1 Roll call
All clubs except Partington were present.
2 The chairman opened meeting with a brief silence in memory of past members. These included:
Ted Chapman (Metro Sports)
Bill Parker (Metro Sports)
Neville Hesketh (Monton)
Dave Beavan (Partington)
Noelyne Crutchley (Sale XL)
Sue Berry (Winton Social)
Robin Stainsby (Victoria Park)
3 Minutes of last meeting
The minutes of the previous AGM (20 November 2024) were read and approved.
4 Secretary’s report
Mike thanked the committee for their help over the year. Delegates were told that if a club think they will not be able to enter a team next season they must inform us by the 28th January.
5 Fixture secretary’s report
The league season proceeded smoothly, with only one unregistered player being found. The knock-out competitions also ran smoothly.
6 Competitions
Merit entries were disappointing: only 16. It was again a one-day event. Fifteen turned up on the day.
The Pairs was even worse: nine entries against 19 last year. In a chaotic finals day there were only six pairs present.
The management committee is looking at the possibility of playing these competitions at weekends.
We had recorded a small deficit, of £101. The introductory offer on insurance didn’t last, so we were now paying full whack. On prize money: last year we decided not to pay out for the Merit and Pairs quarter-finalists in view of the low entries. This year we decided to restore the original total payout (i.e.£1000) and increase the prize money across the board. There was no payout for the Pairs semi-finalists, again because of low entries. Team fees were down because of the loss of a Flixton Cons team.
The account with Metro Bank has worked well. However they will start charging us £3 per month from January. It was an effort to find a bank that would offer us an account, so we have decided to accept this and not start looking again.
There was a query on the honorariums paid. It transpired that the increase voted last year for the fixture secretary had not been paid. This will now be paid.
8 Auditors’ report
The accounts had been examined by both auditors. They had declared themselves satisfied, and signed the summary.
9 County and BCGBA news
There is no change to Greater Manchester fees; they remain at £17.50 for vets clubs.
The only other change is that they have dropped the £50 they previously charged to clubs hosting a county match.
It was reported last year that BCGBA are spending £40,000 on yet another redesign of their web site. This is still a work in progress.
The player levy has raised funds which are being used to finance a national development officer and officers in the counties. Josh Pendlebury is doing the job in Greater Manchester.
It was suggested that we invite the national development officer to a future meeting to describe her work.
10 Proposals for rule change
a. In Rule 8, last sentence to read “Players must be registered by the day before playing and before closing date for registrations.”
Proposed by the management committee
Currently seven days notice has to be given to register a player. This dates from the days when such things were done by post. It now sometimes prevents a team using a new player.
The proposal was passed unanimously.
b. In Bye-law 3 add at end: “Any club refusing to allow the use of their green as neutral venue in cup matches shall be excluded from the competition. If already eliminated from the competition they will be excluded from the following season’s competition.”
Proposed by Management Committee
There had been problems in recent seasons where clubs had said their green was not available to host a cup match. This causes problems in finding neutral greens, and places unfair pressure on the co-operative clubs. There was discussion on the reasons why a green may not be available, including other events on the green, or poor condition. The committee try to reasonable in cases like this, but had been frustrated by clubs simply saying they could not find anyone to open the green.
Some delegates felt that the proposed sanction was too harsh.
The proposal was passed, 7 votes for and 6 against.
11 Honorariums
The meeting agreed to maintain the honorariums for the secretary and fixture secretary at the current level (£105 and £180). These figures include an element for both for covering the treasurer’s duties.
12 Election of officers
Existing officers were re-elected:
Chairman Ian Blythe
Secretary Mike Mulchrone
Fixture secretary Ross Kavanagh
Existing management committee members were re-elected:
Alan Lord
Steve Ridley
The meeting closed at 2.30pm.