Candidate Manifestos for 2019/2020 Committee Election

[LadybugKids]

This thread is for the CV/Manifestos of the 2019-2020 GAGB Committee candidates and will be locked.

There is a discussion and Q&A forum here.

The twelve candidates standing for the 2019/2020 Executive Committee are (in alphabetical order):

Saza36 (Chris Carpenter) - nominated, seconded, accepted, manifesto, avatar, photo
maattmoo (Matt Faulkner Collins) - nominated, seconded, accepted, manifesto, avatar, photo
GriffGrof (Arthur Griffiths) - nominated, seconded, accepted, manifesto, avatar, photo
happygirlie (Debs Griffiths) - nominated, seconded, accepted, manifesto, avatar, photo
Grahamthegray (Graham Haddock) - nominated, seconded, accepted, manifesto, avatar, photo
Jenn the funky Ranger (Jenn Hill) - nominated, seconded, accepted, manifesto, photo
Amber Merry (amberr.merry) - nominated, seconded, accepted
Geocaching Womble (Dominic Murray) - nominated, seconded, accepted, manifesto, avatar, photo
Moira Crackers (Mel Read) - nominated, seconded, accepted, manifesto, photo
richt2000 (Richard Tucker) - nominated, seconded, accepted, manifesto, photo
BorderCaz (Caroline Turver) - nominated, seconded, accepted, manifesto, avatar, photo
rooting reuben (Danni) - nominated, seconded, accepted, manifesto

Bold denotes manifesto, avatar, and photo were received and compiled in the below thread.

All candidates who have not done so are requested to send their manifesto, photo, and avatar to me at ladybugs@geocachealaska.org for posting in the manifesto thread and on the ballot.

The election of the eight Committee places will be by SurveyMonkey email ballot during Saturday-Sunday, 16-24, November 2019, and will be run by me who is serving as your Independent Returning Officer.

Each eligible GAGB member will be able to vote for up to eight candidates (as per the Constitution - Section N).

[LadybugKids]

I am Chris of Saza36. My daughter started geocaching early in 2009 with the Scouts and we signed up and have been active ever since. I have always enjoyed walking having served in the Scouts myself and have been lucky to work around the globe caching wherever I go. To-date I have cached in 35 countries but as I write this 6 more are planned within the next month.

I work as an IT consultant who specialises in Marketing so have both technical and commercial skills that I can bring to bear. I served on the 2013 UK Mega committee alongside several of the existing GAGB committee and it would be great to work alongside them again.

Many have questioned the need for the GAGB. I have always advised those looking to place caches to check the GLAD and have enjoyed reading the Seeker magazine but other than this, I have not really used the GAGB site. Where I feel that it is key is in the introduction of new perspective members. There is no point in replicating the main geocaching site in this respect, but you cannot beat face-to-face chats at regional events, and it is nice to see the GAGB organising some.

One observation that is very much up for discussion is that “the GAGB does not affiliate itself with or promote any of the major listing sites over the other”. In terms of encouraging new members to the hobby I think it should. Mention should of course be made of the other sites but a standard free membership to geocaching.com is the starting point for most geocachers in the UK. I feel that stating no preference confuses rather than guides new members.

I often work abroad so cannot guarantee my level of engagement, but I always plan trips to leave gaps for Mega events etc. and am looking to lower my workload during the next few years as I head towards my retirement.

Many thanks for the nomination – I will be happy to serve on the GAGB committee and support them in any way that I can.

Chris

[LadybugKids]

For those of you who don't know me, I am Maattmoo, or Matt FC (Faulkner Collins). I live in Kent and work in London. I am active in both London and Kent communities and do try to get along to further meets as and when I possibly can.

I was introduced to geocaching after seeing a quiz show which someone explained what it was... that lead to me “giving it a go” and 7 years and 11000 finds later I am still in love with this game. My husband will tell you that it is all I think about.

I love travel and I feel geocaching makes a great tour guide no matter where you go... I would love to use this passion for travel to develop the game in the UK further.

I have recently become involved in an upcoming GAGB initiative to create a unique and exciting Geotour and really looking forward to being part of it and bringing it to the game in the next few months, which is a perfect example of this and highlighting areas or locations that you or I might not normally visit.

Additionally with the recent upgrades to the concept of Adventure Lab Caches I have created a public Google Map with every lab adventure in the world on it, as a resource to help the geocaching community in planning their adventures... and to accompany this a Facebook group with almost 700 members all discussing and sharing stories about the lab adventures. I am also admin on another geocaching Facebook group. So I feel I have a good solid social media background.

I love being involved with projects and do have some other exciting things around the corner for the community too... but those rumours can wait for another day...

I feel that geocaching should be about the community. I have arranged many walks in my local area. I have also hosted many geocaching events and CITOs and considering I walked straight out of my first geocache meet as I was so scared to talk to anyone, I feel this proves the power of our game and the community that we have.

I want to share that community far and wide.

GAGB needs to be a more inclusive and visible group all around the country it represents. I love this game and would love to be involved more to help us all get more out of the game we all love.

[LadybugKids]

I’m Arthur (Griff Grof), I live in the Cotswolds and I’ve been caching for nine years. For me, it’s all about the walk and visiting new places. I love a good quality cache, whether that’s a well stocked ammo can or a creative hide. It has been an honour to serve on the GAGB committee for four terms, and I am pleased to have been nominated again as I feel I have a lot more to offer.

I believe that I am uniquely placed, as I am a candidate who would bring a wealth of experience to the committee, enabling me to support others and ensure effective continuity - which is important given ongoing projects like the Creative Coast Geotour. But I am also someone with an exciting long-term vision for the GAGB, who would strive to bring about the changes it needs.

I have a track record of delivering on my promises and pouring my energy into the task at hand. In the past year, I have served as Communications Officer, launching a new monthly newsletter and posting a range of content on social media, resulting in an increase in post reach and engagement. In June, I stepped in as Seeker Editor, successfully releasing the summer and autumn issues. I have represented the GAGB and manned our stall at several events, in addition to organising two of my own. One of these served to introduce members of the public to geocaching.

If re-elected, I would be happy to continue as Communications Officer and/or Seeker Editor. There is so much more that can be done in both these roles - from creating more engaging posts, to improving the content of the newsletter and including interesting features in Seeker. Alternatively, I would be willing to take on a new challenge as Secretary, a position I am suited to given my organisational skills.

Of course, I have a wider vision for the GAGB - so much more still needs to be done. If re-elected, I would work to implement my ‘Three Point Plan’.

First, the GAGB should do even more to support Mega events in the UK. For example, I would like to see a greater financial commitment (beginning with the donation of 50% of the profits from our tags) and therefore formal offers of sponsorship. Second, the GAGB needs to boost its inclusivity and visibility. Efforts must be redoubled to increase the frequency and geographical distribution of roving events. This could be achieved by inviting Friends to host them on the committee’s behalf. The Friends programme needs to develop to become more inviting (scrapping the language of “applying” to become a Friend, and making it easier to join). Third, the GAGB needs to do more to further geocaching in the UK. The committee needs to continue to organise regular introduction to geocaching events (something I would be willing to do), and create effective pull-up banners and resources to use at each one. Even more should be done to support newbies, and the game in general.

I feel that I would bring enthusiasm, ambition and passion to the GAGB committee. I would endeavour to see the GAGB continue to grow and flourish: it would be great to raise its profile even further. I am certain that the committee will achieve many fantastic things in the coming year, and I would love to be a part of it - it would be an honour.

[LadybugKids]

Hi, I started caching in 2012 as a reason to get out for a walk and explore new areas, since then I have visited numerous countries and signed a lot of log books!

I feel that I would like to give something back to the geocaching community so over a year ago I joined the GAGB as a friend and earlier this year was interviewed on a local radio station to promote caching.

I am a moderator on our local geocaching Facebook group which has proved to be an extremely friendly page and between us all we host monthly local events and actively encourage and help new cachers.

I have actively helped proof read and amend the Seeker magazine and feel my strengths lie in admin as, away from caching, I am an Office and Accounts Manager and like to think of myself as efficient and organised in this capacity.

Should I be elected I am happy to help wherever my skills work best

Thanks
Debs Griffiths
Aka happygirlie

[LadybugKids]

Hi I’m Graham or Gray and hence the name caching name GrahamTheGray, I’m from South Staffordshire and have been caching since 2010 and have over 10,000 finds, I like to enjoy walks around the countryside started out as a lone cacher but in recent years have teamed up with a number of local cachers, and I do like a puzzle cache, Church micro or an FYI cache. My current caching challenge is to fill in some more counties around the UK.

Can often been seen taking pictures of the landscape, buildings and interesting fauna a few of these have made it into Seeker and regularly onto the Instagram feed. I have background in IT and websites but no longer working in that field. As a member of the GAGB in the coming year I intend to continue on helping look after the website, I set up the new users, deal with those members who have account issues or wish to cancel them and I will continue to do this along with website maintenance and code changes and content changes and monitoring errors, and continue putting together articles for Seeker, making caches for the GAGB to donate or sell and attending GAGB events on our stand or hosting them.

[LadybugKids]

Hi! I’m Jenn, and I’m a cacher in North Staffordshire. I have been caching since 2012 after going caching with my Guides at my local Guide campsite, and have racked up around 6500 caches in that time, in all regions of the UK and also many other European countries, including 6 countries in a day!

I’ve always loved travelling, and caching is a great way for me of enhancing that. How to see some great places off the tourist trail – cache your way round a city. I’ve since put my adventures into writing, with several articles published in Seeker over the last few years about my travels.

I am the founder of our local Facebook caching page, as well as starting off the SOS (Stoke or Stafford) monthly events, with each event having a theme about a certain aspect of caching people may need help with.

Outside of caching I am a Guide leader, my other big hobby, and the two do intermingle considerably! On a day to day basis I work in a customer service department, working with our French clients. Being a fluent French and Spanish speaker (with a smattering of German, Dutch and Greek) certainly comes in handy when caching abroad, though inconveniently my degree did not cover caching terms. Very important for all cachers when going to France – lierre is ivy!

If I am successful in being elected I would like to assist with the excellent work that has already taken place in terms of Seeker having already had several articles published, and also general communication, with this being an area I work in. In Guiding I have coordinated several large events, including taking 70 people camping for a week, so I am more than ready to get on board with assisting with GAGB events, as well as building on the general assistance I have given the GAGB over the last few years.

[LadybugKids]

Having worked on a personal photography project 'Take a Shot' - related to geocaching for nearly two
years now, it's been great to combine my two favourite hobbies together. I am a casual cacher, who of
course loves to be outside – trailing about in the mud and getting hooked on holly bushes for the sake
of a little smiley! However, the most important aspect of geocaching for me, has been the people I have
met along the way - so many inspiring stories and individuals, that I have learnt so much about and
have all made me feel really comfortable and invited in to this wonderful community.

I feel I would be suited as a GAGB committee member because I'm friendly and approachable, I love
a list - so organisation is a top priority of mine. I like to be busy and enjoy being involved in all sorts
of projects - currently, I'm working with a local arts organisation on next year's GeoTour ‘Englands
Creative Coast’ and so far, I've been absolutely loving it. I thoroughly enjoy collaboration and feel,
discussing ideas is essential; with a creative background I feel I could bring a lot to the team; in regards
to new and younger ideas, as well as using my photography knowledge and other such media related
skills to update and maintain social media channels, websites and more.

I hope to be considered as a committee member, as it would be a real honour and I would be very
proud to support this lovely little geocaching community!

Thank you for taking the time to read my manifesto,

All the best and best of luck to the other candidates,

amberr.merry

[LadybugKids]

For those of you whom don’t know me, my name is Dominic Murray and I’m known as Geocaching Womble.

I’m an Autistic Adult with countryside management training which I studied at trade college in the North East. I am moving to Darlington in November and I intend to engage as much as possible with the local cachers, as well as nationally.

I have previously cached in Hertfordshire, Shropshire, Berkshire, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, Teeside Sussex, Greater Manchester, Surrey, Birmingham, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Lanarkshire, Aberdeenshire And Wales.

I spent 7 years (from 2010-2017) on the Opencaching UK committee and team and as an OCUK reviewer. As a result of this, I have a forum moderation background.

In addition, I have spent 2 years on the GAGB committee as Joint GLAD manager. In the most recent committee year I have taken on the role of Publicity officer. As GLAD manager I have negotiated extensions to several agreements throughout my tenure.

As Publicity Officer I’ve contacted a wide range of suppliers. However, unfortunately I was not able to secure new discounts at this time. On a more positive note, I did successfully get quotes for new GAGB merchandise, such as GAGB pens.

Throughout my time on the GAGB committee I helped review and update the GAGB constitution as well as writing many articles for Seeker magazine. I’ve also taken part in the GAGB social media team as a backup social media representative, successfully launching the GAGB friends initiative.
I helped modernise the GAGB chat system for committee meetings by updating to Discord.

If I am re-elected for the committee, I would like to continue to build upon my long-term vision for the GAGB by continuing to improve membership engagement, via the GAGB friends initiative.

I intend to do this by making the GAGB accessible to all.

I would like to introduce more events including more introduction to geocaching events provided by the GAGB.

I’d like to help the association take a more active role in British geocaching, allowing the GAGB to continue to remain relevant to the average British geocacher.

If the opportunity becomes available I would like to continue as GLAD Manager as I have a flair for the work and have thoroughly enjoyed it thus far.

Thank you for taking the time to read my manifesto.

[LadybugKids]

Hi, for those who don't know me, my name is Melanie but prefer to be known as Mel. I live on the Derbyshire/Leicestershire border and work locally as a community care worker looking after vulnerable adults.

I've been caching along with my husband as Moira Crackers since August 2014 and have now cached in all the counties in England and Wales. We like the fact geocaching can take you to such beautiful places that you would never find if not looking for that geocache. This has been our best geocaching year so far, gaining 2 new countries, best day, best month and now best year and I'm reaching out for my next milestone of 5,000 caches.

In my first year with GAGB I started of with helping to run the first event of the year, The Roving Event in Keyworth, this turned out to be a very successful event to introduce the new committee to everyone. I have run the online shop this year posting out orders when needed and after a difficulty with the clothing supplier I managed to source a new supplier and negotiate an acceptable postage fee across all orders.

Earlier this year I replied to a request on a Facebook group asking for help, this included attending a camping weekend run by the Round Table for all their volunteers across the country to introduce some of the to our hobby of geocaching. This included showing them what a cache could look like, containers they could find, what trackables were, how to download the app, starting free and if they enjoyed explaining about premium membership, how to log a find or DNF, and setting them off to find their very own first geocache. Most seemed to enjoy this activity and many come back asking for more info about premium membership and what extra they got. A good weekend was had by all.

At the moment I am in communication with North West Leicestershire Council to do 4 events during the February half term for under active children to introduce them to geocaching and encourage them to get out in the outdoors and become more active.

I attended both Piratemania and Aberdeenshire Megas helping to transport the stock, set up the stall, run the stall during the day and pack away afterwards helping to raise funds and answering any questions anyone had.

I hope that GAGB continue to do great work in the coming year, introducing our hobby to more new comers and welcoming them to our hobby. I would be honoured to be a part of this and continue GAGB to grow.

Mel Read

[LadybugKids]

In 2019/2020, I would build on the work I have done this year as a GAGB Committee member. My first year as working as a GLAD representative has been eventful with contacts from land owners and the general public all over the country. All the issues and concerns have been successfully resolved and I would like to continue that this into the 2019/2020 committee. I would work to liaise with as many councils and large land owners as time permits. This would hopefully increase the visibility of the hobby, provide contact details on who to gain permission from for a geocache and I hope, would lead to additional blanket approvals in the GLAD database. This would follow the pattern I was able to follow this year with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust.

In 2018/2019, I have attended a number of GAGB events to increase the visibility of the GAGB and have personally organised 2 events including a roving event in London. I would continue this and would hope to run a number of GAGB roving events along with a number of GAGB CITOs.

My real life job as an IT consultant mostly gets in the way of Geocaching but it does mean that I get to travel and meet lots of cachers in different parts of the country. On the plus side, the work is where ever the next large, complex project is so, whilst during the day, I am managing multi-million pound IT projects, by night, I am caching in another part of the country, making friends at Geocaching events and expanding the visibility of the GAGB in that area. I struggle to think of an area I've not attended an event so will (hopefully) be a familiar face to many cachers in the UK.

I've noticed over the last few years that Facebook groups such as Geocaching UK and other more regional groups are the places that new geocachers go to ask the basic questions rather than the older forum technology. While I know that the GAGB has its own Facebook account, we should reach out and post more on these other groups as the GAGB, helping to answer some of the basic questions around caching etiquette and permissions. I've replied to a number of these posts over the last 12 months using my own account but it would be more beneficial if the GAGB account was used. This would certainly make the GAGB more relevant and engaged in the Geocaching community in the UK.

I will bring a sensible, pragmatic, can-do attitude to the committee and can be relied upon to deliver my tasks as required. I have built good working relationships with all members of the current committee and hope that we can build on these with the 2020 committee to take the GAGB into the "Twenties", building the profile of GAGB and making it more visible and relevant to the UK Geocaching community.

My Geocaching user is richt2000.

Cheers

Rich

[LadybugKids]

Most people call me Caz (aka Caroline). I am Border Caz because I live very close to the border with North Wales. I have been caching since 2009 and joined GAGB the same year. I was Treasurer on the 2013 West Midlands Mega Committee and since 2016 I have been the Treasurer on the GAGB Committee.

Thank you for nominating me to stand again for the Committee; as I look back over the past 3 years I can see there have been a few changesto the financial side of things that I have been instrumental in implementing: The financial year end has been changed from 31st March to 30th September to bring it more in line with the Committee elections, the annual turnover has increased by 50%, we have added clothing and other items to our shop and we are now able to take card payments at events.

This year, I have kept the accounts up to date, making sure we don't spend money unwisely but that all our bills are paid, and that all cash receipts are paid into the bank as soon as possible. I have attended every meeting (despite being out of the country for two of them – thank goodness we have the internet) and been involved in designing and arranging production of this year's Cairgorms Geocoin, the latest in our National Parks series, as well as the Racing Hounds trackable tags and the GAGB branded pens and badges which are now available in our shop. I represented GAGB at various events including the Yorkshire Christmas Fayre, GAGB Start the Year event in Keyworth, Piratemania 12, Aberdeenshire UK Mega, Geocoinfest 2019 in Manchester and the GAGB Roving Event at Cotswold Water Park, Although I was unable to attend any of the CITO events, I obtained permission and liaised with the Council to provide bags for the litter pick at Ironbridge.

I sourced and set up a new card payment machine in time for Piratemania this year and it has proved very useful both there, at the Aberdeen Mega, and at Geocoinfest.

I have enjoyed my years on the Committee, keeping the money in order and representing GAGB at a number of events including GAGB events and the Kent, Piratemania, Geocoinfest, Devon, Yorkshire and Aberdeenshire Mega events.

I would love to be elected again so that I can continue to act as Treasurer and represent GAGB in the wider geocaching community. I would like the GAGB to become more widely known amogst cachers, for them to know and understand what we do and how we can help them, and encourage a growth in membership – the larger the membership, the stronger the organisation can become. It is important that we help in the introduction of non-cachers to the game and I have been involved in meeting groups like the Families Group in Telford, where we were able to chat and explain all about geocaching to potential cachers and their children.

[LadybugKids]

For those of you that don’t know me my name is Danniella, most people call me Danni. I’m a single mother with an 18 month old little boy, Reuben, which is where our caching name comes from.

To start with I really didn’t see the point in geocaching, signing a piece of paper for nothing. After having a rough time with my son my mother had already arranged a day out and wouldn’t leave us alone, taking us on a geocaching trip to Chesterfield. By the end of the day I was ahead of everyone else with the pushchair, excited to find the cache first.

I attended 2 of the megas this year helping out on the stall doing the map game and the Diary to win the last limited edition coin, which I enjoyed speaking with the public and interacting with them.

I feel honoured that I have been nominated and I look forward to if voted for working with the new committee to bring GAGB forward.

Many Thanks

Danni