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Dear Members

As I have mentioned in communications throughout 2015 and most recently, last month, further fee increases are inevitable this year. Our Treasurer and Club Development Officer have been working hard to understand the full financial implications and looked at various options as to the levels of increase we would need to apply to give us the best chance of reaching a sustainable position.

The options were put to the Committee last Saturday 2nd February with a recommendation from the Executive Committee that a 12.5% rise should be applied from 1st April 2016.

This is more than we were aiming for but still considerably less than what is really necessary. Monthly fees across all squads will now be:

For transparency, your fees are split roughly 65% on pool hire costs and 35% on coaching fees and other essential ‘incidentals’. I have included the current and new fees and included the monthly variance that we will be required to make up. This variance is the reason that fundraising is so vitally important to our Club, otherwise we will fail to the costs of our travel to events such as the Junior League and the poolside passes at every competition.

I appreciate that this is not good news and that the financial pressures will make many consider whether swimming is now affordable. We have debated this at length and we are absolutely certain that there is no option left open to us. We have compared ourselves to standard Gateshead Council swimming sessions and lessons and remain competitive with them.

Please get involved in any fundraising activities where you can. Some future swimming events and competitions will be wholly reliant on raising the funds to support and will demand that those taking part join in in shaking buckets and packing shopping bags!

Please don’t hesitate to give any of the committee or me a nudge if you have any queries or ideas. We will always listen and try to act where necessary.

Yours sincerely

Andy Strickland

Club Chairman

GAWASC_Fee_Increase_v1.0

We registered the Club with “Sainsburys active kids” scheme and are now collecting vouchers to help pay for essential sports equipment.

Vouchers can be given to any Committee Member or alternatively we have a collection box which is being kept at GLC.

So starting collecting guys and gals 🙂

Michelle Wyles has stepped down from the role of A Squad Rep with immediate effect.  The Committee wish to thank Michelle for her hard work and dedication.

Sarah Pashley  has agreed to take over as Squad Rep for A Squad, for which the Committee are very grateful.  Her contact details can be found here.

Dear Members,

I’d like to start by wishing every one of you, swimmers, parents and carers, volunteers and
coaches, a very happy New Year. I hope that each and everyone of you had a great
Christmas and that 2016 promises to be a fantastic year for all of you.

2015 was an extremely turbulent year for the Club. Out of the pool, we have had to
manage huge price increases and restrictions to the available pool time placed upon us by
Council cuts and reorganisations. This turbulence gave us a few headaches initially, with
some of our more senior swimmers moving on to new clubs in search of guaranteed
stability.

In the pool, our success continues to grow. We have seen an increase in representative
swimming at County, Regional and National levels and our Junior League team were
crowned Northumberland and Durham Champions for the first time and went on to
represent us at the National Final in Corby, finishing a creditable sixth. We have started
restructuring in the more junior squads, increasing capacity where possible. A set criterion
for our squads has been developed and, with one or two small exceptions, has now been
implemented. This criteria recognises the competitive nature of the Club and has been
developed around the Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) programme.

We have also been at the forefront of the introduction of the Tyne and Wear Hub; a
performance swimming group for those high-achieving young swimmers not yet eligible for
the Beacon Programme. This is being supported by the Tyne and Wear Network of clubs,
looking to work together for the betterment of our regional swimming. This is all embryonic
stuff at the moment but with hard work will undoubtedly prove successful.

This New Year promises to be just as challenging for us as a club. As the Council look to
make further savings, there is little doubt that leisure will be right in the spotlight as a nonstatutory
service that they provide. What this will actually mean for us is not yet known;
however, I am absolutely certain that more change is around the corner. We will, of
course, continue to work alongside the Council to get the best solution that we can for
ourselves.

The Council are currently undertaking an exercise to look at every option they have to
make savings in leisure, but they have declared that the closure of one of Gateshead’s
Leisure Centres and Pools is definitely amongst those options.

Financially, we have assessed that we are currently in the region of £20,000 short of what
we need as a sustainable income. We have managed to attract a few more sponsors and
benefactors, but we need to continue to develop our supporter network and show the
Borough’s businesses what a force for good in the area we can be.

I must put out an early warning for fee increases in April too. We are currently looking at
what will need to happen and then also looking at our options to mitigate against it and
minimise the increases that will need to be passed on.

There is much that we as members can do to help ourselves too. The engagement of our
entire membership has not been great. Several events recently weren’t as well supported
as they could have been. We struggled to cover the available tills at a recent bag-pack
and because of this did not make the most of the opportunity to raise some much-needed
cash. Similarly, the Christmas party and Ceilidh were brilliant events where everyone had
a great time but with greater participation could have been considerably more successful
for the Club. Thanks to all of you that came along or helped to organise the events.

Unless we can increase and improve our fundraising, then we will struggle to continue into
the future. Please spare some time to help the fundraising effort when the opportunity
arises. The more we can raise through bag-packs at local supermarkets then the lower
our fee increases will be. We have a couple of bag-packing opportunities later this month
and it is essential that we cover all areas, all day. A couple of hours of your time is all this
will cost.

Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom. Our swimmers are fantastic in and out of the pool.
We continue to receive acknowledgement from all areas, not only their swimming ability,
but their attitude, effort and behaviour. They are all a credit to the Club and fantastic role
models for new members coming through. Well done to everyone!

Working together, we can all continue to make this swimming club a huge success both in
and out of the water. Best wishes for 2016 and I look forward to seeing you all in and
around all of our pools throughout the year.

Yours sincerely,
Andy Strickland
Club Chairman

GAWASC New Year letter

We need your help urgently for two bag-packs planned for later this month – details as follows:

Saturday 9th January – C squad  (Lisa Orrick)

Well done to all our volunteers who gave up their time at the Rowlands Gill Tesco.  We raised £305.33 which is a great effort.  And as the logo says “every little helps” 🙂

Saturday 23rd January – A squad and Canterhall Squad (Joanne Griffiths)

An absolutely brilliant £1165.63 was raised and a great big thank you to all of our volunteers.

The following members should give themselves a big pat on the back, well done.

Alex McGill, Hannah Brown, Abbie Lewis, Charlotte Grant, Niamh Swailes, James Strickland, Adam Strickland, Jamie Young, Milli Blythe, Thejes Sundar, Zoe Price, Abbie Stephenson, Chloe Stephenson, Erica Mould, Fintan Airey, Patrick Speight, Elissa Smith, Sarah Wright, Jade Galloway, Hannah Daglish, Molly Finley, Kirsten Dobbison, Holly Ramshaw, Tallulah Stubbe, Jasmine Crang, Hannah Quinn, Aidan Campbell, Jessica Lee, Evie Hutchinson, Harry Hutchinson, John Patterson, Laura Cottee, Jessica Cottee, Milli Houston-Codling, Kudas Berhie, Ryan Zhao, Rhiannon Zhao, Kieran Peart, Joseph Martin, Martha Martin, Evie Hall, Adam Barrett, Daniel Barrett, Caitlin Cottee, Bethany Cottee.

A fantastic turn out 🙂

And a few special thanks to a few individuals:

• Joanne, Nichola, Karen O, Cathy S and Liann Brown for helping out with their kids at all three bag packs – obviously, nothing better to do anyway 😀😀
• The senior swimmers yesterday for the support they gave to the younger kids – really was a great team effort
• Evie and Ellis Hall for spending their Saturday nights counting the coins, chewing gum, washers and belly button fluff
• Zoe Price and Charlotte Grant for a mammoth full six hours yesterday following their Saturday morning session and land training
• Parents volunteering to go out of their way to get take other kids home (anything to get out of packing another bag!!)
• And finally, for the visible support of the coaches

We’ll hopefully see you all again at the next event.  This great fundraising effort is so Important to the future success of the club.

Kind regards,

Andy

Our recent bag pack at Morrison’s Supermarket at Blaydon saw us raise £583.80.

Thanks to the following swimmers and their parents;

Jake Davies, Evie Hall, Emily McGonnell, Harry and Oscar Dunlavey, Manesha Sundar, Annabel and Carmen Gaish, George and Lily Douglas, Megan Costelloe, Erin Metters, Neve and Mia Orrick, Alex Griffiths, Faye and Hannah Brown, Adam Strickland,  Katie Baker,  Patrick Speight and Jason Douglas.

You all did a fantastic job and represented your Club brilliantly.

Well done to all of you but just imagine what could have been achieved if more if your friends had come along too!!