Present: president D. Hurdwell, chairman F Warburton, secretary R Kavanagh, treasurer G Tonge and delegates from all teams except Legh Arms.
The chairman opened the meeting at 7.30 and welcomed all delegates.
Apologies:
Mr S Hopper of Fallowfield and Mr B Cliff of Longsight CC.
Minutes of previous meeting:
The secretary read the minutes of the 2015 pre-season meeting which were accepted by the delegates. There were no matters arising.
Secretary’s report:
The secretary welcomed new members United Services to the meeting. Red Lion had resigned during the season and Carrington Spur resigned at the last AGM. That left the league with 15 teams.
He recognised that last season was not very satisfactory in Division 2, with teams seemingly playing each other all the time. The committee had discussed this and had decided to run two divisions of eight and seven teams. There would be a fives competition in both divisions, and a single knockout cup across both divisions. This would be a singles competition with the Pride of Sale cup being awarded. The President’s Cup, previously awarded to the winners of the Division 2 knockout would now go to the winners of the first division fives competition.
As last year, there was the possibility that radical restructuring may be needed next year.
S Manchester RBL were changing their name to Beech House BC, but would continue to play under their old name in the Sale league, at least for this year.
The relevant clubs had been issued with invoices from Greater Manchester County. If clubs wanted to arrange their public liability insurance through Endsleigh, this now had to be done online, with a unique reference for each club. These numbers had been issued to the relevant clubs.
The BCGBA proposal to replace the £15 per club levy with a £1 per player levy had been defeated. However it seemed likely the plan would be tried again, or else the £15 levy increased.
Treasurer’s report:
The treasurer reported that all clubs except Legh Arms had paid their flat fees. Otherwise there was little activity at this time of year. Before the meeting the balance was £225.
Other business:
The S Manchester RBL delegate reminded the meeting that it was not permitted for bowlers to bring their own drinks to the green. The chairman confirmed that this applied generally at all clubs that have bars.
The Chairman closed the meeting at 7.50 pm