Centurion Committee Meeting: Friday 5th December 2008 held at Willis Building, Lime Street, London EC3

Minutes

 Present: Richard Brown, Sandra Brown, Kathy Crilley, Chris Flint, Jill Green, Carl Lawton, Colin Young. [Guest: Elliot Denman]

1.      Apologies: Charlie Weston, Hans Rennie, Sue Clements (John Eddershaw is currently abroad and could not be contacted)

2.      In remembrance
Committee stood in remembrance of those Centurions who has passed away since the last meeting:

C292 Gerry Rhodes
C418 Frits vn Duynhoven
C440 Anton Bruel

3.      Minutes of last meeting (12 June 2008) were read and accepted and no matters arising.

4.      2008 Milton Keynes 100 miles Report - President
The race was a good one but let down slightly by the lack of the promised chip thus the scoring became a severe problem. Praise was given to the lap recorders for their tenacity during the extreme weather conditions when they were, at one point, drenched. From the walkers view point – it was a successful race. [full report to be published on the website]

5.      Future100 mile events
2009: Newmarket. 11-12 July.
Organiser is Ron Wallwork, who will be promoting a “Festival of Walking” and hopes to get a 1000 people walking. The 100 mile race will be incorporated into the Festival – which also celebrates the anniversary of Captain Barclay and his 1,000 mile walk.

The course will be usual route around Newmarket racecourse.

Action: Kathy to contact RW for details for the website. [action completed and website updated]

2010: Isle of Man.20-21 August.
The Committee are satisfied that the organisation will be good as long as the chip system to be used has a fail safe back-up.
Action: Chris F to contact IoM organiser with the contact details of Hans van der Knap who has a copy of the French lap recording software) which might be used as a back-up.

2011: London.
2011 is the turn of Surrey Walking Club to organise. (Kathy has already volunteered (to SWC) to be the Organiser). The date is yet to be decided, but probably late July/early August.

6.      Financial Report
The Committee agreed to open a second account to cover the changeover of Treasurers. The Committee authorised Chris to obtain three signatories - two signatures would then be necessary to countersign cheques, etc.

Actions: (i) Chris to inform Hans of our decision and obtain his signature. (ii) Sandra to contact Paul; (iii) Chris to speak to the Bank and open a second account.

7.      Merchandise
Richard and Sandra were standing down from this role owing to a house move. Sandra had begun the process of sounding out other Centurions to see if they would be willing to take over. The Committee thanked Richard and Sandra for all their hard work over the last few years in obtaining the kit – fleeces, polo shirts, etc.

Action: Chris to pursue this. [note: please let Kathy know the outcome in order to update the website]

8.      Proposal by the Secretary CVN to change the rule for the “Bill King Memorial Trophy”
That the “Bill King Memorial Trophy” is for the “youngest finisher under the age of 30 years to reach the 100 miles or greater distance”

The Committee approved the proposal with the additional word <and> :  " ….finisher and under the age of 30… "
This means (literally) the youngest finisher - not the fastest finisher under 30.

Actions: (i) Chris to write to Piet with our approval; (ii) Chris to add this proposal to the agenda for the next AGM….with the Committees’ recommendation to approve this proposal.

9.      Christmas Letters
Charlie was in the process of writing the Captain’s Letter; Carl presented the Committee with a draft letter. It was suggested that the review of performances should be in the Captains letter and Carl agreed to contact Charlie and send him the details.

Chris asked Carl to promote the Centenary events – dinner, handbook, etc in his letter and ask for those with email addresses to send them to Chris who is building up a database in order to better communicate with Centurions in the future (Minute Item 12)

Kathy volunteered to help Chris stuff the envelopes.

Actions: (i) Carl to contact Charlie and suggest he incorporates what he wrote on performances (if Charlie hasn’t already done so);

(ii) Carl to incorporate into the Presidents letter, details of Centenary events and request for email addresses;

(iii) Kathy to design flyer for the Centenary;[action completed - flyers sent to Chris] see attached... (pdf document)

(iv) Chris to liaise with Kathy re date/time for helping with the Letters.

 
10.  Centurions Handbook and Centenary Book

(i)     Handbook.
Sue, Charlie and Piet were working on bringing details up to date and checking the accuracy of entries.

(ii)   Centenary Book.
[background: The proposal to produce a Centenary Book was put to the 2008 AGM earlier in the year and had been given approval. Kathy had volunteered to take the lead and head up a task force to help at the Committee meeting prior to the AGM.]

The Committee appointed Kathy as Project Coordinator and convene a small working group to gather resources, write, edit, etc.

A draft outline had already been drawn up for the AGM.  Suggestions of who had material to draw on: Colin for photos, programmes, etc, Peter Markham for the Leicester 100s, Fred Pierce, Bill Maxwell, Geoff(?) Cowling, Pam and Brien Ficken, Bob Watts for the Centurion archive, Gerrit de Jong for Continental centurions material. Sandra volunteered to interview David Christie Murray (95 years old)  for his recollections.

Actions:
(i) Handbook: Chris to ask Sue to send a draft of the Handbook by Mid-January;

(ii)  Kathy to send Richard & Sandra the draft outline;

(iii) Kathy to draw up a task list and generally kick start the project;

(iv) Chris to contact Bob Watts for the archive material

(v)  Colin to search for useful material in his collection.

(vi) Sandra to organise a visit to David Christie Murray

11.  Centenary Events (other than those at Item 10)

(i) Date and Venue of the Dinner.

Chris had researched potential venues, dates and costs.
Despite previously agreeing to hold the Dinner in October, the Committee reverted to having a date in mid-May 2011. Saturday was the preferred day, but would consider a Friday date as back-up.

Possible venues were discussed and /or dismissed on the grounds of too small or not “grand” enough for this special occasion.

The dinner would be open to Centurions and guests.

(ii)  Commemorative Postage Stamp

Sue had done research on the general criteria which the Post Office requires for issuing a commemorative stamp.

Chris had picked up a leaflet for the “do it yourself” type of postage stamp. Photos, logos etc, can be submitted to the Post Office who will design a special stamp for the customer. The idea would be to purchase these stamps and resell to Centurions to use.

(iii) Publicity

The obvious communication channel is the website, but need to think of other ways of publicising events.

Action: Chris to contact the possible venues for costs and availability (as far as could be ascertained for 2011) for both Friday and Saturday and make a provisional booking.

12.  Email addresses
This was discussed earlier and approval was given to Chris to create a database. All Centurions would be encouraged to send Chris their email addresses for easy distribution of news, etc. (cutting down postage expenses)

13.  Date of next AGM and Venue
This had been agreed earlier as 31^st January 2008, 1pm for a 2pm start. Possible locations was the Civil Service Recreation Centre (It was noted that there was a bar where food and drink can be purchased).

 Action:  (i) Chris: to send AGM agenda with the Christmas letter;  (ii) to Book Civil Service Recreation Centre as the venue.

 [note: the following was discussed earlier in the meeting but was not an item on the agenda]

The Dutch had expressed a wish for replica trophies for those Centurion trophies won but which could not be taken out of the country (for insurance purposes).

Chris expressed concern that the Centurions finances would not be able to fund this. Richard and Sandra offered to donate trophies – the offer was gratefully accepted.

Kathy Crilley

Assistant Secretary

7^th December 2008