Committee: The President

The Club President is posibly the most important job in the club. The President is the person who sets the tone of the club and who decides the direction in which the club is going. These often depend on the state of the club - and at times of the society - in which he/she holds office. For instance during the Second World War Charlie Middler was president and his job was clearly to maintain the club as a going concern so that it would start up efficiently and smoothly on the cessation of hostilities. In the Thirties when the club was not successful athletically and society was riven by the Great Depression with members out of work and many leaving the area to find work, the task was to keep up spirits, keep any momentum going and there was as great a concentration on the social life as on the athletics.

Presidents tend to be of two kinds - those who push and prod the club in a particular direction and those who take a steadier approach and concentrate on keeping the club on an even keel. As I said the function is dependant on the state of the club, the demands of the time and also on the personality of the president. David Bowman was a canny mixture of both and when I joined the club he was a superb example of what a president should be. Our President this year is Peter Rudzinski, a man of vast Committee Experience having held most of the significant posts on the Committee. This year he has been an excellent example of the 'steady as you go' president. If everyone else does their job properly, he could do a good job next year as well.

Some clubs have a President who is a leader and figurehead and who is separate from the chairman. Our version is a president who also chairs meetings. Some clubs have two vice presidents along with the president himself: one of them is the immediate past president, the other is the prospective next holder of the office. This has a LOT to commend it. Keeping the immediate past president ensures an element of continuity and we have not had that at times in the recent past when three presidents that I can think of, left the committee completely the minute their term of office is over. So there are two alternative models of the top of a club: (a) separate the president and chairman functions - I doubt whether we have enough to do that yet; (b) elect two vice presidents with the immediate past president as one to ensure some continuity and another who will take on the job next.

President, Scretary and Treasurer are usually referred collectively as the club exeutive and I'll have a look at the executive as a whole next time.