COVID-19 - STATEMENT FROM THE HONORARY TREASURER

Published 15:18 on 2 Apr 2020

Message from the Treasurer - 1 April 2020

The Club Needs Our Support!

A number of you have asked if the club is going to offer a discount on the 2020 membership "as we are unable to partake in any form of sailing or take advantage of the facilities" and the club understands your frustration, after all you would not normally pay for something that you cannot use. However, these are not normal times and it is at this time when the club most needs your loyalty and fees to ensure we make it through this difficult period and the club is there for you in the better times.

Obviously at this time how long it will be before we can reopen the club is hard to gauge. Your General Committee has currently confirmed that the club is closed until end of April and will review this date in line with the latest government advice at its next meeting on 15 April. Clearly their aim is to open the club and restart sailing as soon as we are permitted but in reality, we may well not be able to open for several months.

To help you understand the position I have put together a summary of the potential financial situation for the club, which looks at the worst case scenario for this year, where we achieve no substantial sailing and have to forego all open meetings, Pyefleet Week and the many social events that occur at the club.

Firstly, regarding our income, boat park and subscriptions, we can expect these to be significantly lower this year (despite this appeal) and likely to be in the region of £40,000 compared with last year's figure of £60,000. In this area you can help by renewing your membership and boat park if it is still outstanding.

On the expenses side, your General Committee has been curtailing services and expense where possible to ensure we expend the minimum necessary to keep the club ready to restart activities as soon as permitted. However, we must bear in mind that whilst not running any sailing events saves money in some areas, whether it be club racing or open meetings, cadet night, family fun Friday, etc, it will also have a negative effect on income, which in turn has a negative effect on the "cost" to the club of the closure.

This table gives an estimate of the unavoidable costs which the club already has or will have to incur this year even if it is forced to remain closed for the duration:

-Administration £ 8,300 includes software, subscriptions, broadband and bank charges

-Cleaning £ 3,000

-Electric, gas etc £ 3,500

-Insurance £10,000

-Maintenance £ 2,000

-Payroll £ 800

-Sailing Expenses £ 6,750 includes £5k of committed cost plus storage of 2 rescue boats by park and ride

-Stock write off £ 7,250

-Training cost £ 490

-VAT £ 1,000 unclaimable

-Total expense £43,090

Some of this expense has already been committed in getting ready for the season and of course in relation to the cancelled Optimist event, the rest is unavoidable cost despite the actions taken.

It can be quickly seen that if the club performs as predicted in these circumstances, we stand to lose at least £4,000 arising from the baseline maintenance of the club, but this is not the only impact.

As reported at previous AGMs the club usually reports a profit of circa £10,000 per year, however this is after £20,000 depreciation, which still needs to be taken into account, alongside the cash impact of not benefitting from any of our normal profitable activities. Overall the cash cost to the club of this element is likely to be in excess of £30,000. Thus, the club is looking at a possible position by the end of 2020 that could be in excess of £34,000 worse off in terms of cash than 2019.

Hopefully knowing this will enable everyone to understand the importance of paying your fees due in 2020 and why it will be difficult to offer a discount on 2020 membership.

However, having said that, the General Committee are reviewing the possibility of offering a discount to loyal members via a one-off reduction in 2021 to compensate, and further details of this will follow when the current position becomes clear.

Stay fit and well

Dave Gibbons
BSC Hon. Treasurer

Last updated 12:28 on 4 March 2024