BOF Conference - 24th September

[Zoom Zoom!]

Before you all rush off to attend the Conference and the associated EGM where you can vote in person for or against the one third increase in Membership Fees (you can of course vote by proxy but that was messed up last time!) you might like to read the Management Committee Minutes from 5th July 2005 Item 05/35f. This might give you some idea where a large proportion of those increased fees could be spent. If you prefer to have your money spent on orienteering matters then the message is clear.

[Mrs H.]

Whoa! They can have my house for that! It's quite luxurious - although it could probably do with a £10,000 refit - has magnificent views and is very convenient for the motorway and railway network as Awk and others will tell you(plus it has organic vegetable production systems in place and you can access mapped areas on foot!)

Seriously - when will BOF Cental learn to cut its coat according to its cloth

Surely they could buy a property for that amount of repayment a year (or possibly less) and have an accruing asset at the end of the day - possibly be able to sub-let part of it and get some income too!

[OCM45]

Management Committee Minutes from 5th July 2005 Item 05/35f:

http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/D ... _07_05.pdf

Is there a historic reason why BOF is currently headquartered in Matlock? Presumably there is cheap(er) office accomodation nearby in Derby.

[Lumpy Lycra]

from the same minutes

b) Strategic Budget
John Morris expressed the strong desire for the publication of the strategic
budget so that members could discuss future fees, costs of the RDO’s and
any other possible increases in the cost of the sport that might be in the
pipeline. Robin Field explained that as it had been used to convince the
Sports Councils of our intentions it was not yet in a publishable form. It was
agreed that its publication was urgently required but could not be done until
all the relevant facts are available.

I'm sorry??

[awk]

That's a cracker, isn't it!

I was struck by the Marketing Officer's report: from recollection this is pretty much along the lines of EVERY Marketing Officer's first report when they've started: revamp the magazine, posters and leaflets lousy and need refurbishing, sponsorship policy to be reworked again. A real sense of deja vu there. I would really like to see BOF moving on from this, not going over the same ground all the time, or is that the nature of this job?

Can't comment on the rents etc. What are the going rates, and if this isn't appropriate, what would be?

[Becks]

Has anyone found or asked for timings yet? I'm trying to book my train tickets in advance but can't find them anywhere.

[Simon]

Has anyone found or asked for timings yet? I'm trying to book my train tickets in advance but can't find them anywhere.

It is in the document here

Conference Programme
10.30 – 11.00 Registration and coffee
11.00 – 12.00 First session of Workshops
12.15 – 13.15 Second session of Workshops
13.15 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 14.45 EGM
15.00 – 16.00 Small group discussions on Membership Scheme
16.00 – 16.15 Tea
16.15 – 17.00 Final Plenary on Membership Scheme

[John Morris]

Awk wrote:-

"Can't comment on the rents etc. What are the going rates, and if this isn't appropriate, what would be?"

After a progress report from Robin Field - and some follow-up discussions - Management Committee commissioned an independent study to look at various issues arising. Such as:- Is it appropriate to stay in/near our present location (Darley Dale)? Is the proposed accommodation unnecessarily luxurious? If some of the staff worked from home, could we make significant savings?

The study was carried out by Neil Cameron; his report, recently completed, has been delivered to the Chairman and CEO.

Those are the facts.

My personal opinion...

... having visited BOF Office not a few times in the last ten years, and having worked in other third-sector organisations, is:- (1) that the poor quality of the present premises is not consistent with our duty of care, as employers, to our staff; (2) that the rent we have been paying reflects that; (3) that it makes good sense for a distributed membership organisation like BOF to retain a central office location.

I also note that, if the rise in rental costs is from something under £6,000 pa to around £12,000 pa, that works out as less than £1 per member per year.

Whether you measure in Mars bars, cans of your favourite beer, or copies of the Big Issue, that's not a lot.

[Mrs H.]

Well it all dpends how much space they use. I can't believe they need more than 1000sq ft unless they are using office space for storage which would be expensive. My own independent property survey shows you could get that for half the amount and no refurbshiment costs in Cheltenham (smart and central) here;
http://www.egpropertylink.com/PropertyD ... &NoBanner=

It must be cheaper up north - have they looked in chesterfield or sheffield?
Just found this in respect of Bolsover and Pleasley Business Parks:

The District of Bolsover has modest rents ranging between 75p and £3.00 exclusive per square foot p.a. (£8.00 and £32.10 per m2), no charge in respect of lease documentation, flexible leases including early exit provision with no financial penalty and round the clock security supported by cameras, video recording and access control barriers with a Facilities Manager based within the Vale.

[John Morris]

Mrs H wrote:-

"I can't believe they need more than 1000sq ft unless they are using office space for storage which would be expensive."

I'm happy to be corrected on this but I understand that the current BOF Office has a floor area in excess of 15,000 sq ft. There are (I believe) nine people working at the office. Some space is used for storage. There is a meeting room. There are toilets and a small kitchen. This being a three-storey building, stairs and passage-ways take up a significant amount of space.

The most recently identified prospective replacement of which I am aware had a floor area of around 12,000 sq ft on one floor, which at £12k pa would be £1 per sq ft pa - close to the bottom end of Mrs. H's suggested (Bolsover Park) price range.

I'm not saying it's perfect, but it's not wildly extravagant...

[Mrs H.]

15,000sq ft your kidding me!
That is the equivalent of 75 large lounges! (or 11 four-bedroomed houses) how many rooms each do these nine people need? that is a floor space a third as big as a football pitch. or a room measuring 15ft by 1000ft!

How can this be?

[awk]

Knowing the offices, 15000 square feet sounds way excessive: more like 2-3000? Those corridors aren't that long!

However, whatever the square footage, it shouldn't be taken as too strict a guide for what is actually needed: Old Victorian houses don't make the most efficient office space.

I would concur with John about the quality of the offices. I was always very glad that my post was not office based, and that wasn't because of the staff!

[John Morris]

Sorry folks!

I seem to have added an extra zero on the end...

Please divide my floor space estimates by 10. And if you want the actual figures, I'm sure Robin can supply them.

I'll go back to sleep now...

[ifititches]

glad you cleared that up John, my mind was boggling too. Sounded like an office you could hold a sprint relay in!

it's a shame the negotiations with YHA fell through. YHA have just wound up a really successful summer of activity weeks for teenagers, and I think the ones for next year are booking up already. It would have been good to see one involving orienteering and navigational skills. (still could happen I suppose)

coming to BOF conference? stay on in the Midlands, go for a run on the Lickey Hills , stay on for the Sunday and come to the event organisers' course that HOC are holding just south of the Lickeys (if you skip the conference you could come to the level 3 planners' one on the Saturday too ) Application forms on HOC website
http://www.harlequins.org.uk
but hurry!