BMGA
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Date: Saturday 28th February 2009
Time: Midday to 4pm
Location: Robbie Centre
Gravesend
DA12 1LZ
CONTENTS
Page 3: Notes from the AGM
Featuring:
· Chairman’s Report
· Development Officer’s report
· Finance Officer’s report
· Membership Officer’s report
· Club Officer’s report
· Tournament Officer’s report
· Marketing & Media Officer’s report
Page 22: Annual accounts
Page 25: Players Forum feedback
NOTES FROM THE AGM
Present: Sean Homer (Chairman), Dave Forrest (Development), Scott Lancley, Susan Forrest, Jennifer Forrest, Andy Exall (Players Rep), Richard Gottfried (Marketing & Media). Emily Gottfried, Jon Angel, Marion Homer (Membership), Richard Penfound (Finance)
Apologies: Peter Parr, Tim Davies (Clubs), Chris Richards (Industry), Brad Shepherd, Chris Harding, Keith Kellard (IT), Steve Gow.
Sean welcomed everyone to the AGM. Introductions and apologies followed.
Review of actions from the previous years AGM.
1) Tournament calendar – issue addressed with the 2009 calendar (all key BMGA organised events) in place and confirmed by end of 2008 (thanks to Ted for his excellent work in developing the calendar). Clear from Players forum feedback (attached to this report) that this has been received very positively from the members.
2) Equipment sales – 2008 saw us holding significant level of stock however it became clear that it was generally not stock that the members wanted. Highlighted that we have used equipment successfully throughout the year as prizes, notably for juniors & novices, and this has been received well by the membership. For 2009 we are looking at ways of acting in a third party capacity with suppliers to help members secure the equipment they want. By using web presence we are hoping to be able to get set level of discount for members – this is being progressed currently by the EC. Will look at potential bulk orders as an option if discount links cannot be secured.
3) Accounts – quarterly accounts updates being communicated to the membership did not happen in 2008. This is something that will be addressed for 2009. The updated 2008 accounts will be reviewed later in the meeting (and are attached at the end of this report). Sean to ensure Richard Penfound has full access to the online accounts.
4) Supplying Kit to tournament venues – we are still keen to progress the idea of all tournament courses having a full set of equipment to offer to the public to enable people to test out balls/clubs, etc. This will link into point
2 and the sourcing of equipment.
5) Liability Insurance – We have had public liability insurance in place for the duration of 2008 season and this has just been renewed for 2009.
6) Official Website – lots of work been put into this – officially launched today (28th February). More info and demonstration to follow in the meeting.
7) Affiliation of Courses – we have continued to get more course affiliating over the past 12 months and it is recognised that we have not capitalised on this area to date. By linking into the new look website we are now in a position where we can really develop this aspect and generate better profile for us and the courses (as well as generating some income via the website). The EC are looking at different tiers of affiliation from basic, right up to international tournament quality courses.
8) Tenure of Executive Committee positions – The EC set up was changed and the statues revised accordingly last year at the AGM. According to the statutes, all EC roles have a 2 year tenure. It was agreed that we needed a year of stability (which we have had) and that the tenures would be reviewed at this AGM. All agreed that it was important that we maintain a balance between the stability of the EC whilst enabling us to introduce new members into the EC set up. Rather than all the work being done by the EC it will help us expand and get other people involved. Scott highlighted the possibility of getting additional people from within each existing club network involved. Sean highlighted that at the players forum there were definitely people keen to be involved, as long as they didn’t have to attend EC meetings. Look at the possibility of utilising sub committees to push things forward. Richard G stated that if people wish to leave the EC then they must say so as early as possible to enable replacements and proper handover to take place.
The 2 year tenure is listed in the statutes and it was felt that stability in the EC is still very important. A motion was raised to keep the statutes as they currently are. All present in favour. Motion carried.
Jon asked what the process would be to replace a member of the EC if a vacancy arises. Sean highlighted that the process would mirror that in the statutes regarding EC standing (a member would need to be nominated and seconded – in the event of more than one person standing then this would go to the members for voting – we are able to have a dedicated email address for any such voting – all members would have the opportunity to vote – including those not on email).
It was asked if there were any other points people wished to raise regarding the last AGM - none were highlighted – so with the outstanding actions reviewed the AGM moved onto the feedback from the Executive Committee members annual reports.
Please note: The reports from the members of the Executive Committee have been included in full in these notes. All comments, discussion points and feedback raised at the AGM in relation to the reports are detailed at the end of each report.
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Review of 2008
2008 has proved to be a good year for the BMGA as the new look Executive Committee has settled into their roles and worked tirelessly to move the organisation forward. In my first year as Chairman, I have been delighted at the focus and drive of all within the EC to collectively work at improving the offer for our members. Whilst we all know there is still a lot of work to be done to get us to where we all want to be, it is also worth recognising the successes and the achievements that have been delivered across the year.
By the end of the year, we managed to have the complete BMGA organised events calendar for 2009 in place, something that we know was high on the priorities of requests from the membership. We also saw the number of competitions and venues increase, including the return of a separate British Championships and the arrival on the calendar of the British Matchplay Championship (running the length of the season). 2008 also saw us field a strong representation at the Nations Cup in Tampere, Finland (2 full teams!) and a presence at the World Junior Championships – all presented immaculately thanks to Urban Crazy, the shirt sponsor of our international players, who provide all the sport wear for our teams competing abroad. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to have Great Britain represented at the European Championships but we are looking to address that shortfall in 2009 at the World Championships in Odense, Denmark. The BMGA now have ongoing Public Liability Insurance in place and perhaps most encouragingly, the year saw several innovations put into place such as: the live online draws for the BMC’s, season only rankings, better scoring and software employed at tournaments, wider range and breadth of prizes at competitions, PayPal payments, regular monthly newsletters – 10 across the year (5 already in 2009!) and BMGA branded flyers at courses as the year progressed.
And to top all of this off, we have even managed to maintain the full line-up of the EC for the whole year!!!
Our membership has increased and we have hosted a very successful tournament calendar, driven on by a terrific media and marketing campaign assault – we said hello to Blackpool and Weymouth, welcome back to Stratford, saw the British Open continue to go from strength to strength and our Junior’s getting their well deserved spotlight and awards ceremony in September following their successes at the Junior Championships during the first days play of the Open.
MOVING FORWARD IN 2009
2009 sees a varied tournament calendar shaping up, with us going back to Sandbanks and welcoming Star City (Birmingham), Boscombe and Wroxham Barns into the calendar for the first time. We will continue to support the development of our club network and are already working with London and the new Belfast Club to support their Open competitions this year. Our new look website is launched today (www.minigolf.org.uk – web address remains the same) incorporating the updated 2009 rule book and new phone contact details for the BMGA (07910 243841). We will also be producing new look business cards and will make these available to any member to help raise awareness for, and promote, the BMGA.
January also saw us host our first Players Forum – a great success and thanks to all for their time and support in making this such a useful meeting! We are also working hard on the 2010 calendar – with dates for your diary coming soon (including a Scottish Open with a view to securing a Scottish based British Open for 2011).
We are committed to hosting quarterly EC meetings – with full details/minutes appearing on the website – along with improved visibility for our members of our accounts.
An exciting initiative for 2009 has seen us produce a Minigolf Rules & Etiquette DVD that will be given away free to all our members – and we froze the 2009 membership costs to encourage early renewals, which has worked well and we will review the 2010 costs later in the year. We are also looking to further develop the unique nature of prizes at competitions (such as complimentary memberships/equipment/entry to future comps) and continue to ensure more prizes for novices and juniors, along with looking at developing additional incentives such as the Ace prizes that have worked well in 2008.
We are developing better links with both the EMF & the WMF – undoubtedly boosted by the appointment of our very own Richard Gottfried onto their Media Committee – and myself & Keith Kellard attended the WMF Technical Committee meeting in January this year to have our voice heard regarding Minigolf Open Standard (MOS) rules, effectively the bracket that the majority of UK courses fall into – encouragingly we have been listened to and are helping to shape the way forward for the development of this format. We are also working closely with the WMF regarding Anti doping standards and the ongoing push for recognition of Minigolf as a sport in itself, rather than being a side show to “big” golf.
We also believe that this year we are in a strong position to continue to develop our international presence and have secured funding via the WMF for our Sports Committee to organise a training trip to Austria at the end of March to give players some experience of the different playing systems that operate in Europe. We are hoping that these efforts will culminate in a Great Britain team, taking on all comers at the World Championships in Denmark later in the year. We are also working on stronger links with equipment suppliers to help furnish our home-grown talent with the opportunity to pick up equipment at discounted prices.
These initiatives, along with expanding the season through the winter months and supporting courses to develop the League night concept from Star City – with interest already been shown from Belfast and Margate – will continue to see minigolf thriving in the UK!
And finally on a personal note I would just like to say thank you to all the members, players, organisers, clubs and course owners for their ongoing support, enthusiasm and commitment to the BMGA, and for making the year such a success! I look forward to seeing you all on a course in 2009.
Sean Homer
Chairman
The new website was demonstrated to all present. Sean confirmed that all official communications to the members would go via the website (this will include the newsletters which will be emailed and then posted on the site accordingly).
All present agreed that the new look website was a great improvement on the previous sites and also offers lots of opportunities to raise the profile of the BMGA and develop revenue streams as a result.
Emily stated that the website needs to have a disclaimer visible highlighting that we are not responsible for the content of links.
Richard P highlighted that it would be great if players could follow the links in the tournament section to register for entry from this link. Sean stated that this would be possible utilising paypal preset up invoices and will take a look at how feasible it is to link this into the website.
It was discussed that there are a few pieces of work required on the site to help establish this as the official site of the BMGA (there were a few comments about the lack of immediate presence of the logo – along with a comment regarding the logo resembling a plectrum!). Brand image very important. Website needs to be non static to help draw people into it! Some discussion about looking at having a competition to design new logo.
Overall very positive response to new website and Sean thanked Keith Kellard and Steve Gow for the superb work they have put in behind the scenes over the past few months to be able to launch the site in its present form.
Sean also showed all present the new look draft of the generic business card. This will be finalised and produced shortly and we will make this available to all members who are keen to use them as a way of getting the message about the BMGA out to courses and other players. These will be supplied to players free of charge and also supplied to affiliate courses as well. The card contains the website address, email and contact phone number details.