2025-03-31-accounts - Brighton Explorers Club

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Registered Address - 108 King’s Road Arches, Brighton BN1 2FN

Brighton Explorers Club AGM

Tuesday 29th April 2025 19:00 Venue – Brighton Sailing Club Online Via Zoom Link.

Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86517092090 Meeting ID: 865 1709 2090 Passcode: 515790

Annual General Meeting 2025 of the Brighton Explorers Club CIO (Charity No. 1156361)

Tuesday 29th April 2025 at 7pm - Sailing Club

1.Apologies & Registration of members in attendance

Apologies: Peter Green Susie Llewelyn Thom Gifford Guy Roebuck Maisie Pettifer Jim Russell

Attendees:

Tatti McNally Pat Morfitt Ciara Green Alice Denning Chetan Padia Rachael Fisher Damian Tow Stuart Gibbons Martin Packer Richard Smith Tim Perkins Lisa Carrington Elizabeth Kemp Hena Rohman Stefania Rosso Maria Hawton-Mead Steve Lucas Stephen Wilmot Judy Eaton Ian Newman Neil Harker Tom Harrison Julia Wells Rachel Goddard Dale Beesley Megan George Paul Stopple-Harris Cat Visor Anita Lower Aideen Carlos

Zoom attendees:

Mike Raffe Jonathan Stearn

2. Welcome (TM)

a. Declarations of potential conflicts of interest b. Non-members attending
c. Reminder of AGM process and etiquette

3.Review of nominations for the Committee, the Committee Monitor and Section Leaders (TM)

Role	Current (2023-2024)	Standing (2024-2025)
Committee
Chair	Tatti McNally	Tatti McNally
Vice Chair	Pat Morftt	Pat Morftt
Treasurer - Bookkeeper	Ciara Green	Aideen Carlos
Treasurer - Payer	Ciara Green	Ciara Green
Club Secretary	Stuart Gibbons	Stuart Gibbons
New Members Secretary	Thom Gifford	Alice Denning
Social Secretary	Felix Embery	Judy Eaton/Ian Newman
Young Members Secretary	Alice Denning	Alice Denning
PR Secretary	Rachael Fisher	Rachael Fisher
Webmaster	Chetan Padia	Lewis Small
Committee Monitor	Damien Tow	Damien Tow
Sections Leaders
Arch Managers	Guy Roebuck	Guy Roebuck
Badminton	Hena Rohman	Hena Rohman
Caving	Antonio Emmanouilidis	Antonio Emmanouilidis
Caving Deputy	Mat Budgen	Mat Budgen
Climbing	Stephen Wilmot	Stephen Wilmot
Climbing Deputy	Colin Glenny and Alastair Macgregor	Colin Glennie and Alastair Macgregor
Cycling / MTB	Lisa Carrington	Lisa Carrington
Cycling / MTB Deputy	Road – Stuart Gibbons Tue – Martin Packer Thu – Susie Llewelyn	Road – Stuart Gibbons Tue – Martin Packer
Kayaking	Peter Graham	Peter Graham
Kayaking Deputy	Thom Gifford & Pat Morftt	Thom Gifford & Pat Morftt
Mountain Sports	Damian Tow	Damian Tow
Running	Chetan Padia	Vacant
SUP	Stefania Rosso	Stefania Rosso
SUP Deputy	Colin Garbo	Colin Garbo
Surfng	Tim Perkins	Tim Perkins

Surfng Deputy	Cat Visor, Rufus Dummett	Cat Visor, Rufus Dummett
Tennis	Simon Gunn	Vacant
Walking	Anita Lower	Anita Lower
Walking Deputy	Elizabeth Kemp	Elizabeth Kemp
Windsurfng	Guy Roebuck	Guy Roebuck
Windsurfng Deputy	Judy Eaton	Judy Eaton

4.Approval of minutes from 2024 AGM – Thursday 14[th] May 2024 (TM) – Approved

5.Committee Reports

Chair (TM)

I want to say a massive ‘T hank You’ for coming along this evening to our AGM. It is important that we are accountable to our members (as well as being legally quorate)

It has been another busy year for Explorers in Brighton. Despite some pretty grim weather last Summer we still managed to offer 410 activities including 22 trips. It has been really encouraging to see new faces stepping up to help with all aspects of the club and without you all, long standing and new members, young and older members, we wouldn’t have a club.

In the last year Explorers have, true to form, been exploring far and wide over rivers, seas, mountains, hills and dales. I am now going to summarise the reports kindly written by section leaders. (These can be read in full in the minutes)

Mountain Sports was active this year with trips including hiking in the Lake District and Skye, sky running in the lakes and walking and bothying in the Cairngorms. Thanks to Damian for his leadership and for everyone who stepped up to run trips.

The Walking section leader also emphasised the big contributions made by members willing to step and lead walks and trips. There has been a varied programme of regular walks of varied length and terrain suited to a lot of different people. Anita has worked with the committee to streamline the safety guidelines and produce a checklist to help prospective leaders. So do step forward and lead if you’re interested.

The runners have been very active – and many are alarmingly fast! However, all abilities are welcome

In the Cycling section there has been a really strong turn out for mtb rides throughout the year and lots of variety in routes and speeds to suit all abilities under Lisas very experienced leadership. It has been great to see the Tuesday faster rides being reinvigorated by Martin Packer and even a few road rides being organised.

The climbing section has been really active which is great to see. Monday nights training at High Sports is especially popular in Winter but busy all year. There were also regular Summer Friday evening trips to local crags. Trips further afield were very well attended too. There were trips to Fountain Bleu, Sicily, North Wales, North Devon, the Peak District and Portland. Members put a lot of time and effort into making this happen so a special shout out to Stephen Wilmott, Alasdair McGregor and Colin Glenny for all their hard work. Also, to Chetan Padia and Alice Denning, Gaz Hughes and Lewis Small for their valuable contribution to the section.

The Kayaking Section has also been very active. 27 paddlers completed a kayaking Induction and there were 25 paddles on offer during the Summer and Autumn. It was great to see multi activity trips being offered to the Alps, North Wales, Dartmoor and the Brecon Beacons. In addition, there were pool sessions and trips to Lee Valley.

Peter did a great job in leading a team looking at the thorny issue of achieving compliance with PUK standards of deployment and pulling together and implementing a cunning plan. Pat has been a ball of energy and enthusiasm and made massive contributions to sessions, sea and pool, inductions, trips and staying on top of communication. Thom has been a staple at summer sessions and a stalwart in getting boats where they need to be. Simon Fisher, Colin Glenny, Colin Sandry and Gaz have all significantly contributed to making sessions and trips happen. Emma Bains and Gil are thanked for helping with inductions and our white-water leaders, Gareth, Jon and Stef are really appreciated for facilitating white water trips.

I haven’t mentioned all sections here but a massive thank you to all the section leaders who have offered leadership and encouraged participation in their sport, and to activity leaders who also give their time selflessly.

The committee has seen a few changes over the year. Val left to study in Devon and Rachel took over as PR Secretary during the year. Stef kindly deputised during this period of transition. Tom is also stepping down as new members secretary but will remain a stalwart in the Kayak section. Chetan has navigated the transition to the great new website and is has always been on hand to sort out issues as they occur. A massive thanks to Chetan. I have been privileged to chair an extremely dedicated and able group on the committee who amaze me with their talent and energy. I am aware that some of the key committee members will be stepping down in 2026 so we are going to give focus to opportunities for people interested in committee roles in the future to shadow members and observe the committee meetings. More of this anon.

This year we were very ably assisted by Cat Vizor and Emma Bain who wrote a safeguarding and welfare policy which is wonderfully clear, straightforward and helpful in supporting the safety of members.

We are also in the process of reviewing the Grievance and Disciplinary Policy . Still a work in progress I’m afraid.

I like to think that the club comprises a range of enthusiasts, underachievers, overachievers, specialists and have a go generalists coming together to learn new skills, make new friends and have fun in the outdoors. The multidisciplinary nature of the club is its unique strength but also its challenge. We have to balance access to experiences with safety (as the paddleboard incident in Wales so tragically illustrates) Pat continues to do an excellent job, aided by the committee and others to ensure that guidelines are in place to keep members safe without destroying fun and adventure.

I want to end by mentioning the Neil Patterson Memorial Fund that has been set up to reward outstanding contributions to the club and support members where we can. We have used the fund to thank Damian for running the successful and popular explorer's tales and I have a few small gifts to give out this evening. If you know of anyone who deserves a gift from the club, do get in touch with me or the committee.

Thom Gifford – the 22 to 24 chair who was never rewarded at the last AGM for this hard work in leading the club during his tenure.

Chetan for his exceptional contribution to club functioning and visibility through his website management over many years

A massive round of applause for committee members, sections leaders and activity organisers.

Vice Chair Report (PM)

As I reported last year, I asked the Section Leaders and Deputies to review the Risk Assessments and Safety Guidelines for each section. Ideally, this should be done annually, but the Risk Assessments still had the old BEC logo and the Safety Guidelines on the website were dated 2020! The Section Leaders kindly updated the documents, but I have been very slow at checking through them all, as this task always seemed to go to the bottom of my ‘to do’ list!

With help from Tatti, we finally went through the risk assessments and decided that although the layout was ‘old school’, they contained all the relevant information, so it wouldn’t be necessary to change the format drastically. Chris Linsdell has kindly helped with formatting and adding the not-sonew BEC logo and he has returned them to Section Leaders for final approval.

The good news about the delay is that as they are being re-checked again by Section Leaders after reformatting, they can be signed off with this year’s date and won’t need reviewing again until 2026. Tatti and I have almost finished consistency checking the updated Safety Guidelines and then the updated versions will be posted on the website. We are going to pin the safety guidelines for each section to the Signal Groups. I would like to encourage all members to read them, as they contain useful information to enable us to play safely.

We only had 3 accidents reported this year, which were all minor injuries sustained during white water kayaking. However, it is important to report ‘near-misses’ as well as accidents. The purpose is to ensure that lessons are learnt and to avoid mistakes being repeated. There is a form for reporting accidents or near misses, in the Section Leaders’ dashboard on the website, and the link to the form has been added to the updated Safety Guidelines. The information transfers directly to the accident log and I receive an alert. Accidents are discussed at the following Committee Meeting and any recommendations would be shared with the people involved and the Section Leader. In addition, we are going to pin the reporting form to each Signal group, to make it more accessible to all members. It is the responsibility of the activity leader or section leader to ensure that the form is completed, but we want to encourage all members to feel free to report issues.

In May, 2024, PaddleUK (the national governing body for kayaking and SUP) issued new guidance called Standards for Deployment , which outlines the training and qualifications that paddling leaders will require from 2026 onwards. All leaders will require an appropriate PUK qualification for the environment they lead in, 2 day Outdoor First Aid certificate, safeguarding training, relevant elearning and pay the full PUK membership fee.

Until now, PaddleUK has accepted ‘equivalent experience’ in lieu of qualifications. Stefania Rosso has audited the experience, training and qualifications of the paddling leaders each year and verified that each person has the equivalent experience to allow them to lead on the sea, local rivers and/or white water.

We have obtained a bursary of £1,850 from PUK and been pledged another £800 to help with the costs of obtaining qualifications. Stefania is working towards becoming a ‘Provider’, which, if she is successful, would allow her to award PUK qualifications. However, the standards for this are high, as most Providers work professionally in the outdoor activity industry. I would like to

thank Stefania for her effort with this and wish her good luck, as it would be a huge advantage to the club to have an inhouse Provider.

We recognise that paddle sports are costly for BEC to run, due to the cost of equipment, storage and club affiliation to PUK, and we now need to help members with the cost of obtaining qualifications. We are proposing to increase the cost of kayak and SUP inductions to £20 for new members and to add an addition fee of £20 per year to the membership fee of regular members who take part in kayaking and / or SUP (apart from low waged/unwaged). Paddle leaders will also pay this fee, but they will be able to reclaim the cost of their Paddle UK membership fees via the club bursary scheme.

Hopefully, the additional fee won’t deter members from paddle sports, but we will review the impact of this change.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who contributes towards the running of the club - you are all amazing - and particularly Tatti, who much to my relief, told me yesterday afternoon that she is willing to continue as Chair for another year. Tatti brings so much relevant knowledge and experience to the role and she works really hard.

This will definitely be my last year as Vice Chair, so please give some thought to volunteering next year. Pat Morfitt 29.04.2025

New members Secretary (TG)

We’ve had a reasonably successful year recruiting new members - thank you to everyone who has supported the new members evenings (especially pat who has covered more than half of them while also being deputy chair!) also thanks to everyone who came to the bar and chatted to the potential new members, it is all very much appreciated!

At present, we have 272 members, a decrease of 33 on this time last year. This could be due to a number of factors but should be easy enough to rectify by increasing our social media presence.

The usual annual pattern has repeated - there is a noticeable decrease during winter and a sharp uptick in enquiries and new memberships when the sun makes an appearance.

While I am stepping down from the committee I'm excited to see Alice taking over as new members secretary and look forward to seeing her bring the same vibrant energy to it that she brings to everything else she does.

Young Members Secretary (AD)

We have had a good year for the young members this year, with some successful young members socials, including one at the Dice Saloon Board Game cafe, and with a good influx of young members into the club generally. In the interests of promoting the club generally and in particular to young people, I made a flyer which I have liberally distributed around Brighton to various outdoor shops/ venues, climbing walls, libraries and cafes, to spread the word! This was with the very kind help of another BEC member Alex. This year I plan to organise some more socials, including one around the Rampion Wind Farm (by popular request) and continue promoting the club to more groups of young people.

Club Secretary (SG)

More work has been done this year to meet the expectations of the charity commission. We are so much closer this year than last. The safeguarding roles have been successfully setup, as the continued updated of BEC policies.

As ever, many thanks to the all the volunteers and committee members that contribute so much to make this club functional in a fun but safe and legal way.

PR Secretary (RF)

This year, our PR efforts have focused on increasing visibility and engagement through our main social media channels: Instagram and Facebook. Both platforms continue to perform well, showcasing the activities and achievements of our current members while also helping to attract new interest in the club.

We have made a conscious effort to maintain regular, high-quality posts that reflect the spirit of BEC. Member contributions have been invaluable in helping us build a growing photo bank, which will support future promotions and ensure we have a strong archive of club memories.

Excitingly, BEC-branded merchandise is on the way. We anticipate that this will not only help build a stronger club identity but also serve as an additional tool for promotion and member pride.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed content, supported posts, and engaged online — your involvement is key to our success.

Treasurer (CG)

Treasurer update BEC AGM 2025

1. Total funds

Current: £9,794.07 Investment: £23,441.54 Savings: £15,625.75 Total: £48,861.36

Surplus: £1346

Details : Shared_Accounts 24/25_v2.xlsx - Google Sheets

Income 15txio 10tsJO 5tr)0 Ine•m•
What we've spent money on

Arch Rental, Insurance, and

Bank fees have increased in the 2024-25 tax year. Business rates appear as a new cost in 2024-25. IT/Marketing, Water, Affiliations, and Energy costs have decreased in the 2024-25 tax year. Garage costs have remained the same.

Gear spending across sections

4. Other updates

Since we’re in a good position We’re not raising our membership prices this year

Some Problems:

Paying invoices and reimbursements is slow Members pay large bills themselves (£1000+ !) Bookkeeping/accounts is clunky Risky if treasurers need to change mid-year The Charity Commission has requested we follow various accounting-related regular processes

Solution: Change to Natwest!

➔ Make online payments
➔ Free accounting software for bookkeeping & accounts
➔ Debit card for payments

Late May/Early June

How much will this cost? All free for 2 years After that 0.35 per transaction. That would have been ~£100 for the year 24-25

DT – Maybe we should consider spending more money as we are doing so well. 9k is high for a current account

CG – Totally agree

DT – perhaps on training or equipment

CV – what is the reserve limit?

PM – 15K was decided years ago as good reserve to have, as its about 12 months running costs. TM – Which is about 3 to 6 months income

PM – maybe over cautious, but we need to be sensible.

TM – Also, being a club reliant on another independent club, BSC, there was a feeling/fear that if the Sailing club closed, we would struggle to survive. Based on the finical status of the BSC at that time. At that point, considering all the factors, £15k seemed like a good reserve to have.

SW – we could look at what we are spending money on. The BMC bursey is a great start, and a good use of money. Maybe other sections could benefit too.

PM – look at bursey policy too. For leader etc. Like BMC now gets paid

TM – we can set up working groups to look at how funds get be best used.

Web Master (CP)

The website continues to run mostly without issues thanks to the MyClubhouse platform. They have added a lot of new features recently and we may be able to streamline some of our operations in future with them.

The Signal groups see plenty of chat, photos and members arranging to meet up. Some maintenance issues continue with Signal from time to time and it worth the incoming committee evaluating the new Chat feature on MyClubhouse as a potential successor.

A big thanks to Lewis Small and Tatti who have worked together on the newsletter. It's been a wonderful addition to the club.

It's been a pleasure being part of the committee and working with such helpful and dedicated volunteers. Thanks all.

Appendix:

Climbing Section Report (SW)

BEC climbing section report 2024-2025

The BEC climbing section is anchored by Monday night training sessions at our local indoor climbing wall, High Sports, even though all the real fun happens outside at the weekend or on holiday. We usually have a dozen or more climbers on Monday nights, more in winter and fewer in summer, often comprising a mixture of longtime members and relative newcomers.

But the section is really about exploring crags in the great outdoors.

The year under review started with a weekend trip to Swanage in April 2024 for a mixture of sport and trad climbing, with 14 climbers joining, organised by section leader Stephen Wilmot. Over the second May bank holiday weekend deputy section leader Colin Glenny initiated a trip to Snowdonia that was a great success, with 17 members attending for walking, scrambling and climbing.

In May, June and July we also held Friday night sandstone sessions most weeks at Bowles or Harrison’s in northeast Sussex. Attendance was variable depending on the weather, but we had some wonderful sessions running into the dusk at Harrison’s, which gets the summer evening sun.

August featured what has become our incredibly popular annual trip to Europe’s bouldering capital Fontainebleau in France, organised by our other deputy section leader Alasdair McGregor as well as the multi-talented Chetan Padia. It was a sellout with 20 members climbing at varying levels—not to mention swimming in the river, mountain-biking through the forest and eating too many croissants from the village bakery.

In September Alice Denning proposed a trip to Britain’s sport-climbing home in Portland, Dorset. The weather wasn’t ideal, which limited attendance, but by all accounts everyone had a wonderful time with a mixture of climbing when possible and trail running when the heavens opened. It’s great to see Alice getting involved with organising trips.

In October some climbers joined Pat Morfitt’s watersports-led trip to Appledore in North Devon to climb at Baggy Point. We had an excellent time exploring the crag and mingling socially with the kayakers, but the venue isn’t beginner-friendly, so it may not be an experiment we repeat this year.

Four BEC members led by the ever supportive Colin Sandry headed to Sicily during the February half term for a week of winter climbing. Everyone had such a good time and the crag was so interesting and accessible at all levels that some of the same team are heading back in February 2026.

Finally, we kicked off the 2025 season at the end of March with a very successful trip to the Peak district. Four members, two of them new to the club, did trad-climbing courses, which means we now have a very robust cohort of climbers with the skills and gear to spearhead trips to Britain’s wealth of trad crags and support members who are interested in learning by seconding their more experienced peers.

The March trip was an early sign of our intentions for the current fiscal year. Following some discussion among the section leaders over the winter, the climbing section this season is focusing more on weekend trips away, particularly to trad venues that are accessible in grade and location, with less emphasis on weekly trips to the local sandstone. We still aim to get to Portland in May for sport-climbing.

Many thanks to everyone who has got involved with organising trips or contributing their skills or simply good vibes to the climbing section. In addition to those already mentioned, shoutouts to Gaz Hughes and Lewis Small.

Onwards and particularly, upwards!

Stephen, Colin G and Alasdair

Running Section Report

The running section has been going from strength to strength, mostly organising ad-hoc runs on the Signal group.

This winter saw regular sunrise runs, which was a great way to start the week.

Local trail runs have included the downs and cliff tops around Brighton, the South Downs Way to Southease, local Park Runs, a glorious snowy run to Ditchling Beacon, as well as numerous evenings around Stanmer Park, most recently to see the magnificent bluebells. An especially big thanks to Alex Zawadzki for his lifts and enthusiasm for Stanmer Park, and to Stephen Wilmot, Alice Denning, Hannah Loryman and Alasdair McGregor for their excellent company and encouragement on many of these outings.

This year's Explorathon included a tough run to Devil's Dyke. A big well done goes to everyone who did that leg, especially to those who got lost en route and had to go further.

There has also been plenty of running on trips away, including some epic trails in the Lake District, scorching hot forests in Fontainbleau, and members exploring the trails on trips to Devon and Wales.

A personal highlight was completing the Beachy Head Ultramarathon.

In February some members ran the Sussex Downs Trail half marathon in Plumpton and recorded some very competitive times. Earlier this month, some members also ran the Brighton Marathon with many others coming out to support. Well done all!

6.Close of Nominations for Committee, Committee Monitor and Section Leaders (TM)

TM – Any more nominations for roles?

No TM – Is a bulk vote for the committee roles acceptable? DT – Propose CV - Second TM – All those in favour? All in agreement - Unanimous

TM – Any more nominations for Section leaders? No PM – Any volunteers for tennis and running? None.

TM – Bulk vote for Section Leaders? PM - Propose AL – Second TM – All in favour? All in agreement – unanimous

7.Motions (TM)

None

8.Election of Committee Members, Section Leaders, and the recording of Holding Trustees (TM)

Damian as trustee
Holding Trustee for Arch are the lease names to be determined.

9.AOB (at discretion of Chair)

RS – Where can we learn more about the chat feature on the web site. CP – We can discuss afterwards.

10.Proposed date for 2026 AGM

April 28[th] , 2026

Close

TM – Thanks you all for coming, we have such a positive club at the moment.

----- Start of picture text -----
Real terms 24/25
Fixed costs 24-25 23-24
Arch Rental 2236.53 2236.53 1,575.00
add in business rates
Insurance 3349.57 3349.57 2,593.06
IT/Marketing 883.7 883.7 1,255.34
Garage 840 840 840.00
Water 125.64 125.64 138.51
Affiliations 3135 3135 3,420.00
Energy 330 330 725.53
Bank fees 878.99 878.99 620.24
Gear 1154.48
Variable costs
Training 956 2,185.00
Gear 1154.48 1154.48 3,043.46
Meetings 96.62 96.62
Parties 235.81
Trips 7779.06 9835.07
Pool Session costs 720
Money out total 22721.4 13030.53
Income
Membership 13764.4 13764.4 13,973.10
Film night 12 12
Inductions 615 615 850.00
PaddleUK Bursary 1,875.00
Other 32 32
Merch 16 16
Trips 6805 -974.06
Pool Sessions tickets 684 -36
Parties 337 101.19
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Real terms 24/25
Interest 472.00 472.00
Investments 374.00 374.00
Money in total 24986.4 14376.53
Surplus 2265 1346
----- End of picture text -----

Real terms 24125