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Apologies received from Rachel Munro, Honey Duan, Catherine Aiken and Amelia Russell.
The main discussion was about freshers’ week and the general recruitment of novices. We have decided to have a big ent at the Boathouse on Friday 7th – an amalgamation of the usual BBQ and cocktails. This is backed by the TCSU and will go in the freshers’ timetable. There is meant to be a quiz in the at 2000h but Katy will ask if this can be moved back to 2100h. The BBQ will happen 1700h-2100h ish, with plenty of shuttling from Great Gate initially. Pia will contact Amelia to check everything is going okay and to make sure we provide veggie burgers.
We will charge seniors but provide free drinks and food for (potential) novices.
Flyers will be printed by Tom and taken to TCSU by Claire. These will be sent out with the rest of the TCSU bumpf. Remember to plug in the dates!
Tubbing will begin on Wednesday 5th. We will have a knock round on Monday and Tuesday and get availabilities then as well as introducing ourselves / pretending we’re normal. We’ll try and have groups of about 10 given the number of ergs, tubs, etc. we have.
The first proper meeting will happen on Sunday 11th in the WLT. James will book this and hopefully we can block book the WLT every Sunday in Mich.
The other main push will be at the Chaplain’s Squash after the Fresher’s Formal on Sunday 2nd. We need to check the limit on the number of people – Harriet and Claire will e-mail and ask. We also wondered if any of us knew any of the TCSU guys. Do we? At the squash we’ll need medals, blades, trophies, T-shirts, etc. probably from the Captain’s Room. The lycra will be hidden until they’re hooked. Especially Dan’s.
We then discussed when everyone was coming back.
James and Dan are here all summer,
Claire and Harriet are here in Week –1,
Albert and Pa are back on Friday 30th.
Seb, Magnus and Tom are back on the 1st.
Dami on the Sunday 2nd.
We realised that not all the LBCs can cox. Harriet, Claire, Katy, Seb and Tom need to practice this week/ week –1, but this won’t be a problem. REMEMBER YOU NEED A LIFEJACKET!
James and Dami will organise the novice coaches, liaising with Rachel and Pia so people don’t get pissed off. They will spam FaTsoc to get an idea of the keenness, then send personalised e-mails to those who matter. The ideal number of coaches is around 10. LBCs should try not to end up coaching – although it is a lot of fun and its only a degree at the end of the day.
Albert will try and arrange a meeting with JPD, John Earl and Tom Rose to discuss coaching techniques and then e-mail the committee with any interesting points.
James will be the point of contact for novices (the face of FaT, basically. No pressure!) with freshers@firstandthird.org Pia should have set this up by now.
Dan will find out the dates of the fresher races – Queen’s Ergs, Clare Novices, Winter Head and Fairbarns – and even more importantly when entrances need to be received by.
Apologies if this is a little bit gonzo but I have been drinking solidly for the past two days. You’ve got to bin it to win it! (Maybe introduce this in week 3?)
Dan xxxx
Pia Schaefer PKS
Rachel Munro RJM
Dan Jane JDTJ
Catherine Aiken CEMA
Magnus Jones MCAJ
Amelia Russell ARR
Damilola Dauda DAD
Albert Cheung AWYC
Most Lower Boats’ Captains (not required)
JDTJ noted that despite three e-mails going out to The Committee calling for marshal volunteers - at varying levels of desperation – there were no responses. While Cambridge is often extremely busy and very stressful, this is just plain bad manners.
Unless we wish to switch to the ‘Final Solution’ of having to take turns on all marshalling duties - which would definitely lead to extra work during work crises because of Sod’s Law - people must be more willing to volunteer when they can rather than when they want to.
However, this works both ways: If you are finding yourself snowed under it’s a good idea to let other members of The Committee know.
It was agreed to be more communicative and to reply to JDTJ’s e-mails when he sends them out. JDTJ suspects The Committee are just humouring him.
Should we have cheese toasties? Honey thinks we should – but ARR thinks they’re too labour intensive. She and CEMA thought that soup and rolls might be a good idea. RJM doesn’t think this gives the right impression. HD says that two years it was okay (although it was a mad panic – if this happens in front of everyone then it’s a nightmare).
JDTJ likes soup.
Drinks: Mulled Wine, and a non-alcoholic version (lots of people came to the cocktails BECAUSE there was a non-alcoholic version). RJM wants to know if there will be an alcoholic alternative? Not everyone likes mulled wine. Perhaps we could serve Irish Car Bomb cocktails?! Since we have so many random spirits left over, it won’t be difficult to provide a cocktail of some sort.
HD and ARR discussed what type of non-alcoholic mulled wine we would be using. Allegedly, there is a version in Whittards so ARR will investigate.
The sweet items we will be offering are Fudge – which ARR will make – and toffee apples. However, we can’t make enough of the latter to give them away; instead we could charge 50p for each one. Haribo will be provided as usual, of course. Savoury foods will definitely include sausage rolls which can be done in The Captain’s Oven – it should take about ten minutes to do loads.
So: What shall we offer as the main food? Soup would be easy to keep hot as we could keep topping up the soup level in a big pan on a hob. Serving wouldn’t be a problem, but what would we serve it into? Ceramic is out, but paper dishes is asking to spill it everywhere.
ARR: NOT a one trick pony. Hence bacon butties are out as we had them at the cocktails.
Baked potatoes have worked very well in the past. We’ll have access to an oven and a microwave. RJM suggests you ‘start them off’ in the microwave and then put them in the oven for an hour. CEMA suggests rubbing salt, pepper and oil into the skin to crisp the edges nicely. RJM knows how to make them look posh when you serve them; this will be very important.
The fillings on offer will be: Cheese, Butter, Coleslaw. Meat is not an option.
JDTJ wondered about serviettes, but apparently these won’t be necessary. Dirty freshers.
RJM will work out how many came last year by using the Captains’ Books. She will then e-mail ARR with the number of potatoes needed.
This event hasn’t been advertised yet, so LBCs must start to push this. Perhaps we should pigeon hole people again? This worked very well for the cocktails. MCAJ will make the posters and hopefully these will be able to be shrunk down to an eighth of the size so that AWYC can mobilize the LBCs into doing some photocopying and pigeon holing.
Shopping will be done on Friday. ARR will ask Lilie Weaver if we can use her car to do a run. JDTJ has access to cars as well.
As the fireworks start at 1930h we should have plenty of time if people start arriving at 1800h: Committee should arrive at 1730h to help start. The oven will be driven over before hand. Afterwards the Committee MUST stay and help clean up.
5gbp will be charged on the door, as always. We will provide a ticket for getting a baked potato and ARR has the stamps for discerning those who have paid.
That we can book the Union is 95% sure, but there is still an issue of whether or not the Bar Man is available to work that night.
If not where could we have it? Hall? Join with another College? Rent out Cindies or some other reputable Cambridge Establishment? Tennis Courts (cold, miles out, NO)?
Basically, everyone needs to keep their fingers crossed. ARR will see the woman in charge tomorrow.
James Pelly and Tobias Garnett need to go on the soc-rowing-trinity list – JDTJ is on it. There are plenty of people who have stupidly ordered XXL all-in-ones and ARR has an unclaimed L so both new seniors should be okay for kit.
We need to find out who owns the hard between City and us. PKS will find out using her City contacts and will also ask if Kingsbury has a copy of the deeds. At the moment it is filled with City Boats and our bike racks are filled with City bikes.
PKS and ARR had a long meeting yesterday and they would like to use JL for all race kit. The rest of the Committee agreed. Hence we now use JL for everything bar ‘casual wear’ (which will be ordered at the end of this term).
Every year we order Kit and the start of term and it never arrives in time. Hence, using the excess in the KSS account, ARR has ordered a surplus which she feels certain will be recouped. However, it should be noted that the KSS Account has made a major loss this term – JDTJ managed to survive a minor heart attack.
The JPM Novice T-Shirts are on the way, although JDTJ is a bit sad he can’t steal some of the Mercer ones as the Lion looks SO good. JDTJ secretly worries he’s turning into GAT.
The JPM ‘New Sponsor’ launch is still being arranged. PKS’s JPM contact has been away, but things should proceed swiftly from now on. When we have the Launch JDTJ will have to invite all the usual suspects, as well as Black Prince who work fro JPM – Will Thorne and Clive Ponsonby. It might be an idea to quietly ask them if there’s anyone else we should invite.
Pia Schaefer PKS
Rachel Munro RJM
Dan Jane JDTJ
Catherine Aiken CEMA
Magnus Jones MCAJ
Amelia Russell ARR
Damilola Dauda DAD
Albert Cheung AWYC
Harriet Booker HCB
Katie Birley KJB
Clair Birbeck CEB
Seb Pancratz SFP
James Scott JS
Honey Duan HD
Tom Andrews TA
JS has to leave at 2130h.
ARR was late because she was buying a cake (no time to make one due to an ill advised attendance at a supervision)
TA was slightly late as he had literally just arrived in Cambridge. Commitment.
Remember to turn up ten minutes BEFORE lighting down. The details of what to do can be found at http://www.cucbc.org/node/30 or ask JDTJ. DAD has volunteered for the first slot (which has the largest lay in) and JDTJ will e-mail for more willing volunteers.
JDTJ explained how great it was to be a JU/DU and cycle along next to The Bumps wearing a fluorescent bib. Not only do you get to watch the entertainment in a very relaxed atmosphere (you don’t have a term’s work riding on the outcome) but you get a better feel for good bumps tactics. For ex-novices this can be crucial.
JDTJ asked all of The Committee to push the idea to members of the club, as well as suggesting members of The Committee would enjoy, and benefit from, the experience as well.
Addendum: JDTJ notes with disappointment but a sort of tired resignation that no-one but him was on the e-mail from CUCBC explaining procedures. But wait! There’s still time! JDTJ will e-mail the club explaining how great it is.
Main event this term (after the Lents Dinner) is the Launch Party, which the WLBCs will help with. If we have it in the Master’s Lodge then the maximum number of guests is fifty. It was suggested that we start in the Masters Lodge for rowers of the top boats, senior staff such as Iain (our boatman), Dr. Kingsbury (our Senior Treasurer), etc. and then move onto the OCR. The Master would like this, and so would JPM.
We discussed when we could have this Launch Party; it can’t be just before the bumps, as drinking will likely be involved! No time was decided – the WLBCs and PKS should decide this very soon.
As part of our sponsorship deal, we are to invite ten JPM people to The Bumps: What should we do with them? Suggestions included The Stomp, taking them tubbing, a run in the Coastal IV, and having a marquee at The Bumps. The problem with The Stomp might be the amount of Mercer kit about, the number of participants (which can be low), general behaviour (just a bit of youthful spirits!), the time (we’d have to ask them to stay the night before) and what Johns could do if they found out…
JDTJ will ask the May Ball about marquees and try to find out how Girton get permission to put their marquees up on meadow side.
M1 and W1 will get a swanky splashtop (bigger, longer, fleece lined… oooohhh..) with gold side panels, embroidery, etc.. Right nice, as our northern friends would have it. Or they could swap this in for a crappy hoodie.
M2, M3 and W2 get £30 to spend on kit of their choice, as long as it has the JPM logo. However, they can add the logo to kit which doesn’t usually have it, e.g. all-in-ones, as long as it won’t show when they race.
We desperately need more ergos. The plan is to buy five from Concept 2, as then there is a £50 discount (on £788).
The Boat House mirror also needs to be replaced. We may be able to get a mirror for free from a random person PKS keeps meeting at Citigroup events. Mirrors are very useful, as all the senior guys agreed.
PKS would also like to buy some more pictures for the more boring areas of The Boat House. Personally, JDTJ has never found any areas boring but he likes the female touch.
As coaching is banned during bumps megaphones have rather foolishly been banned as well except ‘in cases of emergency’. The Committee’s views on this notwithstanding, PKS will buy more cox-coach links to allow the cox to receive race information.
MCAJ asked about the leg press machine and plans to replace it. At the moment there are none.
The Model C ergs are also looking a bit sad, not to mention taking up room. There are no immediate plans to bin them.
ARR suggested it would be useful to have more mats.
JDTJ said we need Olympic bars for the free weights.
ARR also suggested a fridge would be handy. MCAJ will ask college if they have any spare or available at a reduced price.
CEMA would like a little heater for the seating area, which is a damn good idea. We used to have one and it was the highlight of most early morning outings in Lent.
WLBCs will now help organize the Launch Party, given the number of boats they are responsible for is likely to be very low this term.
MCAJ will look into helping with one or two small details initially this term, but will then take on the bulk of organizing for The Easter Training Camp. This year is particularly exciting as our ever friendly Captains have made some contacts in Paris and should receive funding from the various College funds as well. ‘Trez Bonn’, as JDTJ’s Dad would say (in polite company).
We also need someone to help with The (potential) Boat Burning. JDTJ had hoped that Dilini Nanayakkara would be able to commit to the organization as she did in the previous year, but recently she has realized she has too many Varsity related commitments. JDTJ will start searching for volunteers immediately.
JDTJ wondered what happened to the free Novice Kit last year. JS explained that there isn’t any and the Mercer stuff was binned: Binned as in; given to Novices to wear inside out…
We would like to go to Homerton. Homerton would like to formal swap with us. Perfect. JDTJ will use his contacts and sort it out.
The guys and girls at City Boat Club are still using our bike stalls. We need a sign, and possibly the judicial use of bolt croppers. PKS e-mailed their captain and she’s very friendly: She knew it was our land, but didn’t think it was being used.
PKS suggests we can use the bolt croppers on the idiot who parks his bike sideways but no-one else.
We have a (frankly awesome) instant bumps results program; it generates lots of publicity and is good for the club and its image. CUCBC want to set up a similar thing, using our stuff. Options include linking to ours from their website, giving them the technology, or saying no.
In return for helping them, our results would be the ‘official’ results. But we need to ensure our sponsors logo is on everything, and we need Martin – who designed the website – to be happy with the arrangement as he’s put in a lot of work.
If we don’t then CUCBC will try to emulate our system and steal the thunder. This could probably be done in time for The Mays.
RJM says it feels like CUCBC are using bullying tactics a little.
CEMA also mentioned that this year it might cost us about £100 to renew the text messaging contract. In the past its been a lot less and CEMA and Martin have paid for it quite willingly – after all, the technology and implementation is so cool! The Committee would be willing to pay from now on, especially as the expense could come out of the sponsorship money: The sponsor’s logos are all over the texts.
We don’t have the manpower or inclination to censor things before they’re put up. Once they’re up, a photo (or any other post) causes even more furore if taken off. The most workable solution is just a ‘warning’ page just before the post is completed, and an e-mail from PKS calling for some common sense.
Last term was very unfortunate – the Union was a bit confused and mucked up. However, they were good in theory and may be a good bet to book properly. There is also St. Michael’s Church as an option on Trinity Street. ARR will need help if the same thing happens as last term; this is not the term for a fifth year medic to be binning everything.
ARR wondered when JDTJ was going to repay the £500 the Secretary’s Account borrowed from the KSS Account. JDTJ confirmed it had already been done, but admitted he still hasn’t added ARR, HD, or PKS as secondary users to the accounts yet – this must be done at some point.
PKS announced that The 1967 Henley Boat is in the third bay (possibly for the hard of sight on The Committee, or people who don’t wonder about what they keep tripping over. Or, of course, certain members of The Committee who are never at The Boat House!). The plan is to invite the old boaties who rowed in it to a ceremony and hang the bows and stern sections from the ceiling in The Boat House.
The (ahem, undefeated) light IV- and the coastal IV both need a name as well as a boat naming ceremony. ‘The Byrne’ is possibly a little distasteful for the latter; perhaps some sort of pairing from mythology or classics might be more appropriate?
Pia Schaefer PKS
Rachel Munro RJM
Dan Jane JDTJ
Catherine Aiken CEMA
Magnus Jones MCAJ
Amelia Russell ARR
Damilola Dauda DAD
Albert Cheung AWYC
Harriet Booker HCB
Katie Birley KJB
Clair Birbeck CEB
Seb Pancratz SFP
Honey Duan HD
Tom Andrews TA
No apologies. Throughout SO refers to the Trinity College Head Waiter, Sylvio Orjales.
The Boat Club has been fined £950, calculated as reparation of £25 for each member of the catering staff affected by our ‘bad behaviour’ at the Boat Club Dinner.
The ‘bad behaviour’ is roughly as follows (the report sent to the Dean of College by SO is included at the end).
The Boat Club would never condone such actions in its members, and must not be seen by the College to condone them either. The Captain called an emergency meeting to discuss the following points:
PKS, RJM and JDTJ met with The Dean of College on Thursday 9th and were informed of the actions of members of The Boat Club. All three were unaware that all of these actions had taken place, which does not speak very highly of their collective responsibility.
The Dean alleged that this was symptomatic of undergrads - waiting for their glamorous careers in the city - abusing staff working in poor conditions (JDTJ interjected at this point as he’s completely unemployable). The Dean thought for a moment and then suggested The Boat Club pay £25 for each member of the Catering Staff who were affected, to be levied as we saw fit.
Despite the presence of senior members of The Committee – some of whom remained sober throughout the dinner – as well as The Boat Club Senior Treasurer - a senior fellow of Trinity College - and the College Boatman, it seems all of the above claims took place without their knowledge.
It would seem that the urination and verbal abuse in particular, and understandably, offended SO. However, none of The Committee knows who was involved now why SO hasn’t informed the college of their identity. In the case SO couldn’t identify them, we should provide pictures of all the male guests that were present.
The issue was further discussed but we could not even think of any likely suspects. In fact, it would seem pertinent to guarantee that the offender was a member of The Boat Club and not, for example, a lost formal hall-er or drunken visitor to Trinity. ARR suggested that since the Old Kitchen’s have their own toilets, this was a very likely scenario. The Committee hungrily agreed, but unfortunately we are guilty until proven innocent; the rest of the actions – while possibly exaggerated -are not helping our case.
It was decided that PKS and JDTJ should meet with SO. It might be sensible to invite our Senior Treasurer along as he was at the dinner and has lots of college experience.
JDTJ was unhappy that we weren’t told on the night so that he and other senior members could work with the Catering Staff to stop this situation arising. HD said that she didn’t feel it was that bad in the Old Kitchens and hence why we weren’t asked at the time: JDTJ was told that it was ‘not necessary’ for him to come back and help in the morning. The urination incident may have been the catalyst for these actions and have occurred after we left. Again, we need to speak to SO to find out.
Sorcha McGinn was ill during the dinner, but CEMA was in the toilet at the time and can guarantee their state. Martin Yarr was sick in the Old Kitchens and in the Men’s Toilets: JDTJ had to look after him and cleaned the Men’s Toilets afterwards.
Black Prince members Dan Darley and Neil Talbott have admitted to throwing profiteroles and offered to help with reparations. AWYC said that he and Tom Coker threw one (in fact, the same one). Rachel Frigot has admitted to accidentally spilling the chocolate sauce while talking to Will Thorne, a much respected member of Black Prince.
It is imperative we find out who is responsible for the urination.
JDTJ believes The Dean’s argument was that we should make reparations to the staff affected by our collective bad behaviour, and that such a sum would make little difference to us but be much appreciated by them.
ARR doubted it would be possible for The Dean to charge a student society this much: Probably the Council could, and it make sense for us to request a hearing. JDTJ pointed out they meet every Friday morning,
JDTJ had suggested that we provisionally split the fine and then allow people to increase their contribution if they felt guilty. It was decided that we cannot split the fine equally among eligible members (i.e. junior Boar Club members who attended The Dinner): For some an unexpected sum of £14 would be unbearable burden.
Also, an equal split is not a fair punishment: A monetary fine would affect everyone differently and would almost certainly bypass the most serious offenders. We should cater the punishment for the person, or otherwise we are practically condoning their actions.
Instead, it was decided (rather than ‘agreed’) that any fine has to come out of Club Funds. This is had: Especially if we can’t even prove the urinator was a Boat Club Member. JDTJ still doesn’t think this is fair (but not on the order of, say, him abusing his position as Secretary and adding to the minutes) as this will mean less equipment/ training for The Club and so affect the upper squad the most.
The fine does seem rather odd. The Dean has asked us to pay a lump sum – JDTJ needs to find out to whom it should me made payable as this wasn’t specified – so that the 38 Catering Staff can be paid through pay-roll ‘in the usual way’.
RJM was concerned this makes us look as if we are trying to throw money at the problem, and hence would be guilty of exactly what The Dean was helping us to avoid. Reparations and some tangible form of an apology are required, but one that is more appropriate than quick back hander, especially of a figure that was not discussed or considered by all those involved.
It might be useful to have Professor Proctor involved: The Dean is new to the office and his predecessor has many years of experience in helping students learn some self restraint and giving moral guidance.
PKS met Sylvio and Reinhardt and both were still friendly, admittedly including joking about the Boat Club Dinner. JDTJ also found SO was his usual self during a brief chat on Thursday 9th.
We need to regain our special relationship with the Catering Staff: They go out of their way for The Boat Club repeatedly, for example with the two large dinners each year and the Crew Hall provided in May Term. RJM thinks throwing money at them is even more insulting than the actions on the night. However, nothing personal sprang to mind: It is up to each Committee member to have a long think.
Properly laying out a set of preventative measures would be reassuring as well, as discussed below.
We need policies or a set of guidelines to guarantee this doesn’t happen again. We’ve been very well behaved in the past, and so a few common sense rules shouldn’t impinge on our enjoyment in the future.
If any of the committee, or Ian Law or Dr. Kingsbury, had seen these things happening they would have stopped it. JDTJ might have to make the unprecedented step of splitting up the senior members of The Committee so less can happen without any of them realizing.
We could offer to employ a Porter for the three hours that the Dinner is held – at an expected cost of about £40. The only issue might be working hours; The Secretary should speak to the Head Porter well in advance. JDTJ will do this as soon as possible to test whether it would be an option.
The pre-dinner drinks at the Mays is traditionally Pimms; it would be easy to control the amount of alcohol in each glass as well as the number of glasses available. In addition, we could make the pre-dinner drinks earlier so that people have less time to drink independently beforehand.
It might be useful to preempt such a fine and include a £5 deposit on each dinner ticket. This would also make people think slightly more responsibly – perhaps enough to look after the worst miscreants.
PKS suggested we have a set number of sober guests at each dinner to keep an eye on things. We could charge them less, and a number of volunteers spring readily to mind. This raises other legal issues of responsibility - would they need a contract? Who is now ‘responsible’? Hopefully the Head Porter, etc. would advise.
Finally, the simplest policy would be to go back at 0800h the next day. Although this wouldn’t (alone) stop bad behaviour, it would show The Committee support the Catering Staff.
JDTJ will e-mail The Dean saying we are meeting with The Head of Catering and OS, and will have trouble producing that amount of money immediately. He will attach a brief version of these minutes, and lastly ask to whom the cheque should be made payable.
The Bop appeared to be a roaring success; ARR has contacted them and there haven’t been any complaints.
After you left duty at 9.15 pm, I experienced a number of problems with the Boat Club function, which are as follows:-
Due to the state of the Old Kitchen it was decided that myself and Terry Wisbey would start at 8.00 am on the Sunday morning, rather than 10.30 am. Upon arriving at work we were totally disgusted with the state of the Old Kitchen. We had to physically scrape the vomit off the floor and clean the toilets by hand prior to cleaning the rest of the Old Kitchen and setting up for another function that evening.
Over the past few years these functions have been high-spirited, but the guests have always been well behaved and showed respect for the Catering Staff.
I feel that we have taken a step back to how it used to be four or five years ago and I personally will not work on another Boat Club function until you can guarantee that my Staff and I will be shown the respect that we deserve.
S. ORJALES
Senior Waiter.