SNOWSPORT  ENGLAND

 

 

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NORDIC KEY COMMITTEE

 

 

 

The minutes of the Nordic Key Committee meeting held at the Sheffield Ski Village on Tuesday the 24th May  2005

 

Present: Adam Pinney (Chair), Mike Allport, Trish Ball, Helen Bell, Fiona Crossley, Anne Ford, Stephen Johns and Ralph White.  George Gabriel attended on behalf of the SSE Board.

 

           Apologies for Absence

 

350.    Apologies were received from Philip Howarth and Mike Smith.

 

The Minutes of the Previous Meeting

 

351.   In accordance with Minute 297 the minutes of the previous meeting were circulated to the committee.  The committee authorised the approved minutes to be published on the SSE Web site in accordance with Minute 296.

 

Matters Arising

 

352.       There were no matters arising.

 

Chair’s Report

 

353.   All the existing committee members were re-appointed to the NKC for the coming year and Adam will notify this to SSE.

 

354.       Budget for 2005 - Adam circulated a paper that had been prepared by the outgoing chair Ralph White.  The paper showed a balance sheet of the income and expenditure for 2004 culminating in a net surplus of £4,175.  This sum had been carried forward to 2005.  When combined with this year’s projected income and expenditure, it is anticipated that the budget for 2005 will produce a residual surplus of £2,006.

 

355.       In view of the diminishing grant available from the governing body the committee resolved that ways have to be found to generate additional funds. The events organised by the NKC have to generate a profit of at least £2000 per annum to cover SSE fixed costs.  Adam and Trish agreed to jointly investigate this issue and report to the committee at the next meeting.

 

Action - Adam & Trish

 

 

 

 

 

356.       Tyneside Loipers and the York Cross Country Ski Club are both now affiliated to the SSE.  Adam said that he would contact both clubs with a view to them each nominating a representative to join the NKC.  He also announced that he had talked to Iain Ballentine of LRNSC about Iain joining the committee to cover Development.

Action - Adam

 

357.   The committee decided that the two NKC panels, the Coaching and the Facilities Panels, were sufficient to meet the needs of the NKC and that there was no need for any additional panels.  Ralph White, Helen Bell and Ros Brown-Grant were re-appointed to the Coaching Panel and Adam agreed to oversee Facilities with the assistance of regional volunteers.

 

Proficiency Awards

 

358.       Mike reported that £204 had so far been generated from the scheme.  Although the committee had agreed to pay 50p to the examiners for each test carried out a satisfactory way had not yet been identified of making the payments.  The committee proffered a number of suggestions but decided to allow Mike and Adam to make further investigations and to report back to the committee at the next meeting.

Action AP & MA

 

359.       In response to a question from the committee Mike said that there had been no response from Snowsport Scotland in connection with the English Proficiency Award Scheme.

 

Development  and Racing

 

360.   On-snow Race Training – Fiona will once again organise an on-snow race training week at Bruksvallarna in Sweden for the week of the 7th November, 2005.  This event is likely to be a mid-week to mid-week event to allow Patrick Winterton and Mike Dixon to fulfil their commentating duties.

 

361.   Club Racing Events – Adam said that Tee shirts had been acquired but other than the planned courses there would be no additional training events for 2005.

 

362.       Kvitåvatn – Participation had increased from 25 in 2004 to 45 in 2005.  There was some suspicion that Easter coinciding with the event had inflated the number of participants but the event was nonetheless deemed an enormous success.  The organisers felt that a ceiling of fifty participants was perhaps the most that could be comfortably accommodated within the event’s current format.

 

363.   A Telemark/Nordic Downhill event had been added to the calendar.  The new venue will be Pendle Ski Slope on 10/11th September 2005.  The organisers of this and other events were asked to send in a schedule of the event budget to the chairman.

 

364.   Anne Ford from the Tamworth Snowdome had attended the meeting and outlined details of a new facility for on-snow cross country skiing under the snowdome main slope on what is currently the snowmobile track.  Anne has organised an event for

 

 

Sunday 12th June 2005.  For a total of £10, skiers will be able to train on the cross country track in the morning and be able to use the main slope in the afternoon.  She hopes that this will be the first of many monthly events at Tamworth and that it could be the start of a Midland cross country ski club.

 

Coaching

 

365.       The Kvitåvatn event had produced a number of newly qualified and revalidated skiers.  Two new Cross Country and two Downhill Club Coaches had qualified and one had revalidated.  Two new SSE Cross Country Coaches had qualified together with two new Nordic Tutors.

 

366.       There had been a London event the weekend proceding this meeting and it was anticipated that more newly qualified skiers will be added to the list.

 

367.       It was observed that whilst Kvitåvatn is the only SSE event at which an on-snow qualification can be gained, nonetheless aspirant instructors and coaches can attend Eric Wooley or Ewen Martin for assessment by appointment at their continental locations.

 

                     Public Relations and the Web Site

 

368.       Adam will ask Mike Smith to remove out of date material from the web site.

 

Action Adam & Mike Smith

 

          Facilities

 

369.   Trish had made contact with David Cockram from the British Cycling Federation with a view to the NKC helping them to make better use of some of the Federation’s cycling facilities by running roller ski events at suitable locations.  Adam agreed to liase with David to progress the arrangement.

Action - Adam

 

          Any Other Business

 

370.   Insurance and Individual Registration – In her capacity as Chief Executive, Trish will re-negotiate all aspects of the SSE insurance contract and will endeavour to obtain a more favourable fee for those registered as individuals.  Ralph and Adam agreed to produce a document for the web site explaining insurance and individual registration.

Action – Adam & Ralph

 

371.       Child Protection Policy – Clubs were reminded to nominate and notify SSE of an officer to protect children attending their club.  The officers will, in due course, have their details checked by the Criminal Records Bureau.  Trish will attend the Salt Ayre roller event in September and any Instructor or Coach seeking Child Protection approval could then apply through her.

 

 

 

 

372.   In advance of the meeting the committee had unanimously agreed to award the SSE Nordic Trophy of Ralph White to mark his remarkable term as Chair of the NKC and for his services to English Nordic skiing as a whole.  The trophy was presented to Ralph by Adam Pinney.  A formal presentation will take place at the Salt Ayre event later in the year.

 

373.       The Chairman observed that most SSE Nordic activities are aimed mostly towards racers and track skiers.  He asked NKC members if they could give some thought to what might be done for other skiers, in particular tourers.  Any ideas will be discussed at the October meeting.

Action all NKC

 

374.   The committee was informed that the largely overlooked Nordic event of Ski Jumping had a new facility at Wrexham.

 

          To Set the Date and Venue of the Next Meeting

 

375.   The next meeting of the Nordic Key Committee will take place at the Sheffield Ski Village on Tuesday the 4th October, 2005 at 19.30 hr.