27 January 2014, 8.00pm
Held at Cheadle Conservative Club
The secretary asked delegates to stand for few moments in silence in memory of colleagues who had passed away in the last year. These included:
| David Fudge | Bramhall Queensgate | Harold Turner | Heaton Norris |
| Brian Affleck | Crowcroft Park | Peter Busby | Northenden Social |
| John Walsh | Crown | Arthur Greaves | Poynton WMC |
| Billy Gilbertson | Didsbury BC | Ian Hamilton | Poynton WMC |
| Ken Saxton | Didsbury BC | Danny Newman | S Manchester RBL |
| Jack Bramley | Heaton Norris | Richard Mills | Shaw Heath |
Present: Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Vets’ Match Secretary and delegates
Apologies: were received from Crowcroft Park and Didsbury Park
Absences: West Heaton
The minutes of the previous annual general meeting and previous rules revision meeting had been circulated. They were taken as read and approved.
Evening league
Cheadle Cons had withdrawn one of their team, leaving us with 27. With a straight two-up, two-down that gives us three divisions of nine teams each.
The secretary proposed to run the Bob Newlan Trophy and the Merit in the same way as last year.
The fixtures should be on the web site in the next few days.
Veterans’ league
There was one new team this year: LMRCA. They currently play in the Stockport & District Vets and the Alderley Vets leagues. Based on their positions in those leagues the officers thought they should go in Division 3. They would quickly find their right level from there. Also the third division had only ten teams last year, so this would help to fill it up.
The green at the Levenshulme club had closed and the players were moving to South Manchester RBL. South Manchester would therefore have two teams again.
That gives us 65 teams which ideally would be in five divisions of 11 and one of ten.
However there are currently 12 teams in Division 1. A rearrangement would involve relegating some teams that finished third from bottom.
The three teams that would be relegated all said they would be disappointed by such a decision. After a short discussion the meeting voted (with no votes against) not to relegate any extra teams.
Green Rotas and Player Registrations
Delegates had been given green rotas for the evening and vets’ leagues as appropriate. They were asked to make sure their greens are available as required. Also they had been given a list of their players from last year to help them register players for this year.
Great Moor Sports ‘C’ Home matches
Great Moor would be playing all its matches on Wednesdays this year. The meeting agreed that the C Team’s matches may be played at 10.30am.
Next meeting
The next meeting will be on 24 March. By way of experiment it would be at Ladybridge Park, offering a 7.30pm start and more parking space.
The treasurer summarised the accounts. He noted that merit entries were down, and tended to come from a few clubs. Prize money exceeded income for these competitions, and this was something that would have to be monitored. Other income was generally similar. The balance was healthy at about £4530 (up from £4090). This may seem a lot, but we tend to have a cash flow problem at the start of the year, with expenditure arising before income comes in.
The treasurer noted the receipt of £50 in interest, a remarkable amount in present circumstances.
He encouraged clubs to provide e-mail addresses to the secretary, as postage was now a significant cost.
Some clubs had asked about paying their accounts by direct bank transfer. This was a little complicated because we use the Vernon Building Society and payments go via the Co-Op Bank. He would put the necessary details on the invoices. However we would not be able to identify the sources of payments, so any clubs that use this method should also inform him that they have done so.
The auditor supplied a report that he had examined the accounts and found them to be an accurate record.
President: D Walker
Chairman: DJ McKnight
Hon Secretary and Match/Results Secretary (evenings): ER Kavanagh
Hon Treasurer: T Forsyth
Hon Results Secretary (Vets): A Bligh
Management Sub-committee: S Alsop, T Bills, J Pearson, A Rowlinson, H Beech, N Dewey
Auditor: D Cocker
The chairman proposed that the honorariums should follow the five year plan. This would represent no change from last year.
The new honorariums were as follows.
Treasurer £410
Secretary £410
Match secretary £270
Veterans’ secretary £270
Veterans’ match secretary £270
The honorarium for the veterans’ secretary would be split between the secretary and the veterans’ match secretary.
9.1 League management rule 1.9: add at end:
“Payments are due within 30 days of the invoice. Late payments will incur a £5 penalty.”
Passed with no votes against.
9.2 League rule 3.3(ii): after Potential penalties add:
“The club requesting the rearrangement will be penalised 42 points, whether or not the match is eventually played.”
League rule 3.3(iii): add at end:
“The club requesting the rearrangement will be penalised 42 points.”
Passed with 4 votes against.
9.3 Rule 6.4 to be rewritten as follows:
“Handicaps to be based on league positions at the end of the previous season. The leading team to be on scratch, with each successive team receiving an additional three points. The winners to be penalised 10 points for the following season. New teams to start on scratch until the first season after they fail to win promotion.”
Passed with no votes against.
9.4 Rule 7.4 to be rewritten as follows:
“Handicaps to be based on league positions at the end of the previous season. The leading team to be on scratch, with each successive team receiving an additional point. The winners to be penalised eight points for the following season. New teams to start on scratch until the first season after they fail to win promotion.”
Passed with no votes against.
That the league transfers its county affiliation to the Cheshire County Parks Bowling Association.
The secretary explained that the Cheshire County Bowling association had now, at the second attempt, abolished its indirect membership rate. This would increase costs for those clubs playing in the parks leagues, as well as for a few other clubs in Manchester or Derbyshire. He had received a letter from the Cheshire County Parks association treasurer, saying that if the league joined in they would be able to reduce their fees to a uniform £15 (plus a £10 support levy for clubs in the parks leagues). This compares with a current rate of £30, or £25 for veterans’ clubs.
The Stockport & District and Stockport workshops leagues were considering a similar measure. Some delegates reported that they may be waiting to see what we decided.
Clubs that play in the Alderley Edge or Altrincham LV leagues would mostly be disadvantaged, but only to the tune of £15 per annum.
In answer to a question about other effects, the secretary said that Cheshire Parks was essentially a Stockport-based organisation, and would be more local to us. We would also have a bigger say in its running.
After a brief discussion, the proposal was put to a vote, and passed by 37 votes to 5.
There was no further business and the meeting closed at 8.45pm