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PUBLIC MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF COUNCIL - January 2007

Minutes of BSAC Council Meeting Saturday 27th January 2007 at NCVO Building, London

Present:
Marcus Allen MA
Clare Peddie CP
Mike Todd MKT
Tony Marshall TM
Adrian Hall AH
Andy Moll AM
David Dixon DD
Edward Haynes EH
Keith Lawrence KL
Bob Healey RH
Tony Reed AR
Deric Ellerby DE
John Betts JB
Mary Tetley MT
Apologies:
Apologies have been received from Mark Allen, Anne Clark, Ernie Crook, Harry Gould and Ian Irvine.
 
MKT passed round a short communication from Mark Allen who is in Afghanistan. The Council wish any service or civilian members of the BSAC serving in Afghanistan a safe tour.

Minutes of the previous Meeting
The Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted.
 
Matters arising
There were no matters arising other than those to be considered at this meeting.

Ratification of E-mail Voting
Insurance quote from Dive Master – 13 votes for, 0 against, 1 no response – carried.

Chairman’s Report
MA welcomed back MT and congratulated her and her husband on the birth of their daughter.

The Diving DVD Project is progressing and there is the possibility of a sponsor to meet the full cost of 20000 units and it should be available from May of this year. It is intended to allow MCS to have an input

BSAC/MCS campaign will be launched at LIDS.
 
NDO’s Report (circulated previously)
CP explained how the new DTP pack arrived only just in time for DOC.

The Instructor Manual DVD has been well received and no-one has complained about the £10 cost.
 
DOC was well attended and well received,

EUF accreditation and recognition will begin in early February.

Brand Survey Report (David Teasedale, Chairman of Goodform Ltd)
DT referred to the Members Questionnaire and the findings. He explained that it was all about BSAC, increasing membership, looking at the BSAC “Brand� and making improvements to the web.

Doing nothing would be a fairly major decision. Strategic changes should take place only with the cooperation of the members.
  • There was a lack of clear backing from the membership for the BSAC name and logo.
  • There was confusion over strap lines.
  • The Dive Show results were smaller (120) but followed the same sorts of trends.
  • The logo (Neptune) is regarded as traditional, appropriate, clear and old fashioned. It is not considered to be modern, fun or dynamic.
DT went through the case for changing the name and brand but also the case for not changing.
 
The strategic aim is to increase membership and, therefore, some changes will be needed.

An effective BSAC strap-line is needed.

DT left the meeting.

MA then asked Council for their views on DT’s presentation. The general feeling was to take on board our brand values and strap-line. The logo should be “modernised� and, possibly simplified. Several people pointed out that the British Sub-Aqua Club had spent 50+ years doing what it does and was well known and recognised throughout the diving world for what it does.

Treasurers Report (circulated previously)
AH announced that the budget surplus is due to be £41,812 which is £22,232 up on the predicted surplus of £19,578. This would appear to be mainly due to budget holders not spending all of their budgets.

Income is down but so is expenditure.
AH said that, in view of the very difficult decisions that had had to be made this time last year, the results were quite gratifying.
 
Membership Statistics (circulated previously)
MA announced that the overall membership continues to fall with a drop of 884 during 2006. There are signs that the rate of loss may be slowing down.

We are attracting fewer new members but retaining a few more than previously.

Snorkelling membership is holding up quite well.
There has been quite a drop in the number of candidates on Branch-run SDCs – probably as a result of Oxygen Admin and Rescue Management becoming part of dive training.

Operations Manager’s Report (circulated previously)
Alison Dando is undergoing training at HQ and is progressing very well. She will be concentrating on LIDS using her marketing skills.

Staff who will be attending dive shows are undergoing training so that they can better represent the BSAC.
Staff are also being encouraged to think about membership growth.

Actions from Group Reports
HQ Comms – EH proposed to put the new telephone system for HQ out to tender. This was seconded by DD and passed unanimously.

Travel Club – This is undergoing a major rethink to improve the benefits to members.

Insurance – MA proposed a vote of thanks to AC for her efforts in reducing the insurance premium.

AOB
AM proposed that all VPs should be officially recognised by being presented with a BSAC Certificate. The proposal was seconded by TM and passed unanimously.

AH requested Council approval for the Dive Leading manual reprint of 5000 copies. Seconded by MA. Unanimously approved.

AH recommended a recommended retail price for all manuals should be £25.00. Seconded by MA. Unanimously approved.
 
AH requested Council approval for the Diving Manual reprint of 10,000 copies Seconded by MA – unanimously approved.

TM raised an issue from the SE Coaches meeting which suggested that there should be an insurance cover available for boats and equipment used on SDCs, etc. This will be investigated.

KL asked for an update on the extension of O2 cleaning to 15 months. TM explained that there were some issues still to resolve and he would report back at the next Council meeting.

Next meeting 17th March at NCVO.
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