A big thank you to everyone who took part, it’s really good to get some feedback. And even better, no-one had any serious complaints. That makes us feel very in touch!

Aside from the first few mundane questions which help us see why people joined the club, everyone seemed satisfied with the current level of membership fees this year and some said they would pay more. Fencing is actually pretty cheap as UEA clubs go, some ask for money for each session you turn up to. Considering how much kit is provided its a really good deal. You might be surprised to know that our fees were once at the ridiculously low level of £12. But the standard of equipment was also low. You pay for what you get. And as the club may get less money from the Union next year the fees might have to rise if we’re to keep things at a level to which we’ve become accustomed, or make more improvements even. That’ll be up to the new committee though...

While we’re on the subject of kit: everyone seemed pretty happy with the quality and quantity of kit available but MANY people commented on the smell of the club jackets! They get a wash every year, which I admit isn’t enough. So we’ll do something about that. Suggestions for better gloves and more electric kit are noted. But there is a limit to what we can buy – at the moment the club cant expand beyond four storage lockers! We’ll always be able to provide the basics for beginners and enough for teams, but it’s simply too expensive to provide everything for everyone.

The answer is to begin buying your own kit in small increments. We're happy to give any advice you need. If you’re in your second year at the club and have at least another to go then its really about time you did. From Jan 2006 BFA rules will require anyone fencing ANYTHING OTHER THAN STEAM FOIL to wear 350N breaches - it's worth buying some, even a cheap pair from PBT. Go buy a weapon which you can keep yourself and wont get bundled into a large bag and bent with the others. Bodywires are a must-have item. Basically they get stolen, so the club is never going to hold a considerable stock. And if you only think you’ll be fencing whilst you’re at UEA then you can sell your equipment on at the end to a beginner, or maybe even to the club itself. Point made.

Everyone thought our coaches do a great job but quite a lot of you wanted more time, especially for free fencing and more individual tuition. In theory Andrew now has two hours to coach people one on one, although it doesn’t always work out like this. Also, next year the club will probably be entering two BUSA squads and team members will have to get priority on individual lessons. We’d love to have more session time overall, although it depends on a few factors. This year we extended Monday training by an hour, but we always have to have one or two qualified coaches present, depending how many people come along. And the coaches cost. And the Union is not over-generous with its funding for this, providing only two hours per week. Then there is competition with other clubs for the halls; because Sportspark have to fulfill their committments to the paying public space only becomes available if a UEA club cancels a session. And everyone guards their allocation jealously! Just to remind anyone who fences from 8pm onwards there is also the opportunity to attend Norfolk Fencing Club on Wednesdays. But enough of the excuses. The suggestions are noted and perhaps something can be arranged for next year.

A fair number of people wanted more competitive opportunities, which is really encouraging. Sadly BUSA does not properly cater for novices - we made this clear to them in a questionnaire last year and we’ll see if anything changes by September. However you’ll be pleased to know we’ve already been discussing the entry of a women’s BUSA squad for next year so the ladies will have an elite fighting force to aspire to, although the decision rests with the new committee. Until recently the club took part in the local foil and epee leagues but the consensus was they were badly organised with few clubs bothering to take part - and I didn’t have time to arrange the matches. So blame me basically. With two squad captains on the committee next year there’ll be more people to help arrange friendlies and intra-club tournaments.

We’ve run a couple of matches against Norfolk Club this year, but I totally agree with the suggestion that the two clubs become more closely associated. We share a venue and a coach after all. And we pay them a LARGE sum of money each year to let our fencers attend. As we now have Emily as our representative on the Norfolk Club committee the way forward is open…

On the subject of comms it’s nice to see that most people visit and approve of the website. It’s kept regularly up to date, team results can be accessed there via a link to BUSA. The forum is admittedly pretty quiet, but it’s there if you want it. Zoë’s emails received a huge vote of confidence, where would the club be without such a fab secretary! About half of you read the committee meeting minutes, which is fine by us. They’re there if you need to hold us to account. The Code of Practice and Risk Assessment are NOT the pieces of paper you all received at the start of the year, these are documents that that Union insists we draw up and run our club according to. We don’t do handouts for everyone because that would mean too many trees cut down. But if you do care and want a copy please ask me.

That just about covers everything, apart from socials, all of which were generally approved of. Personally, I think the social aspect of the club has never been so good and there is a lot to build on for next year. Oh yes, the results of the ‘which committee member would you sleep with?’ question. Zoë stole the show. But Annette and I didn’t do so badly. Thanks for the ego boost :)