Ladies and Gentlemen (and Gareth)

We are due to hold our AGM and it has been suggested that we finish training a little earlier one night to have a quick meeting in the bar. There are lots of exciting things to discuss and it is important that everyone has the opportunity to express their own feelings and also to hear those of the other members.

The AGM is therefore to be held on Monday 8th March at approx 8.30pm in the main bar at Morley RF Club. If anyone has any issues they wish to be aired at the meeting please send Scott, Sam or myself a note before the end of this month.

We were also reminded by the club that, as we are all members of Morley RFC, we are entitled to go drinking there on evenings other than Mondays! For news of all events at the club check out the website

See you all Monday.

Harry

Lost Loiners,

We have been contacted by representatives from Hunslet Hawks to become part of the Hunslet Hawks Charitable Foundation Trust ( not sure of the proper title) to enable them to fill a gap in their ‘Inclusion’ policy and which would benefit us by enabling us to take advantage of the Hawks facilities and infrastructure. We met with Ian Johnson briefly on Monday and he has outlined the offer below:

• We would be entitled to use the pitches, changing rooms and bar(s) at South Leeds Stadium for training, games and functions free of charge
• Assistance with (if not free) equipment such as balls, kit, etc
• Occasional coaching sessions
• Use of gymnasium and access to physio (by appointment)

The Lost Loiners would have to change our name to become part of the Hunslet Trust and the exact details would have to be agreed between both Clubs, however, we would still be responsible for, and have internal control over, the running of our club including subscriptions, etc. The timing of the “move” would be to suit us and, if we wished, we could still train at Morley. Hunslet appear to be open to negotiation on the practicalities of running our club and the support we would like/need from them.

As this is such a major decision for the Lost Loiners I suggest that there is a vote of the whole club membership at the forthcoming AGM on 8th March. In the meantime could everyone consider the above proposals and let Scott, Sam or myself have comments or questions as soon as possible. If anyone wishes to discuss the details feel free to speak with us at any time if there are any queries that need a response from Hunslet we can have these answered before the AGM to enable us all to make an informed decision on the 8th.

We were informed last night the subs were going up to £3 a week (50% increase, you're worse than bankers). Is that up for discussion (its' on your agenda) or is it already determined?

It may be difficult to do anything about it but is Morley the right venue given the major topic for discussion may involve us leaving there?

If the AGM is to start at 8.30 we will probably have to finish training at 8 to be showered and changed etc. Will we still be charged £3 for that session, assuming the 50% increase has already been determined? If so, and I show up only for the AGM, will I still be charged.

If the Hunslet proposal is accepted is the gym use 7 days a week, anytime or just Monday evenings? I'd like more information about this gym business.

That is all for now.

G1, I assumed looking at you that you were already a gym member and spent a considerable amount of time there already?

I understand that the gym is very small and run by LCC, however, we would be able to get passes from Hunslet to use it whenever it was open.
As for the subs, etc, the £3 was suggested to cover the cost of the Morley rent and also to allow for a "safety net" when we got less than 12 players turning up and also to help fund alternative pitches when the Morley pitches were out-of-bounds. If there are excess funds at the end of the year then it's up to the members to decide what to do. Can I suggest that all comments/suggestions/alternatives are discussed before the 1st March so that we can use the AGM to vote/ratify rather than discuss topics?
I also suggest that the session that evening should be free (if Club funds permit) and yes, we will have to finish at 8.00pm.
HTH

In theory, this sounds reasonable but how is it going to work practically. Do we need to set up a pre-AGM ? Also, it's fair to say that some of the discussions will be around money so if we can't see the accounts until 8th March, how do we discuss the financial aspects of the club.

I don't know how much we currently pay Morley per month, but for the past 6 months we've had pretty good numbers every week (on average I'd take a guess at 20), which would bring in £160 per month. I assume we don't pay anywhere near that for the pitch (it was £75 per month when G1 and I ran the club 4 years ago so I'd expect some inflation), but I am at a loss as to the reasoning behind the increase in subs (£12-16 per month for a couple of hours rugby on a Monday night seems excessive - and more expensive than our monthly gym membership at work !). I'd pay £3 per week if I was seeing some other return for the money - discounted/free gear (t-shirts etc.) but it seems a lot for a "safety net".

I agree the club needs to be run more astutely than it has been in the past, and I perceive this to be the case with the current Board of Directors !!, however I wouldn't want to take away the cheap, fun element of a Monday night run around with the lads - which is why it was first established.

Just my two penneth. I am sure I'll have more to add at the AGM !

The only issue I raise is the idea of a change to our team name. Lost Loiners is at least ten years old and I believe we need to maintain our identity and association with Leeds rl and carry on representing Leeds.

I, among others have spent £200+ on kits of the lost loiners, including one for this season which will have our logo and name on it.

OK, if we're getting the discussion going before the AGM here's my thoughts.

Firstly, let me congratulate Scott, Harry and and Sam for the way they have run the club since taking over from their predecessor. I think the club is better run than it ever has been and I actually include the days Adam and I ran it in that. I hope all three continue the thankless task for a while longer and I hope everyone else is as appreciative of their efforts as I.

I am not a fan of the subs increase. I know its' only an extra £1 but I think psychologically its' a big jump from a couple of quid to £3 a week. I understand the reasoning but we've rarely been below 12 and are usually well above it. I assume if we accept the Hunslet offer (I'll come to that later) that there will be no need for subs? If we stay at Morley and we're struggling to cover the costs I think Morley need to lower their prices rather than us increase the subs. They're getting rent and valuable Monday night bar takings which I am sure they'd rather not lose, especially as we now appear to have options.

The Hunslet Offer looks attractive to me. I am struggling to make many weekend games these days and my main interest is the fun elements of Monday nights. I would be keen that the casual, fun nature of that is not lost. If we can have access to better, free facilities and offer of support with coaching etc without it going to a more serious level then I would be for it. If we're going to do it, we should do it and I don't think the half way house option of doing it and staying at Morley is the way to go.

Having said that, we have a good thing going. Morley have always been very supportive and its' been "home" for several years. If it aint broke etc.

I am not concerned, one way or another, with the name change. Although we have always been predominantly Leeds supporters we have always been inclusive and I wouldn't have it any other way. Not that Hunslet fans are reciprocal to Leeds fans with those values mind.

In a nutshell, my views are summarised as follows. I am just a casual participant these days. I don't really want to pay £3 a week and don't really have strong feelings for or against the Hunslet proposal.

Does that take things anywhere Harry?

I would also second thanks to Scott, Harry and Sam for all their hard work. It may not always seem so lads, but it is well appreciated. I think we've seen some great development of the club over the past 18 months or so.

One thing I would suggest is that either at the AGM or beforehand we have a general debate about where we play. By virtue of our name and heritage we're clearly not averse to a move in principal if it were deemed the right thing to do after looking at the facts and options.

Whilst Morley has good facilities and has been home for some time it does have some issues:

- Lights being turned off early
- Flood lights temperamental and bulbs often out with some seemingly never replaced
- More expensive even at the current rates than other clubs I would expect?? (certainly more than what we used to pay at West Leeds so I'm told)
- We pay for a pitch but often have to share with other people
- Very poor drainage so v muddy and standing, often stagnant water through a good 2 or 3 months of the year (clearly a big disadvantage to a mud dodging Douglas Bader wing commander like me!)
- Bit of a distance for some people to travel?


They're the gripes but I don't honestly know what the alternatives are. For all I know we might have had a good look into this already. If not it might be worth doing some investigations so we have an informed view of our options.

To my mind our case should be an easy sell. You would expect most clubs would be happy to have us if they have a Monday night pitch available. If all they need to do is turn floods on and open changing rooms its easy money for them. At Adam's old quoted rate it works out at £900 a year in a club's coffers for turning a lock and flicking a switch each week (not to mention their bar takings). Their only costs are some electricity and water.

As long as we have somewhere with floods and changing rooms available on a Monday we're sorted. I would suspect there's a good number of places with 6 or 7 miles of the city centre that fit that criteria.

Anyone have anything to add on this?



On the other points:

>I'm afraid I'm on the fence about the Hunslet thing. I think it'd be a shame to officially lose the club name (and Mark raises a valid point about kit!) but clearly the benefits financially and in terms of support are not to be sniffed at!

> I have no major beef with paying £3 a week as I always look forward to and enjoy Mondays but I do think its an increase that I'm sure could be avoided.

Good points chaps. We need to let all the players have their say before the AGM.

Watch this space!

;o)

ps The credit for last year needs to go to Scott who has put in a lot of time and effort (and his own money at times!) to get us to this position.

pps. A big thanks also to Chris for being our kit man all year! A thankless task which is a pain in't ar$e!!
Well done Chris!!

John,

You'd be surprised about how welcoming clubs are/are not and the facilities they can/can't offer.

We were at West Leeds RU for a while. They have one pitch and steadfastly refused to let us use it. They had some "wasteland" at the side of it and we had to tip toe around old mattresses and bricks etc.

They virtually threw us out (not quite) for using their 1st team pitch one Monday night. We couldn't stay as what we were allowed to use was dangerous. I can't recall if we had use of any facilities but we would go for a drink at a pub nearby.

Not many clubs have the facilities Morley have and I actually think we're on to a good thing as long as they're not too silly with how much they want.

Plus, Morley is 2 mins off the motorway for people who come from directions other than Leeds.

Would the move to Hunslet result in an influx of new players as I'm assuming we would then be part of Hunslet RLFC and therefore become more important (I get this impression with it being free of charge!). If so, I'm not sure we need that to be honest, with the possibility of our team becoming too "serious" and moving from a fun get together for tag rugby on a monday night.

I may be way out and have the wrong idea here but I certainly wouldn't want our sessions becoming like they did a few years ago when Morley RUFC joined in with us and basically ruined it (a view of many at the time not just my opinion). The name 'Nev' comes to mind.

G1 has said it ... If it aint broke...