The committee would like to say thank you to Sara Campbell for her time as press officer over the last two years. We are sad to see her leave and wish her all the best with her diving in the future. Also we should say another big thank you to Lia Tseki who is stepping down as membership officer. Your help will be missed!
It’s that time of year again. This year’s British Freediving Association Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place at Upstairs bier bar, lark lane ,Liverpool L 18 at 12pm. You are all very welcome to come to the AGM, listen, take part and give your views. If you can not make it in person, you are very welcome to join in via skype. We have an account: We_are_the_BFA, password is SteveZissou
The AGM is your chance to find out what the British Freediving Association has been up to over the past year and express your views on what it should be doing in the year ahead. Most importantly, it is your chance to stand for a Committee position and get involved!
We need to fill a few gaps in the BFA Committee this year and really hope you will use this chance to give something back to the sport you love. Without the BFA, we may not be able to compete at International or organise recognised competitions, will struggle with teaching insurance and won’t get our records recognised properly. If the Committee positions are not filled, then there is a good chance the BFA won’t be able to continue – so please consider whether you might be able to give an hour or so a week to give something back. To continue, according to our Constitution, we must appoint at least a Chair, Membership Secretary, Training & Safety Officer and a Treasurer. At the moment chair and training have someone who definitely wishes to stand for election, however membership role needs to be filled! It is currently be care taken by Liv Philip.
The Committee posts can all be managed wherever you live, as long as you have internet and email access a couple of times a week. Whilst it would be helpful, to us and to you, you do not need to attend the AGM to stand for a position.
The BFA Committee positions are:
Chair – Currently Brian Crossland, who will stand again. The Chair manages the organisation of the Committee in terms of the AGM, leads discussions on new developments for the organisation, keeps a bit of an eye to make sure all the Committee members are fulfilling their post’s requirements and generally keeps email and other discussions under control. The Chair sometimes also ends up covering roles in the short-term when vacancies arise and acting as a point of contact for other Committee members when they are on leave.
Clubs – Currently Georgina Miller, who will stand again. The Clubs Officer manages the recognition of BFA affiliated clubs, answers questions from club organisers and members, supports the clubs in developing their activities and advises on how to set up new clubs.
Competitions – Currently Ed Wardle, who will be standing again. The Competitions Officer supports anyone in the UK organising AIDA-ranked competitions, oversees the competition from the BFA’s point of view and may work with the E Media and Press Officer to help promote the competition. If organisers do not come forward, the Competitions Officer may be required to proactively seek out and encourage members to organise competitions.
E Media – Currently Martyn Jones, who will be standing again. The E Media Officer runs the BFA website and e-communications. Some technical ability is required for this post.
Membership – Currently care taken by Liv Philip after Lia tseki stepped down. The Membership Officer keeps track of who the current members are, processes membership applications, sends out membership packs and works with the Sponsorship Officer on building member benefits. Some technical ability required for this post.
Press Officer – Currently Sara Campbell, who will be stepping down. The Press Officer liaises with the media (mostly the UK dive press and dive websites) to publicise records, competitions and other freediving stories and acts as a point of contact for media with queries about freediving. A new appointee will be provided with lists of contacts but it would be helpful if they had some previous PR or writing experience. The Press Officer needs to work closely with the E Media Officer and the Sponsorship Officer, to ensure all stories are covered on the website and that Sponsors get sufficient coverage in return for their support.
Records and AIDA Liaison Officer – David Tranfield who will stand again. This position is responsible for liaising with the AIDA International Board and AIDA Judge list, sending information on any AIDA International Level votes (about 10 a year) out to the Committee, monitoring responses and sending back our reply. This post also handles the management and recognition process for UK records, based on the UK record rules you can download from the BFA website, and liaises with the Press and E Media Officers to make sure the records are publicised. It would be helpful if the person appointed to this post were an AIDA Judge.
Secretary – currently Gary Mac Grath, who will be stand again. The Secretary manages the BFA E-newsletter and other communications with members, takes minutes at the AGM and provides secretarial support to the other Committee members as required.
Sponsorship – currently Jay Cluskey, who will be standing again. The Sponsorship Officer manages our relationships with sponsors and builds new sponsorship agreements. Sponsorship normally relates to the UK Team but it would be great to achieve more general sponsorship for freediving in the UK.
Training & Safety – currently Liv Philip, who will be standing again. This post oversees freedive training within the UK, working with the AIDA Education Committee to advise instructors on matters of training. It also has a wider remit, usually working with the Clubs Officer and sometimes with the Competitions Officers, to advise on matters of safety and is responsible for keeping the Open Water and Confined Water BFA safety advice sheets up to do date. The Training and Safety Officer needs to be a qualified freedive instructor.
Treasurer – currently Gareth Cantin, who will be standing again. The Treasurer produces the annual BFA accounts for the AGM, keeps an eye on our finances, makes a final decision with the Chair on major expenditures, runs the BFA bank account and PayPal account.
ALL the Committee members are actively involved in voting on AIDA International matters, discussing and putting forward the UK’s views on the development of the sport through AIDA, selection and support of the UK Team at AIDA International competitions and supporting the BFA in various ways in its purpose of “promoting freediving recreationally and competitively, in safe environments”.
Voting Process – In line with the BFA Constitution, anyone who wishes to stand (or re-stand) for a post, should send an email submission, stating the post or posts for which they would like to be considered along with a short CV or manifesto explaining why they think they would be suitable. This should be sent in by the 17th November to committee@britishfreediving.org. Where more than one person stands for a post, that post will go to a majority vote of BFA members. Any vote will be sent to all BFA Members by 24th November. You have two weeks to vote and the results will be announced at the AGM on the 9th December.
Thanks again for your support and we look forward to seeing you at the AGM.