In attendance: Martin White, John Coleman, Eddie Lesley, Chris Page, Dave & Jane Houfton, Seamus Gaughan, Jim Reynolds, Olivia Noble, Gail May, Nick Savva, Dave Smith, Peter Munn, Mark Wallis, Mike Palmer.
Apologies: Matt Dartnall, Terry Saunders, Steve Fluin, Seamus Cahill, Harry Crapper.
Minutes: Minutes of the GOBATA Committee Meeting held at Hemel Hempstead, 18 January were approved.
Secretary’s Report: The secretary reported that new members are continuing to join GOBATA through our website and is encouraged by the sustained support. He once against stressed the importance of communication on the website and asked members to contact him with any snippets of information that they might consider to be of interest and to please contact with same with a view to posting on the site. He also once more referred to the GBGB’s tepid response to correspondence from our chairman.
Chairman’s Report: The Chairman reported that we had a clear instruction from the AGM to focus on the commerciality of the sport especially in relation to practitioners, and welcomed discussion on the matter.
In Attendance: Martin White, John Coleman, Chris Page, Eddie Lesley, Terry Dartnall, Matt Dartnall, Christine Greene, Gail May, Peter Munn, Olivia Noble, Joy Battley, Dave Smith, Terry Saunders, Mark Wallis, Mike Palmer.
Apologies: Dave & Jane Houfton, Seamus Cahill, Charlie Lister, Len Ponder, Jim Reynolds, Nick Savva, Steve Fluin, Gary Noble.
Approval: Minutes approved of GOBATA Committee Meeting held at Towcester Racecourse September 7, 2010.
Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Jim Reynolds was unable to attend the meeting but had forwarded GOBATA’S financial details ahead of the meeting.
Secretary’s Report: The secretary was encouraged to report a continuous number of phone calls and emails from practitioners on a wide range of subjects. Most queries sought straightforward advice and the majority of those who made enquiries expressed their gratitude of the support the secretary offered. However, he is less than satisfied with the response from the GBGB to correspondence from our chairman and himself. In some cases, the ruling body failed to acknowledge our correspondence.
Chairman’s Report: The chairman had been tasked at the previous committee meeting on two issues; one, to engage with the press to highlight the failure of GBGB to engage with the association in a proper and professional manner and second to continue to develop the relationship with Towcester in conjunction with a working party set up at that particular meeting.
In Attendance: Chris Page, Matt Dartnall, Gail May, Jim Reynolds, Martin White, Dave & Jane Houfton, Charles Fanous, Nick Savva, Peter Munn, John Coleman, Dave Smith, Joy Battley, Eddie Lesley, Lance Burford.
Apologies: Charlie Lister, Sandy Dixon, Terry Saunders, Carol Grasso, Christine Grene, Olivia Noble, Carly Philpott, Gary Noble, David Pruhs.
Also in attendance: Terry Dartnall, Barry Coombs.
HOLIDAY INN HOTEL, HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, 16 JUNE 2010
Chairman’s Report: Martin touched on numerous matters, among which was our need to generate funds for GOBATA. A number of initiatives are under way and, to carry these forward, we need to raise what we can. On Towcester, the chairman asked committee members to seek sponsors for our three intended race meetings there, for prizemoney and general operating costs. He said that depending on how successful these meetings prove to be would decide whether, in conjunction with Towcester, we would choose whether to push ahead and stage more meetings. Our initial meetings would be run on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday in September. Members were encouraged to drum up TV and local newspaper coverage for the Towcester meetings.
It was decided, Martin said, to draw up a business plan for Swaffham, and possibly Mildenhall. He added that for the rent required at Mildenhall “it would not take a lot of bodies to make it a profitable undertaking.” On Swaffham, he said that Eddie Lesley had put a proposal on the table and advised that Mr Lesley would present the track “fit and ready to go.” Martin was given assurances by Mark Wallis that our members would support Swaffham by supplying runners on a regular basis while John Coleman described Swaffham as “a proper dog track, the best shaped track in the country.”
GOBATA were asked to attend three meetings by the Save Our Stow (SOS) supporters with a view to their seeking our advice and expertise and we are pleased to say that our honorary president, Bob Morton, is leading the way to help resurrect Walthamstow ably assisted by Eddie Lesley and Phil Pooley.
Martin advised that exploratory talks were under way with Mobile Sports, a company which can provide a mobile betting platform which has the potential to generate funds for GOBATA. Peter Munn is our man heading up those talks.
Minutes of GOBATA Inaugural Committee Meeting held on 20th January 2010 now available. CLICK HERE for downloadable PDF.
At last night’s GOBATA Committee Meeting, the Executive Committee formally approved the Association’s aim of acquiring its own Stadia.
The Executive Committee have authorised the Chair and Commercial Committee to develop a strategy to progress the matter further. This decision followed on from exploratory work which has been undertaken by the Commercial Committee on a number of fronts and formed the main focus of last night’s meeting.
The Commercial Committee will now identify the areas we need to work on, and how then to make progress in achieving our targets. To this end we welcome any advice or suggestions from across the broad spectrum of our members.
We would particularly like to hear from any members with expertise in the following areas: Chartered Surveyors, Investment Bankers, Accountants etc who can advise and assist as we progress matters.
Please contact: Martin White 07808 946198 Peter Munn 07795 600595
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