MINUTES of COMMITTEE MEETING for CAPEL St MARY & LITTLE WENHAM BOWLS CLUB

MINUTES OF COMMITTEE MEETING for CAPEL St MARY & LITTLE WENHAM BOWLS CLUB.

Date: 30th January 2018 at 7.30 p.m. Venue: 5 Boydlands

In Attendance - Graham Brewster, Les Bryant (Sec.), David Evans, Carole Howe, Marion McCullum, Malcolm Peers, Pam Peers, Pat Scott, Gerald White (Chair), George Wiseman, and John Wright.

1. Apologies for Absence:Fran Wiseman

2. Minutes of Committee Meeting 5th September 2017:

These were accepted as an accurate record of our previous meeting, and signed by the Chair.

3. Matters Arising:

Action points had been dealt with or were in hand except as follows –

Item 4 – Club Secretary’s Report. The transfer of insurance cover had been completed and refunds obtained from existing insurers. The World Indoors Bowls Championships trip had gone well with 47 making the journey North. There is no further news re: the skatepark. George Wiseman (GFW) had attended a meeting with Capel Community Trust (CCT) and Capel Plough FC representatives and our concerns were noted. Suggest we take no further action as this initiative may well just go away. We will, through GFW, maintain contact with CCT and Capel Plough.

Item 5 – Treasurers Report. The Secretary (LJB) had sought clarification regarding the legality of the club keeping proceeds for unsold tickets. Whilst replies were ambiguous it is in order for us to continue (see Treasurers Report later).

4. Draft Minutes of AGM 23rdOctober 2017:

There needs to be clarification re: the use of GW as we have two! ACTION: LJB will amend draft minutes. Otherwise these were accepted as an accurate record of our meeting for presentation to members in October.

5. Matters Arising from Draft AGM Minutes:

Action points had been dealt with or were in hand except as follows –

Item 5 – Secretary’s Report.GFW had presented our views regarding the proposed change of rules to be discussed at Ipswich & District AGM. The proposal was rejected so no changes will take place.

Item 13 – AOB.Malcolm Peers (MP) has now implemented online banking as agreed. There have been no new recruits to the ‘dew drop’ crew to date. LJB had reviewed the player availability sheet and found it difficult to see how it could be made clearer.

6. Club Secretary’s Report and Correspondence Received

LJB reported that the fixtures for 2019 had now been received and he was making progress with all necessary pre-season preparation work. There are potential issues for our Kestrels Triples team who have been placed in an enlarged Division D, comprising 10 teams. Their season will start on 25th April and the last two games extend our season until 22nd August. Also, they are due to play Suffolk Show week, away at Bealings! Re: Kites Triples fixtures, California had asked to change the date of away match there to a Thursday, but this would cause us problems. ACTION. LJB to reply to California explaining the situation.

LJB will be reviewing club communication this season. Our web site has recently been upgraded and provides an immediate way of reporting on events, news etc. Capel Capers is of value more to make residents aware of our activities. It could be that our A Yard Short newsletter will discontinue. This is to save duplication. It was agreed that we should advertise in Capel Capers again this year for an open weekend to try to tempt new members. We should also use the new Capel Noticeboard Facebook page this year. ACTION: LJB to take forward. The Parish Council have confirmed our award. They will again pay for our rent of £750 and in addition will give us £1000 towards our new spiker fund. Given the financial pressures that they face this was a very welcome grant and we are most appreciative. An invitation had been received from Dennis/SISSCO for our green keeping members to attend a free training session. Details passed to David Evans (DE).

7. Treasurer’s Report (Membership/Projected Income and Expenditure for 2018)

For the 2016/7 year, I reported a surplus of £1,000 of income over expenditure for the year, excluding capital purchases. For the 2017/8 year, I am forecasting a reduced surplus, but still a surplus, of less than £500. Why?Income-wise, our membership numbers could be down from 44 to 40. We have lost Lew and Bob Chatsfield, Russell Aubin has health problems and is doubtful, and Norman Lankester has not renewed either. George Mayhew has not renewed yet, but he is a notorious late payer. So, 4 members down would mean a loss of £180 income.

Events-wise, we did not run a fun-quiz in November, through lack of interest, which reduced income for this year by around £80. We also dropped the Drawn Pairs last year, and the Grunbaum Cup the year before, but Pam will cover that, I’m sure.Expenditure will increase. We have already agreed an increase in the budget for the Site Co-ordinator of £250, so our costs will increase. Again, Dave will cover this, I’m sure.So, our income is likely to be down over £250, and expenditure likely to be up £250, making a reduced surplus. This is not a problem, other than a reduced capability to make contributions to the Special Projects Fund for a new Aerator and portable generator. The Parish Council grant for this seasonhas been agreed at £1,000, which will go into the Fund, and this is excellent, given the tight financial pressures they face. Our Bank account is now fully online, so payments can be made via bank transfer rather than cheque. Authority-wise, I am still getting approval from Gerald or Les, prior to payment, for bills over £50.

We have a potential issue with the use of pub cards, in that, if we sell say only 35 of the 40 pub entries, if an unsold pub wins the income all goes to club funds. Whilst this is legally acceptable some feel it’s wrong morally. Clubs that sell playing cards for example, are able to redraw, but we do not have that facility with pub cards. So, should we change to playing cards? We need a decision soon, as we have very few pub cards and obviously I don’t want to buy more, if we are not going to use them. Following discussion, it was proposed by the Chair and seconded by John Wright that we continue to sell pub cards. There were nine in favour whilst three members abstained. We must encourage members to sell all slots on the card where possible.

8. Site Co-ordinator’s Reportincl. Opening of Green, Work-in etc.

The Atco mower was serviced at Bartram’s in Ipswich, which proved to be financially beneficial, the Dennis was taken there this year and returned satisfactorily.Following the green closure, treatment has been administered as per the supplier’s recommendations. We have continued to spike as much as we can in accordance with recommendations. Jim Ross finalised Winter treatments and awaits the new programme. We did experience an outbreak of fusarium which is not unusual on the green, but this was cured by a chemical treatment. As per our plans a solid path has been laid from the pavilion to the entrance gate which will enable us to remove the waste bin with far less effort and man power. It is currently awaiting seeding. Over the past years the fir trees on the right of the green facing away from the pavilion have systematically been reduced in height. During last season it was noticeable that they had started to encroach on the Green, so a request was made to the Capel Community Trust that this be addressed. Approval wasgranted, and 12 ft will be cut from the top this week thereby opening up our green to more light. The felt on the Toilet roof has deteriorated, and there is some rotting of the boards in our changing rooms. These require attention. We are still looking for a reserve mower and one more Dew Drop crew member. The Green must be hollow tined at the end of the season and this will incur some additional cost, mainly for more top dressing.

Green Clean up prior to opening this year will be held on Sunday 8th April 2018.

9. Club Captain’s Report

GFW gave a report in Fran’s absence. A Captains Meeting has been arranged for Monday 12th February and a number of Kestrels players had been approached to join the Kites squads this year. The potential problem with our Triples fixture against California was raised – see Item 6 Club Secretary’s Report above. It was hoped to have another open weekend to attract new members and LJB was asked to advertise this a little earlier this year, using Capel Capers and the internet. 250 guests will be attending the Annual Presentations Dinner Dance and a very creditable 24 of these are from Capel. We were asked if we could host the Samford Cup final this year but had to decline as it clashed with our own Finals Weekend.

10. Social Secretary’s Report – Initial Programme & Dates for 2018 to be agreed

We have had two events already this year. The Harwich Indoor friendly and our annual trip to Potters. It was a bit of a struggle this year for numbers to attend the Harwich event, but we managed a team of 15. Our trip to Potters was, as usual, a very pleasant day. The afternoon matches were over in two sets, so we got away on time. The bowling was amazing. Thanks to LJB for his organisation.

The proposed programme for 2018 has been circulated. Three events failed to happen last year,namely the Pairs Tournament, the away match at Boxford and the Social evening in November. These were cancelled because of lack of support. This meant a loss of approximately £150 income for the Club. I did find out that the Pairs tournament fell on the day before Boxford had their Open Charity Day, which is a popular event and we had a few teams enter. It is on the 5th August this year, so I have avoided that weekend for any of our events.It was requested that perhaps it would be an idea to put in some Sundays, which I have done.It was also suggested that we have the Kites vs. Kestrels event towards the beginning of the season. I have looked into that possibility but as we have the opening club drive on 22nd April it is still too early in the next couple of weeks to have an evening match, unless we started at possibly 5.30pm. Following discussion, it was agreed to hold this on Friday 29th June. LJB had mentioned to me that he was approached by Babs McDonald asking if we would be interested in a friendly match with Copdock in September under floodlights. This might be worth exploring further. Pat Scott has also been approached by Brantham who have a ladies’ team and have asked if we would like to play them in a friendly. We currently only have 11 registered lady bowlers, but all agree this too might be worth exploring. ACTION. Pam Peers to follow up. Finally, it was agreed following discussion to hold our new members open day on Sunday 13th May, with morning and afternoon sessions. ACTION. LJB to arrange adverts etc.

11. Club Competitions Secretary’s Report

Carole Howe (CH) reported that all went very well this season with all commitments being met on time. Finals day was very successful. Arrangements for this year were to be the same.

12. Dates of Next Meetings

Committee Meeting – 4th September

AGM – 29thOctober

13. Any Other Business.

John Wright had been given a small bowls trophy by Gordon Lankester to see if we had any use for it. The kind offer was appreciated but it was suggested that a donation to a charity was more appropriate.

PP was thanked for kindly hosting this meeting again.

There was no other business

Meeting closed at 9.20 p.m.

Signed ……………………………………………

Date:………………………………………………

Committee Meeting Minutes 30th January 2018

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