2015 Police Sport UK Offshore sailing consultative meeting

This meeting was held in public at Poole, Dorset on the 19th May 2015

Persons present:

C.C. Sara Thornton (Chair) NPCC
John Oldham (met) Secretary and minutes.
Roger Glass (met)
Andrew Buchanan (Hampshire)
Iain Tribuck (Cleveland)
Derek Neil (Cleveland)
Tony Riordan (Cleveland)
Adrian Roberts (Cleveland)
Nick Hunt (Cleveland)
Dave Clough (Cleveland)
Martin Campbell (Cleveland)
Mason King (Met)
Steve Clyburn (Cleveland)
Nick Mason (Met)
Stuart Jenkins (Met)

Introduction

Sara Thornton welcomed the competitors to the meeting and to the event.

2015 Championships

Tony Riordan informed us that this championship had been very difficult to arrange. The original request given to him this time last year, was to run the event in Scotland.
However the skippers simply could not find suitable boats to charter around the Clyde area.
An additional complication has been that The North British championships (PSUK Scotland) are having their annual event starting in two week on the 30th May. Whilst it is not thought that the same crews would enter both this may in hindsight be the case ( await event report to see).

Tony’s view overall was that there was little interest by forces to enter the PSUK offshores and indeed there was only three forces represented by five boats. This was in spite of a successful event last year and lots of focused emails to each force sailing / sport section.

The boats chartered from Fairview have been comfortable and of a good standard plus the overall cost is £500 cheaper than Sunsail. There was concern amongst crews however because the damage deposit was £3K (Sunsail now £2K) plus the Genikers were not insurable.

Costs have been further reduced by using Gate starts and a competing committee boat which works well.

Future events

Nick Mason suggested that this event joins with the currently successful Fire Brigade championships. However Mason King felt the FB event was already up to capacity and they would not wish too many police boats. However clearly there are not many police boats willing to sail anyway.

In view of the efforts over the last few years to increase competitor numbers and the current lack of support it was proposed and agreed that there would not be a PSUK offshore event next year and the World police sailing championships due to be held in 2016 would be the next PSUK sponsored event.

The Worlds will be held in Croatia (details to be finalised)

Action to the Secretary John Oldham to liaise with the worlds organising committee to obtain details.

The matter of the next UK based event will be discussed at the PSUK Sailing AGM 16th September @ NCC (ACPO) offices London 10am. (All forces welcome)

PSUK Awards
The committee or others did not believe anyone is eligible for a PSUK award this year.

Other business
The discussion continued on the theme of how to attract more forces and sailors to police sailing. The use of mixed force boats is a possibility (badge as PSUK) obviously any funding will have to be agreed under local social club rules.
PSNI – have previously been good attendees to this event, the event also has not been held in Ireland, suggested as a venue?

All forces report that there is a lack of younger officers who wish to take part in police sport; there are no specific reasons other than the “changing landscape of policing”.

The Meeting formally thanked Tony Riordan for his work organising the current championships.

Meeting concluded with an informal meal at the local Italian restaurant for a gathering of all crews.
 

PSUK Dinghy Sailing Championships

Consultation Meeting

18.30 - 19.45 hours - 9th September, 2015

Netley Sailing Club

Minutes

Attendees

John Oldham (JO) Chair MPS.  Stuart Jenkins (SJ) MPS  Nick Mason (NM) MPS. Rob Jones (RJ) Hampshire. Simon Hawkes (SH) Avon and Somerset.  Robert Trevis (RT) Sussex Richard Bates (RB) Sussex.  Mike Scrivener (MS) Sussex. Marie Bond (MB) West Mids. Peter Muggleton (PM) Leics

1 . Welcome by the Chair:

Welcome by the chair, All forces taking part in the current championships were represented at the meeting.

2. Apologies for Absence:

Roger Glass and Dick Sivers

3. Minutes of the Dinghy Consultative Meetings 2014:

Circulated and reviewed.

Minutes Agreed minor change on attendees - Proposed by JO and Seconded by NM - unanimously carried.

4. Matters Arising:

From the previous meeting linked actions were raised to the Sailing AGM.

1. Can non Police officer / staff crews be allowed in the PSUK Championships. This was dealt with by the 2014 AGM minutes 6d. The matter was raised with the national PSUK committee and not allowed.

2. Can other emergence service crew take part in PSUK championships. Again similar and not allowed.

3. Debate on increasing the number of entries, raised at the AGM linked to the Offshore consultative meeting with no current conclusion.

5. Review of Event

PSUK Single Handed Dinghy Championships - 11 Single Handed Dinghies entered the event.

PSUK Dinghy Championships - 23 Mixed Handicap Dinghies entered the 2 day event

General discussion on how to increase numbers at the events.

Ideas raised.

• Better publicity - however all members had relatively recently contacted forces and sailing clubs to seek entrees. Plus the Police sailing website is well known and active.
• Get more forces involved - Agreed always the same forces, however once one member attends from a force generally more follow. There may be an issue that the venue is too far south for the northern forces? However there is no sign of the Northern forces having their own regatta.
• Shorter event -raised by MB but many felt that a shorter event would make the travel less “worth it” plus from this year’s numbers we have seen a slight rise.
• Use of social media. We need to explore this linked to the Website. ( Action for the AGM)
• Sponsorship. Agree that this was not a crowd puller and the sponsor got very little out of it. Plus the organisation was difficult and cumbersome.
• All agreed that the Netley formula worked well. On site camping, bar, food, closed safe environment, good water to sail on, effective race and rescue team organising the days, BBQ arranged for use, low key entertainment.

All agreed that Sussex had organised an excellent event and JO thanked the organisers for all their hard work. It has been especially hard this year due to the closure of the original venue Bewl valley.

6. Future Events:

Idea muted by MS that there should be a national organising team for the events. Meeting felt that without a specific force driving the event there would be a lack of coordination and motivation.

2016 Met Police with support from others. PM will approach Rutland as a possible venue (central England) MPS members felt that for convenience a return to Netley may be favourable. RB to approach Netley (Ross) to see if they will accommodate with costs.

The meeting felt that any venue should be one with a minimum financial risk due to the unpredictability of the attendance. JO asked that all reps ask their members to commit as early as they can to the organisers.

Correction to minutes

2016 will be hosted by Dorset at Poole.  21-23 June 2016

2017 Met Police

7. Next Meeting:

21st September 2015 - AGM at  NCC (ACPO) office, Victoria, London

8. AOB:

None

Meeting concluded.

Police Sport UK

Sailing Section AGM

1400 hrs Monday 21^st September 2015

NPCC 10 Victoria street

Minutes

1 Welcome

Everyone welcomed by Chief Constable Sara Thornton to NPCC.  Those present were thanked for making the journey. There was a new system introduced, telephone dial in, after a few minor “hiccups” the system worked well and certainly saved time for those further away from London.

Present

Sara Thornton             NPCC  (ST)    Chair

John Oldham              Met      (JO)

Nick Mason               Met        (NM)

Rich Bates                  Sussex (RB)

Members who dialed in.

Nick Shaw       Nottinghamshire                   (NS)

Richard Sivers            Northants                    (RS)   Archivist

Marie Bond          West Mids                        (MB)

Pat Weller    Dorset                                    (PW)

Barbara Bradley     Avon and Somerset      (BB)

2 Apologies

Stuart Jenkins  MPS

Craig Downham, Devon and Cornwall

3 Minutes of AGM 2014

Minutes approved by Nick Mason and Richard Sivers no outstanding actions remain

4. Urgent Matters

 No urgent matters

5 Elections of Officers

Chair remains CC Sara Thornton  Nominated JO and NM

Secretary  DCI John Oldham (MPS) nominated ST and RB

Treasurer  Mr Nick Shaw nominated RS and NM

6. Correspondence

No correspondence for the meeting JO pointed out that all matters that come from the PSUK council are sent out by JO to the regional circulation list.

7 Treasurers Report

Note: The sailing season and the allocation of funds from the PSUK are slightly out of phase this means that the accounts are spread over two seasons.

Police Sport UK – Sailing Section      Treasurers Report September 2015

The balance carried forward from last year was £2235. The grant applied for was for £3335 but this was reduced by the grants committee to £3085 giving a balance of £5320, this obviously affects our predicted figures and it is expected that this year’s application for next year’s grant will be similarly reduced.

Of the expected expenditure, payments of £2620 were made as predicted but I have yet to receive requests for winner’s grants of £1850 (offshore) and £500 (dinghy) and the fees for website maintenance of £600. This has left us with a bank balance of £2700 but with potential expenditure of £2950.

The meeting raised this as a serious problem which has lead from the PSUK decision to reduce funding to the section.

RB informed the meeting that the funding allocated to run the dinghy championships (£1000) was under spent and they will be returning return a surplus of £664.91, NS then informed the meeting following a quick recalculation that this will therefore leave a balance of £414.91

The secretary JO will contact Stuart Jenkins, Rob James and Dick Sivers to advise them to draw down their funding as soon as possible.

8 National Dinghy Championships 2015

Verbal report presented by RB, Full report will be sent by RB to JO and RS so will be circulated and on the sailing website. JO will send the report and the financial breakdown to the PSUK ASAP. Trophy information (who has them) will be sent to RS and to JO by RB.

The event was held at Netley sailing club by Sussex with excellent conditions. The MPS won the two day event (Fran Gifford and Peter Walker) and Avon and Somerset (Simon Hawkes) won the single hander event.

 Championship run extremely well with a good turn out. Thanks to Sussex was recorded.

Action to RB to provide contact details of the winners to JO and NS so they can be provided with grant to represent the PSUK next year.

Consultative Meeting – Dinghy

Minutes pre-circulated with one action for the AGM. It was asked if the PSUK could revisit their decision and to allow non police family crews to help bring up the number of entries.

This was discussed at the AGM and an action taken by JO to discuss this matter again with Ian Campbell the PSUK secretary to see if this has moved on. It is acknowledged that other clubs are in the same difficulty. JO will also find out the PSUK position with regards to insurance should other non police boats take part in a joint championships. JO will seek PSUK advice on how other sections are swelling numbers and if they have any other type of inclusion policy.

Note JO contacted Ian Campbell the PSUK general secretary and his reply was plain. “Unfortunately the answer is still the same - non police members cannot take part in any PSUK championship event. It is not just an issue of insurance but of making sure no-one misses out as a result of a non police participant taking up a place.”

Outstanding action to next meeting - discuss the use of Social Media to attract new competitors ( in error not raised at AGM) action taken by JO to contact Dorset and R Sivers to discuss.

9.  National Offshore Championships 2015

Verbal briefing given by RS and JO.  The report was circulated prior to this meeting on the Sailing website

JO asked that Cleveland formally submit the financial breakdown to him. He will then submit the full reports including the financial information to the PSUK.

Event run over 5 days in the Solent based in Hamble. Good winds and weather. Event won by Mason King from the Met. Many thanks recorded to Cleveland police for the organization.

Mason is eligible for Grant for 2016 to represent the PSUK in a suitable event.

Consultative Meeting – Offshore

The Meeting discussed at length how to increase numbers. The championships were poorly attended. Admittedly there had been an attempt to host the event in Scotland. However this is unlikely to have any effect on the actual numbers. It was decided not have an event in 2016 but to take up the possible (awaits confirmation) offer for a world police championships in Croatia.

10. Dinghy events in 2015

RS provided an overview, full details can be found on the Police sailing website which is regularly updated by RS. Numbers and events down again this year however. RS reported that the MPS and Dorset open were a day apart which may have had an effect on numbers, mixed views on this.

11.  National Dinghy Championships 2016

The proposal that Dorset will be running the Dinghy Nationals in 2016 at Poole Sailing Club on 21^st to 23^rd June, 2016 was ratified at this AGM. The organizers were represented at the meeting by Pat Weller.  The current plans include Music and a brewery tour. Hard not to enjoy the occasion.

RS has been in contact and will be in further contact regarding advertising on the sailing website and providing data from this year’s event. We currently have the MPS nominated for 2017 which has been approved by the consultative meeting.  We have no nomination for 2018. Volunteer, I know Leicestershire always run a good event!

12.  British Police Representations 2015

Rob James has been contacted and asked to provide a report if he wishes to draw down the funding. Should he not then this fund will subsidize the offshore winners from 2015. The argument being that financing a large boat competition is very expensive and the current grant whilst welcome in no way covers the costs.

Stuart Jenkins as yet to sail so report to follow his proposal is that the monies from this and last year (his previous winnings be combined. (Agreed by committee) the argument being as above that the costs are so prohibitive. Further he asks that the funding be used to represent the UK police in the worlds next year. This was agreed in principal but will need to be passed via the PSUK secretary to check on this as a suitable us of the funding. Failing this Stuart will enter a UK national competition.

The enquiry to PSUK general committee will be if the police represented event has to be in UK waters.

Note: JO contacted Ian Campbell the PSUK general secretary and he approved the use of PSUK funds for the winners to use out of UK waters however he pointed out that additional funding “just because it is abroad” could not be agreed. This is not the case in this matter.

13. PSUK Metropolitan Police offshore championships 2015

NM reported that due to the very poor turnout in 2014 there will be no event run this year (planned for October 2015)

14. National Offshore Championships 2016

This event will not be run in 2016 however the highest placed UK yacht from the World Police Championships (if held) will be funded to race for UK policing in 2017.

15. Scottish Police North British championships 2014 and 2015

The event was run in June 2015 the results will be published on the Sailing website however we are still awaiting the regatta report from police Scotland.

The event for 2016 is scheduled for 6^th to 10^th June, 2016 based in the Clyde.  Laura Davison from SPA is the contact.

Note if the Worlds offshore event does not take place then this must be the offshore event of choice for next year.

16 Award of Excellence

No nominations this year

17. PSUK funding allocation for 2016

NS I would seek to apply for a grant of £3420 but assuming the grant to be £3000 as a minimum we would have £3414.91 to cover 2016’s budget.

The proposed expenditure as agreed at the AGM 2015 is as below:

18. Any other business

None

Date of next year’s AGM and other consultative meetings

(NPCC) for AGM - and others will be at the offshore and dinghy nationals)

AGM Date to be set by CC Thornton PA in liaison with JO

Note: it is the responsibility of the organiser of the Dinghy nationals and the Offshore nationals to provide facilities for holding the consultative meetings and publish the dates detail and reports through liaison closely with Richard Sivers and the web site