Committee: The Club Executive

In any organisation - Social Club, Sports Club, whatever - the President, Secretary and Treasurer are known collectively as the club executive. There are times when a matter has to be decided quickly and there is no time to call the wole committee together, there are times when something is so unusual (the John Tonner situation)that you don't want too many folk knowing about it and these are the kind of situations where the club executive can take a decision on behalf of the club. It follows that the three people involved have to be fairly experienced and trusted by the club. They may go for a year or even two without taking an executive decision but on the occasions when one has to be made, the power is invaluable.

We are fortunate in the club this year to have a very good trio looking after the fortunes of the club. All positions are up for grabs at the AGM although the committee does have its own nominations. This is not to stop any counter proposals but rather to make sure that by the end of the AGM there is a name at every position. My own position would be to seriously ask the top trio to stay in post and then look for alternative nominations for all ther posts. This is not because the current holders are not up to the job BUT it is a sign of a healthy club that there is competition for the committee posts and it also gives the holders of the offices after the meeting a bit more confidence knowing that they have been elected.

The big posts for me this year are Men's Captain - with no disrespect at all to current holders or those in the recent past we really need an active Captaian on the Men's side - and a team manager for the Ladies who will look after the young girls, enter their teams, collect their numbers and take them round the course at races. I also feel that the old idea of having associate members who will not be running members but who are prepared to help the committee or the club in some way should be resurrected. David Bowman's wife's brother was Jack Picken and he came to committee meetings and attended Dunbartonshire AAA Meetings with David on behalf of the club; Doug Gemmell's Dad was club secretary for many years in a similar capacity of associate member. Just as we recruit runners, so we should maybe recruit committee members. Not being a runner should not ba a bar to committee membership.

Anyway, that's just me - the meeting is on Friday at 6:30. Members should make every effort to attend. If you don't want to come you will find a reason - it's too wet, the weather is too good to be indoors - but we are only asking for an hour or an hour and a quarter once a year to attend to the business of your club. If you really, really can't come at least send an apology for your absence.