Minutes of meeting held Thursday 23rd January 2020 at Mere Bowling Club
In the absence of the Chairman the President took chair and welcomed everyone to the meeting.
- Introduction of new Secretary.
Tracey Goodwin was introduced as the new Secretary and will take over from the AGM subject to approval of the meeting. She was welcomed by all.
- Apologies for absence
Carole Critchley (Chairman) Ann Penson (Treasurer) Peter Meir (Oughtrington) Allan Edwards (Victory Hall) Adrian Hough (Cranford) & John Leah (Chelford). Chelford & Victory Hall were not represented.
- Minutes of previous meeting held 13th June 2019 were posted on the website and it was agreed they were a true and proper record. Any matters arising are covered in the agenda.
- Officers Reports
The Secretary said as this was the close season he had nothing new to report and he would keep his remarks for the AGM. The Treasurer being on holiday had left some notes which the Secretary read – She thanked Chris Grice for a very easy handover and all his help. The accounts have been audited and copies of the Income and Expenditure sheets were distributed. The balance at the bank and cash in hand stands at £1002.78. The Secretary ran briefly through the figures saying that bowling income and expenditure was much in line with previous years and the main profit for the league came from presentation evening. A rebate will be proposed at the AGM to retain a bank balance of approximately £400 (Rule 6.3).
- Competition Venues
The Secretary advised the dates and venues for the 2020 competitions and asked the delegates to confirm that their clubs were prepared to host them.
Individual – Mere Bowling Club – Sunday 31st May
Pairs – Goostrey Bowling Club – Sunday 28th June
Mixed Pairs – High Legh Bowling Club – Saturday 22nd August
Jack Bryning – Mere Bowling Club Quarter-finals on from 21st to 27th Sept
- League Vacancy
The meeting was informed that we still have a vacancy for a new team to join us to make both divisions up to 12 teams. Wilmlslow Bowling Club are still interested and will review if we still have a vacancy for the 2021 season.
- Proposals for AGM
The Treasures proposes that the annual rebate will be £23 per team who competed in the 2019 season and to scrap the prompt payment discount.
- Future of Jack Bryning Competition.
The Secretary said that in recent years the popularity of the Jack Bryning competition has waned. A number of changes have been tried in an attempt to generate more interest. He asked whether it would be practical to make entry mandatory in an attempt to get all 23 teams competing. 23 entries @ £6 would almost cover the prize money, although it wasn’t about finance but an endeavor to make for a better competition.
Jill Cavendy (Church Inn) suggested that it be played earlier in the season. – The present league structure would not allow this as greens are in use until September with other league fixtures.
Derek Hurdle (Goostrey) said that many players took the opportunity for a holiday at the end of the season and are not available to join in.
Allan Burdett (High Legh) suggested creating 3 divisions there by freeing more Fridays for competitions. This is possible, but would reduce league matches to 14 per team from 22. Income from greenage would be substantially reduced and a big increase would be required to maintain our income. Would players be happy with only 14 league matches?
Handicaps were also given as a potential reason for lack of interest, although it’s difficult to understand why since 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists in the Jack Bryning 2019 were from division 2.
Looking at our other competitions the Pairs and Mixed Pairs competitions were won by players from division 2, and the Individual was won by a player from a team which will be relegated beating a player from the winners of divison 1.
Succession of Serving Officers.
No indication that the President, Chairman or Treasurer will not serve for 2020, and we have a volunteer for a Secretary. The auditor has said that he will not be available for the 2020 audit so a replacement will need to be appointed.
- Presentation Evening
Provisional date for this year’s awards evening is 20th November. A vote will be taken at the AGM to decide whether a buffet will be provided or we provide our own.
- Any Other Business
Jack Stant (High Legh) having previously informed the league that his team having arrived at Chelford for a preliminary round of the Jack Bryning found that the green had been fertilized and in the captain’s opinion unplayable, asked what procedure should be followed? The Secretary said that it was a very rare occurrence and no rule existed. Rule 5.7(b) “The green is unfit before the start of play due to inclement weather” didn’t quite cover it, but it was pretty much the same thing. If High Legh would like to propose an amendment to include the addition of “or other reason” this would be put to the AGM.
The Secretary asked the meeting if they still want a league handbook which includes the current seasons fixtures, and a score sheet to record match results. It was generally agreed to keep the handbook but score sheets were unnecessary as most captain’s record players and scores in their own book. It was suggested that captains sign each other’s books in case of disputes later.
There being no other business the meeting closed at 8.45pm