25 January 2016, 7.30pm
Held at Ladybridge Park
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:
| Neil Bewsher | Marple Park | Henry Hein | Stockport CC |
| Bert Moore | Marple Park | Robert Blades | Stockport CC |
| Jack Turnbull | Marple Park | Eric Brown | Nursery |
Present: Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer Vets’ Match Secretary and delegates
Apologies: were received from Gatley Rec.
The minutes of the previous annual general meeting and previous rules revision meeting had been circulated. They were taken as read and approved. Proposed Edgeley Cons, seconded Debdale Park.
Evening league
We had lost two teams since last year: Didsbury BC and West Heaton. That left us with 26 teams. The secretary couldn’t see any choice but to run this as three divisions, of nine, nine and eight. It does mean that Division C’s programme is a bit thin. However, Droylsden WMC stated that they actually wished to enter the evening league rather than the vets’ league. Also Heals Green Social announced that they could not enter a second team for this year.
The secretary said that Droylsden WMC currently play in the Manchester Amateur league and are not believed to be especially strong. As they’re rather outside our area, he sought delegates’ opinion on accepting their application. Their green is about one and a half miles north of Debdale Park. If we accepted them, he proposed to put them in Division C. The meeting agreed to this, resulting in no net change to the size of the third division.
He proposed to run the Bob Newlan 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
Fallowfield had resigned from the league - rather a surprise.
There had been a recent application from Droylsden WMC, but that now referred to the evening league – see above.
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 greens are available as required. Also they had a list of players from last year to help register players for this year.
Great Moor Sports ‘C’ Home matches
The meeting agreed that Great Moor C should play their home matches on Wednesday mornings.
Next meeting
The next meeting would be on 21 March to distribute the handbooks and other paperwork needed for the season.
The secretary referred to the previous AGM, when he had said he was embarking on his twentieth year in the post and that this should be the last one. He was firmly of the opinion that it was time for fresh blood. He was disappointed that there hadn’t so far been a rush of enquiries, though he was pleased to report that we did have a volunteer to be Match Secretary. That would take some of the workload off the new secretary.
Over the last twenty years, the evening league had shrunk from five divisions to three. The Veterans had stayed stable at six divisions. Meanwhile, the league had embraced new technologies. The secretary hoped he was leaving it in a good state, financially and organisationally. He thanked all delegates for their assistance and co-operation over the years. It had been a pleasure to run and play in the league.
The treasurer summarised the accounts. Following the five-year plan, fees for evening and vets’ teams this year would be £101 and £76 respectively. The plan also provided for a reduction of £65 in the honorariums. He noted that merit entries were up this year. It had been possible to pay down to the last eight in the vets’ merit. PCS Cup prizes had reduced because we withheld a prize from a team that scratched at the semi-final stage. Other income was generally similar. The balance was healthy. He emphasised that we tend to have a cash flow problem at the start of the year, with expenditure arising before income comes in.
The accounts were adopted. Proposed Northen Etchells, seconded LMRCA.
The auditor reported that he had examined the accounts and found them to be an accurate record.
President: D Walker
Chairman: DJ McKnight
Hon Secretary: G Wood
Hon Treasurer: T Forsyth
Match/Results Secretary (evenings): J Cunningham
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 a small reduction from last year.
The new honorariums were as follows.
Treasurer £385
Secretary £385
Match secretary £265
Veterans’ secretary £265
Veterans’ match secretary £265
The honorarium for the veterans’ secretary would be split between the secretary and the veterans’ match secretary.
Cup rules 6.3 and 7.3 to be rewritten as follows:
6/7.3 Match result
The team with the higher aggregate score is the winner. In the event of a tie, most wins shall decide and if still tied, most wins from the first three names on the score sheet.
Proposed by the secretary. Seconded by Cheadle Cons. Passed.
The chairman expressed the league’s thanks to the outgoing secretary, and presented the him with a set of whisky glasses and decanter.
The problems of park greens, their maintenance and protection from vandalism were discussed. Stockport council used to run a bowls forum, at which the league’s views were represented. This, like much else, had fallen victim to cost cutting. It seemed that old-fashioned nagging was still the best way to get things done, but success was not guaranteed.
A move at the BCGBA to replace the current £15 per club fee with a £1 per bowler fee had been defeated. However the secretary feared BCGBA would try again. In future, it was expected that submission of NR1A forms and purchase of insurance would all be on-line.
There was no further business and the meeting closed at 8.25pm