The AGM was held at lunch time during the ERSA Summer League Race at Brentwood Park Ski Centre,

Between the Open Age group Slalom and the Team Events.

Present:         

Apologies received:

The Chairman welcomed all present.

Approval of Minutes

Minutes of last year’s AGM, which had been posted for several months on ERSA’s website, were signed by the Chairman.

 Chairman’s Report

JA was again able to report that The Eastern Region is still going strong with representatives in both plastic and snow races.

• At the 2004 All England Artificial Ski Slope Championships 20% of the top seeded racers came from the Eastern Region.

• As Snowsport England again had not organised an Interregional Team Event in 2004 ERSA will organise in 2005 an Interregional Team Event inviting the London & South Eastern Region plus one other.

• ERSA’s Summer League Series 2004 attracted an average of 135 racers per meeting. The new Rainbow Series took some time to get up and running but is now well established and the floor voted to have it continued in 2005. A big thank you to Thomas Paxton and his helpers for their involvement. A new start order for the open slalom was introduced in 2004 and will be continued to be used in 2005.

• The Region wants to thank Daphne van Kempen for looking after the ERSA trophies for both the Summer League Series and the ERSA Championships. However, a lot of the perpetual cups are still missing. Our chairman reminded all Clubs that any missing trophy will have to be replaced and the home club of the racer involved will be billed for the cost. All the cups tell the history of Eastern Region. It would be such a shame if the missing cups could not be located.

• JA thanked all those helpers who organise the various race events and other ERSA business during the year and the Region wants to thank the Chairman for his support through the year.

• A Race Officials Course was organised by Hemel Ski Club and sponsored by the Region. Hopefully, some members of the various Regional Clubs will attend the Snowsport England Advanced Race Officials Course in autumn 2004.

• ERSA’s Squad was neglected during the last year. With the new team in charge (Billy Bilton and Kirk Durham) more is expected.

Chair of Race Panel/ERSA-RTP Report: PvK circulated copies of his report.

“I would like to open by thanking the other members of the race panel for their support and commitment, and for all the time that they spend involved in the organisation of the races.

 I am pleased to say that the summer race season has been again been very successful.  This year we have replaced the scratch teams with the rainbow team event.  It has become a very successful and enjoyable event for both participants and spectators.

 I would like to thank each slope for allowing the races to take place and for all their help on the race day.  Without their support we would not be able to run the events.

 You may or may not be aware that I am not going to continue as chair of the race panel and would like to thank all those who have supported me over the years and hope that you will continue to support whoever is elected to the position.

 If anyone has any comments or suggestions for the future, please ensure that you discuss these with your race manager or a member of the race panel so that they can be presented to all at the race managers meeting.

 Again I would like to thank all those who have helped me over the last few years.”

Treasurers Report (Click for details)

HW circulated a copy of the Income & Expenditure Account as well as the Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2004. The accounts had been posted for several months now on ERSA’s website (ERSA’s financial year runs from April – March).

Over the financial year, the Committee wanted to use the ERSA funds to help as many ERSA racers as possible. The committee authorised the purchase of 4 further Radios and the Timing Display Board. However, the budget forecast of -£ 3000 was not achieved. The actual loss for 2004 is £ 677.12.

ERSA Summer Snow Race Training Camp 2004 - RH

Although we had less participants (32 in total from 4 different Clubs) this year’s Summer Race Camp was good. RH thanked all the Trainers and Club Managers for their help and support and asked all the ERSA Clubs to forget Politics and try to get a group of youngsters for the 2005 ERSA Summer Race Training Camp at Hintertux, Austria. The suggested date for the 2005: 23 – 30 July 2005. (Please let Ros know ASAP if this date is still school time in your area as we can use the following week – ros.humphrey@btinternet.com).

 Election of Officers

 Piet van Kempen and Ros Humphrey stood down. JA thanked both for the long service.

 AOB

The AGM closed and the Team Races continued.