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Midland Veterans Track and Field League

Welcome to the annual chairman’s report. This is an update on many areas of the club's activities and a look back over what's happened over the last year. The club is in a healthy place with lots of great things going on.

Wednesday track nights continue to remain successful, with us now regularly seeing 60+ people there each week.

This is in no doubt thanks to the fantastic efforts by Dan Geisler (head coach at 

), who has been leading the sessions for well over a year. This has been great for the club as not only do we get Dan's expertise and guidance, but some of Dan's athletes have joined the club and have even joined the club's cross country team.

It’s great to see a wide range of abilities taking part and encouraging each other round. The track offers a safe, floodlit place to train without having to worry about traffic. Come and give it a go, you won’t regret it - Wednesdays 7pm at Nunnery Wood track.

Thank you to Di Fox and Steve Jones for coordinating the team in the Midland Veterans Track and Field League. It's only our second season and despite us not really being a 'proper' track and field club we placed 4th out of 8 for the ladies and 5th out of 8 for the men. Well done to all that took part, stepping outside their comfort zone and giving it a good go.

Our outreach club for visually impaired runners is doing well thanks to our coordinators Mat Capel and Ann Hewlett along with their group of dedicated volunteers. They have struggled to get regular volunteers though, so if you’re able to help out, even if it's occasionally please get in touch.

Following a big reduction in numbers for 

 after lockdown, we're now seeing numbers grow again - thanks to Gareth Larner's efforts. Sunday runs now alternate between starting at Perdiswell and St. Peter's Tesco and even now some 'alternate' options running over and around the Malvern Hills. This helps mix it up a bit and give some more options for routes.

Mat and Lucy Capel have done a tremendous job maintaining and promoting both the 

Participation is really healthy and I continue to enjoy seeing the interesting destinations and run reports posted in our 

There's still 6 more weeks of parkruns left to tick any events off if you still haven't completed the 'Brum-done' challenge - a medal will be waiting for you if you do.

I look forward to seeing what they have in store for next year's league.

Jonathan Phillips has done a great job of running and promoting the 

 over the last year with many members claiming awards - well done! This is a great scheme the club offers to members to help motivate and set targets that most other clubs don’t offer, so please check it out if you haven't already.

The following committee members will be standing again in the same roles. I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone on the committee for their continued efforts. There's a lot of time and effort spent for the benefit of the club that isn't always visible, but is vital to keep the club running smoothly.

Lorraine Griffiths: Club secretary and women’s cross country team captain

Claire Shacklock: Race director and events co-ordinator

Stuart Munday: Group leader co-ordinator and vice chair

Chris Attwood: Men's cross country team captain and track coordinator

The men's team remained out of the relegation zone last season, which is a great achievement as we're competing against a lot of strong clubs. This season is off to a decent start. It's great to see lots of new faces taking part and enjoying the team camaraderie.

The women's team is doing great after their first fixture this season in the Midland Women's League - 6th out of 27 clubs, well done!

Thank you to our club captains Chris Attwood and Lorraine Griffiths for a great job recruiting and managing the teams, ensuring everyone gets there on time with their club kit, race numbers, spikes and pins! If you’ve not taken part, you’ve only missed one meeting, so 

 take place. This is a fantastic addition to the local running community, so please lend a hand and promote it to friends and family with children. The event directors Kirsten Beard and Lucy Capel are BPJs along with many in the core volunteering team, well done - I know a lot of hard work has gone into getting this set up and wish it lots of success for the future. 

If there’s anything you think the club is missing and/or you have an interest in helping out with anything, please let me know.

Paul Evans
Club chairman
Black Pear Joggers

Chairman's annual report 2023

As I know you will all be anxious to get out running over the Christmas period the following summarises the organised club runs available over the Christmas period.

 - normal 7pm runs from the Riverside PLUS 6pm night run at Croome - advanced entry only through Entry Central ("Croome by night") - cost is £8 and includes a medal and hot drink afterwards (don't forget to charge up your lights)

 - normal 7pm track session at Nunnery Wood

 - normal 7pm runs from Perdiswell Leisure Centre

 - parkrun at Worcester Woods and Pitchcroft

 - Christmas Mug Run at 11am. Please look at the Events page on the BPJ Facebook page for details

 - normal 7pm track session at Nunnery Wood followed by drinks at the Oak Apple. Running beforehand isn't compulsory!

 - normal 7pm runs from Perdiswll Leisure Centre

 - parkrun at Pitchcroft AND the first Sunday Long Run organised by Gareth Larner Paterson (which may incorporate Pitchcoft parkrun - watch out for the event update on Facebook)

 - 11am club runs from OEs with the bar open afterwards

Hopefully there is something for everybody who wants to run!

BPJ club runs over the Christmas period

Please find the annual chairman’s report below, which gives an update on many areas of the club's activities and a look back over what's happened over the last year. The club is in a healthy place with numbers steadily increasing following a large drop during the pandemic. There have been lots of new exciting things that have taken place or started over the last year.

Wednesday track nights have become one of the most popular club runs of the week. They started up just before last year’s AGM and have gone from strength to strength.

Free for members of all abilities (representing even more value for money for the membership fees), each week there’s a structured session of sprints/intervals/efforts to help improve your running ability and vary your training - or you can use the track to follow your own session.

Thanks to Chris Attwood who started and co-ordinates the track nights, numbers have reached 60+ some weeks and it’s been really great to see a wide range of abilities taking part and encouraging each other round. The track offers a safe, floodlit place to train without having to worry about traffic.

Chris also organised qualified fitness coaches to lead sessions at the track: Mark Thomas (

) earlier in the year and more recently Dan Geisler (

). Thank you to them for helping the club - just last week Dan was standing in the pouring rain motivating everyone! Come and give it a go, you won’t regret it - Wednesdays 7pm at Nunnery Wood track.

Late last year we put out a survey to members to assess whether there was enough interest in a refresh of our club kit. Although there was a sizable interest in a completely new design, there was equally a lot of reservation about changing it. In the end, we took the decision to keep the current design but move to Scimitar to gain lots of improvements to our current kit, while retaining our club’s identity:

Stripes printed through sublimated printing. No seams = no chafing.

Vented panels down the sides to increase ventilation.

Worcester printed on the rear to celebrate our home city.

Separate mens and womens options for a better fit and increased comfort.

Improved material using fully recycled 140gsm aerolite polyester.

I’m really happy we made the change. Feedback has been very positive and demand has been high - even though we ordered what should have been technically enough for a couple of years on top of pre-orders, orders have been flying in so we’ve had to put another big order in. Next year I hope we can talk with Scimitar regarding even more kit ranges.

Thank you to Avril Munday for managing the kit, which has been more demanding this year with the new supply. Avril has been regularly arranging to get last minute kit orders to members in time for races. Please try and help her out and 

Another new venture for the club this year was our participation in the Midlands Veterans Track and Field League.. Following the success of our track nights there was considerable interest in taking part in some competitive track events.

I put the idea forward late last year to join the league. I was nervous about whether there'd be enough interest and whether it would go smoothly.

Considering we're not a 'proper' track and field club, we did great! The club finished 4th out of a total 8 clubs. Really proud of all the members that took part for stepping outside their comfort zone and giving it a great go. Although it was mostly about taking part and being inclusive, it's been nice to have the competitive aspect, seeing members fill in events to get extra points and give the other teams a run for their money.

It wasn’t just the running events, we had members take part in jumping and throwing events with some laughing how they hadn’t given those a go since school!

The final fixture on home turf (Nunnery Wood track) was a great finale to our first season in the league. It was nice to see other club members, friends and family come along to support the team.

I'd like to say a big thank you to Peter Darwen for assisting with manager duties. Thanks to Steve Jones too for stepping in and helping as well, especially in the 3rd fixture and to those that officiated and assisted.

Steve Jones and Di Fox have kindly volunteered to take on the team manager roles going forward, taking over from me and Peter Darwen. I look forward to supporting them and seeing how we get on next season.

Our events coordinator Claire Shacklock has done a great job helping the club get back to a regular calendar of social events. Demand for social events is slowly returning to normal following the pandemic. Over the last year we’ve seen a range of events from meals out, to summer balls and axe throwing!

Also thanks to Gareth Jones for organising a series of events and challenges including British Bake Off and Eurovision themed challenges! There has been some lovely feedback that it has kept members who haven’t been able to run to still feel connected with the club.

Our outreach club for visually impaired runners is thriving thanks to our coordinators Mat Capel and Ann Hewlett along with their group of dedicated volunteers. This is a really special thing that the club does and it relies heavily on having enough guide runners. If you’re able to help out, even if it's occasionally please get in touch.

As always, the club wouldn’t be able to function without the amazing group leaders. Thanks to all those that help make the club what it is today. It’s been nice to see some new faces in the group leader community. It really isn’t that scary leading a group, so if you fancy giving it a go, let us know.

It’s been great to see the champions league back up and running. In 2020 I was set to be the coordinator, with some new additions to the fixtures and a new spreadsheet to make the administration easier. We only got a couple of events in when the pandemic put a stop to it.

Peter Darwen kindly stepped in to run the league this year and has done a sterling job of getting the updated results out promptly. It’s encouraged members to try new events and encourage some healthy competition.

Well done to Ally Walker who won the women’s league and Rob Bowery who retained his top spot after his win in 2019 (the last time the league ran). We’ll be presenting prizes at this year’s Christmas party.

Mat and Lucy Capel will be taking over from running the league next year. They will share more in due course, but from some of the ideas they’ve shared with me already, I’m excited to see what they have planned.

A big thank you to Peter Darwen for all the time and effort he's put into growing the Black Pear Joggers parkrun tourism community over the last 5 years. I know he likes his data and statistics, so I thought I'd crunch some numbers to visualise how it's grown over the years:

Great work Peter. It's difficult as the ‘NENDYs’ (Google it if you’ve never heard the term!) get further away and Covid put the brakes on parkruns in general, but it's been great to see many of you sharing your parkrun travel plans, post-parkrun reports/photos and growing the sub-group to what it is today.

As well as the champions league, Mat and Lucy Capel will also be taking over from Peter Darwen promoting parkrun tourism. I’m hoping they can inspire the next wave of BPJ tourists.

 that you may not be aware of where members share their travel plans and experiences at different events.

Jonathan Phillips will be taking on the administration and promotion of the 

 after kindly volunteering to take it on. I have been doing this over the last few years but struggled to dedicate the time it deserves. This is a great scheme the club offers to help motivate members and set targets that most other clubs don’t offer.

The following current committee members will be standing again in the same roles. This includes me! I’m more than happy to hand over the reins if there’s any members that want to become the club chair, but in the meantime I’ll do my best to serve the needs of the club and support the committee.

Gay Grove: Committee member (returning back to help after a period away supporting at various Covid/NHS roles)

I’d like to say a massive thank you to Michelle Kimberley who has stepped down after 4 years as our treasurer. Michelle has done a fantastic job keeping track of club finances, paying all our suppliers and charities and weighing in on other important club matters.

Jo Evans who currently sits on the committee and has supported the club in a variety of roles over the last decade has put herself forward to take on the treasurer role. We will officially vote the treasurer role in at the AGM. I really appreciate Jo’s support and continued commitment to the club.

Jo has stepped down from her role as Sunday run co-ordinator after doing this for the last few marathon training plans so up until recently we have been looking for someone to take this on. Jo and the other volunteers did a fantastic job of ensuring there were water, sweets and routes available each week.

Gareth Larner who regularly leads a group on Mondays has kindly volunteered to take on the Sunday run coordinator role so this will be voted on at the AGM. Jo and I will sit down with him ready for the Spring marathon training programme - I’ve already briefly spoken with him and he has some great ideas to add some variety to the programme.

The final personnel update is that we had had Kirsten Beard and Andy Cartwright come forward offering to help the club and committee, so they will both be proposed at the AGM to join the committee as general committee members and support various club developments.

The committee members do a sterling job of balancing the duties expected of their role with more general committee matters alongside their personal and work lives, so it will be nice to help share the workload and bring in fresh ideas and perspectives.

Our club captains Chris Attwood and Lorraine Griffiths have done a sterling job yet again and it’s been lovely to see that a wide range of abilities are taking part and enjoying the great camaraderie and team spirit. If you’ve not taken part, you’ve only missed one meeting, so 

A lot of what’s mentioned above gives a good overview of things going on next year. I’m mainly looking forward to the continued return to ‘normal’ activities and encouraging members that may have lost their motivation. If there’s anything you think the club is missing and have an interest in helping out with anything, please let me know.

Wishing you all an enjoyable experience with the club over the next year and beyond.

Chairman's annual report

It has come to that time of year again when we hold our club AGM. The AGM is open to all club members and we encourage you to have your say on important club matters. There will be some food provided, so please email secretarybpj@gmail.com to let us know if you will be attending, so we can cater for the correct amount.

The AGM will be held on Monday November 21st at 8.15pm at Old Elizabethans Cricket Club, Droitwich Road, Worcester, WR3 7SN.

Should there be anything you would like to be discussed on the night, at the AGM, then now is the time to inform us. We will discuss subjects put forward before the meeting but not any brought up on the night, so please feel free to send an email to me with your thoughts/proposals by 7th November.

We will be voting for our nominated charities at the AGM. If you would like to nominate a charity, we will need to receive their proposal before the AGM.

Here is some more information about the AGM from the club constitution:

The annual report will be ready and discussed

The officers (committee members) will be elected

Motions to be discussed must be submitted in writing to the club secretary at least 14 days before the meeting.

Standing orders or rules may be changed by a majority decision of members in attendance.

The Annual General Meeting shall elect from those present a Returning Officer to oversee any elections conducted at the meeting.

Only members of eighteen years of age and over will be eligible to vote.

The chairman shall have the casting vote.

You can also follow the Facebook event page to keep up with any announcements and notify us of your attendance.

Notice of 2022 AGM

I’m pleased to announce that we’ve been accepted into the 

. The league holds four fixtures between April and August on Wednesday or Thursday evenings featuring a range of events. A veteran is classed as 35 or over. Peter Darwen will be our team captain but supported by myself and Steve Jones. We’ll be working together to find our feet as we embark on a new challenge for members to try.

We’ll be in the South division alongside Bromsgrove & Redditch AC, Droitwich AC, Halesowen AC, Midland Masters AC, Sparkhill Harriers, Stratford Upon Avon AC and Worcester AC.

Although the league is obviously a competition, the aim of us joining the league is for a wide range of members to feel they can come and have a go at track and field events as something a little different or a new personal challenge. The primary focus will be on the ‘running’ track events, but members can take part in the field events. There are no plans to take this further and develop into a full track/field or athletics club. We’re hoping that after the success of the regular Wednesday night BPJ track session, this will prove popular.

The league is open to all first claim affiliated members of Black Pear Joggers. We can have up to 3 second claim members as long as the first claim club isn’t already in the league (e.g. if you’re first claim to Worcester AC and second claim BPJ, you must compete for them, not us). If you’re a ‘basic’ member, you would need to upgrade your membership and pay the England Athletics registration fee. To do this, please 

Pop the fixtures in your calendar, have a think about the types of event you would like to take part in and then complete the 

. We’ll get in touch closer to the fixture dates to confirm the team rosters.

There’s a mixture of events at each fixture and only one person from each club can take part in each event, so it will take some planning. Members can compete in a younger category but not an older one, e.g. a 42 year old can compete in V35, V40 and V50 events, but not V60. You can check out 

 to get an idea of what events are held at each fixture.

Please bear with us while we work out the best way to ensure as many members can take part in events in a fair way.

As part of joining the league, we will also need to supply volunteers to help out at each event. You can still compete and help out and volunteers will get plenty of support, you just need to be willing. There’s a range of official courses that you can take part in including track judge, field judge, starter/starter’s assistant, timekeeper, photo-finish and race walking official.

, but in the meantime please get in touch with me chair@bpj.org.uk if you’re willing to help out.

I’ll send out further information about the league in due course.

Midlands Veterans Track and Field League

I just wanted to introduce myself as your new (well sort of) chairman and update you all on a few things since the AGM last Monday. For those that don’t know me I’ve been a BPJ since 2012 and been the club’s ‘webmaster’ for most of that time. I’m commonly seen leading the 7:45 group on Mondays, but I did start off back in 2012 in the 11min/mile group! As part of the committee, I’ve been heavily involved in most areas of the club’s organisation, especially around anything IT/techie.

I was previously club chairman from July 2016 to January 2019 and took a step back when my daughter was born, with Mark Dillon taking on the role until now.

I’ll continue to do this role and support the club for as long as I’m needed and able, but it’d be great to see fresh ideas and perspectives – I’d be happy to support anyone interested in the future.

Anyway, it’s been so great to see the club bounce back after the pandemic:

Growing numbers and back at the Riverside:

 Monday club runs are getting busier and busier each week with a wide range of paces. We’ve also seen the return of runs to the Riverside University building on a Tuesday evening led by Lorraine Griffiths. It would be really good to get more members and leaders attending on Tuesdays though. Thank you to the leaders who are already taking groups.

 We now have a new home and place to socialise after runs at OEs thanks largely to Mark Dillon on our side and Pete Boyle at OEs.
– The club teams have made a strong start to the cross country season.

 Our Croome Capability Canter race was very successful thanks to our awesome volunteers. We’ve had lovely feedback from participants. We have a provisional date for next year – Sunday 27th November 2022.

 The club now offers an inclusive Wednesday track night thanks largely to Chris Attwood – numbers have been great with a wide range of abilities. Come and check it it out Wednesdays 7pm at Nunnery Wood track.

 We will have stronger, faster and more injury-proof members thanks to BPJ and personal coach/trainer Mark Thomas offering 

 free for BPJs. Mark has an impressive running record with a parkrun PB of 16:25, so he knows his stuff!

 Our outreach club for visually impaired runners started back up this term with a band of guide running volunteers led by Cliff Wood. The students have enjoyed a fantastic term with sessions that have included a Magic Mile and working up to running 5K. Cliff stepped down from his role at the AGM. He has been leading the club for 3 years and has inspired many new students to join and guide runners to give the sessions a try. Thank you for your efforts Cliff.

On top of this, next year will see the return of the 

, which Peter Darwen has kindly taken on the admin on alongside the 

. He will announce more details on these shortly. I feel really excited about what lies ahead for the club!

. If you haven’t got your ticket yet. Grab one quickly! Thank you to Claire Shacklock for keeping the social events going. There has also been an axe throwing night and two curry nights recently!

Here’s some of my immediate areas of focus alongside day to day committee matters:

Support Jo in her new role as Sunday run co-ordinator to bring back Sunday club long runs in time for Spring marathon training.

Support Peter Darwen to take on the champions league administration.

Send out a follow up poll on the club kit (read the AGM minutes for a summary on where we’re at, essentially, more information is needed to make the right decision).

Continue developing new features on the club website to motivate and inform members.

Progress the contract with the Old Elizabethans Cricket Club committee and improve communication.

Feel free to drop me a message if you have any questions, concerns or ideas and hope to see many of you at the Christmas party on the 11th.

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