Club Committee

2015-2016 Manifestos

Jonathan Williams - Secretary

I've been part of First and Third for 4 years now and the club remains as big a part of my life as it has been since my first days at Trinity. As I return to Trinity next year I want to take on the role of Secretary in order to help keep the club on its successful path: both by supporting the Captains and by being a pro-active member of the Committee and the community of the Club as a whole. I have gained so much from my involvement with FaT and I intend to give as much back to the club as I can if I am elected.

The Role

If elected I will support the Captains in the smooth running of day to day activities to ensure they can focus on being effective in their roles. I will do this by taking care of the organisation and booking of the dinners, as well as other events we decide to hold. I will also arrange race entries as requested by the Captains and LBCs, taking care to communicate clearly and in plenty of time with them. Ensuring all meetings held are summarised with concise minutes will be a big priority to me. I will circulate these minutes as soon as is reasonably possible. This will all be part of a process of clear and effective communication that I will bring to the role; ensuring members of the Club are kept well informed of plans and happenings. I will put extra care into making sure a regular channel of communication is maintained, not only between myself and the Captains, but also between the Captains themselves in order to make sure both sides of the club are having their interests looked after. In this respect I will act as a supporting officer for the Overall Captain to help them oversee the whole Club without necessarily being overloaded with work.

I will also look to undertake extra work to build on that of previous secretaries. This will include:

• Reviewing the Membership Book in order to ensure it is being correctly used as we go forward
• Working with other officers to work on developing guides to their roles to aid in the process of handing over after each election
• Working with the Webmaster/Computing Officer on developing a system to enable payments and/or Lard Bills to be computerised
• Continuing the work on reviewing the constitution
• Liaising with the Overall Captain, KSS and Black Prince to look in to running a Black Prince kit order
• Undertaking a review of the finances of the officers (excluding Senior Treasurer) including preparing a more formal set of statements for the year

In addition to the above I will work closely with members of the Committee to support them in their roles, including taking on any extra projects or responsibilities that are in the best interests of the Club.

Why Me?

I have the skills and experience that I believe will enable me to be successful in this role. I have been actively involved with the rowing community for 9 years now. In that time I have gained experience at a wide range of levels, from rowing M4 Mays to going to GB trials. I hope to use this experience to provide support across all levels of the Club. Additionally I have spent two years on the Committee of the Club, as KSS and Sponsorship Officer. As such I can bring valuable experience and a wide overview of the Club to the role of Secretary. In this time I arranged various orders and successfully ran many events whilst keeping a careful control over finances. These skills will be at the core of my time as Secretary.

Beyond my direct involvement in the Club I have also shown many skills which I know will help me achieve the goals I have outlined above. I was heavily involved in the drafting of our new provisional constitution and I intend to provide a clear point of contact and communication for feedback on how it is implemented. I will also review the effect of the changes near the end of next year, drawing on opinions from across the club. In my time out of university I have also been studying a qualification in accounting and so I will look to implement a more structured approach to our finances (especially as we have now proposed making financial reports at the AGM mandatory).

Finally, having worked closely with Matt on running the club races this year, I will look to be closely involved again this year. This will also include working on a report of where successes were had and where improvements are needed. This will be done with the aim of leading the way amongst college races to secure the long term demand for the races and, crucially, building a sustainable revenue stream for the Club.

Proposed by Matthew Crowe
Seconded by Barney Plummer