QO requires a new chair!
Richard at the BOC 2026
Credit:
Wendy Carlyle
This Autumn Richard will have completed a three-year term in the lead role, and will be stepping down as QO chairman. So we are looking for someone new to take on the job.
This Autumn I will have completed a three-year term in the lead role, and will be stepping down as QO chairman. So we are looking for someone new to take on the job. But what's involved?
The clue's in the job title, the main task is to chair the committee. The club is run by a committee, and it's this group, not any one individual, who should be managing the club in the members' interests. So I see it as making sure the committee functions effectively. The committee has meetings every two months, but often has other informal discussions in between, and it's important that the committee is well informed, hears all the voices, and makes or approves all the key decisions.
What else? Well, many members look to the chair as the person who sets the direction of the club. I don't see it like that. It could be the chair's role to check that the club has a direction, but it is the committee's job to decide what that direction is.
The chair is of course also a key point of contact for the club, and every week brings a random assortment of enquiries, requests and unfortunately occasional complaints. Correspondence comes in from all directions, often out of the blue, to which I respond, forward on, or ignore. At any one time there will be several conversation threads running, and I often find it hard to keep up. And I don’t have unlimited spare time to get involved in whatever it is others happen to be interested in!
Is the chair the person who does everything? Sometimes It feels that way! There are a number of us who keep the club ticking over, but even so we are short of volunteers, and at times I have stepped in to cover gaps. For example, until recently I had been writing about half the website news articles myself, and to keep the QOFL series afloat I've had to do more than my fair share of event planning and organising.
How long does this take? To some extent it’s up to the individual – the job could be expanded or squeezed. But I estimate I've spent on average roughly five hours per week. That's in addition to the fixtures role that I also cover. Also add the time spent on event volunteering.
Now let me check my emails again ...
Richard Sansbury