Southsea Badminton Club’s committee has grown over the past few months, with the addition of three acting officers: Abi Taylor, Aaron Geall and Hayley Cook.

What is an acting officer?

The full SBC committee lineup now includes 8 committee members, a mix of elected and acting officers. You might recognise us from running and welcoming players at club nights, organising events, and more.

An acting officer is an appointed role where the committee may vote in additional members to serve in joint, or unaccommodated roles.

Who’s who on the committee?

As well as the existing 5 committee members, over the past few months we’ve welcomed the following new officers:

Abi Taylor – Acting Welfare Officer

This role is all about club safety and safeguarding as well as dealing with issues raised about inappropriate behavior from players or the club committee. This role was open and we’re delighted to welcome Abi into the club’s committee.

Aaron Geall – Acting Joint League Officer

This role will sit as a shared position alongside our currently elected League Officer role, currently held by Tom Mundy. They organise the club’s league matches, teams and tournaments, including the recent internal tournament

Hayley Cook – Acting Joint Communications and Socials Officer

Communications is a huge part of our club’s success and this role will job share with Lianne de Mello.

What does being a committee member involve?

Each committee member will run club night sessions on a rota – relieving more time for play for the elected officers. They’ll also conduct their specific roles, suggest or comment on ideas for best practice at the club, and attend committee meetings. 

They’ll receive all of the benefits of an elected committee member: training for running club sessions and associated with the role (e.g. first aid, safeguarding, finances), free  club sessions, a beverage at quarterly committee meetings, and a committee hoodie to help players identify who’s who at club nights.

The next steps for the committee and the club

All acting officers are by appointment by the existing committee. In future months, we hope to expand the possibility of appointed officers by updating the club’s constitution. 

This will be presented for ratification at the next Annual General Meeting, expected to take place in the summer. 

At this meeting, members of the club (to be determined) will have the opportunity to run for positions of the committee, or re-elect those wishing to continue in their role. We’ll let you know more about how to get involved with the AGM in the coming months.

We’re pleased to have a really strong committee that works well as a team and with a great breadth and depth of skills and experience. Together we’ll have even more capacity to develop the club in exciting ways over the coming months.