Southville RC Newsletter November 2025

Hi Everyone,

Social news

A big thank you to Dave and Teresa for organising last month's Parsons Bakery run. A large number of us met up to run roughly a half marathon distance around North and South Bristol, taking in six Parsons Bakeries, with many hilly climbs, sausage rolls and cakes conquered along the way.

As for next month: Ho ho ho, it's the SRC Christmas Party!

We will once again be hitting The Cock & Tail on Saturday 6th December for one of the big events in the club social calendar.

Party food from Sandwich Sandwich, DJs spinning tunes, the finest peeps in the Bristol running community - we've got it all.

Full information and tickets now on sale via our website.

At the Christmas Party we'll be holding our Volunteer Awards, where we celebrate our volunteers and recognise those who have gone the extra mile by awarding some of them a certificate, and their EA and SRC dues for the next year paid for by the club.

You can nominate anyone who has volunteered in any capacity for SRC, with the exception of the Directors (Bindal, Dave U, Kayleigh, Liam and Sam B) who will make the final decision. We especially encourage everyone to nominate our "unsung heroes" who have done the less visible work behind the scenes. You have until Saturday 22nd November to send us your nominations.

Quarterly General Meeting minutes

Thanks to everyone who attended our October Quarterly General Meeting. The minutes are available to read here. Please let the Secretary know if anything needs correcting or adding.  

Vacancies for Club Secretary and a male Welfare Officer

Both our Welfare Officers (Ally Noble and Jasper Roseland) will be stepping down at the end of the year, as will Club Secretary Sam Blanning who will not seek re-election at the Annual General Meeting in early January.

We have a volunteer to replace Ally in her role, but, in line with our policy and England Athletics' recommendation of having both male and female officers, we are still actively recruiting for a male welfare officer as well. 

The role of the Welfare Officers is to ensure that all our members have a safe and positive experience at SRC. Welfare Officers are the people members can speak to if they have a safeguarding, discipline or conduct concern, and manage lower-level club issues and disputes to prevent escalation and ensure everyone has an enjoyable time when out running. Thankfully, due to our friendly and social culture, the role has been a very low-key one in recent years, but our Welfare Officers still play a crucial part in keeping us that way.

Welfare Officers take online courses from England Athletics in Safeguarding and Adult Welfare, which the club will pay for, so this role is a great way to give back to SRC while receiving some valuable training and life skills.

We will also have a vacancy in January 2026 for a Club Secretary. At every Annual General Meeting in January, all of the Director positions are up for re-election, and as it stands, Bindal (Membership Officer), Dave (Treasurer), Kayleigh (co-Chair), Liam (co-Chair) will stand for re-election. Sam will not seek re-election, and it is our hope that this will be an opportunity for someone new to come into the role.

The Club Secretary's main duties are to manage matters concerning the Club’s affiliation with England Athletics, to be a main point of contact for the club internally and externally, to organise the four quarterly general meetings and take the minutes, and to take responsibility for any disputes or complaints that cannot be resolved by the Welfare Officers. I have found the role an extremely rewarding one since I took it on in 2013 (initially as Communications Secretary), and will be very happy to support anyone who is interested in learning more about it.

If you are interested in either role, do let us know. The Welfare Officer is appointed by the Directors and does not need to seek election. Club Secretary is a Director role, and candidates for Club Secretary will need a club member to nominate them for the election in January 2026. We have to date never held a contested election; every time there were two or people interested in a role, we have found ways to share the load. More information about the Director elections will follow in the December newsletter. 

Group leading

A special thank you to everyone who has stepped up to lead groups for the first time recently. In 2026, as discussed in the QGM minutes, we'll be introducing a more regular process to put club members through England Athletics' Leadership in Running Fitness course at SRC's expense. In the meantime, anyone who is leading groups, or is thinking of doing so and would like to know more about how to get started, is welcome to join our dedicated WhatsApp channel for SRC Group Leaders, which you'll find in the list of channels within the official SRC community. We mainly use it for discussing our plans for upcoming run nights, but it would also be a great place to ask for information or advice.

Race roundup

October's racing season continued to see great success for Southvillers; at the Cardiff Half, there were PBs for Dean, Tom, Sam and a post ACL PB for Rachel. Nic broke her marathon PB by 35 minutes in Cologne while Teresa took gold in her age category in Jersey. PBs continued to roll in at October's Weston Prom Run for Jacob and Jamie, and there were more parkrun PBs at Newport for Jamie, Dave, Jess and Daisy.

There was a particularly incredible effort from Andy who completed the 250 mile Lon Las ultra marathon from Holyhead to Cardiff Bay, while Penny became British champion in her age category at the Oulton Park Duathlon. Charlie, Alex and Rachel all PBed at the Lisbon Marathon, as did Dave and Liam in half marathons on the same weekend. 

As we're now in November there are fewer races around, but you can still join us on Thursday November 27th for the Weston Prom Run, where there is always a big SRC turnout. The Weston Christmas Cracker on Sunday December 14th is also open for entries; this is a 10k where Christmassy fancy dress is heavily encouraged.

Entries have also just opened for next year's Ironwood Challenge on February 22nd (pictured). This is a 6 mile trail race featuring some testing ups and fast-flowing downs (including the famous rope section), and is always popular with SRC runners as one of the first local races of the year.

Parkrun

Parkrun is a free weekly timed 5k run that takes place every Saturday at 9am all over the country and all over the world. There are also 2k Junior Parkruns for those 14 and under. You can sign up for free on parkrun's website, where you will get a barcode that can be taken to every event (physically or on your phone); you just turn up, run and then have your barcode scanned at the end to get your result. 

On the first Saturday of the month we have an extra-large turnout at our local parkrun of Ashton Court. This month's was on Saturday 1st November. 

This month's parkrun tourism will be on Saturday 22nd November, at Berkeley Green parkrun at the Gloucestershire Science and Technology Park. The course is a fast and flat one with two laps and picturesque views of the old nuclear power station. 

If you need a lift or can offer one, head to our members-only WhatsApp community, where we'll also be exchanging details of any post-parkrun coffee meetups.
 

Dates for your Diary

🧡Sat November 1 - SRC @ Ashton Court parkrun
🧡Sat November 22 - Berkeley Green parkrun
🏁Thu November 27 - Weston Prom Run
🧡Sat December 6 - SRC @ Ashton Court parkrun
🥳Sat December 6 - SRC Christmas Party
🏁Thu December 11 - Weston Prom Run
🏁Sun December 14 - Weston Christmas Cracker
🏁Thu January 8 - Weston Prom Run
🏁Thu February 12 - Weston Prom Run
🏁Sun February 22 - Ironwood Challenge
🏁Thu March 12 - Weston Prom Run
🏁Thu April 9 - Weston Prom Run
🏁Thu May 21 - Weston Prom Run