate membership lists to make it easier later in semester.

How do we deal with prospective and full members and how do we want to run memberships this year?

Keep it as in semester 1 so prospective membership is free and then charge £5 for any trips we can run or for members to pay the £5 for full memberships.

No need for BMC membership presently as there is likely to be few in-person activities this semester. Advertisement of the membership going forward needs to include reinforcement of the lack of in person events and that if they want to pay £5 this wont get them much at the minute, other than gear and potential in person events. If members would lie to borrow kit then they can pay the £5 for the rest of semester.

Need to ensure that people who have already paid £5 last semester are still getting something for their money, but that they are aware that we are unable to do much of the in person activities covered by the full membership.

JM to contact IT to get them reinstated

13

22^nd September

Budget
 

What is left? How are we going to spend it?

Currently have plans to spend all of the gear budget (£440 left) which Conor will spend. £200 on maintenance which mostly includes gear. £750 left for insurance. £1040 in our activities budget (-invoice from Ollie Mentz, unsure on amount). No strict allocations but this is roughly what we have left.

Reduced budgets for next year likely need to be careful that if we don’t spend any of our budget this year then we may have our budget slashed next year, which we don’t want, as if in person events resume we will need that money. Therefore, ideally we should spend most of our budget wherever possible, which will also show that the members are getting something for their money. Can spend some money on guest speakers, online socials (if possible), gear etc.

However, it shouldn’t be hard to convince the SU that we need our usual budget next year as we can clearly show that we haven’t been able to spend it this year due to lack of in person activities.  

Update re: SU budget and socials

Not allowed to spend budget on online socials

5 people would be interested in attending a paid social, but 7 people wouldn’t

Could put out feeler/poll on teams to see what people think and if they would be interested in it

MR to follow up Ollie Mentz for invoice

20

8^th October

Inclusivity

Identification of need to raise awareness and engagement with resources, starting with committee and then working outwards, so that the environment in the club is welcoming, as history of culture in mountaineering being problematic for those from underprivileged backgrounds.

Update from sub-group of committee?

Talks attended in Jan time and LB has created an inclusivity awards action plan.

Action plan formalises what we are already doing and identifies 3 groups to focus on – Black and ethnic minority issues, distance learners and people from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

Black and ethnic minority issues – need to ensure our promotional stuff includes people from different backgrounds, and use social media to educate and organise colour up Bristol collab (if possible)

Distance learners - Weekly S+c sessions, socials on discord and training sessions which can be accessed anywhere

Low socioeconomic backgrounds – using alumni fund to buy climbing shoes that anyone can use to make climbing cheaper, free activities inc. walks and orienteering training. Advertisement of gear hire from the club for free to reduce costs of trips etc.

Update

Committee support ‘equal access for refugees and asylum seekers’ campaign written by the Bath amnesty society which is being put forward to the uni to ask them to provide 2 scholarships for refugees and asylum seekers

LB and subgroup of committee to implement action plan

23

8^th October

Bath City Race - Fundraiser with BOK

Orienteering event in Bathampton down, at the end of February that we could help with in order to increase awareness and raise some funds, providing we go through RAG and provide an on the day team to help out (10-15 people), coordinating welcome, check in, parking etc.

Money is less of an issue at the moment, but should increase involvement in the club and growth of orienteering in this year and future years.

Good in terms of location as it is near uni so good to increase numbers and raise awareness about orienteering and no travel involved. Potential alternative to a trip as well.

Given the go ahead so plan is to send out some feeders to see who would be willing to volunteer. Need to liaise with the SU and start organising.

Update

CANCELLED – need to see what happens with regards to that and future dates.

24

8^th October

First aid training

Contact with Matt Price (organises SU first aid training). Extension for expiry of certificates providing employer (SU) has shown that we are trying to rearrange ASAP training. Courses were supposed to be rearranged for November but due to lockdown they haven’t been able to go ahead.

Update

If summer trip is running then we will need a first aid course run and Vicky is going back to running first aid courses. 3 hours in person course and then you are given a link for online training. Limits on 12 people as it is an educational course. Ideal to be groups of 6 to be manageable. Happy to pay for Vicky to do a couple of sessions (£6.50 for actual qualification cost + PPE requirements). Considerably cheaper than doing it individually (£80) or through the SU (£40).

Next years committee will need first aid training, and many members will want first aid training prior to summer if they are doing unofficial trips. Ideally if we are running trips after easter then we will need a course to be run soon after easter, as many of our first aid training has expired.

Current issue is having somewhere to run the course, as not able to book uni rooms currently. Could do it outside but issues with weather.

31

3^rd December

Plans for semester 2

Update – lockdown friendly activities for the next few weeks

Going to continue to put out walks once a week.

Discord weekly socials continuing and can plan some actual activities e.g. escape rooms, Netflix watch party, among us etc. as better engagement with properly organised socials, especially when used as a contrast to the normal casual socials.

Aim to organise more formalised socials every other week? Could tie into AGM a meet the committee session on zoom where they can chat to us about roles as well.  

Virtual orienteering events to continue as decent engagement, and beneficial for the development of those new to orienteering, which will be useful in future BUCS etc. Potential to do some online sessions where possible if there is some space?

Weekly strength and conditioning sessions will continue throughout 2^nd semester as well.

Hard to do anything relating to climbing during lockdown but hopefully if restrictions ease later in the semester then we could get some small groups going to Sally in the Woods or elsewhere to go climbing.

Plans for some talks – currently AGM to be on the 4^th March, and hustings on the 18^th March

Aim for a orienteering talk for the 23^rd Feb by Cecilia (GB runner) and aim to schedule some more talks in for every 3 weeks so 9^th March – David Coley and aim for 6^th April – Jesse Dufton?

Possible other talks – walking gear/layering, wild camping, BUMC alumni

Charity event

Collaboration with athletics – create group and see how far we can ascend in a week

RAG usually set up a group fundraiser on virgin money that we direct people to  

Decided to raise money for Patterdale mountain rescue

Update - Speakers

Jesse Dufton has agreed to do a talk just before Easter (15^th April) but would prefer to do it sooner

Ideas for future talks:

Karen Dark – para-athlete and paralympian who does lots of charity challenges etc. although not sure about price

Recording talks may reduce attendance as people have less motivation to actually turn up, and hard to control where recordings go after so speakers may be reluctant to agree to recordings

Update of charity event

Complexities re: what we are allowed to fundraise for with RAG – is Chris Lewis fund registered as enough of a  charity for RAG to give them money

Could see if we are allowed to transfer money to Patterdale mountain rescue as a whole and then ask them what we would like them to do with the money

If unable to give it to Patterdale mountain rescue, then we can just raise money for RAG’s Big4

RC to contact Adriana Brownlee about K2 summiters

RC and BK to organise charity event with athletics

32

28^th January

Attracting new committee members

Going to be difficult as there generally committee is made up largely of 2^nd years, but they haven’t had the same level of involvement and engagement as we have had previously.

Considerations – Who from committee will still be here next year? Who is coming back? Any freshers we can target/talk to about coming to events and running for committee?

Starting to fill in a spreadsheet for some roles we have ideas about.

Other things to consider - Any roles that could be delegated after the time/combined that are less intrinsic to the running of the club? E.g. BUCS coordinator could not be on committee but could just be a normal member nominated after the team selection or could be the climbing sec. Could voting member be available in the bi-election so then people can run if we have filled all of the other committee roles later in the year as more ideal to fill the other roles first. Could also have just 1 walking and climbing sec? Could combine social and web sec?

Seminar on building back the club post covid at the start of February run by the SU.

Might be worth having a session after AGM and at another point in time to enable promotion of committee. Current proposal to say that we will hang around after AGM, as we will have mentioned what our role is already, and they can ask us anything they want, and we can say that they can contact us directly if they want etc.

35

24^th February

Return to organised sports plans

Rule of 6 and return of formalised sport returns on the 29^th March so we need to organise something

12^th April gyms and indoor sports should reopen but no indoor organised sports?

Rough plan for a night hike type event later in semester

Aim to run a climbing event to Sally in the Woods but would need people to lead groups getting there on the bus, and some personal cars to get the mats etc. out to Sally. Hopefully later in the semester could try to get a trip running to Avon but harder to get there without organised transport.

Aim to run a walk a bit further afield if possible with public transport

Could encourage people to take their LFD testing on campus to ensure safety of events

RC and WJ to organise a walking trip

AE and JW to organise a climbing event and put rough dates on the internal calendar

36

24^th February

Blues awards nominations

Only Blues awards we can nominate for are colours, and you need to have done BUCS for 3 years to do that but we haven’t had BUCS this year.

Changes to nomination criteria this year due to COVID.

What about recognition for elite athletes such as Cecilia

Club of the year applications also within this, so we should apply for this.

Item

Discussion/Description

Action required from

38

Finance update

£3000 left in total – gear (£450 left), maintenance of kit (£200 left), insurance (£770 left), activities (£1040 left) and admin (£0 allocated)

Limited spending as we haven’t had any events/trips/activities and we are unable to put this towards larger deposits for future years as we cant guarantee those trips will go ahead, and we can’t use it for socials.

Plans to spend gear budget and maintenance of kit

£770 could be used to spend on gear but we want to wait until the end of the year, in case more people join and we need to pay for their insurance.

If we don’t spend all our budget, then our budget may be cut next year (unsure re: COVID what will happen).

Bought climbing shoes with alumni fund to increase access to climbing as reduces cost of going climbing and needing to hire shoes

If there’s nothing else we can spend the activities on then we could put it towards kit to set us up for future years. Shouldn’t usually mix budgets so need to have justification for this, although SU don’t usually notice. Ideas for what to spend leftover budget on:

Hike tents, which could be useful with running trips next year, and increasing COVID safety as well if we can’t run any trips

£500-600 worth of kit needing replacing this year that we can replace at the end of the year to reduce costs next year – mostly helmets

Suggestion for slacklines, but we don’t use these very often and we already have 2 so not thought that they are needed, but we could buy more

Set of compasses for use in orienteering and also navigational lessons if we wanted to do those with walking - £300-400 for set of these. Lots of the ones we have do have bubbles in or are very old/used so only ~7 working compasses. Will be useful with COVID as unable to share them in the training session.

Could buy some guidebooks for local area

39

Looking forward to 2021/22 and impacts of COVID

Trips (inc in summer)

Deposits moved over for freshers, Christmas and peaks trip. Unsure about what is happening for font deposit. Transfer useful in setting trip up for next year and reducing costs next year, especially if budgets are cut.

Possibility that we could be able to go on summer trip as camping trip so based on current government roadmap from 17^th May 30 people are allowed outdoors, and 6 indoors so would make the trip feasible. Very dependent on the government roadmap.

Could run trips into summer after uni has ended. Probably won’t be any formal trips in summer this year, due to concerns with restrictions. Traditionally the postgrad sec runs Sunday walks and occasional climbing etc. and can run some club trips if they would like.

Budget lasts until 31^st July but may not be able to book anything due to high demand.

Don’t have to be on committee to run a trip, can get in touch with someone on committee for help and advice.

Could also ask to borrow gear for future trips – from 8 March we have gear store access if they are officially allowed back on campus. To borrow kit, need to be a full paid club member and be competent to use the kit, and give it back. Contact Conor if you would like to borrow/reserve any kit. Generally should only borrow kit until membership ends until 31^st July so only able to borrow kit until this point, and then can re-borrow when you repurchase membership in September.

Couple of members plan to run a Dartmoor wild camp in summer – public transport, camping and no booking required.

State of the club – especially transport

No longer have any SU MPVs. Can hire them externally from a company when we need through the SU, and this is very expensive, so may not be feasible.

No current plans to reinstate MIDAS scheme (scheme run by SU to do driver training for MPVs where SU would be happy to insure us). Not a requirement of the SU but done because the uni like us to. No thought of any replacements currently, as SU haven’t thought about it yet. Another scheme which is cheaper – permit based scheme with assessment etc. but drivers have to be over 21, and they don’t want to buy any more vehicles.

If this doesn’t happen then we can’t hire any external vehicles à personal cars only

Issue if we don’t have enough personal cars as we may not be able to run as many trips etc. Also a safety issue as no checking for safety of drivers (ability and driving hours) or cars/maintenance.

May end up relying on associated members (ex-club members can join providing there is a requirement for them to be there (helping with transport)) but issue in accommodating all the personal cars at the locations.

May be a hurdle to be crossed when we get there as we don’t know how many personal cars we will have right now. Potentially more students do have cars now, especially with COVID, and would be willing to drive, but may need to look into paying for additional insurance for it as a club to cover all eventualities e.g. if driver is injured. May need to allocate some budget for this insurance.

Proposal to write a formal letter from BUMC to the SU that it limits us in what we do, the safety concerns and the requirement to have enough personal cars sat around (financial and space). Could run it round to see if other clubs who regularly use the vehicles to support the motion e.g. canoeing, BUGs etc. and get feedback from them. Try to get a formal response ready for next year.

We believe there is a possibility for trips next semester so we need to be prepared for it.

Could also communicate with Bath spa as we have previously shared vehicles?

Rebuilding club expertise

Large cohort of club members moving out last year and this year, so losing people on committee and losing skills/expertise in climbing, walking etc. so may be lacking skills as a club, especially as we have had limited training this year.

Possibly not a huge issue as there are still going to be some expertise left next year, but going to need a large effort for transfer of skills. Climbing and walking should be ok, main issue could be scrambling, winter mountaineering and other aspects of walking. May need to call on associate members and/or contact a guide.

Rebuilding COVID clubs event hosted by BMC - other clubs mentioned they have training budget for committee and committed members e.g. going on a scrambling course/winter mountaineering course which we could consider doing. Also mentioned training all of committee to do basic things with a local climbing instructor e.g. leading groups, setting up a top rope etc.

2 going to BMC safety seminar near freshers trip in September who were paid for within SU budget, but they still had to pay for trip costs itself. Wasn’t great for teaching skills if you have been on club trips and go climbing, they didn’t really improve competence in leading groups. When we discussed it previously the SU were unwilling to budge with training budget.

Could encourage another talk from David Coley as this was useful, to ensure that we are following best practice rather than what we think is right. Larger issue in general in people learning being handed down through members rather than paying for a guide, so this could help to combat this although need to encourage attendance.

We generally have good practice, and we usually don’t spend money on training as look into fair distribution of budget amongst all members, but may be worth in future in investing in best practice and transfer of skills.

Plans for the rest of the year

Hopefully will release a BUMC roadmap out of lockdown based on current guidance

29^th March – will look similar to the start of the year with reintroduction of rule of 6 so reinstating weekly walks and trips to sally in the woods (using public transport)

17^th May – 30 people allowed outdoors and 6 indoors à TCA and summer trip possible, and maybe some outdoor climbing days

Plans for next year – Facebook

Less official so easier to use Facebook, and large community inc. alumni but depends on what SU says next year, as this year they said that we had to have a teams, so all of our official communication goes through the teams, especially as we had an open membership, but if other members want to use the Facebook group at the minute then they can.

40

Committee 21/22

BUCS captain

Proposed removing BUCS captain to be a non committee role for both sectors (climbing and orienteering) so the one of the secretaries can organise the trials, and the captains can be a nominated member of the team. They will be then responsible for organising paperwork and transport, and can liaise with committee and be invited to committee meetings if they are needed. Minimal role in actual committee affairs but still attend all meetings and vote in committee business etc., and lots of other clubs don’t have it as a committee role.

.

26 votes for yes, 2 votes for no, 1 abstained

If anyone is really keen to get involved but are not in committee, then can approach climbing and orienteering sec prior to try-outs and help with organisation of try-outs etc.

Orienteering secretary

Proposed to have 2 orienteering secretaries, as lots of work, and orienteering is still continuing to grow so we believe there is a requirement for an additional orienteering secretary.

Rough numbers of orienteering – 37.5% of 33 repsonses said they were involved in orienteering. Limits on numbers due to COVID and limits due to weather in winter when we were able to run sessions – max was 26 at one session, min was 8.

What would 2^nd orienteering sec allow you to do? – Not so much about addition to offer, but more related to large workload for one person (possibly one of the busiest roles) so may not be sustainable if future orienteering secs are not as flexible with workload

With removal of BUCS captain and addition of this would mean that it maintains the committee size of 15, which works fine at the minute.

28 votes for yes, 0 votes for no, 1 abstained

Web secretary

Previously more about maintenance of separate BUMC website, forums on that website etc. Now it handles webpage (SU one) which is simple and easy to use, Facebook page (creating events and promoting them), Instagram account (promoting events and raising awareness) etc.  Proposed change of name to media secretary to reflect this change.

27 votes for yes, 1 vote for no, 1 abstained

Proposal for addition into role to include maintenance of club google calendar as 10b(iv). Lots of cross over between SU website, facebook events and google calendar so it makes sense for it to be part of that role. Should chase them up and ensure it is up to date but may not mean writing descriptions etc. as better for organisers to do this as they will be more aware about what the event is.

25 votes for yes, 4 abstained

Run through of roles and responsibilities

Chair – oversee everything and things are running smoothly and safely.

Secretary – Minutes, insurance and health forms

Treasurer – tracking club spending, ensuring we don’t overspend etc.

Gear secretary –looking after the gear, organising loans, safety checks etc.

Welfare and inclusivity – dealing with any welfare issues, and ensuring the club is welcoming and inclusive

Postgrad secretary - liaise with any of the postgrads and organise socials and meetups for the postgrad community/ensure socials are communicated to them. Also ensure postgrad timetables are accounted for in organisation of events, and organise events/trips over summer.

Web secretary – organising the social media and ensuring website is up to date

Social secretary – organising socials e.g. pub trips, other socials

Walking secretary (x2) – organising walks, walking events, trips etc. and also scrambling and winter mountaineering

Climbing secretary (x2) – organising any climbing events, trips etc. and also scrambling and winter mountaineering

Orienteering secretary – organising any orienteering events

BUCS coordinator – usually organising anything competition related

Voting member – additional set of hands on committee e.g. orgnaising transport and first aid

41

Women’s events

Committee are often split on women’s events so we tend to try to promote women’s events run officially by climbing walls, and if any members would like to organise a women’s only event then they are welcome to. Increasing interest and increasing number of women in the club so may be worth looking into running some more official womens events in future years.

42

Hustings 

Hustings for those who want to run for committee are on 18^th March on teams, where we will run through each committee role and anyone who wants to run can give a little speech (couple of mins) detailing why you want to do it, or why you would be good for the role etc. and then people can ask questions.

As far as we are aware, you don’t have to be a member to apply.

Usually applications open soon after hustings but unsure of actual date as SU hasn’t said yet.

If people want to learn more about the role then get in contact through any means (teams, facebook, email etc.).