December 2020 Committee Meeting Report

The Committee met via Zoom on 22nd December and had a very productive meeting, organising much of what’s happening regarding the Environment Agency Grant early in the New Year.

Initially, we had quite a shopping list for the Grant. A Solar Powered Aerator, the further stocking of Perch and various tools to aid us in maintaining Hunters. However, this reduced the budget we had left for the Silt Removal. It was agreed last night that, as this is a rare event we will have this budget, we should maximise the Silt Removal and target as much money towards that. We are committed to having the Beech Tree near the bench peg made safe, so we still need to do that, but, essentially, the rest of the money is financing the Silt Removal.

So, we’ve commissioned Aquatic Solutions to remove as much silt as they can. This is being further facilitated by extending the West Bank with a membrane called “Nicospan”. This has holes in it that are big enough to let water escape, but small enough so the silt particles do not. Therefore, they’re going to dump most of the silt behind this “Nicospan” wall and it will eventually harden and become part of the West Bank. At the same time, we’re raising the West Bank by about 4″, so that some silt will be dumped on the bank itself. When it dries, we can complete the bank with paving slabs for the Pegs and hardcore where it’s needed. That, hopefully, will stop the flooding that we suffer from.

However, the downside of this is that the other items we wanted have to be funded from the Club’s purse. A few of the committee have promised to make extra donations next year so we can do what we need to. Could I ask that, if you are financially able, you consider making a donation on top of your annual subscriptions? Any amount would be welcome, but, please understand, there is absolutely no pressure for you to do this – we all know the world we live in is financially “rocky” to say the least and, unfortunately people’s livelihoods are at risk.

The works at Hunters start on 11th January 2021, so it will be closed to fishing for that week. However, please feel free to nip down and have a look at what’s going on – and, please take some pictures too. It’s quite possible that we’ll have to have a mini Working Party the weekend of 9th & 10th January to prepare for Aquatic Solutions’ arrival – such as removing the current Peg slabs etc. The initial plan is to have it over quite a short period as it will, no doubt, be quite cold. So, it may be quite short, but we’ll need plenty of bodies (Tiers allowing, of course) so we’ll let you know more nearer the time.

We reviewed the Rule changes that have been proposed and have decided to drop the change to the Rules regarding Dogs. We may look at it again, but that would be a few years away and, as you know, nothing would happen without the member’s consent.

Based on a comment from Paul Davies, we’ve also decided to instigate a new Match at Hunters. It will be a Committee 6 v Members 6. Each team will choose a local Charity (we’ve already gone for East Cheshire Hospice) and we’ll have an increased entrance fee, with 60% of the money going to the winning team’s charity and 40% going to the losing team’s charity. We’re going to try and include some Raffle Prizes as well, so we can include the whole membership in the event, so, in a small way all of us supporting those charities that are fabulous every single day.

In terms of the financial side of the club, the current Bank balance is currently standing at £1,393.24. Basically, we’ve spent about £40 more than our income this year, so not too bad! There will be a branded clothing page on the website with sizes and costs of a T-Shirt, a Fleece and a Baseball Cap.