1 Roll call
All clubs were present.
2 The chairman opened meeting with a brief silence in memory of past members. These included:
John Piercy (Flixton Cricket)
Keith Jackson (Metro Sports)
Jackie Lowe (Metro Sports)
Mike Gresty (Sale Excelsior)
Bert Brearley (Walton Park)
Tony Haynes (Winton Social)
John Prestwich (Winton Social)
3 Minutes of last meeting
The minutes of the previous AGM (19 November 2025) 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 27th January.
5 Fixture secretary’s report
The league season proceeded smoothly. However there were significantly more occasions of teams playing short.
There was some discussion about whether we should allow a player to play twice if a team is short. This rule had been abolished when we went from 10-a-side to 8-a-side. A straw poll showed that there was little support for this change.
There was also a suggestion that we should start earlier, say 11.00am. Apparently the Eccles Vets league had tried this, but it was not popular.
6 Competitions
We had implemented the policy of announcing the Merit and Pairs as one-day events, with entries limited to 16. For the Merit this looked promising, with 15 entries. However only 10 turned up.
For the Pairs there were 12 entries, but only 10 turned up.
There was some discussion about the consequences for no-shows. As the team has paid the entry fees up front there is no financial penalty for a player who enters but does not appear.
There was some confusion on the presentation day, and two clubs had ended up paying the fee for late registrations twice (total £6). They would be credited with this next year.
Income:
The loss of one club (Irlam Steel) resulted in a drop of about £80 (they paid £71 last year).
We had exceptional income of £116 from unclaimed awards.
Raffle sales were £36 down due to the low attendance at the presentation day. The format of this day needs to be reviewed.
The net result was an increase in income of £8 (of which £6 belongs to next year).
Expenditure:
Most items were similar to last year. We are now paying £3 per month in bank charges. That was £30 this year and will be £36 in a full year.
Engraving was much cheaper: fewer trophies and a better supplier.
The net effect was virtually no change.
Summary:
We had a deficit of £102 last year and £1.59 this year. The balance is now down to £924. The committee think this is a reasonable level and will allow us to pay bills next year before the income starts coming in. But we should be aiming to break even.
For competitions we paid out £305 (or would have if two winners had shown up), but received £210. The committee recommends increasing the competition levies to £20 per team (£10 each for Merit and Pairs). That would increase the payments to £420 and match the payouts.
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
It was reported last year that the redesign of the BCGBA web site was a work in progress. There appears to have been no further progress.
The saga of BCGBA governance continues. There is a meeting of all counties in a few days and we may get more news then. The county AGM is later in November, and again that may provide an update. For the moment, any payments from clubs and the league go to the county, not direct to BCGBA, We understand the count may not be forwarding payments to BCGBA for the moment.
10 Proposal for rule change
In the Merit and Pairs section, first paragraph of Rule 1 to read: "Open to players who have played in at least three league matches in the season at the closing date of entry."
Proposed by the management committee
This rule had been changed in 2021 to allow previously regular players who were ill at the start of the season to enter the competitions. This year the Merit winner had played only one game, and Pairs semi-finalist had not played at all in the league.
The proposal was passed unanimously.
11 Election of officers
The secretary announced that he was resigning. Ill health (also of his wife) had made the job increasingly difficult. He had been in post for fifteen years and had enjoyed working with his colleagues.
The meeting unanimously elected Mike Mulchrone a life member.
The fixture secretary (who also did most of the treasure’s job) pointed out that it was generally undesirable to rely overmuch on one person. There were no volunteers for the secretary’s job from the floor; delegates were asked to canvass their members.
The fixture secretary agreed to provide a job description.
Remaining officers were re-elected:
Chairman Ian Blythe
Secretary vacant
Fixture secretary Ross Kavanagh
Existing management committee members were re-elected:
Alan Lord
Steve Ridley
Mike Kujawa and Ian Wright agreed to join the committee.
12 Honorariums
The meeting agreed to increase the honorariums for the secretary and fixture secretary by £20 (to £125 and £200). These figures include an element for both for covering the treasurer’s duties.
The meeting closed at 2.05pm.