Nov 2024
DH Runners AGM Minutes
23 November 2024, 10.35 at Morton Manor
Present: 55 members (30%)
1. Welcome and Review
Cath Wood welcomed everyone for attending, bringing items for the Food Bank, kit swap and cakes.
Apologies received: Tracey Anderson, John Billet, Jo Billet, Laura Benson, Ewen Gillies, Lindsay Graham, Nicola Jackson, Sara Milburn and James Taylor.
2. The Minutes of the 2023 AGM - were accepted as a true accurate record.
3. Report from the Chair – Cath Wood
A video was shown of 2023/24 highlights – can be viewed here.
Cath started her report with reading a tribute to Karen Taylor who was a member of DH awhile ago. The report had been written by Bev Armstrong:
I don’t remember exactly the first time I met Karen, she was just one of those people that you thought had been on the scene forever. Karen and Matt had moved to Carlisle from Penrith, they’d both been members of Eden Runners and had remained close friends with many of the club members after they moved.
Karen had a wealth of experience in road running, she would talk about the various races she had completed from 10ks to marathons. I remember talking to her about London “ooh I’ve done that” she’d say “great route, great atmosphere” always so full of enthusiasm. Running was her passion, she just loved getting out for a run, she loved supporting others too and it was of no surprise when she became a run leader for the club.
I would often meet Karen on a Sunday for a long run, her in pink and me in purple.. total colour coordination goals right there. Of course, no run could start or finish without the obligatory selfie. Karen absolutely loved to take a picture to capture the moment, and there was no escaping it, we joked and called her the selfie queen.
Occasionally instead of a run we would go for lunch and a few drinks, we would often end up a bit tipsy and Karen would be giggling away whilst she rang Matt to come and pick us up. She’d say “I’ve rang Taylor Taxis and he’s on his way” Matt never minded and would always join in with the chattering as he drove me home.
Karen was kind, supportive and sociable, she worked really hard at her job, and would fit her running around her hours. I think those that knew her would agree that she just had a good heart and enjoyed a happy life.
Her little dog Beano was her second baby (Harley being her first) and alongside the endless running selfies there would be plenty of Beano too.
When Karen and Matt moved away, we kept in touch and whenever I was doing a race in her neck of the woods, they would both appear somewhere on the route to cheer me on.
It was really devastating news to hear of her accident, and I kept in touch with Matt whilst she was in hospital. When Matt messaged to say she hadn’t made it I was completely heartbroken for him and her family, and for Karen, she had such an honest and pure zest for life, it just seems so cruel.
Her funeral was well attended by members from DH, Eden Runners and Border Reivers, which pays tribute to the kind of woman Karen was.
I am sure those that knew Karen will have many special memories of her, one that never fails to make me smile is a picture of the two of us (one of Karen’s selfies) her ready for winter and me, desperately clinging onto Summer, we laughed so much when we looked at it afterwards.
This was followed by a minutes applause in memory of Karen.
What a fantastic year it has been. First 5ks, 10ks, halfs, marathons and ultras. Some started running for the first time, some picked their shoes back up and some of us built on the achievements of previous years. We had lots of PBs, members who raised money for charities close to their hearts and those who got out the front door and put one foot in front of the other. Those who turned up to support their club and their club mates.
Lakesman feedstation – great day. Thanks to all the volunteers on the day. Lovely day out supporting and encouraging those taking part. We hope to support it next year and encourage everyone to take part. Thanks also to those who give up their time to volunteer at other events – it is volunteers who enable events to happen.
24 hour relay – 20th – 21st July 12 noon until 12 noon. Recorded 41 laps of the Cummersdale loop route. 130 names officially recorded for laps which equates to 390 official miles completed. Big shout out to Kev who was there for the whole 24 hours. Pete Fell who clocked nearly 40 miles across the weekend. Thank you to those who took part, helped set up and also manned the tent through the day and night.
February survey – following this we have introduced more structured sessions such as monthly track sessions, bus trips (thanks to Emma for organising the bus to the Gateshead 10K), we have ran a You Can Run + course which had enabled members to move up from a Thursday to a Tuesday Run Group, we have continued to do fundraising, had new routes at Run Groups and also a cross country taster sessions
Sheepmount board – we’ve had this for a few years. This had been updated to promote club. Julie and Kev thanks for helping.
Newsletter – 6 editions this year so far – thanks to Julie Dodd and Christine for making those happen. If anyone has anything – race reports or ideas they would like to include please get in touch.
Website – few meetings with developers and got some quotes. Around £5,000 mark which is unaffordable for us. We are looking at what we need the website to do.
Storage – £68.80 per month in Wigton. Changed to share with Junior Tri, which is £21.50 per month = £567.60 a year savings. Took stocktake when we moved so we know what we have. Thanks to Kev, Pete and Lindsay for helping with.
Kit – a lot of items out of stock and the length of time it takes to get kit has been difficult. Julie and I had a meeting with Halbro – lots of new products, can do existing kit and those items that have been out of stock for a while. Examples of the kit are available to view here today.
Thanks to run leaders and coaches for their time and energy. We have 22 run leaders and 3 coaches. We are training 5 more run leaders.
Charity of the year figure – will be announced soon, as we need to add in collection buckets and money from the sticker raffle.
My third and final year on the committee – I’ve been female captain, vice chair and chair. I’m not standing next year. I have enjoyed my three years on the committee.
Thanks to the outgoing committee for their volunteering their time, their patience, enthusiasm and love for club.
4. Report from the Finance Officer - given by Gail Rajjayabun
Over view of the financial year ended 5 April:
| 2024 | YTD 2025 | ||
| £ | £ | ||
| Income | 3,642 | 2,074 | |
| Expenditure | 3,952 | 2,340 | |
| Deficit for the year | (310) | (266) | |
- Note the club financial year runs from 6 April to 5 April
- Accounts are prepared on a cash basis.
Membership Income:
| 2024 | YTD 2025 | ||
| £ | £ | ||
| Membership Activities | |||
| Membership fees | 3,328 | 2,063 | |
| YCR and other income | 244 | 178 | |
| Kit – profit or loss | 70 | (167) | |
| Total income | 3,642 | 2,074 |
- Kit had some old invoices to pay to Carlisle Embroidery.
- Training/courses costs are for run leader and coaching courses
Expenditure:
| 2024 | YTD 2025 | ||
| £ | £ | ||
| Courses and training | 275 | 100 | |
| Events | 3,064 | 1,971 | |
| Admin fees | 613 | 269 | |
| Total expenditure | 3,952 | 2,340 |
- We continue to invest in building our run leader numbers and coaches.
- Admin fees relate to bank charges, snip cart costs, website costs and sundry items.
- We have endeavoured to spend our money wisely.
Admin Costs:
| Administration | 2024 | YTD 2025 | |
| £ | £ | ||
| Web-site | 98 | 0 | |
| Office Costs | 255 | 112 | |
| Selling Costs | 260 | 157 |
- Due invoice for y/e 2025 for website
- 2024 includes old Sport in Action Invoice £87
- Selling costs are bank charges and
- stripe fees.
| 5 April 2024 | 28 October 2024 | ||
| £ | £ | ||
| Cash at Bank | 7,169.04 | 6,903.63 | |
| Reserves b/f | 7,479.50 | 7,169.04 | |
| Deficit for year | (310.46) | (265.41) | |
| Reserves c/f | 7,169.04 | 6,903.63 |
5. Run Group Report – given by Christine Southam
We continue to have two run group nights; both are well attended.
Tuesday night offers a 10k route (with 10k having to be completed within 75 minutes) and also offers an 8 mile route. Each week is a different route, with some new routes having been recently introduced. Members running at a different pace do take part in a Tuesday run group, all completing the route in the required time. It has been good to see some new faces, including some of the You Can Run + graduates, together with some returning faces and of course the regulars.
A Thursday night offers a 5k route and a 5-mile route. The same route is used two weeks in a row. Since the last AGM we have had 2 sets of the You Can Run Course and 1 You Can Run + Course, so congratulations go to the graduates from these courses. We plan to run both these courses again next Spring. Thursday Run Group was 10 years old this last week.
The Committee would like to pass on their thanks to the Run Leaders for leading the run groups, planning routes and for letting everyone know in advance which route is going to be used for an evening.
We do have some members about to undertake training for their Leadership in Running Fitness licence, so we wish them luck in completing the course.
For the first time in the club’s history, we have been able to provide a regular monthly track session. This has been made available to all levels of runner and we’ve seen an average of 15 runners there every month. We’ll be finishing off the last one of the year with a special Christmas surprise session in December. Planning has already started and dates for the coming year will be published soon. Thanks goes to our Coaches, Mark, Julie, Steve and Lindsay for facilitating these nights.
We have had regular Sunday Social runs which have been well attended and have been opened up to other local running groups to come along and join us. Thank you to Emma for organising these and to Pete for organising the route.
6. Election of Officers
| Position | Name(s) standing for election | Proposed | Seconded |
| Chair | Simon Dolman | Pete Fell | Toby Harling |
| Vice Chair | Julie Dodd | Gail Rajjayabun | Rob Ainsworth |
| Secretary | Christine Southam | Helen Cupac | Helen Taylor |
| Membership Secretary | Abbie Blythe | Laura Farmer | Kev Iveson |
| Welfare Officer (Lead) | Simon Dolman | Bev Armstrong | Suzanne Forster |
| Welfare Officer | Lindsay Graham | Mark Moody | Adam Cleminson |
| Finance Officer | Ewen Gillies | Gail Rajjayabun | Jen Moody |
| Run Leader Coordinator | Bev Armstrong | Mark Drummond | Julie Dodd |
| Club Championship Coordinator | Suzanne Forster | Emma Taylor | Jenny Robley |
| Cross Country Coordinator | Post vacant | ||
| Kit Manager | Julie Fell | Kerrie Fiddler | Julie Bell |
| Social Secetary | Niki Iveson | John Lupton | Andy Caven |
7. Club Charity of the Year
Members had been invited prior to the AGM to send in nominations for the Club Charity of the Year. Nominations were received for:
- Andy’s Man Club
- Cancer Research
- Carlisle Waverley Viaduct Trust
- Eden Valley Hospice
- The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS)
- Happy Mums Foundation
- Oaktree Animal Rescue
- Sands
- Support Dogs
- Well Suited CIC
Thank you goes to those members who sent in their nominations.
Following the Vote held during the AGM the Club Charity of the Year was announced as ‘Andy’s Man Club’.
8. London Marathon Ballot Draw
The number of entries given to each club is based on the number of first-claim registered competitive members with England Athletics who are over the age of 18. We have been allocated 1 place. To take part in our draw, members had to provide their ‘not this time’ email from the official TCS London, not been successful in the DH ballot for the last 10 years.
We had 15 members in the draw: Chris Bardini, John Billet, Steve Claringbold, Anam Elarabi, Julie Fell, Kerrie Fiddler, Suzanne Forster, Chris Lofthouse, Dave McGinn, Paul Mcknespiey, Ray Redoble, Gary Story, James Taylor, Helen Taylor and Paul Todd.
The winner of the ballot was Chris Lofthouse. Congratulations Chris.
9. AOB
- Kev Iveson reported that a few members had taken part in the Cross-Country events, he thanked them for doing so. The next event is being held on Saturday 30 November at Rickerby Park. DH are hosting the event. Kev said so far 20 members had volunteered to help, but he could do with about 5 more. Please let Kev know if you can help out.
- Santa Dash is happening on Sunday 1 December. The organisers are looking for volunteers to help. If you can help, please let Lindsay know or email Sport in Action.
- Cath reminded everyone that the Christmas Party and Awards Evening was on the 14 December. Ticket sales would close on 6 December. There is still time to send in nominations for the Members Choice Award – these need to be sent in to secertary@dhrunners.org by midnight on Wednesday 27 November.
- Rob Ainsworth, suggested and proposed that the ‘Beginners Award’ should be renamed the ‘Gordon Beattie Award’. Everyone was in favour of this.
- Car Sticker Raffle
Winning numbers:
19 Julie Britton
56 Faye Stubbs
52 Anam Elarabi
10 Cath Wood
2Jody Ferguson
30Helen Taylor
7Laura Farmer
61Frances Braithwaite
98John Lupton
64Peter Rogers
25Suzanne Foster
27Zoe Ferguson
14Jen Moody
23Mark Moody
21Abbie Blythe
25Paul Todd
54Jenny Robley
59Craig McGlasson
62Natalie Bingham
34Rob Ainsworth
11Adam Cleminson
Cath thanked everyone for attending, the meeting adjourned at 11.28.
Prior to be business part of the meeting we welcomed Kylie and Helen from Hospice at Home Carlisle North Lakeland. They came to talk to us about the amazing work they do and thanked us for supporting and fundraising for Hospice at Home as our Club Charity for 2023/24.