LEEDS SCHOOLS SPORTS ASSOCIATION
LSSA AGM Minutes:
Date: 24/03/2021
Members present:- C Ness (Chairman), P McQuillen Strong (Secretary), G Thornton (Treasurer) C Pyatt (Vice Chairman), J Sammon (Allerton High & Netball Admin), H Holdsworth (SGO), T Nelson (Cockburn High & LTS for LLP), S Boothroyd (Rugby League), L Ashworth (Bishop Young Comp & LTS for LLP), D Curtis (Prince Henry’s G. S.), K Bowden (Development Manager at L.C.C. Active Leeds Service), A Cox (Woodkirk Academy), R Davidson ( Leeds City Academy), P Schofield (Athletics)
1. Chairman’s Report.
Chris Ness welcomed everyone to the first A.G.M. to be ever held via Zoom. He reported that the Association continues to hold Council Meetings every term. At these we receive affiliated reports and requests for funding from Associations. Each meeting includes financial updates including updates from the funds collected by Holy Family.
Sport this year has been severely affected due to Covid 19 & lockdowns. Children have missed out in the vast majority of age related sporting activities. Children’s well being and mental health could well have been affected by this.
Current optimism points to schools to resemble status quo in the summer term, with Sport again being played.
LSSA congratulates all Associations & Staff for their commitment and dedication to sports, even though home learning is the new format. For Sporting events that have been able to go ahead, I thank all Headteachers, staff members, facilitators & coaches for making these happen.
Moving forward, we hope that when restrictions are lifted, sporting events will be able to go ahead and children can participate in sports again.
Extending my personal thanks to LSSA colleagues, including financial & secretarial roles, in keeping these areas up to date.
LSSA faces a key period in history - linked to the sale of the TV Harrison ground. We could be in a position to improve provision of venues, hosting teams etc. LSSA have spent considerable time on this goal.
The Chair praised the new system for collecting Affiliation Fees and this was proving to be a huge success. Extending thanks to Andrew Dixon of the L.E.A. for setting up the system with Holy Family. Thanks also to Peter and his staff for their help in collecting the Affiliations.
Thanks also to the staff who organised the LSSA letter headings and display work.
I think we all are hoping for a much better time with School Sport in the next year.
G Thornton proposed a vote of thanks for the work Chris Ness has done in the last 12 months and over many years as Chair. This was unanimously accepted.
- Treasurers Report
Graham Thornton referred members to the Income & Expenditure report sent to members prior to the meeting.
On the Income side the recharges from the L.C.C. were one’s from the previous academic year.
On Expenditure these were in the main for events and awards before Covid 19 restrictions were put in place.
D Curtis asked for a brief indication as to what the grants covered.
Re:- Netball Association – these covered the running of events, cost of medals & paying for Secretarial work.
Re:- Rugby League Association – Cost of Trophies, medals, engraving, Ref fees and hire of the South Leeds Stadium for Finals. These were played in November before the restrictions came in.
Re:- Football – Hiring of grounds, particularly for the Finals played at the South Leeds Stadium, medals, Ref Fees & the awards for players who represented the City.
Re:- St Barts Football – This is a Girls Primary Football Tournament, organised by St Bartholomew’s Primary School for many years. 20+ schools enter this and we give a grant for hire of facilities and medals.
P McQuillan Strong mentioned that all grants have different aspects & rationale behind them. £750 may be awarded to large Associations for help with Secretarial work, cost of events, hire of facilities, equipment. He pointed out that kit would not be covered. He mentioned that one of our new Sports – Rowing had huge events 3 times a year and have large expenses for hiring equipment.
The Treasurer continued by mentioning that our Financial position looks to be quite healthy with a profit for the Financial Year of £25 251.81. He pointed out however that quite a few Associations had still not claimed for the previous year. Athletics been one. Obviously when these did apply this would eat into this profit.
T Nelson asked . If we are wanting to run a competition, is there a specific number of schools that will need to be included if we were to ask for funding.
Peter M S replied. Not a specific number of schools, although need to clarify which Schools take part, to make sure they are affiliated to LSSA and are in the Leeds area. Occasionally we have had requests for funding and found that some of the schools who entered were out of the Leeds area. In this case we would only fund the proportion who were in Leeds and affiliated to LSSA. We do ask for an approx number of students who are going to be involved in the event, no minimum number required, but we ask that is opened to a logical number of people. Examples of funding requests will given at the Council meeting which follows the A.G.M.
The Chair thanked the Treasurer for his continued work on the accounts this year and to others who have helped him.
The accounts were accepted by the membership.
- Election of Officers.
Peter M S proposed that Chris Ness was elected Chair.
S Boothroyd – I am excited to see new faces at the meeting tonight and I am looking forward to the report by Dave Curtis on the Hope proposals for High Schools Sport, which will come in the Council meeting. However I feel that until the sale of TV Harrison ground is complete, I think we should continue with the current officials and I would propose the re election of these en bloc.
This was seconded by P Schofield
i.e. C Ness – Chair / C Pyatt – Vice Chair / G Thornton – Treasurer / P McQuillan Strong – Secretary
These were unanimously re elected.
- Affiliations.
C Ness – In the previous Council Meeting it was suggested that we suspended the Affiliation Fees for the forthcoming year. Schools have been made aware of this and funding would still be awarded if events were held.
This was unanimously agreed.
It was suggested that we should keep to the current rate i.e. £425 for Secondary Schools and £140 for Primary Schools. Proposed by G Thornton. Seconded by P McQuillan Strong. Again this was unanimously agreed.
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A.O.B. The Chair mentioned that following the A.G.M. there would be the termly Council Meeting; with the following Agenda.
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(i) Constitutional & Committee Structure.
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(ii) Hope – Dave Curtis to present a detailed report on the impletation of the Leeds Schools Sports Championship for High Schools.
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(iii) Request for funding
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(iv) Ground Sale
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(v) Summer Sports (vi) Association Reports (vii) A.O.B. (viii) Date of next meeting.
The Chair hoped that members would stay for this meeting.
- The Chair closed the A.G.M. and thanked members for their attendance.
LEEDS SCHOOLS’ SPORTS ASSOCIATION Income & Expenditure Account for the Year ended 28[th] February 2021
Recharges via City Council re 2020 40825.00 Grants:- Netball Association 1386.05 National Grid 97.63 Football – awards for District players 677.77 Football re 2019-20 6000.00 Rugby League re 2019-20 2457.00 Morley Primary Sports Association 1000.00 Hire of Goals – St Barts Cup – Primary Football 400.00 Netball Association - Secretarial work 2020 750.00
Totals £40 922.63 Totals £12 670.82 Profit Income over Expenditure £28 251.81 Money in Yorkshire Bank 28.02.2021 £36 546.06 Cash in Hand 28.2.2021 - Utmost Wealth Solutions Account – Current Market Value inc. Acc Interest £50 475.00 Graham Thornton 28.02.2021
LEEDS SCHOOLS’ SPORTS ASSOCIATION
Accounts for 2021
I have examined the above Income & Expenditure Account , Receipts & Statement of Balances.
To the best of my knowledge and belief, and in accordance with the information and explanations given to me, they have been properly prepared from the accounting records of the Association and are in agreement with them.’
Kevin Sweetman
Independent Examiner
Staff of Corpus Christi College, Leeds
Executive Member of Leeds Schools’ Football Association 20[th] March 2021