28 January 2013, 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:
| George Wilson | Crown | Terry Bancroft | Nursery |
| Harry Moores | Gatley Rec | Norman Allen | Stockport CC |
| Alan Pearson | Hazel Grove | Alan Howson | Waggon & Horses |
| Frank Forrest | Heaton Mersey | Norman Hunt | Waggon & Horses |
| Cyril Gorton | Heaton Mersey | Alistair Monk | Waggon & Horses |
Present: President, Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer Vets’ Match Secretary and delegates
Apologies: were received from Woodley Sports
Absences: None
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
There was one new team this year: Romiley Arms, who are moving their second team from the S&D to us. There is one resignation: Gatley Rec B, and Bungalow started last season but resigned early on. That leaves the league with 29 teams.
Based on their performance in the S&D, the secretary thought Romiley Arms should go in Division B, and they would certainly then be near their correct level. But that would leave divisions of 9, 11 and 9. That was not very satisfactory, and it would be better to get to divisions A and B to 10 teams each.
There were two ways of doing this: relegate 1 and promote 2, or relegate 2 and promote 3. It could be argued that Bungalow finished bottom of Division A with no points, so only the one club above them should be relegated. On the other hand, the policy in the past has always been to move more teams rather than fewer, to stir things up and create more variety in the league.
Last year, Heald Green finished 2nd from bottom in Division A (or third from bottom if you include Bungalow). Waggon & Horses finished 3rd in Division B.
So essentially the choice is between:
A brief discussion followed. Heald Green stated that in their view Bungalow was the bottom club in Division A, with Burnage second from bottom. Heald Green had finished high enough to avoid relegation. They confirmed that they would accept the decision of the meeting, with no appeal.
On a vote, option 1 received 26 votes and option 2 received 12 votes.
The secretary proposed to run the Bob Newlan Trophy and the Merit in the same way as last year.
Veterans’ league
West Heaton had applied to reinstate their vets team. They were in Division 2, and the secretary proposed they should return there.
Otherwise there was a great name change. The Klondyke squad would now play at Burnage Garden Village. The Wythenshawe park squad would now play at Northenden Social. Heaton Mersey Vets would now be known as Didsbury Park (they have been playing there for several years). To help avoid confusion the existing Didsbury team will be shown as Didsbury BC.
The secretary had received correspondence which led him to believe S Manchester RBL were considering withdrawing their second team. However the club confirmed that that was not the case.
There would therefore be a straight two-up, two-down.
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
The meeting agreed that these matches may be played at 10.30am.
County affiliation
Since the last meeting, the Cheshire proposal to abolish the reduced rate for clubs in other counties (indirect affiliation) had been defeated. However the Cheshire management were expected to try again. Meanwhile, Greater Manchester had lurched to the brink of oblivion and to save themselves were now going to charge an additional fee of £2 per team. So on balance, and for the time being, Cheshire remained the better choice.
Next meeting
The next meeting will be on 11 March.
The treasurer summarised the accounts. Club registrations had increased in line with the plan. Other income was generally similar. We tend to have a cash flow problem at the start of the year, with expenditure arising before income comes in. So prizes had been held at the previous year’s level to increase the balances.
The secretary explained that the web site was becoming more expensive to run, because of the use it was getting. This was offset by fees paid by other leagues. However what had started as a small activity for the Cheadle and Gatley league was now a major operation, with over 50 leagues on the site. In future he proposed to run it as his own activity, so the income and expenditure would largely disappear from the league accounts.
The current five year plan had ended, and the treasurer proposed a new one. Our main source of disposable income was club fees, and the main expenditure was prizes and honorariums. The aims of the plan were:
There was some discussion. Although there was some risk in planning so far ahead, we had had at least two five year plans up to now without problems. The AGM retained the right to follow or deviate from the plan each year.
The auditor confirmed 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.
Trophies and prizes were presented by Mr Walker.
There was no further business and the meeting closed at 8.55pm