| Author | Message | ||
     Patti Atkinson |
I agree with Douglas - his last few points are spot on. Our helpers enable us to compete - do we value them enough? The rearranged National Championships certainly looked after their stewards wonderfully well. How many competitors (and staff, grooms, backsteppers) help at an event during the year? I know lots do but many dont. Novices and Intermediates - why have them doing fewer cones or indeed fewer flags (or even obstacles)? Surely it is more confusing to NOT remember the 'F' in an obstacle? Keep international selection out of the conference. There must be a committee that handles this and it should be to them that representation is made. Conference is not the place. | ||
| Douglas Strachan |
Thoughts by Grumpy Old Man Douglas Strachan 17.10.07 General Let us be positive. The past year has seen two major changes, to the Class Structure and to the Budget. Against this our volunteer Council has had to deal with Flood and Pestilence and the consequence of reduced entries from cancellations and re-locations. The resignation of both staff members has resulted in much more work for our Council To all the Council and Event Organisers I am most grateful for all their efforts. To answer some of Mike’s comments Class Structure Whilst I disagreed with the new Class Structure I would suggest that it be given at least another year before we consider any major changes. Budget Revised Club Affiliation Fees I understand that this is reasonably in balance so leave it alone (A system for the election of Club Representation to the Council is now being progressed) Horse Registration / Start Money With respect to this, the 2006 Budget shows an income from Horse Registration/ Admin Fee of £28127. I estimate that for 2007 the income from Start Money will be of the order of £21685. If the entries had been similar to 2006 (remember that we had reduced Catton/ Ashfield, lost Henbury, reduced Nationals) this would have raised another estimated £5292. The BHDTA can not afford to scrap this source of income I therefore consider that Start Money be continued for another year as “The User Pays” Office Costs Mike states that the Overheads of £81883 is to support only the 200 “ National “ competitors but he excludes the 800* other Members and the 2400* members of Affiliated Clubs (* these figures based on 2005 information) If we are to be a progressive Association we must have permanent staff to relieve the burden on our volunteers and this staff must have the appropriate facilities. (The 2006 Budget of £82k shows Staff £41, General Expenses £27k, Membership Expenses £8k, Equipment £3k, VAT £3k) At the 2006 Conference the BHDTA Council was very conscious of these costs and I am sure that they have been monitoring them very closely. Losses from Windsor Cancellation It is rumoured that the Association has suffered a hit of £20,000 from the cancellation of Windsor due to the Foot and Mouth Restrictions. I don’t know how the Catton finances have worked out but I think the Windsor event has always been a positive contributor to the Association income in the past. (Didn’t the Council and Event Organiser Jill Holah and her team do a magnificent job in transferring to Catton. Again many thanks) Insurance and Reportable Incidents Insurance Costs are critical to our Budget and in this climate of increased litigation I would suggest that Council should give guidance on Reportable Incidents Pony Team Selection Mike and I are on the same wavelength but this only effects 15% of the 200, ie. 30 competitors . Please, please do not let it dominate the Conference time. If necessary let it be discussed at a subsidiary meeting open to those interested Grass Roots At the grass roots level of our Sport, we at the North East have enjoyed our best year yet with entries increased by 40% for our seven TDEs At the Junior Championships, now in its fourth year, the quality of driving was most impressive and entries included, for the first time, competitors from Wales and France !!! Conclusion I accept that there will be differences of opinion on many items but to me the major priority is to get the Budget right Let us 1) Recognise that we are totally dependent on Volunteers 2) Pull together and keep our differences in perspective 3) Give our new Executive Officer, Mary, all our support as she faces a very steep learning curve 4) Remember that we are in this Sport for PLEASURE Note The above figures are for guidance only as they are my interpretation and I am sure Derek will have the correct facts | ||
| Jane Wilson |
With regard to class structure, I think it would only be sensible to stick with the new system for a bit longer to have the chance to assess the real impact. It stands to reason that in the first year, having effectively divided one class into three, numbers are going to be down, but this should address itself naturally if allowed to do so. However, I think it needs some fine tuning and I know that's going to be difficult. I'm not sure how fair it is to have a situation where a person can qualify in one year in both the intermediate class and the open and yet I think it's great that an open driver is able to drop back to intermediate with a young horse. Hopefully there will be better brains than mine to give thought to this! | ||
| Danielle Twitchen |
I wont be at he conference due to lack of babysitter (just about got one for the night) I don't mind how they want to go on the selection next year but all i ask is they stick to a system. If they want the best allrounders, go with the points. If they want the team medal go with the people who have the best points in each system, like what Douglas has put up on the forum. No room for any comitee to fix. As this might affect me I hope it can be sorted by next years start of selection Danielle | ||
| Mike Watts |
BHDTA Office news for October suggested some questions to consider at the conference. Maybe this year some real discussion will be allowed, perhaps some of it can be here....here are the questions and some 'responses' written to encourage debate. What do you think? These were the questions suggested: Is the Class Structure now working? Do you like not having to register your horse? Do you like start fees, or should they be replaced with Horse Registrations? Would you like more two day events? Should Intermediates drive with fewer cones? Should pairs have more clearance in the cones? Should there be only two dressage judges per arena to reduce cost? Class structure? maybe it needs another year to see. However, the resulting classes were small for Open Pony - maybe we have one class too many. Rating horses as well as drivers simply seemed to let advanced drivers win open - how about rating drivers only (again) keeping it simple where we can, especially as there's a scheme for dropping down from Advanced to Open. Do we like start fees or horse registration? Neither - who wants to fill in extra forms, bureaucracy and pay money for no obvious gain? The organisation needs to control its costs to remove both these types of fees entirely and so encourage participation; it makes no sense to spend 80k (£81,883 - see accounts 2006) to administer a sport with under 200 national competitors - that's over £400 each) Actual events are self funding from entry fees. Should Intermediates drive with fewer cones? No, everyone from pre novice can perfectly well drive the same number of cones. Changing the number for each class seems to confuse everyone, including drivers, judges and stewards [Sandringham national nobody seemed to know the number - there was confusion and the speed was set wrongly. Keep it simple.] Should pairs have more clearance in the cones? No. Should there be only two dressage judges to reduce costs? Publish the cost breakdown so people can make sensible input on this, otherwise it's hard to say. I think many of these questions are fiddling while Rome burns - we need bolder initiatives to encourage participation and spectators, not fiddling with the cones width and more forms, nor fees penalising frequent entrants. The growth of indoor driving was probably the biggest boost we've seen lately. Concentrate on introducing new people (all ages). Clean up the selection of UK teams to improve the atmosphere [same scheme for ponies and horses, just use points as in the horse scheme - clean, simple, lets the trainers and team builders function without conflict of interest and role confusion]. Competitors should be chosen for ability at the sport without even the appearance it depends on other factors from fund raising to elocution and, in a sport as small as ours, that means on results. these are possible remarks to encourage debate. Lots of people did a fabulous job this year in rescheduling events in the face of flood and fmd, as well as the hard work they do every year... but entries, events, standards and fun can all grow. Make your suggestions. |