Southville RC Newsletter January 2025
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to the first newsletter of 2025! We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow for the first Tuesday running night of the year.
Christmas Party and Volunteer Awards
A big thank you to Ed, Kayleigh, Sophie, Hayley, Laura for organising last month's Christmas Party! Our thanks as well to DJ Rich Pearce for keeping us on our feet all night. The new venue at the Cock and Tail was a big success and we may well be returning.
At the party we held our annual Volunteer Awards, where we recognise a selection of the people who put in the hard work to make SRC what it is. This year's winners were:
Laura Pease - for her constant work on our social media channels, making sure that everyone is aware of where we're going and what we're doing, which means that everyone can be part of club events.
Théa Payne - for creating and organising the 2024 Jurassic Coast Extravaganza. It was an unforgettable weekend of camping, running and socialising, thanks to Théa's hard work and commitment.
Ed Dening - for stepping up and helping out on multiple occasions, including the Cotswold Way Relay, our Classic Quarter accommodation and last month's Christmas Party.
Rachael Lammey - for consistently being the person-in-charge on Thursday nights, always being there to handle the cashbox, ensure there are enough group leaders and get the ball rolling.
All of the above awardees receive a certificate, and their SRC and England Athletics fees for 2025/26 paid by the club on their behalf, as a token of our thanks.
In other social news, the first SRC social date to mark in your diaries is Friday February 14th, when we'll be hosting a skittles social in the Southbank. More details will follow in next month's newsletter, including the start time. Entry will be £2 in cash on the night (and keep an extra pound coin in hand for the post-tournament round of Killer).
Annual General Meeting agenda and Director elections
Our Annual General Meeting will be held after running on Tuesday 14th January in the back bar of the Southbank. We'd love everyone to attend and have their say in how the club is run.
The agenda is as follows:
1. Election of Directors (and thank you to outgoing Directors Chris and Andy)
2. Financial update - Andrew Ventham (for the last time)
3. Kit - Sam Lewis
4. Members-only WhatsApp community - Sam Lewis
5. Update re electronic payment options - Mark Chesser
6. 2025 events - Sophie Patten & Laura Pease
Nominations for SRC's Directors closed on 31st December. The following candidates will stand unopposed for election as Directors:
Bindal Shah - Membership Officer
Dave Unsworth - Treasurer
Kayleigh Doherty - co-Chair
Liam Coleman - co-Chair
Sam Blanning - Club Secretary
A show of hands will be taken to confirm whether the membership approves the above candidates to act as Directors for the next year.
Vacancies
Jess Joseph is stepping down as Welfare Officer with our thanks. Jasper Coleman will continue in post. Our preference as a club is to have both male and female Welfare Officers in place to ensure everyone at the club has someone they are comfortable speaking to about any welfare concerns. We are therefore looking for a woman to take Jess' place in the Welfare Officer role.
The role of the Club Welfare Officers is to ensure that all our members have a safe and positive experience at SRC. Welfare Officers are the people members can speak to if they have a safeguarding, discipline or conduct concern, and manage lower-level club issues and disputes to prevent escalation and ensure everyone has an enjoyable time when out running.
Welfare Officers take online courses from England Athletics in Safeguarding and Adult Welfare, which the club will pay for, so this role is a great way to give back to SRC while receiving some valuable training and life skills. If you are interested, let us know.
We also continue to be in need of someone to help organise the club's kit orders (shirts and vests), and maintain our club storage and equipment. This could be done by one person or two. If you are interested in either role, please let us know.
Race Roundup
Can't wait to get back to racing in 2025? There's some events already open for entries that are guaranteed to see a big SRC turnout:
Ironwood Challenge - held on February 23rd in Long Ashton, this race features about 6 miles of forest trail and challenging hills (including the famous rope climb).
The Big Cheese in Cheddar is on April 6th and consists of 15 miles of beautiful countryside.
A week later will be the Frenchay 10k on April 13th, a very popular local race with a scenic urban route and a free mug for every participant.
The Weston Prom Run also continues once a month until April. And once that's over, it'll be time for the Towpath 10k series starting in May. Mark Friday May 23rd in your calendars as that will be the day of the Mobmatch, when Bristol's running clubs compete as teams. We'll be aiming to defend our long record of success, and challenge Bristol & West for top spot once again.
For more events, see "Dates for your Diary" below.
Cotswold Way Relay - register your interest now
We are once again looking at entering some Southville Running Club teams for the Cotswold Way Relay this year.
What's the Cotswold Way Relay I hear some of you ask? Well, it is a day-long event on Saturday 5th July, where between you as a team you cover the full length of the Cotswold Way footpath - from Chipping Camden in the north to Bath in the South. There's 10 legs which vary between 7 and 12 miles - all with beautiful scenery and some great trail running. We usually have a couple of teams, share lifts throughout the day and all finish at Bath Abbey at around 6pm to cheer in our final runner, then head for food and drinks.
If you fancy being part of a Southville team, please fill in your details on this form by the end of Saturday 25th January.
It is very important that people register their interest as soon as possible, because we need to work out how many teams we can enter and in which categories. Priority will be given to those who registered their interest first.
Everyone's welcome to enter, it's not just for the super-fast runners. Depending on who is interested, we may do teams for varying categories - such as a vets team of over 40s, an all-women team and an open team for our fastest runners.
We will also this year need to provide a couple of volunteers to support with stewarding or water points on one of the stages, so if you're not interested in running but would like to get involved with the event, let us know.
Thanks to Liam Coleman for leading the squad this year.
Parkrun
Parkrun is a free weekly timed 5k run that takes place every Saturday all over the country and all over the world. There are also 2k Junior Parkruns for those 14 and under.
Most of Bristol's many parkruns will see an SRC presence most weeks, but on the first Saturday of each month we make an extra special effort to get a big SRC turnout to support each other at our nearest parkrun, Ashton Court, and share a coffee in the café afterwards. This month's has already happened, and the next big Saturday turnout will be 1st February.
Saturday January 18th is parkrun tourism day this month. Some of us will be making an extra special tourism trip to Berlin for Hasenheide parkrun, and for those of us staying closer to home, we're heading to Southwick Country parkrun in Trowbridge. It's a three-lap trail course with a downhill finish.
Need a lift to Trowbridge, or have space in your car? Our members-only WhatsApp communityhas a dedicated parkrun channel which is the perfect place to find and offer lifts.
Dates for your Diary
💚Tue January 7 - First SRC run night of 2025
🏁Thu January 9 - Weston Prom Run
🙋Tue January 14 - Annual General Meeting
🧡Sat January 18 - Southwick County parkrun tourism
🧡✈️Sat January 18 - Hasenheide Parkrun
🧡Sat February 1 - SRC @ Ashton Court parkrun
🥳Fri February 14 - SRC Skittles Social
🏁Thu February 20 - Weston Prom Run
🏁Sun February 23 - Ironwood Challenge
🏁Thu March 20 - Weston Prom Run
🏁Sun March 23 - 20/20 Fission (Berkeley)
🏁Sun April 6 - Big Cheese (Cheddar)
🏁Sun April 13 - Frenchay 10k
🏁Thu April 17 - Weston Prom Run
🏁Sun May 11 - Great Bristol Half / 10k
🏁Thu May 22 - Weston Prom Run
🏁Fri May 23 - Towpath Mobmatch 10k
🏁Fri June 20 - Towpath 10k
🚌Sat July 5 - Cotswold Way Relay
🏁Fri July 25 - Towpath 10k
🏁Fri August 15 - Towpath 5k
All the best,
Southville Running Club
info@southvillerunningclub.co.uk
