BRIGHTON & HOVE CRICKET CLUB. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2017 Minutes

Transcription

1 BRIGHTON & HOVE CRICKET CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2017 Minutes The Annual General Meeting of Brighton & Hove Cricket Club was held on Thurs 30 th November 2017 at the Nevill Clubhouse, Eridge Road, Hove, starting at 7:30pm. 29 members were in attendance. 1. Arthur Harman was proposed and elected as Chairman of the AGM. 2. The Minutes of the last AGM held on 24 th November 2016, were unanimously approved. 3. Apologies for Absence were received from: Chris Pearson, Simon Partridge, Tom Dalgleish, Bob Sansom, Terry & Val Kaye, Rod Cole, Dave Marks, Chris Atherton, Mark Fawbert, Michael Slade, Paul Hardwick, Jack Bradley, Anthony Statham & Andy Scott. The committee passed on its best wishes to Terry Kaye for a speedy recovery from the stroke that he recently suffered. Terry seems to be making good progress and we look forward to seeing him back at the Nevill in the Summer. 4. There was no correspondence received by the committee that required discussion. 5. Fergus Guppy provided the Management Committee s report for the 2017 Season (which can be seen in the Appendix of this document). He commented on the tough seasons that each of the Men s teams had and the issues with inconsistent availability across both the Men s & Women s teams. An exception was the Men s 4 th XI who, with a number of new players & a new captain, finished runner up in their league. In 2018 a new Sussex Men s league structure is in place with a single ladder split regionally from Div 3 downwards. The intention is to reduce travel and encourage more participation. The 1 s remain in the Premier league with the 2 s in Div 3 East, 3 s Div 6 Central, 4 s Div 9 West & 5 s Div 11 South Central. The club s thriving & hugely successful Colts section was congratulated for providing so many youngsters into adult cricket and to those who took their opportunities with valuable runs & wickets. The Women continue to run one league team however one of the clubs objectives is to restart the 2 nd XI and bring more girls through the Colts and into adult cricket. This past year our pitches & outfield deteriorated throughout the season and we are working closely with our groundsman (Seed Services) to remedy this. Next season we are purchasing our own outfield mower and will take responsibility for its preparation, which will require volunteers from across the club to spend an hour or so mowing the outfield twice each week. Thanks to Andy Scott s tireless efforts, we have enjoyed a far better relationship with the Local Council and our neighbours (Dolphins, ATC & Aldrington School) which has resulted in plenty of renovation work being carried out on the existing clubhouse, which continues next year. Next year s CricketForce is likely to be 14 th /15 th April. This provides us with an invaluable opportunity to carry out work around the ground & clubhouse. Please mark it in your diaries and commit some time to it. Special thanks were passed on to Andy Scott for his huge effort & persistency, to Peter Davies for his efficient organisation of fixtures & pitch bookings and to Pete Underwood for his help around the ground, organisation of the lucrative Firework Night bar and for his efficient running of the Boys Colts section. 6. A new position of Commercial Manager has been created by the club. Chris Brotherton has taken on this role and his first task was to manage a tender process to provide the club s match & training kit. Intersport/Gray Nicolls, Newbery & Athcore all tendered and following a very thorough process of comparing tenders, Newberry have been awarded the contract. Their tender included many extras including coaching days, new equipment trial sessions, discounts for members on equipment, commission on member purchases and a selection of stock held in the Hove County Ground shop. Chris will now work with existing & prospective sponsors to secure the best deal for the club from our main kit sponsor. The new kit is planned to be available from end Feb/early March. In addition to kit, Chris will look to secure increased sponsorship & advertising revenue by promoting the club better and ensuring we get value out of our brand / position as the largest & most diverse amateur sports club in the City of Brighton & Hove. Page 1 of 5

2 7. Duncan Gwynn presented our audited accounts for the year. These show that we were particularly successful at fundraising this past year as we were able to cover the unplanned cost of the artificial pitch replacement, significant repairs & maintenance around the clubhouse, the purchase of a glasswasher for the bar and some investment in the new clubhouse development, and still turn a profit on the year (although the Council have helped us by still not invoicing us for the increased Lease costs). The main sources of additional income came from the Big Run 2 (thanks to Bluey & Simon P for organising), increased advertising / sponsorship, renting out the clubhouse for a couple of profitable functions and ensuring all annual & match day subs were collected on time. The Firework Night bar that Pete U organised & a number of club members helped run, turned a significant profit (which will appear in next years accounts), even though it was run as a relatively low key event with minimal stock. Pete plans to scale it up massively next year with lots more stock and food made available. We will share the organisation & profit with the Hockey Club. We need to continue to generate increased income over the coming year as we will be funding the purchase of an expensive outfield mower, building a green waste area, refurbishing the hard net flooring & continuing the maintenance work around the clubhouse. 8. Chris Grammer gave an update on the plans to develop a new Clubhouse on the Nevill in conjunction with the Hockey Club. The project is progressing steadily and is currently investigating funding sources. Sadly the ECB are unlikely to be the major funding source that we had expected, which leaves us to find alternate sources to the tune of c 500k. A number of suggestions were made and a sub-committee, with the likes of Pete U, Bluey, Brothers & Duncan J, will be setup to drive this aspect of the project forward. It was suggested that a ring-fenced account be setup to hold all funds secured for this project and if it didn t go ahead for any reason, the funds would be returned to their source. The Hockey Club are keen to move forward at pace and can probably fund their half, however they need us involved as we are the current leaseholders and bar licensee. 9. There were no amendments proposed to the Club s Constitution. 10. Chris Pearson was unanimously re-elected Club President. 11. One new Vice President was nominated. Midge Martin was nominated & seconded for his long term commitment as Women s scorer and was elected unanimously. 12. Arthur Harman was re-elected as Chairman of the Club s Executive Committee. 13. The following members of the Executive Committee were unanimously elected or re-elected : Dave Mates re-elected as Hon General Secretary Duncan Gwynn re-elected as Hon Treasurer Emma Bennett re-elected as Hon Welfare Officer (an additional Welfare Officer is required and will be sought, potentially from the Womens/Girls section, over the coming months) Fergus Guppy re-elected as Men s Cricket Manager Alison Bruce re-elected as Women s Cricket Manager Peter Underwood re-elected as Hon Boys Colts Manager Simon Partridge re-elected as Hon Girls Colts Manager Andy Scott re-elected as Ground Manager Ian Parker re-elected as Bar & Clubhouse Manager (it was discussed that more social functions should be arranged throughout the Summer which all club members could attend. A schedule of events will be established in the New Year with named organisers to keep it independent from the Clubhouse Manager role) 14. The following members of the non-executive Committee were unanimously elected or re-elected : Peter Davies was re-elected as Fixtures & Pitch Booking Secretary Chris Grammer was re-elected as Ground Redevelopment Manager (it was discussed that given the volume of activity on this over the coming period, a sub-committee will be required with a variety of skills/knowledge) Chris Brotherton was nominated & elected as Commercial Manager Page 2 of 5

3 15. Wilson Sandford Chartered Accountants re-elected as Hon Auditor. Our Annual Accounts have been audited and an Independent Chartered Accountants Report provided which verifies their accuracy. 16. The following Team Captains were elected or re-elected : 1 st XI Simon Hetherton nominated & elected (thanks were expressed to Chris Grammer for his efforts over the past two seasons) 2 nd XI Paul Hardwick nominated & elected (thanks to Fergus Guppy for his efforts last season and his attempt to juggle both the captaincy & Cricket Manager roles) 3 rd XI Dave Marks re-elected 4 th XI Chris Brotherton re-elected 5 th XI Mick Brazil nominated & elected (This role was finalised after the AGM. Many thanks go to Simon Webster who has held this position since the 5 th team was established and despite some difficult times, has always carried it off with his usual energy, commitment & humour) Women s XI Sarah Fogwill re-elected Men s Under 19 Development team To be advised by the Cricket Ctee 17. Due to the restructure of the Men s Adult leagues, it s likely that a single League Rep will be required in coming years. Until this is made clear, the Cricket Ctee will request volunteer attendees at league meetings covering the Sussex Premier, West Sussex, East Sussex & Mid Sussex leagues. Many thanks to Chris Mates & Simon Webster who are standing down as the clubs league reps. 18. Annual Subscriptions for 2018 are being increased as they have remained unchanged for several years, while club costs have gone up. This season the payment will include a 20 subsidy provided to all players who purchase a new playing shirt. Men s for all regular players ( 175 if paid after 1 st June) or per month by Standing Order (half for those not in full-time employment) Boys Colts - 160, with a family fee of 220 Womens - 70 Girls Colts Match fees will remain unchanged 19. Any Other Business The club are investigating the most efficient method of accepting credit cards in the clubhouse. This will help with collecting match fees and should generate additional funds across the bar from both home & away players & officials. Using Easyfundraising.org.uk for all online purchases generates a percentage profit for the club. Given the size of our membership, its disappointing that only 28 people are registered. There s no catch and prices are identical. There s a Mobile App that can also be used. The monthly Supporters Club is still one of the club s major fundraising initiatives. The club are having a major push in the New Year and look to all members to sell at least one monthly ticket to a friend or family member. The Cricket Ctee confirmed that an offer has been made to Liam Smith to return as the club s Overseas player for Liam was very successful during 2017 before breaking a finger and missing the last month of the season. We will again provide coaching opportunities across the club for Liam and will ensure that if he does succeed in securing a professional contract with Sussex, then we will be suitably compensated. On Men s match days, we have been extremely grateful to Jo Hussey who has set out and cleared up the tea s for the four teams plus officials. While Jo will continue working the bar, she is retiring from her tea duties and we will need a new person to help with this as its impossible to do while playing. Any offers of help would be very welcome. Page 3 of 5

4 Appendix I AGM Committee Season Report 2017 Fergus Guppy, Men s Cricket Manager Volunteers As always, a big thank you needs to go out to the volunteers that we have at B&HCC. We could not play the amount of cricket we do without them, and I cannot name them all, without forgetting anyone, so I won t try. That said, we are always looking for new and different skills for people to offer. If there is something you think you can help with please say. Cricket On the cricketing side, it was another tough year, although the league positions (1 st team aside) were largely irrelevant as there has been a major restructure of Sussex Cricket to move towards a single senior league set up. Although, we voted against this for starting in 2018 this was passed so there are interesting changes afoot. A major positive was the performances of the 4 th team, who still gained promotion due to the achievements of last season, so congratulations to the Brothers et. al. for their work. They have been a good addition to the Mens Section, and we hope to build on that success next season. Special thanks should go to Chris Grammer and Simon Webster who are stepping down as Captains of the 1 st and 5 th XIs respectively. Although they have different challenges both are difficult jobs, one as the figure head for the club, the other dealing with the late drop outs from any team as they get punished. We look forward to them bringing all their skills to bear once they have been unburdened with the captaincy. A major positive from the season was that numerous youngsters were given opportunities in the Men s teams, with some highlights being maiden senior 50s and 5-fors. Although challenging them, sometimes beyond what they expected, they are a credit to the thriving Colts section that the club has developed. Another highlight for this season was the new U19 T20 team who provided a great link between the Colts and the Seniors, and credit goes to Kieran and the lads who put in some excellent performances. We are looking to continue this for was a year of building teams and team spirit for the Colts - the U10s hardball won their Festival qualifying group but sadly there was no final, although if there was it would have been against Nomads who we would have smashed! But that said we have XX colts who have been selected for various County/District Age Group squads over the winter. The Women & Girls also suffered from availability issues this season and will continue with the one adult team next year. One of the objectives of the club is to restart the 2 nd XI in the future. Grounds & Wicket Preparation Despite a positive start the wicket and outfield preparation fell off during June/July which meant our umpires scores left us 44 th /60 in the final league grounds ratings. For a Premier League club this is not acceptable. We have engaged with our contractor Seed Services and are working on an agreement and plan that allows us to take control of the outfield preparation allowing Seed to focus purely on the East and West wickets. We set a twoseason improvement target with Seed that will take us well into the top half of the ratings and reassure the league, officials and players that we take this matter most seriously and tangibly doing something about it. We need to recognise that Seed Services are a small family run business and the owner is nearing retirement so a continuity plan is imperative. This is one of our biggest challenge as we further need to win over the hearts and minds of our visitors to show them that the Nevill is a great playing surface. We have secured approval from the council to use herbicides without the need for planning approval. This is a huge step forward in improving the outfields but will require us to be very responsible neighbours. The East outfield has already been treated and improvements can already be seen. Please note that there are still a few underlying issues with the outfield. The squares are now winter protected with a quality chestnut paling border giving excellent protection from the public. Page 4 of 5

5 We have also applied for permission to construct an area behind the garage to put our green waste material. This is in response to neighbours getting pissed off with all the cuttings in the fence line and the need to manage branches and other green waste. Also included is an area to locate the wheelie bins. The Outfield Mower The committee have sanctioned the procurement of a 72 tractor mower. I think we have now identified the make and model and I have found a supplier that ticks most of our boxes. The plan is to have a mower in the garage and ready for use by end of March. During the season, I will ask for volunteers to man the mower as it will take about 1-2 hour per square to cut. Pavilion We are enjoying much improved relations with the council, ATC and Dolphins. We have agreed with the Council a three-phase plan which will see new gutters, windows, fencing, and a fire alarm fitted next season. Some of this work will occur during next season but this is only for 10 days and the pavilion will be operational throughout. I should add a cautionary note that things don t move quickly at the council and getting commitment requires a lot of chasing and nagging. That said I think there is a much better understanding of what the Nevill supports and especially our cricket interests to provide cricket to the community. The council are aware that they have not been investing in the Nevill and this now seems to have changed. Cricket Force This is most likely to be on the weekend of April 14 th /15 th Bluey, Andy and myself (FG) are preparing a list of tasks and will confirm in the New Year. Please do commit some of your time to this event. It s an opportunity to get the club and grounds into ship shape for the new season whilst making lifelong friendships holding up a ladder repairing the sight screens. Special Thanks Andy (who has sent me a lot of this!) would like to thank Pete Davies for a brilliant first season in charge of fixtures with over 80 games played and no cock ups. Peter Underwood, mostly for keeping Andy amused and making him thankful for what I have in life but especially for helping him clear out the back passage. And for Bluey for his infectious positivity and for getting Andy a first-class upgrade from Peking to London. I know that we said this at the dinner, but it is important to reiterate what a fantastic job Andy has done over the past year. He is a machine when it comes to getting stuff done at the Nevill and I am sure that the council are sick of hearing from him but hopefully the hard work is starting to pay off. Page 5 of 5