26 January 2015, 7.30pm
Held at Ladybridge Park
The Chairman had sent his apologies, explaining that he was recovering from chemotherapy. The delegates sent him their best wishes, and appointed the secretary to chair the meeting.
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:
| Frank Priestley | Cheadle Park | Terry Donlon | Northern Etchells |
| Harry Knight | Didsbury BC | Brian Hine | Nursery |
| Sean Lawler | Didsbury BC | John Kennedy | Nursery |
| Arthur Rowlinson | Great Moor | Malcolm Thorley | Nursery |
| Terry Hunt | Great Moor S&S | John Williams | Nursery |
| Brian Massey | Houldsworth WMC | John Jarvis | Poynton WMC |
| Frank Moult | Houldsworth WMC | Ged Little | South Reddish |
| Tom Matkin | LMRCA |
Present: Secretary, Treasurer Vets’ Match Secretary and delegates
Apologies: were received from the Chairman and the Auditor.
Absences: Burnage, Heald Green, Longsight CC, Wilmslow Cons.
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
Bungalow had applied to rejoin the league. The secretary proposed to put them in Division B. Last year we had had three divisions of 9, so this year whichever division they go in would be up to 10. The meeting agreed that Division B was the right choice.
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
Planning had been delayed by the late decision whether Gatley Rec B could continue. They could, and the secretary explained the proposed structure on this basis. However Nursery then announced that they would have only three teams, not four. This creates an imbalance in the division sizes. We could correct it with radical extra relegations, but the secretary proposed a simpler arrangement that would leave divisions of 12, 11 and 10 teams. Poynton WMC B would be additionally relegated from Division 5. They were not keen, but understood the problem and raised no objection.
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.
Resignation
The secretary reported that he had taken the job in 1996, and the coming year would therefore be his 20th in post. He believed that this should be his last year, not least because new blood would be good for the league. He promised assistance to his successor and continuance of the web site.
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 again, 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 £5500 (up from £4530). 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, and also £36 from an advert in the handbook.
He encouraged clubs to provide e-mail addresses to the secretary, as postage was now a significant cost.
There was a suggestion from South Reddish that the low level of Merit entries was linked to the low prize money. The treasurer explained that we adjust the prize money to the entry. The competitions were subsidised from the league, but we didn't believe this should be excessive. The meeting generally agreed with this view.
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, 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, prize money and averages awards were distributed.
There was a suggestion, generally approved, that we should move to equalise the veterans' division sizes for next year. Clubs should therefore be aware that there may be three teams relegated from certain divisions at the end of the season. Actual decisions would depend on what teams were competing.
[Post meeting note: South Manchester RBL announced after the meeting that they could not run a second team. The secretary and fixture secretary decided to cancel the remaining team's promotion to division 1, thus producing divisions of 11 or 10 teams for 2015.]
Following the decision last year to transfer our affiliation to Cheshire County Parks, the secretary reported that he had had extensive correspondence with Cheshire CBA. This had included a threat of suspension, and a ban from playing bowls in Cheshire. He had also corresponded with British Parks, as a result of which the BCGBA had apparently intervened and informed Cheshire CBA that they were in error. This was confirmed by the Cheshire Parks representative, but Cheshire CBA had not had the courtesy to write lifting their ban or suspension threat.
There was no further business and the meeting closed at 8.20pm