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 Garage block floor slab ready for the brick and blockwork the following week. (Photo: Victor Smith) |
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| Club
Website Review Group The Club Chairman, Peter Best, allocated the task of carring out a review of the Club's website and available options for achieving a significant improvement so it is seen as interesting, lively and topical which is recognised as delivering useful good quality information and services for our members. The Executive Committee member allocated the role of leading that review is Victor Smith. He has formed a Group comprising Malcolm Bailey, Gordon Hesketh-Jones, Andy Knott and John James. (2.8.06) The review has had an emphasis on identifying the aims and key features of a website that would appeal to our members and be seen as enhancing the value of their membership. So a focus on the website output as seen from a member's viewpoint has been an essential approach to the review. We are also aware the website will also be seen by potential Club members, so it is important the website attracts them and has a content which is interesting and convinces them of the benefits and real value of membership. The website will play an increasing part in recruiting new members. |
The review has
also recognised the particular style and culture of a club which
is essentially a members' motor club in which its volunteer members
play a major part in managing the broad range of the Club's activities
and events for fellow members, supported by a small Club Office
team. That participative aspect is a vital part of the Club's
ethos and success which distinguishes it from a commercial organisation
providing predominantly spares and other commercial services for
its members. |
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| Club's
financial results for the first half and commentary The Club's Treasurer, John Dutton, released the results and the commentary below at the end of July 2006 indicating a loss for the first half and a serious adverse performance against the Club Budget 2006 settled and agreed by the Executive Committee on 18th Februaruy 2006. The commentary below appears in the August issue of Safety Fast! (25.7.06) Treasurer's report for half year to June 2006 The full figures have been provided to Centres, Register and Branches and are also available from the Treasurer at jwdutton@btopenworld.com The first half of the year has been difficult. To date in 2006 we have lost £28.6k and are £26.5k behind budget. Subscriptions The MGE subscribers, who represent real new money for the club, have brought in £13.4k so far this year, £1.7k more than budget. There is little danger that the budget for this group will not be met. Subscriptions via MGCC, rather than MGE, are well below budget, by some £10.4k. To get subscriptions back on budget, we would have to get subscriptions via MGCC of £196k in the second half, an increase of about £30k over the reality of the last 12 months. Magazine Octane Media got MGE onto WH Smith newsstands in May and WHS are sufficiently happy to have agreed to sell MGE for at least three more months. Octane Media have had success in getting advertising income up and holding costs, especially printing costs, substantially below budget. From the Club's point of view, the project is ahead of budget by £1.6k. It is now unlikely that the project will fall behind budget. Events The low entries at racing events reported in earlier months have continued, and we are now some £21.7k behind budget for racing events, almost entirely due to low race entries. Silverstone International, however, has brought some welcome |
relief.
Racing entries were well above budget, by some £23.4k, and
well above 2005; we did not hold a dinner event, which cost us £7.0k
in 2005; and we achieved most of the budgeted cost savings in the
marquee, which cost £26.0k less than in 2005. All this more
than compensated for much lower gate attendances at Silverstone
this year. Overall, the event made a surplus of £27.9k, £2.9k
above budget, helping to offset the poor results of earlier years.
Regalia Regalia again had a weakish quarter, and is now £5.3k behind budget. Other income The main component so far this year is the traders' scheme, and we are marginally ahead of budget. Fixed Operating Costs Staff costs are still £3.6k below budget YTD and a significant £11.9k lower than last year, some of which is due to the Octane Media deal. We are likely to make further savings in the second half. I doubt we will stay within budget for non-staff operating costs. We would have to spend some £20.0k less in the remainder of the year than last year and £17.0k less than in the first half of this year to achieve budget. Interest We have approaching £470k in cash reserves and have been able to negotiate more favourable interest terms with HSBC. Summary We have had a good Silverstone International this year, especially as a result of good race entries and lower costs. To have exceeded an ambitious budget against low gate attendances is a major achievement and Rob, his staff and the many helpers are to be congratulated. That despite this we are still unable to stay in budget is worrying. We have some structural problems that have been with us for at least a year and which must be addressed while we have the financial muscle to cope. |
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| Working
party to review the Club's motor sport strategy & options Ron Gammons was appointed by the Club Chairman, Peter Best, to lead the working group to carry out a strategic review of the Club's motor sport activities, the current trends and the available options and then report its findings and recommendations to the Club Chairman. Ron was authorised to select members for the Group who he felt had the experience and ability to work as a team in carrying out the remit and producing a good report. (31.7.06) The working group was created comprising Piers Hubbard (former Club Treasurer, former SE Centre Treasurer and MGA Register committee member), Geoff St John Mitchell (Club motor racing steward) and Victor Smith (Executive Committee member and co-founder of the BCV8 Champiosnip). Sharon |
Smith
(Club Competition Secretary) has been invited to join the Group.
There is some urgency for the Group to complete its review and work on the options so it can submit its recomendations because they will be needed by the Executive Committee when considering the Club's motor racing programme for 2007. The half year report on the Club's financial performance and commentary released by the Club Treasurer, John Dutton, at the end of July 2006 indicates an adverse performance against most areas of the Club Budget 2006. with only two race meetings remaining in the Club's 2006 season the Group is studying closely the serious losses sustained at most meetings with the exception of the popular annual three day meeting at Silverstone. |
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| Council
approval of the recommendation to proceed with the construction of
the garage/store block at Kimber House The recommendation of the Council Subcommittee was approved at the Club's Council meeting held on 18th March 2006. The minute of the agenda item is reproduced below. (18.3.06) 7. Kimber House Subcommittee report A presentation on the work and report of the Kimber House Council Subcommittee was made by John Dutton, Paul Batho and Ron Gammons. Paul Batho said that the Subcommittee started with a clean sheet and first of all determined the Club's needs for the operational purposes of office accommodation for 7 to 8 staff, meeting facilities, storage and car parking. He looked within a 20 mile radius of Abingdon for other options which were shown in the report. He thanked the staff for their positive inputs. He explained to Council the current building layout. He also said that there were no overall complaints from the staff but the current layout was not conducive to office efficiency. There was also a lack of storage facilities. He determined the floor needs to be around 2,350 Sq ft plus car parking. He explained that the Club had current planning consent for extending the present building, which was approved in July 2001 and valid to 30 July 2006. He then briefly outlined the Subcommitte's proposals regarding the use of the extant planning approval. Ron Gammons then took Council members through the Subcommittee's work. They commenced work in January this year and soon realised that if the Club wished to utilise the existing planning approval they would have to work quickly. Architects had provisionally estimated the costs of building the garage and storage facility (a 5 bay-garage block built to a standard that would |
allow
archive storage as well) as being about £65,000. Plans were
drawn up by a Tyne-Tees Centre member and architect, Maurice Standing,
within 24 hours. There is a height restriction on the building.
Archive storage will also be in the roof space, with a stepped base
slab being a 2 bay and a 3 bay section. The doors would be roller
shutters. It would be a fully insulated building. The plans have
been drafted and submitted to builders for estimates. A site survey
had been commissioned (cost £700) of the entire site. Because
of concerns over the sub-soil there may be a need for steel work
and further investigation was required at a possible cost of £1,435.
One builder had responded with a quote of £100,000 which included a provisional sum for piling but did not include providing 20 new car park spaces. It was felt that this quote could certainly be improved upon to get closer to the budget. General debate then ensued. John Dutton asked the basic question, can the Club afford It? Many persons present joined in the debate which covered such aspects as, internal work to Kimber House, condition of current building, foreseeable life of new build, what the garages can be used for, what are the views of the Club Office staff, what would be stored in the new build, implications of the DDA act. The Subcommittee report was generally commended and well received. Lawrie Brown (Luffield Speed Championship) proposed and David Rainsbury (NW Centre) seconded that the Subcommittee's recommendation should be endorsed, subject to an overall maximum expenditure of £100,000. Votes recorded were as follows: For the motion - 32, Against - 0, Abstentions - 1. The motion was carried. |
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| The
report and recommendations of the Council Subcommittee on Kimber House
and the Club's office requirements The summary section of the note is set out below but a full copy is available. (10.2.06) Introduction The Council Subcommittee was formed in November 2005 following the Council meeting of the MG Car Club (the "Club") on 15th October 2005. Its terms of reference, membership and modus operandi have already been published on the Club website and magazine and are included here under Appendix A. We have invited views from the membership and have received some, which we have carefully considered. However, the feedback to date has been limited, and we have therefore had to rely largely upon our own opinions. We had intended that this report would give Council the main criteria that we believe a new Club office should meet, the options available to meet them and the sums available for expenditure on new premises. We also planned to provide our final report to Council at their meeting in October 2006. In the event, as you will see from this report, things developed rather differently, and we now have a proposal to make to Council for immediate expenditure on a much smaller scale than expected that we believe will satisfy the Club's accommodation needs for some years to come. Key Conclusions |
considering
future accommodation options. The
two options are: Both
of these options are explored fully elsewhere in this report. The
Council sub committee recommends to Council that the first of these
options be pursued immediately. We are of the view that doing so
will satisfy the needs of the Club for some years to come, and that
all options remain open to the Club should other needs emerge in
later years. It will cost the Club, we estimate, a maximum of £75,000
inclusive of VAT. |
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| Council
Subcommittee formed to review the Club's office accommodation needs
and options This announcement was posted on the Club website in December 2005 and a similar note published in the January 2006 issue of Safety Fast! (1.12.05) Members should know that, following the Council meeting of 15th October this year, a Council sub-committee has been formed of seven members to reconsider the accommodation needs of the Club. The motion passed at Council was that "Council approves the formation of a working party, being a sub-committee of Council, with the role of carrying out the examination and assessment of all available Club Office options and assessing the Club's office accommodation needs with the requirement that the working party shall report to Council on its finding and conclusions on or before the Council meeting to be held in Autumn 2006 with an interim report to the Council meeting in Spring 2006." An amendment to the motion approved by Council was that "three members of the sub-committee shall be members of the Executive Committee of the Club". The seven members were chosen by the President, Bill Wallis with the assistance of the Vice Presidents and are: John Dutton (Chairman of the sub committee) Paul Batho David De Saxe Ron Gammons Doug Bush* Malcolm Eades* Victor Smith* (Doug Bush, Malcolm Eades and Victor Smith are each members of the Executive Committee of the Club) The Council Subcommittee are anxious to hear the views of all members and will give full consideration to them before making their recommendations to Council. You can email them to councilsubcommittee@mgcc.co.uk or if you do not have access to a computer, you can write to John Dutton at 24 Coombe Road, Otford, Kent, TN14 5RJ. More information, including brief details of each member's background, work experience and involvement in Club affairs and a summary of the Council sub committee's work is given below. If you have any queries, please contact: John Dutton 01959 522548 and jwdutton@btopenworld.com Scope of work of the Council Subcommittee The broad areas that the Council sub-committee will be considering over the next three months are: o What are the Club's office needs? What are today's requirements of the new office, who needs to be housed, what other services should it be able to provide? Future? How is the Club going to look in 5-10 years time? How much? What can the Club afford? Where should the Club Office be located? The main options are on the present Kimber House site, within the "greater Abingdon area" and elsewhere. Ownership? Should we renovate the existing building, extend it, build a new office there or elsewhere, buy a suitable office building, lease, arrange that the Douglas Mickel Trust retains and lets the existing Kimber House, a lease being then negotiated by the Club on offices in a suitable alternative location at a rent lower than that receivable for Kimber House, or other possible options. The freehold of the present Kimber House is owned by the Douglas Mickel Trust, which has a duty to provide "suitable accommodation for the Club's head office". The Club holds a long-term occupational lease from the Trust. Clearly a number of legal and other restrictions will need to be examined and assessed. The Council Subcommittee will deliberately concentrate on establishing the criteria for the Club Office and avoid coming to final conclusions about a particular building or place until they have set those criteria. They hope to be able to bring preliminary criteria to Council in an interim report in March 2006. They will consult fully with Club members and the Chief Executive and the staff at Club Office. Detailed CV's
of the seven members of the Council Subcommittee are given below |
emails
to councilsubcommittee@mgcc.co.uk |
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