Recording studio gift experiences at Gift Daze

Included with the Teachers Meeting 2004 Minutes

To: ALL TEACHERS IN CHARGE OF FENCING

Dear Colleagues,

Invitation to suggest possible sites for the 2005 PSFC and to volunteer to help run the event

I attach a copy of the minutes of our meeting at Crystal Palace on 25th February and hope that the summer term is going well for you.

The agenda of the June PSFC committee meeting (this year on the 23rd ) includes discussion of any points arising from this year’s event, including those raised by you. That meeting also decides the dates, venue and preliminary arrangements for 2005.

You raised some major issues about the facilities, particularly the state of the fencing surface and the poor ventilation in the arena. You also helpfully suggested a number of alternative locations for the PSFC committee’s consideration. I have drawn all this to the attention of the management at CPNSC, telling them also that the PSFC committee meets on June 23rd. I have also fed these points into the current review of the future of the Crystal Palace site.

I would therefore now appreciate your further help and advice in three respects.

1 The Venue

You suggested a number of facilities you considered worth exploring, but we had no chance to explore them in detail during the meeting and there was no easy unanimity after it. If you suggested a particular venue or wish to nominate one now, please:
i) First contact me to make sure that someone else has not already started work on the centre you wish to support;
ii) contact two other teachers i/c fencing who support your recommendation;
iii) make the necessary enquiries and email or mail me the following data by no later than Monday 14th June for circulation with the agenda for the PSFC committee meeting.

1. Name, address and contact details of proposed venue
2. Name, address and contact details of main proposer (first) and two supporters
3. Size of venue and the number of pistes it can accommodate (we use 34 at CPNSC)
4. Its availability in March 2005
5. Accessibility of the venue (i) by car or coach; (ii) by public transport
6. Quality of the fencing surface
7. Quality of the changing accommodation
8. Security of the site
9. Medical arrangements
10. Facilities for the day-to-day running of the championships (control box, etc)
11. PA system availability and quality.
12. Costs (i) daily hire charge and the number of days for which the centre would charge us
(ii) setting up and dismantling costs, eg laying the pistes and marking them out
(iii) other
13. Availability, size, nature and cost of on-site catering
14. Hotel/hostel accommodation in the area
i) quality and cost of the accommodation
ii) its availability in March 2005
iii) quality and cost of off-site catering.
15. Any other points you wish to draw to the committee’s attention concerning the suggested venue, including any ‘quirks’ of the centre’s management, such as restrictions on where the fencers keep their kit between bouts.
16. Are you and your supporters prepared to accept responsibility for the local arrangements? If not, whom would you recommend?

I look forward to receiving the necessary details by June 14th. The Committee will then consider all nominated venues along with the up-to-date details of the CPNSC.

2. Acceptance and recording of entries

The competition has grown by roughly 50% in the last four years and has now become so large that it is a considerable task simply recording the entrants for the various events. Rodney, with his typical generosity, already takes four days of his annual leave allocation for the event itself. He is, however, unable to continue to take the extra time needed to carry out all the necessary work associated with the receipt of entries leading to the preparation of the lists of entrants for the individual events in good time for their inclusion with the second mailing to schools. These lists also need to be in a format that is transferable to the program for running the competition itself. All entries have also to be checked for accuracy and the BFA (& other home countries) contacted to confirm membership. Up to now Rodney has also kept the tally of requests for hostel accommodation as they arrive, though any change of venue could change this requirement. If you are willing to take on responsibility for this range of tasks, please contact Rodney direct before the committee’s meeting of June 23rd to discuss details. It is essential to the continued running of the Championships that a replacement come forward.

3. Day-to-day running of the events

Some of you also expressed eagerness at the meeting to take on some responsibility for the day-to-day running of the competition. At the prize-giving on the final evening, Keith, on behalf of Rodney and himself, stated his gratitude to those willing colleagues and invited them to write to me with their firm offers for the committee to consider on 23rd June. I can only repeat that we would welcome your participation. To date no such offers have reached me, but I imagine that some may have gone astray in the post or cyberspace.

If you would like to be involved in the day-to-day running of the competition and help Keith, Rodney, Kate and Mike, I would be pleased to hear from you in writing. We see a number of possible ways of involving extra volunteers, including handing over, within the team, responsibility either for leading all work on one of the three days; or for one, two or three events each day. Volunteers need, of course, to be prepared to give any task they agree to undertake absolute priority over all other calls on their time during the period concerned. Please e-mail or mail me details of your experience of running events and what you are prepared to offer. I need to receive them, please, in time to circulate them with the papers for the meeting, ie no later than Monday 14th June 2004.

I look forward to hearing from you on all three counts. If there is anything you would like to discuss with me before writing, please do not hesitate to telephone me.

Yours sincerely

Brian Howes

Chairman, PSFC Committee
8 Beulah Hill, London, SE19 3LS
Telephone: 020 8771 0268
Email: brianhowes@ecis.org