Minutes of meeting held Thursday 15th June 2017 at Mere Parish Club
In the absence of the Chairman the Treasurer took the chair.
- Apologies for absence were received from Carole Critchley (Chairman) Mike Grocott (Oughtrington) Allison Robinson (Warford Park) Julie Bason (Cranford) Celia Brown (Railway) High Legh, Knutsford, Victory Hall & Warford Park were not represented.
- Minutes of previous meeting held 18th May were read.
- Matters arising. There were no matters arising
- Officers Report. The Treasurer confirmed the bank balance was unchanged from the last meeting except for a payment of £25 for some printing. The Secretary thanked the clubs who hosted the preliminary rounds of the Individual competition, and Brian Jones and fellow Railway members for running the final day. The event was won by Jack Bushell from Mere who defeated home player Neil Cope in a closely fought final. Arthur Lamb from Goostrey apologised for there being no one at the Goostrey green to host the preliminary round. The Secretary went on to confirm the front-runners in division one are Railway ‘A’ and Victory Hall ‘A’ pulling clear of the third placed team by 100 points. Leader of division two is Knutsford ‘B with Swettenham and Warford Park ‘B’ second and third.
- New Player Handicaps Handicaps were agreed for 7 players who had now completed more than four games.
- Individual Competition. The secretary said that from the original entry of 70, a number had withdrawn prior to the preliminary round and most, but not all had advised the secretary accordingly, and he had been able to fill some of the vacancies. However, a few failed to turn up at the venues for the preliminary rounds meaning some byes. This is inevitable, but it is disrespectful to the competition and their opponents not to give a valid reason. Worse followed on the finals day, when two members failed to appear after defeating opponents in the preliminary rounds with nothing more than “I can’t make it”. A general discussion followed on Rule 11 which covers none appearance at competitions with the general consensus that it was not strong enough. The chairman said that this was a matter for the AGM when we would seek to amend and strengthen it.
- Pairs Entries and Draw 21 Pairs were received and the draw was made. Preliminary rounds will be held on Friday 30th June with the final 16 playing on Saturday 1st July at High Legh Bowling Club 12.30pm start. The draw will be published on the web site.
- Presentation Evening With improved facilities at Mere, inevitably the cost of room hire has increased. The officers are reluctant to pass this on to the members in ticket prices. We could look for a cheaper alternative venue, although a straw poll suggested that the preference was to stay at Mere. Therefore we need to look at other ways to subsidies the event. The raffle provides some income over expense, and should this not be sufficient the shortfall could be made up from a small reduction in the annual rebate paid to member clubs. It was agreed that this was the way forward and agreed.
- Any Other Business.
There was no further business and the meeting closed at 8.45pm