INAUGURAL MEETING (AGM) OF THE REAL FRIENDS OF THE REC

A highly successful Inaugural Meeting was attended by 86 members and the Executive Committee of the RFOTR. Below is a summary of the Minutes, the full Minutes are available to members here. The Committee have now written to all the main parties involved with the process of keeping Bath Rugby at the Rec in an attempt to BROKER a deal with face-to-face talks with the KEY DECISION MAKERS. We await their reply, and will let you know the outcome. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!

Apologies for attendance were received from a number of members and others including Don Foster MP and Bob Calleja. Roger Nunn, Captain of the Bath Golf Club and Peter Downey (PD), Chairman of the RFOTR, welcomed attendees.

Following the online poll the Constitution was duly approved from the votes cast, and note taken of suggestions for possible amendments, which will be looked at by the Committee. The former Acting Committee together with Scott Beasley (Press Officer) were confirmed as duly elected with only one nomination for each position.

During the Chairman's Report PD explained the background to the formation of the RFOTR. The idea behind the RFOTR was to have a body to "move things along" after frustration with a lack of action amongst the parties involved. It appeared that the two main problems with any further Rec development revolved around "detriments" and "cost". The Charity Commission (ChC) ruled that there are too many detriments to further building The RFOTR believe that these might be assuaged if other sports were to be involved on the Rec. Bath Rugby only occupy 28% of the Rec for 6 months of the year. Involving other sports also reduces development costs.

Councillor Chris Watt (CW), Chairman of the Rec Trustees, explained that as the ChC have rejected the current proposal, they deem the due process of discussions to have stopped, and, as such, there can be no ongoing agreement for the East Stand extension. Unless and until either a new proposal is put forward, or an appeal is raised against the original rejection, no East Stand extension will be considered. The Rec Trust has until 19th April to appeal or reapply.

PD announced that in order to move forward on new proposals the RFOTR have written to John Everitt, B&NES, Andrew Brownsword and Bob Calleja of Bath Rugby, Councillor Chris Watt, Rec Trustees and Roger Berry, Bath Football Trust for Bath Football Club to facilitate a private, round table forum, with all the above parties, so that "face to face" discussions may hopefully establish a common criteria and an agreed, viable proposal that can go forward to the ChC.

The meeting concluded after a Treasurer's report and a Q&A session where CW answered more questions and gave an outline of where the Rec Trustees are at present in the Rec process. Penny Brunton, Chair of - the Bath Rugby Supporters Club http://www.allez-bath.co.uk, confirmed their support to the RFOTR and said that they would help in any way they could.

LONDON IRISH SEND THEIR SUPPORT!

From Simon Goodale - A London Irish supporter: "Some of the press reporting has been hugely 'Nimby' ish and I fully support the efforts you are making to maintain and develop the Rec.

From my perspective I love the welcome we get in Bath; we'll be down in 3 weeks time for the Irish game and, instead of a fleeting in and out visit, we'll be staying as a family and bringing roughly £500 into the local economy over the weekend. Multiply that by all the games and a decent portion of the visiting supporters and you find a major contributor to the Bath economy.

Keep up the good work and let us know what support we can provide from the Mad' Stad'.

PODCAST

Listen here to Peter Downey talking about the Real Friends of the Rec in a podcast with Glen Leat, editor of the on-line Rugby Message Board Bathrugbyere.

PRESS COVERAGE

30/01/2009 - www.thisisbath.co.uk
"Brownsword urged to agree to Rec talks ........ - Now the recently formed Real Friends of The Rec pressure group has written to Mr Brownsword, offering to act as a kind of broker in the long-running saga. The 3,500-strong group held its first meeting last night, attended by more than 100 people, ...." - Read full article here.

Other articles from the Bath Chronicle here and here.

BUSINESS SUPPORT

"I can confirm that my business, Leather Chairs of Bath. has benefited directly from the position and success of Bath Rugby. Through gritted teeth, I have welcomed 'away' fans that have timed their visit to my shop to coincide with Rec fixtures. Often, on big match days, I am told by these visitors that there is not a hotel room to be found in town. You just have to see the opening sequences to any televised match broadcast from the Rec to realise that the beauty of the Abbey, The Empire and the surrounding hills is enough to get many, many fans booking their next rugby/shopping trip to Bath."

Nick Loxton. Owner, Chairs of Bath http://www.leatherchairs.co.uk.

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