New Year Message to Members
Club news from your Committee
A Happy New Year to all members and friends of Rugby and Northampton AC.
We would like to take this opportunity to update you on a number of significant events relating to the Club that took place in 2008 and to outline some plans for 2009.
Firstly, we are delighted to report that in 2008 our Young Athletes enjoyed their most successful year ever. Our team finished 3rd out of 16 teams in the Midland Premier Division of the National Young Athletes League and thereby qualified for the League Auxiliary Final. This was held in September at the Manchester Regional Arena, part of the SPORTCITY complex that was built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Competing against 7 other leading clubs from all over the country, our team came close to winning, eventually finishing in a creditable second place behind Enfield & Haringey. Congratulations to all of the athletes, team managers, coaches and helpers on this magnificent achievement.
Good communication is something that is very important for the continued success and development of the Club and is something that we have struggled with as the Club has grown and people have faced increasing demands on their time. We have therefore invested heavily in the last year on a new, professionally-designed website (still at www.randnac.org). We hope that this new website will be easier to maintain than the previous versions, although this will still rely on the efforts of contributors and the website editors: Bryan Acford, Ruth Waugh and George Jones. Please visit the site regularly to obtain the latest news and information relating to the Club.
The Sixfields athletics track at Northampton is on land leased by Northampton Town Football Club (NTFC) from Northampton Borough Council (NBC) and NTFC is responsible for managing the athletics facilities. During the last year, we have signed a new agreement with NTFC that clarifies certain aspects of the previous agreement that had been in dispute. A key objective of the new agreement is to provide funds for maintenance work at the track, which has become increasingly necessary as a result of the low level of work done in recent years by NTFC and NBC.
The new maintenance fund will be jointly managed by NTFC and ourselves and comprises an initial sum of £10K that we have jointly contributed, together with 50% of the future track hire charges that we pay to NTFC, which will provide around £5K per year. This will not be sufficient to return the track to competition standard, but should enable it to be maintained as a training venue. The fund has already been used to pay for repairs to the floodlights and we will pursue a plan for other maintenance actions with NTFC. This arrangement was intended as a short-term solution in anticipation that a new competition-standard track would be built elsewhere in Northampton as part of the redevelopment of the Sixfields site, but news before Christmas that the Council has rejected the latest redevelopment plan means that the provision of such a new track looks unlikely in the foreseeable future.
At both the Sixfields and Rugby tracks, we have an obligation not to leave litter on the track and surrounding areas. This was reinforced in the new agreement with NTFC - we risk incurring a substantial charge for cleaning services if we fail in this obligation. Please could all members using the tracks help us to keep them clean by placing any rubbish, e.g. drinks bottles, in the rubbish bins or by taking rubbish home.
Another area in which we have struggled in recent years is finding enough volunteers to help run the Club. Consequently, we are formulating new plans to establish a series of working groups, each responsible for one of the key tasks or functions in the Club, e.g. Coaching & Competition; Track Promotions; Road & Cross Country Promotions; Facilities; Social & Fund Raising; Communications. When these plans have been developed further, we will be seeking your comments and your approval to implement the plans. In the meantime, if anyone wishes to contribute to the plans or to volunteer for any of the working groups, please let us know.
Finally, could we ask any members who have not yet paid their subs for 2008-09 to do so as soon as possible please. A renewal form and the subs rates are available on the website.
Best wishes for the year ahead.
The Executive Committee – Ken Horton, Linda Carter, Paul Cooper.
