Minutes of a Committee Meeting
Wiltshire Association of Cricket Officials
AGM Minutes
1stDecember 2011
Page 1 of 3
Minutes of a Annual General Meetingheld on / Thursday 1stDecember2011 at 7.30pm
at / Bowling Green Pavilion at Chippenham Cricket Club
Present:
Chair / Lesley Morgan / LM
Deputy Chair / Peter Hemmings / APH
Hon Treasurer / Philip Russell / PR
WEPL Representative / Colin Pitman / CP
Education Officer / Michael Cornwell / MC
Membership Officer / Donald Keighly / DK
Hon Secretary / Nigel Hill / NRH
Members: Mark Bray, Simon Brewer, Roger Carter, Les Clemenson, Cledwyn Davies, Ronald Dawson, Steve Fortune, John Gale, Tony Horn, Gareth James, Peter Mathias, Neil Merrett, Ralph (Jim) Paget, Sally Pitman, Anthony Reed, Martin Saunders, Barry Stygal, Nicholas Wheatley, John Wiltshire,
Alan Wrixon, Dave Young and Michelle Young (22).
Also present:
Chris Dawe (ECB ACO), Martin Smithers (Marlborough scorer)and Peter Sykes (WCL)(3)
Apologies for Absence:
Barry Aitken, Roger Barker, Alan Biggins, Paul Boatwright, Kris Boulton, Jan Bradford, Stan Cherry, Peter Eastwood, Andrew Hodder, Ian Howard, Don Jones, Peter Marshall, William McCormick,
John Merrett, John Moore, Andy Palmer, Ansel Porter, Paul Rush, Richard Saunders, Peter Sharland,
Rory Slater, Steve Smith and Chris Stock. (23)
2011/
1 / Minutes of Previous AGM
The minutes of the AGM held on 9thDecember 2010 were accepted without dissent as a true record of the meeting, and signed by the Chair
2 / Matters Arising
The proposed amended Constitution was approved nem con and signed by the Chair
3 / Officers’ Reports
Copies of the reports from the Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Appointments and Education Officers had been circulated in advance. These were accepted.
In addition to the matters recorded in those reports:
- MC said that 11 candidates had so far registered for Level 1 courses this winter. MC was thanked from the floor for his hard work in putting on these courses.
- LM had been asked to put on a Level 2 scorers course on a regional basis
- The Development Plan was noted.
- PR noted that we had received a one off sum from the old North Wiltshire ACU&S. Other than that the accounts were in balance.
- APH noted that there would be more observations of Level 1 and 1A umpires and the observers costs would need to be covered.
- No formal proposal for use of the NWACU&S money was put to the meeting. The committee were asked to consider it, bearing in mind that if it was used for ongoing expenses there could be a problem when the money runs out.
4 / Accounts
The accounts had been audited by Nick Wheatley, who was thanked. The accounts were proposed, seconded and adopted without dissent.
5 / Officer Appointments
The following reappointments, proposed by the committee, were seconded and approved without dissent:
Chair: Lesley Morgan
Deputy Chair: Peter Hemmings
Hon. Treasurer: Philip Russell
Performance Officer: Peter Hemmings
Appointments Officer:Colin Pitman
Education Officer (Umpires): Michael Cornwell
Education Officer (Scorers): Lesley Morgan
Membership/Registrar: Donald Keighly
Nigel Hill had stood down as Hon Secretary. Two nominations had been received but one candidate had withdrawn and Steve Smith was therefore unanimously elected as Hon Secretary.
LM said that this may be her last year as Chair. She emphasised that volunteers to help out the committee were always welcome.
Dave Young noted that the value of getting papers distributed ahead of the meeting had been illustrated tonight and thanked those concerned.
6 / Reappointment of Auditor
Nick Wheatley’s reappointment as auditor was proposed, seconded and agreed without dissent.
7 / Umpires’ Clothing
PR had a number of items available at the meeting including a green field shirt. He asked members to order items in good time so that he could arrange for orders to be ready for collection at the pre-season meeting.
8 / Any Other Business
- Les Clemenson said that there were discussions to arrange some appointments across county boundaries in order to broaden umpires experience. Some trial runs had worked well and been generally favourably received
- Pete Sykes offered thanks on behalf of Wiltshire Cricket Limited for the work carried out by WACO and its members. He felt that Wiltshire was very well served by its umpires in comparison to some counties. The committee reciprocated with appreciation of the support from Wiltshire Cricket
- It was expected that Prem 1 & 2 would have free hits for foot fault no-balls, and also powerplays.
The Chair declared the meeting closed at 8.10pm
After an interval, CP led a discussion on Appointments Policy. The problem is one of success. Of the 50 active umpiring members of WACO 2 years ago, only 22 were still active. However, our trainers have done such a good job that we now have a further 53 new active umpires. Most are keen to progress, and many want Saturday appointments. There are simply not enough Saturday matches to go round. We are thought to be the first county to encounter this problem.
Leagues outside the WEPL pyramid are generally not looking for neutral umpires because of the costs involved, though a few individual clubs are looking for help and some leagues will be happy to have umpires looking for match time, but without match expenses. Glos & Wilts 2nd XIs may want some umpires and be prepared to pay some match expenses.
Some appointments out of county may be available but without extra fees for additional mileage.
Umpires may have to accept not getting top level appointments every week. There is an issue for umpires who need a given number of matches to achieve their qualifications. However APH hoped this could be addressed by getting permission for use of Performance Officers discretion.
There was general acceptance that CP will do his best to be fair to all umpires and that members will accept not getting the number of top matches they would ideally like.
Please note that from now on WhosTheUmpire will assume members are NOT available until the member changes this to denote availability.