28 January 2003, 7.30pm
Held at Cheadle Conservative Club
The President asked delegates to stand for few moments in silence in memory of colleagues who had passed away in the last year. These included our Veterans Secretary Les Shinner, and Stan Webb of South Reddish; Charlie Houghton, Alan Adamson, Bert Dooley of Heald Green Social; Jimmy Noble of Heaton Mersey Conservative and West Heaton; Ken Morris of Gatley Rec; Harry Jannion, Tommy Stott of S. Manchester British Legion; Derek Colclough of Ryecroft; Cliff Barber, Nick Bray, Eric Pattison of Stockport CC.
Present: President, Secretary, Vets results secretary, Treasurer and delegates
Apologies: Chairman, Northern Etchells
Absences: British Rail, Fallowfield, Withington
The minutes of the previous annual general meeting had been circulated. They were taken as read and approved.
The secretary reported that he had brought the start time for the meeting forward to 7.30 as an experiment, as it seemed a more natural time and would allow an earlier finish. Apart from a long queue at the bar, it seemed to be a good idea.
The proposed compositions for both the evening and veterans’ leagues had been distributed with the AGM notice. Since then, Silverwings had dropped their second team, so we were now down to 39 teams. This means a vacancy in Division D.
For the vets, the composition was based on the agreement at the November meeting. Teams that finished in the top two have gone up, but many others find themselves in a lower division. However we were now well placed to move forward.
There was no comment on these proposed compositions Fixtures would be sent out in the next few days.
Entries to the Callison and Merit had been declining, and the officers had considered what to do about it. For the Callison Cup, we proposed to try it as a pairs handicap. Alternatives were a pairs merit, or charging every club for a minimum number of entries, or doing nothing. We didn’t want to see the competition die, so doing nothing wasn’t acceptable. Also we didn’t want to force people to play (or pay without playing); people should enter because they want to. So we would try a pairs competition. Handicaps will be based on existing rules, and carried forward from the 2001 competition.
For the Merit, we are going to try a Tuesday night qualification round. There will also be the option to qualify on a Saturday. The Tuesday we have chosen is also the date used by the S&D league, because our fixtures have to mesh. To accommodate this, we have moved the Vets merit qualifying and Jennison prelim rounds forward a week.
The first round of the Bob Newlan involves nearly every club. In the past, we have avoided using parks greens, but I think this places an unfair burden on the pubs and clubs. So this year I propose to use some parks. Most of these pay the greenage in advance for all matches, so it shouldn’t cost them anything. But if anyone has any problems they should contact the secretary.
The green rota would be distributed in the next few days, along with a summary of key dates.
An internet domain had been registered for the league. So the web site was now available at www.cgleague.co.uk. This should be easier to remember. Also it needn’t change ever again, even when someone takes over. The old address will still work until late April, but not after that.
The Cheshire County Bowling Association were trying to start leagues for junior teams. Teams would consist of two to four under-18s. Any clubs that were interested should contact the Cheshire secretary or development officer.
Finally the secretary paid tribute to Les Shinner. He had been vets secretary since 1995, during which time the vets league had grown steadily from 50 to 62 teams. He had presided jovially over this expansion. Up to the last moment he had been working with the other officers on the change to six divisions. He would be greatly missed.
The pre-season meeting would be on 25 March at 7.30.
Mr Hall added his tribute to Les Shinner. Les was the embodiment of the league’s reputation for friendliness. A successor would be hard to find, but could count on the support and assistance of the existing officers.
The meeting approved the proposal for Great Moor Conservative C to play their home games at 11am.
The treasurer summarised the accounts, which showed a deficit for the year of about £80.
The accounts over the years showed the decline in entries for the Callison and Merit. In the last year the Callison had been cancelled, resulting in no income or expenditure. The Merit was also lower, partly because the host club had themselves funded the refreshments.
The presentation night had also seen a decline in attendance, and the treasurer thought the last event had been rather unsatisfactory. There were several reasons for this: low prize money, poor entertainment, lack of awareness in the clubs. To deal with the situation, he had considered requiring every club to buy four tickets, as some leagues do. But you can’t force people to enjoy themselves. So he proposed to abandon the presentation night and instead to distribute prizes and trophies after the half-yearly meeting. Club members could turn up at about 9pm for this.
He also proposed to drop the fourth prize in each division. It was too small to be worth winning, and we could redistribute the money to the first three.
Once again, Deanprint had provided the handbooks and presentation night tickets at very favourable rates. He thanked Mike Broome. He also thanked Jack Barratt and the Bungalow for help with the presentation night, Heald Green Social Club for the Merit final day, Alan Bligh for doing the fixtures and Nigel Dewey for donating a cup for the new division.
There was discussion about the presentation night. Using an alternative venue was suggested. Also, the night had been on the same weekend as the Alderley league’s do. The officers would listen to any suggestions. No decision had been taken yet, and did not need to be.
The auditor noted the slight but continual decline in income over the years. Although the balance was healthy, the situation should be kept under review. He suggested an increase in fees to £42 for evening teams and £28 for veterans teams (up by £5 and £3 respectively).
In discussion, the treasurer argued that we needed a healthy balance to cover expenditure during the season, until the accounts were sent out in September. There were proposals to send out the accounts at the start of the season (but that could cause cash flow problems for the clubs).
Technically, the treasurer should declare the team fees at the half-yearly meeting. He had not done so, but intended to adopt the auditor’s recommendation.
To adopt the new set of rules, as distributed for the half-yearly meeting.
Proposed by the Secretary.
The proposal was approved nem con.
All the existing officers were re-elected.
President: D Walker
Chairman: DJ McKnight
Hon Secretary and Match/Results Secretary (evenings): ER Kavanagh
Hon Treasurer: J Forrest
Hon Veterans Secretary: vacant; no nomination received
Hon Results Secretary (Vets): G Hall
Management Sub-committee: RA Wright, J Barratt, MG Butterley, J Lloyd, L Myatt, J Hammond, R Edy
The meeting approved a general increase in the honorariums, and a separate honorarium for the position of match secretary (currently done by the secretary). The new honorariums were as follows.
Treasurer £260
Secretary £260
Match secretary £160
Veterans’ secretary £160
Veterans’ match secretary £160
The secretary confirmed that Cheadle (Kingsway) Sports Club and Crowcroft Park were new teams to the league. Trinity Bowling Club (Sale) had decided not to proceed. Cheadle (Kingsway) Sports Club was the cricket club near Gatley Road. It had to be approached from the north. It would be known as Cheadle Kingsway, because league records already include a team known as Cheadle Sports which was active until 1997.
There was no further business and the meeting closed at 8.40pm