1. Welcome & apologies for absence.
Ewan McCarthy has been appointed as Elite Director of the Company, and was welcomed to his first Board meeting.
Apologies –Jon Musgrave (JM), Rachel Wilson (RW), Roger Scrutton (RAS), Richard Oxlade (RO)
2. Register of interests – check & update.
Checked and completed by those present.
3. Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of Directors on 2 December 2015
Approved.
4. Matters arising from the minutes of 2 December (not covered in the agenda below)
AP1 (KM) – Formal agreement is still required with Paul Frost. No further action has taken place.
Action KM: Follow-up with Ross McLennan.
5. Finance report (KM)
KM provided a financial report, including the final income from Highland 2015 (combined with WOC). Overall balance is healthy, Highland 2015 made a surplus. Club share of the surplus has been distributed.
A formal agreement is to be signed between WOC and 6-Day Company, agreeing transfer of surplus.
Mapping fund of c. £7500 still to be paid out, as not all invoices and expenses from clubs have been received.
An entry was put in for Highland 2015 for the BT Sports Awards, Participation category, but was not shortlisted.
Action KM: Invoice Event Scotland for costs of submitting BT Sports Award bid.
6. Highland 2015
CM circulated a report that included an update on Highland 2015.
RS received a note from INVOC raising concerns over treatment of their SportIdent units that had been used for Highland 2015, which were all upgraded before the event. Agreed that the Board should formalise agreements with clubs for lending kit, including notification of e.g. firmware upgrades made to the units.
Action RS: Draft a formal agreement for loan of club equipment.
A discussion took place on possible investment of the surplus from Highland 2015. The Board agreed to increase the money paid to SOA in respect of CM’s overall costs.
Action ALL: Share ideas for investment of surplus.
7. Deeside 2017
CM circulated a report on progress.
The web site is now live; logo is still to be finalised. Embargo maps for each area will soon be added to the web site. Good progress on identifying parking/assembly fields. Base map production has started. A single tender has been issued to Stirling Surveys. CE as Technical Director will advise the Mapping Co-ordinator on mapping.
Action CE: Contact Drew Tivendale (2017 Mapping Co-ordinator).
The Deeside area is recovering from the recent flooding damage, and the local community is keen to boost tourism. This is an opportunity for Deeside 2017.
The Board anticipate an initial event budget will be presented soon and that an event account will be opened.
CM has been in contact with Event Scotland over funding; need to consider funding approach. Focus is on raising international participation levels.
Action CM: Circulate draft application to Board members for comment.
RL raised the issue of risk register and developing good links with local community, for publicity and also for alerting local communities about potential issues like increased traffic and possible congestion. CM reported that there is a volunteer on the Central Organising committee to act as community liaison and central point of contact. RL has previously produced a draft publicity leaflet for local communities explaining the 6-Day competition to the public, which could be developed further.
Action RL: Send CM draft leaflet.
8. 6 Days 2019
Working location is the Forth Valley. FVO are happy in principle to provide the core central organising team; however an Event co-ordinator has not been identified.
Action KM and DS: Contact CLYDE and TAY respectively to identify possible Event co-ordinators.
9. 6 Day Business Plan
CM circulated a commented-on version of the latest draft of the Business Plan. There is a requirement from Event Scotland and other external organisations to have a clear articulation of purpose, plans and objectives.
The content the Plan should include, and effective presentation of that content, including data to support the assertions made in the plan, was discussed. There are still areas to be updated including additional statistics relating to participation, growth, economic impact, and comparative data with other similar events. Past EKOS surveys are a useful source of data to extract growth and significant trends.
The Business Plan also needs to balance the company ethos of developing orienteering across Scotland with providing a suitably high quality of experience. If quality precludes visiting certain areas, the Company needs to discuss how the company ethos can best be met.
Action CM: Circulate EKOS surveys to Board members.
Action RS: Review and revise entry statistics.
Action ALL: Review and comment on current draft
Action DK and CM: Produce new draft based on feedback.
10. 6 Day Risk Register
RW circulated a revised risk register, which was discussed.
RS queried distinction between risk register for a 6-Day event and risk register for the 6-Day Company. Some event risks affect the Company. Agreed there should be a risk register for each event.
Agreed that loss of reputation amongst local community, for example due to one-off incidents, should be identified as a specific risk with associated mitigating actions.
Further coverage of IT-related risks is needed, including safeguarding of equipment in storage and during transport; also other equipment, such as tents. This could be combined into a more extensive “loss of assets” risk.
Access to back-up power supply to support download and results is another risk.
The Board agreed that, with the amendments noted, this should be adopted as the Company Risk Register.
Action DK and RW: Revise and circulate Risk Register.
11. SOA Professional Officer
CM circulated a report and provided additional observations.
There are potential staffing changes due to expected changes in SportScotland funding. An Admin Officer (Sarah Hobbs) was recently appointed and has started at Glenmore Lodge. The main uncertainty relates to future funding of RDO posts. An advert for a Glenmore Lodge based Chief Operating Officer (COO) has been prepared and will appear shortly. Decisions from SportScotland anticipated mid-March.
LIDAR data availability is being circulated to clubs, and also being used for some Deeside 2017 areas.
When geo-referencing maps, copyright acknowledgement to the Ordnance Survey is needed. OS copyright statements on orienteering maps should not be obscured by descriptions.
Public sector cuts have affected Forestry Commission staffing budgets, which may in certain specific situations have implications on orienteering events taking place alongside other events on FC land.
CM has started to talk to Landmarc, who manage MoD Defence training land, and which lies outwith the Land Access Agreement. This may affect areas that are part of the Defence Estate.
12. SOA business relevant to 6-Day Company
RAS had circulated a report prior to the meeting.
13. AOB
KM will be standing down from the Board as Company Treasurer at the next AGM, so a replacement will be needed.
Action DK and KM
14. Future meeting dates
Wednesday 11th May
Meeting closed at 8.25pm