NORTHBROOK ATHLETIC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
held at 8.30pm on 21 January 2026
at Jaguar Sports & Social Club and by video conference.
- Present – 50 members in attendance, including 15 online.
- Apologies – Tony French, Spencer Davies, Tracey Williams, Stephen Simpson, Chris Archer, Claudie Combelas, Alexis Copeland, Natalia Greenhill
- Welcome – Bob Adams chaired the meeting.
- Minutes of Last Year’s Meeting – Last year’s minutes accepted
Proposed: Caroline Hughes, Seconded: Kevin Coughlan.
VOTE: Accepted – 32 for - Matters Arising From Minutes of Last Meeting – re last years Proposal 6 – ‘Trial a parallel run for alternative age category scoring during 2025 to run alongside the current race champs scoring’. There was a vote to keep the current system.
VOTE: Accepted – 29 for - Chairperson’s Report – Bob Adams stated:
It’s been quite a year for the club.Our membership numbers continue to grow at a considerable rate – we now have nearly 300 members (when I first joined the club back in the ‘dark ages’ we had about 50! – just three of them were women).
This has certainly kept Tim Hughes busy with all of the administration involved, and he has done a terrific job. Great credit also goes to the Thursday training session leaders – to quote a few of the runners who came along, they enjoyed the session so much they decided to join the club.
This has presented a bit of a challenge to Rob Richardson and his dedicated team of run leaders in organising the structured training sessions, but they have all coped really well with the increased workload (at this point I’m sure that Rob would like me to mention that if anyone else wants to become a run leader, his door is always open).
It’s been really busy cross country season – following the recent cancellation of the latest races we are currently only half of the way through the league season – the final two races are going to take place in the next few weeks. It’s been really encouraging to see the record number of members who have been involved, led by our inspirational captains Joanne and Spencer. Everyone has given their all to achieve the best possible results for the club.
Our brilliant women’s team are having a fantastic season. With two more races to go they are top of division 2, out of a total of 27 teams. On an individual note, Natasha White has won the first 2 races and Rhian King and Amanda Deavy have also been in the top five. Their next race is taking place at Coombe Abbey on the 7th February. It’s a 10 am start, so if you are not running it yourselves, I would urge you to set your alarm clocks and pop over there to give all of our runners the support and encouragement that they deserve.
The men have been facing up to the challenge of being in division 2 of the Birmingham league. The standard of running in this division has been considerably higher than the one in Division 3, and it’s not helped that the races have largely been dominated by those slightly annoying students from Loughborough! I don’t know what they are doing in Division 2!
All of our runners have battled really hard, and hope springs eternal with two more races to go. On an individual note, Mark Baker is in the top 10 for all time league appearances and Fraser Barrett also recorded his century at the race at Newbold Comyn.
Our teams have also competed in all of the championship and relay races.
On the road our members competed with distinction in the Warwickshire league races – Northbrook were the first team in the Women’s Masters category.
We also fielded 6 teams in the Cotswolds hilly 100 relay. Northbrook finished second in the mixed team category, less than two minutes behind Sphinx AC.
On an individual note, we saw some truly outstanding performances from Natasha White last year, as she set new club records for the 10 miles and half marathon distances. Hyrox clearly has its benefits!
The participation in the club summer handicap competition continues to grow – last Summer 69 women and 99 men completed at least one of the races. Richard French did an excellent job again with setting the handicaps, and I’d also like to acknowledge the work done by Tim Hughes and Roger Ladbury. Between them, they managed to smash the club record for producing the race results!
Our members also completed ‘fun events’ such as Race the Train, the Good the Bad and the Ugly relay, and the Sphinx mile relays. This year there was also a Northbrook mini invasion of the lovely Balearic island of Majorca. It must have been an alcohol free excursion as they came back to the UK with 4 age group awards! Many congratulations to Sally Eason, Sarah McNaney, Terry Moynahan and Tommy Dempsey.
Once again, the Northbrook 10k race was an enormous success, with nearly all of the 600 places available being sold out. Thanks to the hard work put in by Joanne Evans, we also witnessed some very speedy running in the junior 2k race.
This brilliant event continues to make an enormous contribution to the club’s finances, and as a result of this, we were able to make charitable donations to Coventry Dementia, Allesley Scouts and the Allesley festival.
Great credit goes to all of the sub committee for their tremendous work – these events don’t just happen!
I’d also like to thank all of the club members who volunteered to help out on the day.
Our 10k race is now firmly established in the Summer calendar for lots of local runners, and it also provides a bit of excitement for the local residents in the area.
The introduction of the Parkrun Grand Prix competition has proved to be very popular, with members having the opportunity of visiting all of the parkruns in our area.
The 20th November was a really proud evening for the club, when the Street Harassment Awareness Run took place at the War Memorial Park. A dedicated team of members, led by Sam, Rhian, Collette, Daisy, Joanne and Rob, had worked hard to highlight the importance of people being able to run safely around the streets, and there was an impressive turn out on the big night, despite the freezing cold weather. Sam proved herself to be a media star, with appearances on both TV and local radio. Where next? I know that the team are planning to continue to focus on this important issue during the year ahead.
Daisy Robbins has done a tremendous job as the Social Secretary. She organised the breakfast run during the Summer, finishing at the Rainbow Inn, and last month everyone had a really good time at the Christmas party at the Albany Club. The next big event will be the annual awards evening, which is taking place at the end of February.
Daisy has also introduced the monthly ‘injured runners walk’ to keep those members who are unable to run more involved with what is going on at the club – I have certainly enjoyed them, as we have all ‘put the world to right’ whilst we are walking. The time just flies by!
I’d like to thank all of my fellow committee members for the support they have given me over the past 12 months.
I also want to personally thank our website administrator (Roger Ladbury) for the guidance he has given to me, particularly if it involved anything technical – he has been really patient with me!
In my opinion, if you are a runner and you live in the Coventry area, Northbrook is the club to be a member of – the structured training sessions mean that we can accommodate runners of all abilities. We now have a range of events and competitions that gives everyone a fair chance of winning something, and everyone is really friendly and supportive. Long may it continue in the future.
- Treasurers Report – Tony Mackness showed a detailed presentation of the accounts at the meeting. The accounts were audited by Matthew Hathrell.
The committee recommended that subscription fees again remain unchanged for existing members, despite England Athletics affiliation increasing again each over recent years, but new member fees increase in line with England Athletics affiliation fees.
Proposed: Cliff Evans, Seconded: Rhys Robbins
VOTE: Accepted – 39 forMembership Renewal £34
Non-competing membership £15
Concessions £25
Second Claim Renewal £20
New Members/Rejoining Members:
Full rate (including club vest): £53
Full rate (including club T-shirt in lieu of vest): £61
Concessionary rate (including club vest): £44
Concessionary rate (including club T-shirt in lieu of vest): £52
Second claim (including club vest): £30
Second claim (including club T-shirt in lieu of vest): £38
Concessions – State pension, Unemployed and Students.
Fees are now due. - Election of Officers
Bob Adams thanked everyone who participated in any club role last year. In accordance with club rules, all the current officers stood down, and all of the roles involved were made available for any of our members to be nominated to take them on. Members were given nearly 4 weeks to do this.These are the nominations that have been received:
- President – Rob Richardson*
- Chairperson – Bob Adams
- Secretary – Mark Baker
- Treasurer – Tony Mackness
- Men’s Captain – Spencer Davies
- Women’s Captain – Joanne Adams
- Membership Secretary – Tim Hughes
- Social Secretary – Daisy Robbins
- Club Coaching Co-ordinator – Rob Richardson
- Welfare Officers – Collette O’Keefe/Debbie Campbell**
*Rob Richardson was nominated by the committee to take on the role of Club President.
** Debbie Campbell volunteered at the meeting to serve as joint Welfare Officer.
Non committee- Health & Safety Co-ordinator – Catherine Dear
- COVID-19 Officer – Sean Duffy
- Summer Handicap – David Tittle
- Website – Roger Ladbury
- Kit Person – Damian Pharoah
- Race Champs Administrator – Kevin Coughlan
- Auditor – Matt Hathrell
- 10km Race Sub-committee – Cliff Evans (Race Director), Joanne Evans, Steve Turvey, Daisy Robbins, Rhys Robbins, Malc Copeland, Richard French, Simon Aldridge, Catherine Armstrong, Chris Goodman, Kirstie Murray, Natalia Greenhill, Tony Mackness, Rav Sangha.
- Proposals Received
Proposal 1 – Travel reimbursement for team eventsThat for club team events only (relays, cross-country events, Hilly 100) we offer a mileage reimbursement for the car share option where there are more than 3 paid for club runners/volunteers in the vehicle.
HMRC have a table of mileage rates that could be utilised and maintained as the HMRC updates their rates.
Here are a few examples from the men’s cross-country league season this year and the regular trip to Sutton Park, all for a diesel vehicle:
HMRC – says £0.18 per mile for diesel cars and vans of 2000cc engine size
5p per passenger per mile
If we used the HMRC rates for 3 qualifying people in a car travelling to the following locations:
Burton Dassett – 28.3 miles each way. HMRC would suggest a reimbursement of £10.12 fuel and £5.66 for passengers.
Sutton Park – 21.8 miles each way. HMRC would suggest a reimbursement of £7.85 fuel and £4.36 for passengers.
Plock Court – 66.3 miles each way. HMRC would suggest a reimbursement of £23.87 fuel and £13.26 for passengers.
The HMRC rate also covers different fuel types for vehicles so it’s something we could also utilise.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/advisory-fuel-rates
Reason
A lot of events now struggle with car parking availability and often plead with clubs to car share as much as possible. We have all been at Sutton Park relays and know what this is like.
We are lucky enough in the club that we offer, informally, a car share option for club team events to help increase participation and be inclusive to those that do not drive or struggle to drive long distances.
As a result we often have the same drivers for the club team events, who are happy to provide lifts to the team. Usually, these drivers are too embarrassed to take reimbursement from those that are offered lifts, meaning they are usually out of pocket for every team event. On top of that organisers now introduce car parking fees for events to discourage single drivers, again that driver (or usually 1 passenger in that car share vehicle) pays out of their own pocket.
So we have members paying to represent the club in team events that the club pays for them to participate in.
Proposed by: Spencer Davies
Seconded by: Matt HathrellAmendment 1 – where club equipment being transported to a club event occupies seat space in a vehicle, then the occupied seats count as passengers (Joanne Evans)
Amendment 2 – Use the highest HMRC petrol rate available on 1st January for the rest of the year (David Tittle)VOTE: (with amendments) – Amendment 1 for 31; Amendment 2 for 32
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Proposal 2 – Consider the establishment of a youth sectionI would like to propose that the club considers a youth section to support its adult section.
Reason
Our membership is of a certain age range and not getting any younger.
In Coventry there is a 2-year waiting list for children to join athletics clubs with Godiva and Sphinx being the only EA affiliated clubs with the offering. Further afield Kenilworth Tri has a junior section that is at capacity.
Kenilworth operate in a public park all year long (a bit like our club they cancel sessions when conditions are not suitable).
Both Sphinx and Godiva have a good feed from their junior sections into their adult sections as the athletes are established in the club, with coaches and with colleagues at the point they progress from youth to adult training.
Our leaders and coaches are already insured through England Athletics to lead juniors from the age of 12. Therefore, I propose we start at age 13 up to 18 and no younger which should avoid the creche situation, where parents just need a babysitter.
The 13-18 year age group youths would still be developing, so we could adjust training to suit and they would have an interest in the sport and gives them long enough with junior coaches and colleagues to transition into the adult section and further develop their love of running.
The youth section would not train alongside the adult section.
The youth to coach requirement by England athletics is 1 suitable volunteer to 10 children (with at least 1 UKA CIRF).
Places to train once we have defined our training sessions to mitigate risk can be looked at for suitability taking into account, seasons, needs of the group, and risk assessment. These could include track and field facilities, indoor venues such as schools and leisure centres as well as public paths and parks.
We have a leader undertaking a CIRF course that is due to complete by the end of March.
We have a member who is willing to undergo LIRF training to support this proposal.
We are aware that the club would need to undergo some more England Athletics boxes to tick and that qualifications would need to be sourced, but if we can progress and report back to the committee we could maybe timeline an offering towards the start of the school year in 2026.
By introducing a youth section we would be enhancing the clubs appeal. It could gain extra members in the way of parents joining our already established adult section as their child joins the juniors, it could avoid losing adults as they join clubs that already offer a junior section, we would become more inclusive and we have a forward planning system for the club that reinforces the club’s future.
This is a proposal more for consideration and to see the general feeling towards this venture than to implement it straight away.
Proposed by: Spencer Davies
Seconded by: Tracey Cox & Natasha White
VOTE: for consideration only – for a working group to investigate this idea further (not to introduce a youth section at this time)
Accepted (further investigation) for 23, against 14
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Proposal 3 – Proposed amendment to Rule 15.2.2 (Northbrook Race Championship)Replace second sentence with: “Categories are All Men, All Women, Veteran Men and Veteran Women. Veteran categories to start at MV35 and FV35 and at 10 year intervals thereafter, provided that there are, at least, three competing members in the appropriate category.”
Revised Rule to read:
15.2.2. The Race Championship results compiler will award 200 points to the fastest time in a category, then 199, etc. Categories are All Men, All Women, Veteran Men and Veteran Women. Veteran categories to start at MV35 and FV35 and at 10 year intervals thereafter, provided that there are, at least, three competing members in the appropriate category. If a member completes more than 5 distances in a calendar year, the best 5 distances count to their total. It is the responsibility of members to inform the results compiler of their results using the Results Upload form on the Club website, to ensure that these results are included in the Championship.
Reason
Many members are competing at older ages than in the past. This amendment allows age categories to be less prescriptive and more flexible to adding to the age bands as required.Proposed by: Tony French
Seconded by: Bob Adams
VOTE: Accepted for 39
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Proposal 4 – Comply with England Athletics requirement for Welfare OfficersTo be compliant with an England Athletics requirement that the Welfare Officers form part of the club committee it is proposed that the Welfare Officer section (paras 10.1 and 10.2) of the Club Rules be re-written as follows:
Para 10.1(b)
Change from:
Manage welfare issues together with the Committee (as appropriate)
to:
Manage welfare issues together with the other members of the Committee.
Para 10.1(e)
Change from:
Report to, and advise, the Club Committee on relevant welfare matters
to:
Advise the other members of the Club Committee on relevant welfare matters.
Para 10.2
Change from:
The Welfare Officer is appointed by the Club Committee
to:
The Club Welfare Officer is nominated annually by the Club Committee and the nomination is ratified by the members at the Annual General meeting.
An additional paragraph be added:
In the event that the position of Welfare Officer falls vacant during the term of office, the Club Committee will appoint a Welfare Officer on an interim basis to serve until that appointment (or that of any other person) be ratified at the next Annual General Meeting.
The new wording of the Welfare Officer section shall then be moved from under the heading:
10. Non-Committee Members’ Duties and Responsibilities
to under the heading:
9. Committee Members’ Duties and Responsibilities
and affected paragraphs be re-numbered.
Proposed by: Bob Adams
Seconded by: Tim Hughes
VOTE: Accepted for 37
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Proposal 5 – Introduce Assistant Roles for Committee PositionsTo adopt a structure whereby each committee role may appoint or be supported by a Deputy/Assistant, with effect from the conclusion of the 2026 AGM.
That each current committee role within Northbrook Running Club be supported by a second person/persons, to help share responsibilities and support the primary role holder.
This would apply to all existing roles:
*Current Committee Roles:
• President – Rob Richardson
• Chairman – Bob Adams
• Secretary – Mark Baker
• Treasurer – Tony Mackness
• Membership Secretary – Tim Hughes
• Men’s Captain – Spencer Davies
• Women’s Captain – Joanne Evans
• Social Secretary – Daisy Evans
• Coaching Co-ordinator – Rob Richardson
• Welfare Officer – Collette O’Keefe
Additional Officers and Role Holders
• Summer Handicapper – Richard French
• Race Champs Administrator – Kevin Coughlan
• Chair of Women’s Safety Working Group – Sam Ryan
• Health & Safety Co-ordinator – Catherine Dear
• COVID-19 Officer – Séan Duffy
• Club Kit Manager – Damian Pharoah
• Social Media Officer – Rhys Robbins
• Auditor – Matthew Hathrell
* Names of committee members and post holders are correct at the time of proposal submission. Incumbents may change following elections at the AGM.
Reason
Northbrook Running Club continues to grow and thrive due to the hard work and dedication of its committee members. Many committee roles carry significant responsibility and workload, often relying on a single individual. This can make roles demanding, difficult to cover during absences, and challenging to hand over smoothly in the future.Purpose and Benefits
The introduction of deputy/assistant roles would:
• Reduce workload and prevent burnout of committee members
• Provide continuity when role holders are unavailable
• Support succession planning and smoother handovers
• Encourage more members to get involved in club administration
• Improve resilience and long-term sustainability of the club
Implementation
• Deputy/Assistant roles would be supportive and flexible, with responsibilities agreed between the role holder and their deputy
• Deputies would not replace existing roles but complement them
• Deputies may step in temporarily if a role holder is unavailable
• Roles could be reviewed annually to ensure they remain effectiveProposed by: Joanne Evans
Seconded by: Daisy Robbins
VOTE: Accepted for 30
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Any other business
- Training Sessions – Rob Halford asked why all levels are doing similar sessions on the same night. Rob Richardson said it was a trial to help coaches with planning even numbers in groups. However, it can be changed back to different groups if this was not suitable for members.
Meeting closed at 10.12pm.
Minutes prepared by Mark Baker