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 (signatures on attendance sheet):

J. Ayling NOR/ ERSA                         J.Curtis BWP/SC

H. Whip ERSA                                     A.Holly HEM

G.Poth HEM/ERSA                             L.Yeung VIK

G.Watkins WGC                                  S.Flahive HEM

B.Wright VIK                                       S.Driscoll HEM

L.Jenkins NOR                                     K.Driscoll HEM/ERSA

N.Riches NOR                                      S.Ferguson HEM

D.Bate NOR                                          A.Peace VIK  

M.Akister NOR                                     S.Saunders WGC

A.Beckett NOR                                     S.Wheatman NOR

D.Beckett NOR                                    S.Lambert HEM

J.Birchall NOR

S.Jarrold NOR

J.Williams NOR

P.Bowling VIK

A.Grant HEM

The Chairman welcomed all present.

1.     APOLOGIES

There were no apologies.

2.     PREVIOUS MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on the 7^th July 2005 had been posted on the web site and were approved.  Click for details http://www.erskia.co.uk/AGM04/ERSA_AGM_2004.htm

3.     ELECTION OF OFFICIALS

     The Chairman announced that during the season Thomas Paxton (HEM) and the Chair of RTP had stood down due to the family moving out of the region. Piet Van Kempen (BAS) had stepped into the role until the end of the 2005 season.

Bernie Wright VIK was nominated as Chair of RTP for the 2006 season.

All other Committee members were willing to restand and there were no other nominations for these posts. The following were therefore elected for the 2005/2006 season:

Jeremy AYLING                                   Chairman/NOR

John CURTIS                                        Vice Chairman/ BWP/SC

Hilary WHIPP                                        Treasurer/ BAS

Gillian POTH                                         Secretary / HEM

Bernie WRIGHT                                    Chair of Race Panel / VIK

The Chairman thanked Thomas Paxton and Piet Van Kempen.

4.     CHAIRMANS REPORT

JA was able to report that ERSA had had a busy summer season. The ERSA Squad had taken part in the SSE inter-regional race at Pendle and had put in a good show.

The Tri Region race between ERSA, L&SERSA and SERSA at Wycombe had been a great event . The Regions Skiers had gelled together. The ERSA A team came 3^rd.

The future Snoasis project has a lot going on at the moment. The Government Minister for Sport (Mr Caborne) has come out in favour of the whole project and three extra planners have been taken on by the local planning authority to work on the Hotel and housing.

Next summer may be the last for Hemel as an artificial slope as plans are in the pipeline for an indoor snow slope.

There will be a full ERSA season however, with ERSA supported Club National races at Hemel, Norwich and Ipswich and SSE GP’s at Hemel and Norwich.

Welwyn had unfortunately suffered the arson attack on the slope during the summer but was pleased to announce that it was open again. JA announced that in 2007 there would possibly be only 5 summer league meetings during the summer unless Hemel could host a race on another slope.

JA reported that Alan Humphrey was making good progress after his accident. It was proposed to start an ERSA charity fund for which the accounts would be published. The family need to convert the downstairs of their home and unfortunately will not receive funding for this necessary and vital conversion from any other source. The raffle at the Tri Regional event raised £140.00. Clubs in the region are hosting their own fund raising events on behalf of Alan. Norfolk Club are having a Horse Racing meeting and Hemel propose to have a Club National in May with a testimonial for Alan. It was suggested that perhaps Alan could award the prizes.

David Blackwell, who was taught and trained  by Alan has been awarded £10,000.00 through his work to a charitable donation. His firm request that the donation goes to a registered charity. Obviously, This money could be a considerable help to Alan but we would need to set up an ERSA ski foundation trust run as a charitable fund. John Williams asked if there was another charity  we could use?  JA to investigate the Skiers Trust Fund.

There will be a Race officials course during the Winter season at Suffolk. Vikings parents would have the first call.

The Tri Region Event had been ERSA’s idea and organised by ERSA and whether it be annual or Bi-annual it was up to the other regions to host the next one. On the whole the summer season had been a good season with between 140-160 racers at each meeting.

5.     VOTE OF THANKS

The region wants to thank Thomas Paxton as RTP Chair (Moved back to Scotland), Daphne Van Kempen (Trophies and Race secretary for Champs/BAS),  Sue Ferguson (Summer Camp 2005 HEM), Steve Lambert (representing ERSA outside the region, running the ERSA forum and acting as the ERSA rep for the Tri Regions/HEM), Dermot Flahive & Piet Van Kempen (representing ERSA outside the region and Race Officials duties)

6.     TREASURERS REPORT

The funds are healthy and the report can be found on the website.

It was proposed to have a £1.00 reduction on the race fee for 2006 season making the fee £8.00 instead of £9.00. After a discussion and a vote it was decided that the fee would remain the same as it has for the last 3 years £9.00 and £1.00 would go towards the Alan Humphrey fund.

7.     ERSA SQUAD

Bernie Wright gave a brief report on the Pendle race. Apart from the weather! ERSA had raced well. Sweatshirts were still available for those who had not collected them and petrol costs to a limit of £20 could be claimed. Several parents had donated their travel subsidy to the Alan Humphrey fund.

8.     SUMMER LEAGUE

A discussion regarding the present format of a race day and whether it should change took place. Some people were opposed to the Rainbow event and thought it made the day drag on. A vote confirmed that the Rainbow Race should be inclusive of the whole day and continue in the existing format.

9.     ERSA CHAMPS

The entry criteria this year had caused confusion. A discussion on the clarification took place. The  wording would change to

“Must have taken part in two Summer League Races. Exceptional circumstances would be taken into consideration with the full knowledge of all the RTP committee” JA undertook to ensure RTP decisions taken outside of their committee times were inclusive of all the members.

10.                        SUMMER CAMP

Sue Ferguson reported that a good time had been had by all on the camp.

It was agreed to continue the summer camp in 2006.

AOB

JA announced that the Modernisation of the regions would affect us all. SSE would possibly disappear in the future. He urged as many people as possible to get registered via the website and provide feedback to the modernising committee.

The AGM closed and the Team Races continued.