After our club AGM in November 2023, we are pleased to issue you all with the minutes from the meeting, Any actions that need sorting (rules etc) will be updated for all club members on the website as soon as possilble.
AGM 2023 – Minutes
Date: 13/11/2023
Time: 20:30 hours
Venue: Virtual
- Apologies
NONE Noted - Attendees
Mark Raddenbury, Megan Davidson, Chris Milner, Nic Rizardinni, Darren Friend, Shane Childs - Welcome and acceptance of 2022 minutes – ACCEPTED – Unanimous
- Chair report – Mark Raddenbury
“Well, where to begin? This year has seen many ups, and just as many downs for us all at Forest of Dean Radio Controlled Car Club.
Beginning the year, we were firmly fixated on progressing the club at our current premises in the Miners hall in Cinderford. To that end, we held a maintenance evening in the late spring to enhance and protect our track and your cars, for future racing. Thanks to the brilliance of Mark Bruton-Young, we firmed up the outer track barriers through some joiners, and even managed to figure out how we could get an extra roll of carpet down to increase our racing area. We’ve gone from 8x18m to 10x17m which, I’m sure you’ll all agree, has bought some more interesting club layouts to race on as well as bring us close to the same area we had at the vantage point circuit.
Speaking of track layouts, despite some outsider criticism, the club has relished having new and varied layouts to race on. Certainly, I’ve found it inspiring to try new layout designs for you all to race and enjoy, but as always, more are welcome and there is a pinned post in the Facebook group to allow templates to be drawn up. There was experimentation with changing the layouts every week, but we have now reverted back to a 2 monthly layout plan. This not only brings some awesome grip to our carpets, but also means less of a headache with setup!
Also speaking of club layouts, I need to extend massive thanks to Megan and Chris for their hard work one Tuesday evening, giving a presentation to the Cinderford Town Council about our plans to renovate an older track at the Steam Mills area of Cinderford. Those plans, and their hard work, meant that we got permission from the Council to begin the hard slog of making an outside track work in the Forest of Dean. Obviously, we are still a long way off completing this project, but I’m really hopeful we can have a bare bones track setup and running in the spring of 2024. It has always been a goal of mine as chairman to give us a more permanent footing in the area, which would increase our membership and even bring in more outside drivers to experience a beautiful part of the UK. It is not a project that can be undertaken lightly and I will be leaning on a lot of the experience we have within our membership to get the outside off-road track running as soon as we can to bring some much needed funds back into the club kitty.
Ah the club kitty, ever a part of Nic’s life! I’m sure you all remember me having to give the news of our closure in October, as the rent costs we were paying monthly at the Miners hall meant we either had to give up on the outside track, or eventually give up on the inside racing as the funds whittled down. It was a tough decision by all the committee, but we were really pleased when the committee at the Miners hall stepped in and offered a reduction of rent per month for us. It will take time for it to make a big difference to our club funds, but we have at least started breaking even again. I’m sure Nic can run through all the facts/figures in his report for all of you who are intrigued to see.
Going forward into 2024, let’s keep on pushing the club along. We are certainly starting to see more people week in, week out. And even with some new drivers popping their heads in to see what we’re all about and what racing RC cars is all about. I’m sure the outside track will also entice many many people to dust off some older buggies, and with some well thought out planning and advertising, we can grow this club substantially in the coming years.
It’s a real privilege to be your chairman, and I hope I can continue in the coming years to help guide this club to be a real powerhouse for racing in the area.
Thank you to all for being members, and special thanks to all the hard working committee for all their ideas and discussions over the past year.
- Treasurer report – Nic Rizzardini
Forest of Dean Radio Controlled Car Club 2022/2023 Year End Accounts Summary
2022/23 has not been the greatest of financial years for the club, with a profit only being made in 4 months, which has resulted in a £648.07 loss. Income: We took £2749 in race night takings, £230 in membership.
Outgoings: £3010 was spent on rent, £284.18 on broadband, £299.54 on maintenance, £42.33 on sum up fees, and £11.18 on the server for November and December only.
Attempts have been made to lower the running costs of the club with Megan providing the server, the mobile broadband being cancelled, and the Miners Hall have kindly reduced our rent, after we provided our notice to leave as the club was not financially viable.
Moving forward, the rent and broadband will reduce the running costs by £1271 a year which will hopefully allow us some money for maintenance and future club developments.
Of note, the club paypal account its no longer in use due to it being set up as a business. They are requiring a company registration number to activate it again.
Summary of Balances 2022/2023
| 2023 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| Start Balance | £2,390.09 £2,780.63 | £2,378.64 | £1,695.21 | £632.12 | ? | £0.00 |
| Ingoing | £2,999.16 £3,410.26 | £2,652.81 | £4,004.68 | £5,380.50 | £5,139.40 | |
| Outgoing | £3,647.23 £3,860.73 | £2,300.89 | £3,257.29 | £4,241.95 | £3,808.21 | |
| End Balance | £1,742.02 £2,330.16 | £2,730.56 | £2,442.60 | £1,770.67 | £1,331.19 | |
| Profit/Loss | -£648.07 -£450.47 | £351.92 | £747.39 | £1,138.55 | £1,331.19 |
Monthly 2022/2023
| Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | |
| Total In | £387.50 | £270.00 | £450.50 | £448.00 | £265.50 | £126.00 | £153.50 | £133.50 | £202.00 | £164.16 | £168.50 | £230.00 |
| Total Out | £316.03 | £370.00 | £299.42 | £298.86 | £364.15 | £318.91 | £329.51 | £287.00 | £303.89 | £333.05 | £242.79 | £183.61 |
| Profit/Loss | £71.47 | -£100.00 | £151.08 | £149.14 | -£98.65 | -£192.91 | -£176.01 | -£153.50 | -£101.89 | -£168.89 | -£74.29 | £46.39 |
Breakdown of 2022/2023 by Type
| Total | |
| Tuesday | £2,749.00 |
| Membership | £230.00 |
| Other | £20.16 |
| Total In | £2,999.16 |
| Rent | £3,010.00 |
| Broadband | £284.18 |
| Server | £11.18 |
| Sumup Fees | £42.33 |
| Maintenance/Others | £299.54 |
| Total Out | £3,647.23 |
| Profit/Loss | -£648.07 |
| Bank Balance | £1,550.98 |
| Cash | £135.16 |
| Floats | £25.00 |
| Total Balance | £1,711.14 |
- Secretary report – Megan Davidson
It’s been a quiet year on this side, with updates to the Membership Portal to help make it easier to book in for race nights; the ability to view past AGM meetings. Work has begun on the new Membership Portal for the outside venue which will progress in 2024.
Had a meeting with the local council to pitch the outside track, this went well and we are now in the final stages.
- Election of Club Committee
- Chairman – Mark Raddenbury – Proposer CM, 2nd NR
- Vice Chair/Secretary – Chris Milner – Proposer MR, 2nd NR
- Treasurer – Nic Rizzardini – Proposer MR, 2nd CM
- Acceptance of new club constitution – APPROVED – UNANIMOUS
- Club rule proposals
- Mark Raddenbury – “Adopt a new racing class in anticipation of outdoor track opening – 10th Rally” – DEFERRED UNTIL OUTSIDE TRACK BUILT
- Mark Raddenbury – “Agree to adopt the current GERCC – Mini ruleset with the aim of promoting racing across different clubs” – APPROVED – UNANIMOUS
- Class rule proposals
- Kerian White – “Some classes should be made more even” – Fail (classes already have decent rulesets)
- Kerian White – “There should be a multi class race” – Fail – For Real life racing this works; indoor on a small track it doesn’t. NB – No BRCA Class operates this way.
- Any other business
- Darren Brain – Will we be able to use jeep/buggy/trucks on outdoor/rally track as long as 2s.- Assuming BRCA Classes, then yes! Others would be considered when the outside track is finalised and built.
- Darren Brain – Could there be a small area with rocks/boulders for crawlers – Already part of our plans. Chairman is in contact with the local crawling group to discuss areas they might need and/or obstacles. We would look to construct this on the OnRoad track site until the OnRoad track is built.
- Darren Brain – If the site is gated, is there a way for members to access when we like and pay to play or do maintenance? – We are waiting on the lease from the council before we can give a firm answer to this. There is an assumption that the site may operate similar to West London (public park) unless expensive fencing is installed.
- Darren Brain – Due to my circumstances I’m considering joining the local ‘men in sheds’ group who build and do work for local projects. I was wondering if there was a way they could combine – Darren to forward more information to the Committee to see where we can use their help in the future.
- Mark Raddenbury – Thanks need to go to Mark Harper for gifting more polycarbonate sheets for corners – Unanimous thanks
- Megan Davidson – Address a marketing strategy for the club – Committee to explore options to get “posters” into local facebook groups and local venues with the aim of increasing the reach and awareness for the club. Also introducing a Run What You Bring class for Tuesday nights to bring more people along who’s cars might not fit the standard rules we have.
Meeting close – 21:25