26 January 2009, 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 Mal Barlow of Philips, Bob Brown of Royal Oak, Ray Brown of Cheadle Kingsway, Jack Buckley of Marple Park, Ken Butterfield of Stockport CC, Roy Chefneux of Waggon & Horses, Colin Daniels of Royal Oak, Billy Green of Great Moor Cons, Archie Kelso of Waggon & Horses, Frank Moss and Neville Needham of Stockport CC, Les Newall of Royal Oak, Charlie O’Toole of Stockport CC, Graham Robinson of Heald Green Social, Derek Rose of Stockport CC, Bill Russell of Heald Green Social, and Stan Woodward of Parkville.
Present: President, Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer Vets’ Match Secretary and delegates
Apology: Cheadle Kingsway
Absences: Cheadle Park, Crown Hotel, Woodley Sports, Wythenshawe Park
The minutes of the previous annual general meeting had been circulated. The minutes were taken as read and approved.
Evening League
We have one new team this year: Didsbury BC. I suggest putting them in Division B to bring that division up to ten teams. The Cheadle Heath squad have moved en masse to Cheadle Conservative Club, which will now have two teams.
At the half-yearly meeting you asked me to look into the possibility of running the Bob Newlan Trophy on Tuesday evenings. The idea is to avoid the problem of teams scratching when they find they can’t raise a team on a Sunday morning. The snag is that after the first round half the teams have no match, and three-quarters after the second round. We don’t really want to stop everyone’s bowling just for a few cup games.
So what I’m proposing is to play the cup after the end of the league season. Several other leagues do this. Of course we need five dates to complete the competition, so my proposal is to use three Tuesdays, then play the semi-final and final on successive Sunday mornings.
I also suggest having the Merit at the end of the season as we did last year.
If you agree with this plan, I should have the fixtures and the green rota available in the next week or so.
Vets’ League
We have three new teams: a second team from West Heaton, Vernon Park and a recent entry SW Manchester CC. They play in Chorlton, just off Wilbraham Road. Beware of the ridge running along their green!
We usually put second teams of existing clubs in the bottom division. I’m suggesting that Vernon Park go in Division 5 and SW Manchester in Division 4. This is based on my wild guess at their strengths - I may be wrong. It also allows us to have 2-up and 2-down promotion and relegation.
Philips will be known as the Friendship Bowling Club in both leagues. I hope to have expunged all references to Philips by the season start.
The veterans’ programme will be basically the same as last year. You should have your fixtures and also the rota of when we need your green for cup matches.
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be on 23 March. This is a short but important meeting when we distribute the handbooks and other paperwork you need for the season.
Great Moor Cons ‘C’ Home matches
The meeting agreed that these matches may be played at 10.30am.
Cheshire Inter-league competition
Crown Hotel, as the winners of the veterans’ league, had agreed to represent the league in this competition.
Veterans’ Secretary
This position was still vacant. Tom Forsyth of the Grange had volunteered to step in. However the need is really for more general assistance, especially in running competitions, and the secretary hope that for this year at least Tom would be able to help in a more general capacity.
The treasurer summarised the accounts. Engraving was significantly higher because of an additional cup. He commented on the Cheshire County fees. There is only a net payment of £22.50, but we pay £160 to Cheshire at the start of the year and collect it from clubs at the end of the season. He did not think we got much benefit from Cheshire. The treasurer was pleased to note that fines were down, and he thanked Mike Broome of Deanprint for his help in producing the handbooks at such a keen price.
We had run the evening Merit again this year, but with low support, and entries to the vets’ Merit were down again. He appealed to bowlers to support these events.
There was no bank interest this year, since we used a branch-based account.
League fees for 2009 would be £64 for evening teams and £43 for veterans’ teams.
The auditor commended the accuracy of the accounts and the thoroughness of their author.
Delete rule 3.3 and add new rule 4.4:
The home team to have sole use of the green for practice until 15 minutes before the start time. The away team to have sole use for the remaining 15 minutes, with the match jacks being made available. The away captain may practise with the home team to allow time for the draw to be made.
Proposed by Poynton WMC and Crown Hotel
This proposal was passed with 2 votes against.
Delete rule 3.3 and add new rule 5.4:
The home team to have sole use of the green for practice until 15 minutes before the start time. The away team to have sole use for the remaining 15 minutes, with the match jacks being made available. The away captain may practise with the home team to allow time for the draw to be made.
Proposed by Poynton WMC and Crown Hotel
This proposal was passed with no votes against.
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): A Bligh Management Sub-committee: S Alsop, T Bills, J Pearson, A Rowlinson, H Beech, N Dewey
The meeting approved honorariums conforming to the five-year plan. The new honorariums were as follows.
Treasurer £390
Secretary £390
Match secretary £230
Veterans’ secretary £230
Veterans’ match secretary £230
The honorarium for the veterans’ secretary would be split between the secretary and the veterans’ match secretary.
There was no further business and the meeting closed at 8.10pm