Annual General Meeting
30th March 2004, at the Sports Pavilion, Benner
Lane West End, started at 8.00pm
Present were -
P. Bates
(President); D. Lowe (DL - Chairman); H. Turner (HT - Captain); B. Pudney (BP);
J; Stephens (JS); M. Weston; J. McDonald (JMcD; A. Barrett (AB); P. Dawson; J.
Greathead (late again).
Apologies (for whatever reason, you
know who you are) -
I. Brown (hard at work);
C. Weston (hard at play); A. Horn; A. Lamberth ("is it that time of year
again?"); M. Oliver; R. Tedder ("where are you?"); M. James; N. Howarth (taken
the King's Shilling).
First
off, the Treasurer presented his report for the last year or so. We say "or so"
as the clubs operating year now mirrors the financial year, April to April.
While it makes future running of the club a bit easier this report runs for a
fifteen-month period and thus introduces a few anomalies where some payments
appear twice. This is just for this report - in future a normal twelve month
time span comes back into operation. For example - payments made to the Club
Cricket Conference, nets and insurance occur in the three month period after New
Year. Some of this, of course, can be offset against imminent income such as
membership subs and current net payments. Where the season shows a £662 loss
this is entirely attributable to the President's Pith Opening Day on May 4th,
which was well worth the expenditure considering all the positive feedback and
support received as a result. The largest bill was for pitch maintenance
although during the first part of 2003 we didn’t get our money’s worth and
switched vendors as a result. The tour managed a slight profit, conversely there was one unpaid membership - but we know who that was and will put the Treasurer on
his tail without delay!
The
remarkable point about the forecast for the twelve months of 2004 is that
although excluding fundraising, the club’s normal running costs should just
about break even, and that's allowing for a pitch maintenance figure of £2,000.
As we now run to the financial year, so as costs are virtually the same from
year to year, this forecast can be taken as April 2004 to April 2005 with little
discernable difference. After
the Treasury bit had been dealt with, the Chairman presented the
Committee Report on 2003.
These aren't the Chairman's exact words, however we'll feel sure they'll do.
The Committee
consisted of five posts - Chairman; Secretary & Fixtures;
Captain; Fundraising & Development; Team
Representative - and mainly due to changing personal circumstances changes
are imminent. The proposal to expand
the Committee and re-assign responsibilities in a six-man Committee was voted on
and was unanimously accepted. As all present agreed the new structure, all posts
were voted as one and accepted unanimously. They are as follows:
Chairman |
Dominic Lowe |
Secretary * |
John McDonald |
Treasurer * |
Ben Pudney |
Fixtures * |
Adrian Barrett |
Captain |
Howard Turner |
Social & Fundraising |
no current candidate |
Everybody
expressed disappointment (!) at not needing to do daily leaflet drops around the
village. This was sadly wholly attributable to the overwhelming success of the
2003 Spring Recruiting Campaign and everyone stayed. We will have another couple
of new players for this season so the loss of Neal Howarth - sad though we knew
it was going to happen - means there's only one alteration to the team. Adie
Barrett is stepping down due to time constraints, so the Captain appointed Phil
Dawson to accompany Ben Pudney in this role.
The
Captain suggests that setting up a Selection Committee may be necessary should
we be overwhelmed with available bodies on any one (or more) weekend(s). Despite
that possibility, players pulling out of a match with at the last moment will
now be fined to the tune of a fiver. The Club Rules allow for this, also for
anyone not organising teas when it is their turn on the rota when it is
published. Swap by all means, but sort it. A budget of £200 has been allocated
for club equipment, and nets at the Surrey Cricket Centre were finally sorted
with an intensive month in April lined up. Phew.
In the Ground Development
stakes ServiceTeam have done us proud with their re-inventing of the pitch,
looking excellent after a winter's rolling and weeding. It's the nets that need
doing, and the upshot is that over to weekends - unforeseen delays
notwithstanding - We will hire a bloke and his minidigger to dig holes on
Saturday 24th April, with pre-mixed concrete filling them in the following
Saturday, May 1st.
The nets will be affixed with velcro strips to the new frames, not the supplied
hooks which, it was deemed, will attract vandals. The nets are of course
removable, to be stored in the garage, still shared with the Woking Cougars football team.
What we can do is have a Bar in
the pavilion
as all permissions have been granted although again, we need to store the beer
offsite. Basil may be persuaded to cut
us a deal to supply beer and lager as part of his sponsorship of WECC - we'll
have to see on that one. What we do need is some sort of presence in the
Pavilion, like a Captain's Roll of Honour, and maybe a trophy cabinet. It would
make us all feel at home, after all.
Fundraising
always needs support and so far Woking Hospice has done us proud, they have got
tickets sold at Recenights over the past few years, and we have been able to
reciprocate with donations. The Racenight often happens around May, but we'll
have to move it to July 17th as that is all Chobham Rugby Club had available to
us. Last year saw 70-80 attendees; if we can increase this to around 100 we will
be laughing, as will the whole room on the night! A second Racenight would be
good, but would tap the same people. So we need to vary our events and target
audiences. Other modes of income include Vice-Presidents who will need
contacting soon. On the sponsorship front we have Basil at the Hare & Hounds,
plus now Vickary's Estate Agents. The latter are especially keen to continue our
association and both parties are aware of the mutual benefits it can bring. We
both need to discuss a joint plan of action.
A sheet of fixtures was distributed to all present,
the actual fixture cards will follow in the next few weeks. We'll have to watch
out for the old European Cup games this season, as a few will encroach onto
cricket playing time and we must try to start earlier as a result. President's
Day is yet to be arranged, but one cancelled game should not cause any ongoing
problems. The tour is a-coming and hotel bookings must be made soon. The
Ponsmere want definite bookings and none of the messing around we had to give
them on account of disorganised personnel. Money must be paid up front this year
- no pay, no pay. And that as about it for the fixtures.
And
just about it for the A.G.M. as there
was no A.O.B. to discuss. The meeting was declared closed at 21.30 but as Basil
down at the Hare doesn't declare closing time just yet, We suspect a few of us
were to be found lounging somewhere within its hallowed walls drinking axle
grease or something a tad stronger. Cheers!
The
Committee.
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