Approximately 80 members gathered for the 2013 British Dressage Annual General Meeting at the Royal Pavilion at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire on Thursday 19 September.
The evening opened with the formal business with the following outcomes:
1. To elect Chairman – Stuart Smith from our auditors KPMG read out the results:
Frances Davies – 28
Lara Lil – 4
Penny Pollard – 375
Penny Pollard duly elected.
2. To elect Para Director – ballot results:
Chris Porterfield – 109
David Hamer – 154
Cathy Burrell – 121
David Hamer – 154
Cathy Burrell – 121
David Hamer duly elected.
3. To receive the Financial Statements of British Dressage for the year ended 31 December 2012 and the Directors’ and Auditors’ Reports thereon.
Stuart Smith read a statement to say that the accounts were a true and fair account of the activity for the year. Finance Director Maggie Copus added that the turnover of nearly £3.5 million giving £88,000 pre-tax profit to put into the reserves was about spot on for the organisation.
The motion was proposed and seconded and put to the floor to vote; 70 votes for, none against.
4. To appoint KPMG as the auditors of British Dressage and to authorise the Board to fix their remuneration.
The motion was proposed and seconded and put to the floor to vote; 70 votes for, none against.
Special Business
The following were proposed as Special Resolutions:
5. To adopt new Articles of Association for British Dressage in the form tabled before the meeting.
Maggie Copus ran through the proposals and what the implications of the proposed changes were. Some changes were to bring the current Articles into line with current legislation but also to enable the organisation to apply for charitable status and to allow electronic voting in director elections. Steve Halkit from lawyers Wright Hassall was also there to help with questions as they conducted the feasibility study into becoming a charity.
The motion was proposed and seconded and put to the floor to vote; 40 votes for, one against.
6. To adopt a new Memorandum of Association for British Dressage in the form tabled before the meeting.
The motion was proposed and seconded and put to the floor to vote; 43 votes for, one against.
This concluded the formal business and then each director gave a short presentation on their area. Outgoing Chair Jennie Loriston-Clarke was presented with a photo-montage of the team successes during her time in office by Penny Pollard and Chief Executive Amanda Bond who said; “Jennie has done an incredible job. Her vision, direction and wonderful sense of humour have made her an honour and privilege to work with.”
Amanda then announced that we wouldn’t be losing Jennie altogether as she has agreed to be our President.
Janet Horswill then gave an update on her BYRDS portfolio, starting by highlighting the inter-regional, home international and Sheepgate U25 competitions as amazing successes. She felt the standards and improvement in riding was a credit to all concerned. The key areas for development this year will be: regional training policy, National BYRDS selection policy, competitors’ certificates and a review of High Performance Camps. She detailed the highly-successful Young Professionals Award and that the search for our next star was well under way. Dan Sherriff and Becky Moody will be next year’s final judges at Talland. Janet also thanked Brian and Pammy Hutton for hosting the final and Penny Pollard and Core Context for sponsoring. She also said that she would be posting updates on the website after each committee meeting to keep everyone up to date and there are plans to put more into judge training for the under 25s. Finally she thanked her hard working committee who have a wide range of expertise and the network of regional representatives under the RDOs plus the office team of Karen Ryder, Sharon Smith and Anne Morton.
David Trott covered his International Teams portfolio with the fantastic news of the senior, para and pony team results at their European Championships who all surpassed all expectations. He said the new FEI Nations Cup competition was a great way to give more riders the chance to experience riding in a team. The first competition at Vidauban wasn’t quite the start they’d hoped when we lost a horse at the first vets inspection but wins at Rotterdam and the final Hickstead leg gave us third place in the final rankings. At the world young horse championships we fared well with a fourth place with the British-bred Duke of Britain. He gave a special mention to the vital funding we receive for the World Class programmes through UK Sport plus of course the support from the owners and breeders of our horse and the staff, Lianne Martin and Amy Cullen, at the office. He said the teams behind the under 21 teams had also done an amazing job this year.
On to Judges and Linda Whetstone detailed there had been a large increase in applications to be accepted as a trainee judge since the change in policy. Currently, we have 721 listed judges and 555 trainees. In 2012, 132 trainees completed to become judges and this year, to date, we’re on 185 already. A full announcement will be made soon but there will be a new upgrading system which follows on from last year’s changes with an alternative route for judges to achieve a higher status than what they rode at (as per the recent system). There will be a course of training and examinations plus minimum criteria to be eligible but those new to the system, with six results over 60% could potentially reach the following levels: Novice – list 3A, Medium – list 2, Advanced Medium – list 2A and PSG – list
1. A full announcement will be on the website in due course.
The 2012 judges’ course at Olympia was a huge success under Ghislain Fouarge with delegates from 12 countries. She announced that Stephen Clarke would be taking this year’s course. Four British judges have upgraded their international status this year; Sarah Leitch is now a 5* Para Equestrian judge, John Robinson moved up to 4* PE while Sarah Pidgeley and Peter Storr are now FEI 3* judges. She said the committee was looking into new angles for training judges; ‘we’re judging other people’s training so we should understand more about the training they’re doing’ she explained. She thanked her committee and the back up from Katrina and Lisa in the office.
It was then new elected chairman Penny Pollard to detail her area, marketing. She thanked all who had voted for her and said she was passionate about BD and committed to welcoming any feedback and that there would be consultation where possible. She will remain as marketing director until an election can be held next year but would be appointing a deputy to assist her on the committee. She said that we had welcomed three new faces on to the committee this year to bring increased expertise. Richard Burdett from Horse & Country TV, Christie Lord, who has extensive experience in the travel industry and Melissa Russell, who brings a range of sporting knowledge. She thanked the committee for all they do in meetings, plus in between, and the office team Winnie, Jo and Lucy.
She explained that we working closer than ever with Dressage Anywhere to help widen dressage’s appeal. The BD Magazine continues to go from strength to strength under the wing of Think Publishing and indeed we’ve won two prestigious industry awards and are currently in the running for a third. The eagerly anticipated new BD website is busily under construction and will be launched this autumn. We’re aiming for it to become the leading dressage hub in Britain and it will be more visual, interactive and comprehensive. She also detailed focus groups we’ve been having around the country with riders on the fringe of joining to find out what stops them. These have given some excellent feedback on competition structure, costs and communication.
Islay Auty took the opportunity to ask Penny for her vision of the next three years to which Penny gave three words; communication, communication, communication. Penny said she wanted to be completely open and transparent with a good flow of information and plenty of opportunity for consultation and provision of feedback. She also said for her grass roots riders and the middle group of competitors were a priority.
Angela Weiss then gave her final para dressage update before handing over the reins to David Hamer. She started with a reflection on the enormous success of the London 2012 Paralympics – not just on the sporting stage but what the Games had done for public perception of disability and how sport can make a difference to the lives of disabled people. The amount of emails, letters and communication which has come to the riders who took part has been overwhelming and it’s clear there is a legacy element in the inspiration they have provided. She highlighted the Para Talent Development weekend held at Vale View in March which is vital for finding new combinations as well as the opportunities from the para hubs and excel programme via David Hamer – we now have 28 rider son the excel programme. David’s new Intro shows held at RDA centres are gathering momentum and are aimed at encouraging riders into the BD/BEF structure. Angela also thanked her committee and office team before Amanda made a presentation of a picture showing the team successes during her time in office.
Onto Rules & Fixtures with Tamsyn Cowie who started by saying if she had her way, there would be no rules! She thanked all the members who have taken the time to write, email or pin her down to give their stand point and to please keep it coming. Following the extensive members’ consultation, the decision was made not to make any far reaching rule changes around structure; instead the committee would take more time and get more feedback before major decisions would be made. She highlighted some of the more minor changes for 2014 as:
• Rising in medium & extended trot movements at Medium
• Removal of the 450 points limit at PSG
• No whips in FEI classes at Premier Leagues
• Cut-off date for the end of the summer qualifying period
• Grand Prix qualification for the National Championships
On the fixtures front, the committee were working on:
• New Regional Venues for 2013 have been successful
• Area Festival Expansion
• Investigation in to Veteran and Junior competitions
• Working Party to look at general fixtures allocation.
When the floor was opened up for questions, Bruce Grant of Sheepgate raised the issue of Area Festival
allocation and rotation. Tamsyn explained that the process of moving Area Festivals around to give a larger spread
of coverage began three years ago as a policy decision made by the Rules and Fixtures. The committee is not
responsible for the exact allocation of the venues; this is done by Paul Graham, Sport Manager, in consultation
with Tamsyn based on the applications received into the office on an annual basis. Sheepgate losing their AF for
2014 was not a reflection of the standards of the show, there was just a move to give another area and location a
chance. It is designed to help the system fairer for members so that if a member has to travel a long way one
year, they might not have to the next year. They were welcome to apply for 2015 when they would be considered
again.
Then David Hunt covered his training area with facts and figures around UKCC -
• 44 UKCC level 2 Coaches
• 42 UKCC Level 3 Coaches
• 13 Candidates on current L3 Course
He told the audience that shortly, UKCC level 3 coaches would be able to use the phrase ‘BD Accredited Coach’ in recognition of their expertise. Plus the announcement that from 2015, only accredited coaches would be used for BD camps and then in 2016, all regional training must be taken by an accredited coach.
The partnership with Haddon Training to deliver work based apprenticeships was progressing well with 11 having completed and a further 11 currently on the programme. The inaugural Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence, run in conjunction with Hartpury College, was about to start its first term.
He explained further about the two remaining major training initiatives for the remainder of the year; the National Convention and the Trainers’ Forum. He said he was delighted Adelinde Cornelissen had agreed to take this year’s convention at Hartpury College (23 – 24 November) as he had been bowled over by her informative and though provoking presentation at the Global Dressage Forum; he approach to horse and rider fitness, both physical and mental, was second to none and urged everyone to come along. The Trainers’ Forum at Keysoe on 7 October was building up to being a great day with the presenters looking at how to help riders of all levels and abilities.
It was then the turn of Chief Executive Amanda Bond to bring the evening to an end. She started with a brief update on the move of the offices from Stoneleigh to Meriden, saying that we had settled in well and everything went smoothly with the exception of a few IT issues which were quickly resolved. She then gave a quick overview of the new strategy to cover the next four year cycle. BD’s new vision and mission statement is: ‘British Dressage aims to be the most respected and successful organisation for people passionate about dressage’. She explained that this was to be all-encompassing, not just for members.
She then outlined our values which will cover us as an organisation, not just employees, but all who represent us:
Respect - We will endeavour to be respectful to everyone, with the welfare of the horse at the heart of everything we do
Integrity - We will act at all times with honesty and transparency; and commit to be accountable for our actions.
Professionalism - We will remain objective and behave in a professional manner at all times.
Inclusivity - We will adopt a collaborative and open approach to the running of the organisation and strive to communicate effectively at all times.
Excellence - We will work passionately to provide the best possible service which ensures quality and attention to detail.
Integrity - We will act at all times with honesty and transparency; and commit to be accountable for our actions.
Professionalism - We will remain objective and behave in a professional manner at all times.
Inclusivity - We will adopt a collaborative and open approach to the running of the organisation and strive to communicate effectively at all times.
Excellence - We will work passionately to provide the best possible service which ensures quality and attention to detail.
She then highlighted three key priority areas for focus:
Environment – this doesn’t mean global warming, it’s the people, places and procedure under which we run. We’ll be carrying out a review of the competition structure to ensure there’s something for everyone which is fair. Plus, we’ll constantly strive to improve standards and ensure we help organisers, judges and stewards to deliver a quality sport.
Membership – we have set ourselves a bold target of hitting 20,000 members by 2017. Within this, we want to engage with more unaffiliated riders/associate members, increase the number of members under 25 and look at initiatives for non-horse owners.
Volunteers – we recognise that we need to value volunteers more and that we have to ensure a constant injection of ‘new blood’ and have set a target that 40% of volunteers are new to the level so that the same faces aren’t recycled around the committees.
She then opened the floor to questions but there were none so the meeting then closed at 9.10pm.