DRAFT Minutes of The Mermaid Leagues AGM
16th November 2011 – Held at Rye Bowls
Club Pavilion
1.
Apologies for absence were received from Paul Stern,
Captain of Beckley, and John Bennett, retiring
Secretary.
Representatives from Beckley, Rye, Fairlight,
Staplecross, Iden, Northiam, St. Leonards,
Peasmarsh, Ham Street, Tenterden and Pett
were present, a total of twenty one.
2.
Minutes of A.G.M. 2010 were taken as read. Acceptance was proposed
by St. Leonards and seconded by Rye.
3.
Matters arising, there were none.
4.
Chairman’s Address. Colin Goldsack reported.
We have a lot on the agenda tonight so I
will be brief in my address.
Once again the race for first place in the
league has been close and competitively contested
with Iden and Staplecross clearly leading
the field. Congratulations to Iden
who managed to take the day. Behind Iden
and Staplecross there were few points separating
the other clubs and the competition has been
fairly evenly balanced.
I’d like to say a special thank you
to Ham Street for putting on a wonderful
day for the Fling and to Staplecross for
their generous and friendly hosting of the
Sellings Cup, which we won, despite my personal
efforts.
This year we have taken the opportunity to
think about the future and what the clubs
want from the League. I would like to thank
all of the clubs for their many and varied
comments. Many bowls clubs, and not just
in this area, are beginning to meet problems
of recruitment and retention, and it’s
wiser we address these problems sooner rather
than later. We will discuss this later in
the meeting.
It’s been a pleasure being Chair of
the League, the clubs and members all play
the game in the spirit it’s intended,
with a competitive edge and a friendly and
welcoming atmosphere. Thanks to you all.
Finally, but not least, I’d like to
talk about the Secretary’s post. John
Bennett has been involved with the League
for many years and Secretary for the past
eight, six of which he has worked by remote
control. The League has been meticulously
run and the administration taken care of
in an almost invisible manner. We owe a lot
to John, and I am sorry that he has decided
to call it a day, but his decision is understandable
and absolutely right for him.
I’d like to propose a vote of thanks
to him, this was proposed by Dot Savante
(Ham Street) and seconded by all.
I’m extremely pleased to be able to
welcome back John Mann who has held the secretarial
reins before and has agreed to take them
up again. Thank you so much John. Not only
do we have a Secretary to keep us in order,
but we have someone who knows the League,
and the League’s hopes and wants. So,
welcome back John.
5.
Treasurer’s Report. Nigel Pearson Reported.
All representatives present have been supplied
with a copy of 2010-11 Financial statement
which shows that the financial situation
of the League continues to be a healthy one.
During the past year the financial transactions
of the league were very similar to those
that had taken place in previous years.
I propose to keep the subscription unchanged
for 2012.& that we continue to bank with
Barclays Bank.
Nigel moved acceptance of this report, seconded
by Fairlight.
6.
Secretary’s Report. (Unfortunately the report was not available
to be read at the meeting but the report
is now printed below.)
From John Bennett, posted on the Leagues
web site
There is quite a lot to report this year,
so I will try to be as brief as I can whilst
covering all that needs to be said.
· The Future of the Mermaid League. This paper was circulated to clubs and
I have summarised the responses:
o There is very minimal support for any sort
of split in the League geographically or
otherwise.
o Nine of the eleven clubs expressed the clear
desire to remain the same – one League.
o Ten of the clubs said that they would prefer
not to travel to Bexhill citing the problems
of the congestion and distance as a major
obstacle.
o Although several clubs currently play Alexandra
Park BC as a Friendly, nine clubs said that
they felt that there were significant problems
over non-playing of fixtures, parking and
the statement that there probably were not
enough lady/junior players to fulfil Mermaid
requirements. It was also thought that they
had to pull out of another League because
they could not find enough players.
o At least three clubs feel that they would
prefer to pull out of the Mermaid League
rather than see any further expansion.
· The Presentation Dinner. It was almost unanimous that the present
arrangements should be continued. Your Committee
feel that we need to explain the history
more explicitly as many members seem unaware
of the detail of the arrangements.
o The League was formed in 1985/6 and the then
owner of the Mermaid Inn, Rye, personally
gave a discount to member clubs for the Presentation
Dinner. This has been carried on by the present
co-owner, Judith Blincow. Indeed, Judith
has increased the benefits to include two
free meals for each club. Originally these
were to be offered to the Club Captain and
his/her spouse, but recently this was extended
to allow each club to allow any of its members
to accept or to use in whatever way it sees
fit. Many clubs now choose to off-set the
cost and charge each participant accordingly.
The value of this is estimated to be in the
region of £300+ per year. In addition,
the other meals are considerably discounted
and this is worth some additional £600.
This makes a total of some £900 per
year.
o The Mermaid League web site sees some hits
world-wide and the name “The Mermaid
League” is accepted as being a valuable
asset.
o It was suggested that we do not need to retain
our link with the Mermaid Inn. This would
inevitably entail a change of name. There
was no support for this.
o There was one tentative offer of an alternative,
but no detail was provided or offered when
the individual was asked for his ideas.
§ Your Committee feels very strongly that to
relinquish our close ties with the Mermaid
Inn and Judith Blincow in particular would
not be the right course for several reasons:
· The history of the League would be broken.
· The name would have to be changed.
· There is no appetite from ten clubs for any
such change.
· Judith has said that she is willing to consider
some sort of alternative should the League
wish to enter discussions.
O I am pleased that there has been a good response
to the Dinner this year – even if some
50% comes from the winning club. I am at
a loss to understand why two clubs were unable
to find even the two free places they were
offered.
· As a result of the all the above, your Committee
has made proposals that we feel represent
the vast majority view. We also feel that
the exercise was worthwhile as it has given
Clubs the opportunity to look to their five-to-ten-year
period. Two Clubs thought that the problem
of falling numbers should be left to each
individual club and was not for the League
to become involved.
· Rule 9. It appears that there has been some misapplication
of this Rule. For clarity the procedure is:
o 1. The Home Captain decides which rinks are
available to play on - if there
are more than 4.
2. The Home Captain then lays his cards on
the table face down in any order
he chooses – with no markings on the
back of any card to indicate a rink.
3. The Away Captain then puts one card on
top of each of the Home cards -
again in any order he wishes.
4. The Away Captain then marks the back of
each card with the Rink Numbers
given - in any order he wishes - both cards of the pair must have
the same
number.
5. That is the final decision and the Home
Captain may not challenge.
6. Each card must then have the same Rink
Number on both back and front.
·Finally, I am sorry to have to sever my connection
with the Mermaid League. However, after playing
in it for some 13 years and being Secretary
for 8 years (the last 6 being at some distance),
I am so involved with bowls and other things
locally that the time is right. I want to
put on record my thanks to Colin and Nigel
for their support in particular. I would
also like to thank all those players in many
clubs of the League who have been personal
friends over the years. I am sure that the
League is in very capable hands and am delighted
that John Mann has come back to us; I wish
him every success.
JB.
7.
Sellings Cup, Chris Bristow from Staplecross who hosted
the event was invited to comment and he said
that it was a very good evening.
Rother is to host the 2012 Sellings Cup at
Staplecross. The date is confirmed. (See
confirmation at the end of the report)
8.
Report from Ham Street who hosted the Mermaid
Fling on the 3rd July 2011
We viewed the prospect of hosting the Mermaid
Fling with a little trepidation – where
would we put everyone? What if the weather!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We sent out invitations, and planned our
programme of play for the day. Also gave
our thoughts to what we were going to serve
our guests for lunch.
Friday evening, and final preparations made
at the club, bunting put up, green mowed,
raffle and tombola arranged, fingers crossed
– everything depended on the weather.
Saturday – the weather could not have
been more perfect, the sun shone from morn
till night, our guests arrived, and our schedule
of play ran smoothly, the lunch was enjoyed
by everyone.
It seemed to us that everyone had a very
enjoyable day and I would like to congratulate
Beckley Bowls Club for being the winners
on the day.
Due to the generosity of all who took part
in supporting our various side shows , the
club made a profit of £330.00 on the
day, for which I thank you all. It was a
pleasure to host the Fling.
Venue for 2012 as previously agreed, this will be at Iden
on Sunday 1st July, details from Iden will be circulated
in due course,
9.
Election of Officers
Chairman
There being no other nomination, Colin Goldsack
is elected nem con.
Treasurer
There being no other nomination, Nigel
Pearson is elected nem con.
Secretary
There being no other nomination, John
Mann has been proposed by
the Treasurer, seconded by Alf Boorman (Peasmarsh)
and is elected
nem con.
10.
Propositions made and seconded – to
be voted upon
A.
Discussion paper concerning Presentation
dinner format in the future. A survey was
held and the clear majority said they wanted
it to remain the same. Proposition by the
Secretary is that “the arrangement for the Presentation
dinner remains the same”, seconded by the Treasurer. The membership
voted in favour of this proposal. Iden are
sending twenty eight members to the dinner
this year.
B.
Discussion concerning “The Future”
There has been little positive response,
so the proposition “Reject the Report” is made by the Secretary and seconded
by the Treasurer.
The membership voted in favour of this proposal.
C.
Discussion concerning retaining our sponsorship
by Judith Blincow, of the Mermaid Inn, resulted
in no firm alternative being proposed and
an almost unanimous desire to remain the
same. Proposition - “We retain the sponsorship and name
of the Mermaid” , proposed by the Secretary and seconded
by the Chairman.
The membership voted in favour in favour
of this proposal .
D.
Application from Alexandra Park B.C. to join
the League. ”Turn Down” proposed by the Secretary and seconded by
the Chairman. Reason being that several clubs
have had matches cancelled on a regular basis.(Two
clubs supported acceptance)
The membership voted in favour of this proposal.
John Mann said that Alexandra Park
had cancelled five out of six matches in
the Hastings League due to being unable to
raise a team. They hope that if accepted
in the Mermaid League they will be able to
raise a full team as they can include ladies
in the teams.
Parking is always a problem at Alexandra
Park.
E.
Application from Bexhill B.C to join the
League. “Turn Down” proposed by the Secretary and seconded by
the Chairman. Reason being that many clubs
will find the additional journey too much.
(One club supported acceptance, although
this was with reluctance)
The membership voted in favour of this proposal.
F.
Application from Polegrove B.C. to join the
League. “Turn Down” proposed by the Secretary and seconded by
the Chairman. Reason being that many clubs
will find the additional journey too much.
(This is a late application and, so far,
no clubs have expressed an opinion.) This
being another Bexhill club the Committee
felt it should be treated in the same way
as the others.
John Mann (a member of Polegrove B.C.) pleaded
the case for them being allowed to join in
2013, when a vote could be taken.
He said that the Hastings League in which
Polegrove take part, are in danger of disbanding,
so Polegrove want to join another League.
Polegrove is not such a big club as Bexhill
and that some teams who belong to the Mermaid
League already play at Polegrove, so distance
shouldn’t be a problem.
John Kirk from Tenterden said it was too
far from Tenterden.
Nigel Pearson said the Mermaid league was
originally set up for small village clubs
and the inclusion of clubs too far away makes
it too big, and that clubs already have a
full fixtures card.
John Mann said that when he was previously
the secretary, clubs were invited to join
the League, they did not apply themselves,
and when did this rule change? There
used to be only ten clubs in the league and
this has already been altered to accommodate
St. Leonards.
John Kirk (Tenterden) said it was undemocratic
for John to be able to explain why Polegrove
want to join the league when Bexhill and
Alexandra Park have not had the same opportunity.
Harry Payne (Northiam) also pointed out that
John was obviously in favour of Polegrove
being allowed to join, as he is a member
of that club.
An amendment was passed to allow the Polegrove
application to be discussed at 2012 A.G.M.
Chairman Colin Goldsack stated that there
appears to be a need in Bexhill and Hastings
for a triples league for mixed players, if
this is formed, it could solve the problem
for other clubs wanting to be part of a league.
G.
As the number of clubs offering nominations
for the Sellings Cup has been steadily diminishing,
team selection under the current agreement
has become almost impossible. To alleviate
this, the Secretary proposes that “teams may be selected to provide the
best combination of players available, and
that the restriction, that each team should
comprise of just one member of any club be
removed, the requirement that each team must
comprise of at least one of each sex should remain
and be called a Mixed team” Seconded by the Treasurer.
Harry Payne (Northiam) asked if junior’s
are counted as females, yes they are.
The membership voted in favour of this proposal.
11. Any Other Business – Please note that only propositions
correctly made and seconded in writing,
at least seven days in advance, will be voted
upon. The Chair may allow discussion at his
discretion.
11.1 St. Leonards B.C. have proposed –
Amend rule 13 to read “Matches cancelled in the last 4 weeks
of the playing season due to inclement weather
shall share the points equally and the match
need not be rearranged.”
They say that it’s sometimes a problem
to the clubs agreeing a date to re-play.
John Kirk (Tenterden) said this was acceptable
as long as the clubs do not rearrange the
game at a later date.
The splitting of points could be crucial
towards the end of the season, if two clubs
are neck and neck.
This proposal can be re proposed next year
when a vote can be taken.
11.2
Tenterden B.C. have proposed - Amend rule
8 to read “ The league shall play matches consisting
of four mixed triples – each triple
shall have at least one lady or junior member
(a junior being defined as under sixteen
years of age and maybe a male or female player”) For clarification, each player will
play three woods and the rules of the EBA
shall apply, except where specially noted
in these rules.
A discussion took place on the proposal.
Some representatives voiced the opinion that
they already struggle to get 3 ladies or
a Junior to play.
This proposal can be re-proposed next year
when a vote be taken.
11.3 The Treasurer asked permission
to send John Bennett £30.00 gift voucher
in thanks for his commitment to the League.
This was agreed unanimously.
12
Statement by new Secretary, John Mann – I hope to visit each club at some stage during
the Bowling season.
Please send the results of matches by post
only. Email is not acceptable. The results
need to be sent by the home team only, but
signed by both Captains.
Will all clubs let me have their fixtures
card by the 1st. May 2012.
I will not continue with the Mermaid League web site,
but a league table will be sent to all clubs
each month.
Colin Goldsack asked if he could send out
a letter to each club with this information
as John is now The first point of contact.
John’s email address is "mailto:johngwenacorn23.wanadoo.co.uk@sky.com"
13. The date of the 2012 AGM is 21st. November and the date of the 2012 presentation
dinner is 22nd. November
The date of the Fling is to be confirmed.
(It is Sunday 1st July at Iden)
The meeting was closed at 8.33 p.m.
Information Received after the meeting had
closed
The date of the Sellings cup to be
played at Staplecross BC is Thursday Evening
26th July 2012
