MINUTES OF THE

E.S.M.B.A ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

SATURDAY 14 JULY 2012

10.00AM

Held at Caroline Chisholm School, Northampton

Minutes of the ESMBA Annual General Meeting 2012

Held at Caroline Chisholm School, Northampton on Saturday 14 July 2012

Present

Committee:

                                President                         -           George Clarke

                                Chairman                         -           Chris Hopkins

                                Vice-Chairman                -           Simon Willies

                                General Secretary          -           Vic Jones

                                Treasurer                         -           John Jackson

                                ICC Secretary                   -           Keith Hawkins

                                Minute Secretary            -           Carol Hawkins      

Umpires Director            -           Terry Matthews

                                Committee Members    -           Steve Allen

                                                                                            Rachel Pedley

County Delegates:

1.       Welcome by the Chairman:

The Chairman, Chris Hopkins, opened the 2012 Annual General Meeting at 10.30am. He welcomed everyone and apologized for the confusion over the start time which was shown on the agenda as the earlier time of 10:00am.

2.       Apologies for absence:

3.       Minutes of the 2011 AGM:

These had been published on the ESMBA website for the past 11 months for all the County Associations to view in advance. Proposed by Derek Stevens (West Midlands) and seconded by Roger Green (North Yorkshire), the delegates voted to accept the 2011 minutes in their entirety as a true record and they were duly signed off.

4.       Matters Arising:

·         5(D) Membership Secretary – Chris Hopkins advised that a county breakdown of membership figures had not yet been provided and should be shown on the ‘County Info’ section of the website on the map. Action point: Keith Hawkins to update the Information Pack and Steve Allen to update the website to show these figures.

5.       Adoption of Reports:  For the first time the reports, with the exception of the National Championship Organiser report, had been e-mailed to the County Associations in advance to keep postage costs down however some county delegates advised that either they could not open or had not received every attachment. Stephen Proctor suggested all reports should be sent out as 1 package rather than separate attachments to ensure all were received. Chris Hopkins agreed the Management Committee would reconsider the issue as county secretaries had not provided feedback to confirm receipt or to notify access difficulties so problems were unknown until the meeting.  Roger Green reminded of the requirement laid down in the ESMBA constitution for all reports to be circulated at least 28 days in advance of the AGM.

(A)   Chairman

Further to the weekend in Louth, Lincolnshire, Keith Hawkins advised that the council currently run the leagues and two of the council representatives are trying to form clubs with a view to forming a county association to affiliate to the ESMBA, which had offered them help to draw up a constitution. Nothing further had been heard to date regarding Northumberland forming a county association.

Keith Zoers proposed the report be accepted, seconded by Jeanette Gayler and carried on the delegates’ vote.

(B)   General Secretary

Vic Jones apologised for not adding his report to the agenda, he had not been aware his role required him to do one until reminded. He had prepared a written report which was distributed to the delegates present.  Peter Winter reminded everyone that the policy register includes a job description for ESMBA Officers.

Vic was concerned that members were bypassing their county secretaries and contacting him direct with their queries. Although he would continue to try and provide answers he would also copy his reply to the relevant county secretary, who should be members’ first point of contact.

Les Ricketts proposed the report be accepted, seconded by Davis Faulkner and carried on the delegates’ vote.

(C)   Treasurer

John Jackson read out his report then gave an overview of the accounts submitted. John Pointer queried the ‘other income’ figure of £64,216 – John explained that he accounts for every penny on his balance sheet however the auditor shows a global amount which includes miscellaneous items like the ex gratia payments received from RBOS for their administrative errors, amounts deducted from the previous year as proper to these accounts eg competition fees collected in advance and the insurance premiums collected in.

Barry Hedges asked if the England Ladies select match was to be a regular event given the cost of the last match – Chris Hopkins advised the game due in September was the reciprocal fixture from last year which is why the original team was again playing to defend their home win against the Armagh ladies. The away match would not incur the same costs as sponsorship would offset some expense and the Irish would be hosts this time.

Barrie also queried the 50% increase in umpire costs which John advised was due to accommodation costs at the Nationals where the supplement they usually pay had not been collected from the umpires but this would be discussed at the seminar.

Roy Everitt requested an increase in the font used for the auditors’ report to make it easier to read.

 Brian Baker proposed the report be accepted seconded by Ron Gladwin and carried on the delegates’ vote with 1 Abstention.

(D)   ICC Secretary

Keith Hawkins advised there were 16 entries for the summer club championship to be held at Tamworth and information would be sent out during the week. It could not be held at Bromsgrove as planned due to flooding but it would still be the venue for the Presidents weekend as dehumidifiers were drying it out and they hoped to have a new carpet laid.

A contract had been agreed with TLH for a Top Club event for 16 teams. Keith suggested half of these would be the top 8 in the summer club competition and the remainder from area qualifiers but this would be discussed and confirmed at the seminar. The format would be the same ie singles, pairs, triples and fours with teams of between 6 and 10 players. The cost was £110 per person for half board however sponsorship from the insurers P J Aitken would offset costs. Herbie Bowden proposed the report be accepted seconded by Barrie Hedges and carried on the delegates’ vote with 2 Abstentions.

(E)    Umpires Director

Terry Matthews advised that more new umpires had qualified and exceeded those lost so the number was slightly increased and stood at 133 active and 4 non-active. He issued a plea for more to come forward. Thanks were forthcoming to umpires who stepped in at very short notice to the ICC play-offs and finals that were rescheduled following cancellations due to bad weather and to those who helped with equipment at the Nationals.

Darren Stanford proposed the report be accepted seconded by Peter Winter and carried on the delegates’ vote.

(F)    Nationals Championship  Organiser

(Chris Hopkins and Keith Hawkins had shared this role in the absence of an incumbent)

Chris gave thanks to Elaine Willies who had once again manned the scores desk, Steve Allen for updating the website, Rachael Pedley for organizing the raffles which made up the previous revenue from the Annual Draw and Keith Hawkins who had shared the work. The same team will be in place for 2013.

Bromsgrove is the venue for next year Nationals being cheaper than Kempston with better facilities including office space, outdoor smoking area, internet access and TV screen and increased parking space. Playing area is 6 rinks as opposed to the 8 at Kempston but will still hold 24 mats. Only food purchased at the venue can be consumed on site.

National entry forms will still be sent manually as they are colour coded for distinction between disciplines and it ensures the forms are received.

Thomas Coles proposed the report be accepted seconded by Pauline Freeman and carried on the delegates’ vote.

(G)  Membership Secretary

John Jackson apologised for having issued his report under the heading of competition secretary. He advised the delegates that there was an overall fall of almost 800 in the number of members registered. Various counties advised on how they are trying to raise participation in their areas. John advised that the information for 2011 membership was updated on the information pack and Chris will also publish the figures on the website. Membership cards were available for delegates to collect. Not possible to give a full breakdown of the age ranges as the information is still not forthcoming from the membership. The BDA initiative to raise participation in 65+ age group was discussed, Keith Hawkins advised that this was the area specified by Sport England that funding was dependent on but there was nothing to stop promotion for all age ranges.

Richard Nichol proposed the report be accepted seconded by Derek Stevens and carried on the delegates’ vote.

6.        Proposals:

(A)   Norfolk County - Change to ESMBA Constitution Section 6(e)

No representative from Norfolk was willing to speak out in favour of the proposition submitted. The rationale was that with the Management Committee having a vote they could in theory cast a block vote and swing a close result against the wish of the majority of delegates. Chris Hopkins advised that there was a potential for 72 votes if all counties sent their maximum 2 delegates compared to just 10 votes if the committee did all vote together, which he said was unlikely as they were individuals and voted as such. Keith Hawkins added that the only time there was a block vote was for a committee proposal where they had already voted to put forward the proposal. Further discussion ensued before a vote was taken. After a recount was held, the result was  For: 20. Against: 20. Abstentions: 5. As a 2/3rds majority is required to amend the constitution, the proposition was not carried. Chris Hopkins brought the delegates attention to the varied votes of the committee where each member had exercised their own free choice.

(B)   Essex County – To lower ESMBA membership fee by 50p.

David Faulkner spoke on behalf of Essex for their proposition bringing attention to the balance held in the accounts to be carried forward to 2012/13. Chris Hopkins advised that other national governing bodies have an office base and that is what the reserves are intended for.  John Jackson pointed out that without the increase in membership, the accounts would have shown a loss. After further discussion and a recount of the vote the outcome was For: 21. Against: 20. Abstentions: 4. Proposition carried so membership for 2013/14 will be reduced to £3.00.

7.       Appointment of Auditors:

John Jackson said he was happy with the current auditors and advised the delegates to vote to keep them for the coming year.  Barrie Hedges put forward the proposal to keep the auditor, seconded by Rob Martin and carried on the delegates’ vote.

8.       Election of Officers to serve for 2012/2013:

Keith Smith had since withdrawn due to ill health.  Chris Hopkins recorded thanks to him for past services to the committee.

The delegates agreed the Chairman’s suggestion that all non-contested positions be voted en bloc where the incumbent was willing to re-stand. The committee for 2012/13 is therefore:  

President - George Clarke    Vice-President  - Stephen Proctor

Chairman - Chris Hopkins     Vice-Chairman – Simon Willies      Treasurer – John Jackson   

ICC Secretary - Keith Hawkins  Umpires’ Director – Terry Matthews 

 Committee Members – Steve Allen, Rachel Pedley and Brandon Whittaker.

Membership Secretary - No nomination received. John Jackson volunteered to continue in this post

Nationals Organiser – No nomination received. Chris Hopkins and Keith Hawkins agreed to continue to run it together as a sub-committee.

Coaching Director – No nomination received. Position vacant.

9.       ESMBA Management Fees

At a meeting of a sub-committee, chaired by George Clarke and made up from committee members who do not receive a fee, the amounts were considered and agreed.  These are amounts in recognition of the additional workloads not covered by expenses. John Jackson advised there had only been 3 rises in 12 years in the amounts paid out but the workloads had increased massively.  A discussion followed the main points made were:

·         Volunteers are in short supply so those who do the work should be rewarded

·         Consider an annual rise rather than have a sub-committee decide ad hoc

·         Figures should have been published so counties could have been considered the effect before deciding which way to vote to reduce the membership fees

MEETING CLOSED  13.15pm.

                                                                     Signed                …………………………………………………………

                                                                    Date                     …………..…………………………………………….

2012 FORUM

Held at Caroline Chisholm School, Northampton on Saturday 14 July 2012

The Chairman, Chris Hopkins, opened the meeting at 13.50pm

1.       Chairman’s report on the Bowls Development Alliance (BDA) with BDA representative Chris Parkin

The aim is to have contact details on the BDA club finder but firstly this information has to be provided by county secretaries.  Various delegates spoke of reluctance by some of their county clubs’ to provide the information previously requested by the ESMBA. Chris Hopkins advised this data was required for short mat to get the maximum benefit from the money being paid into the BDA.  Chris Parkin assured everyone this information was solely for publishing on the BDA website and would not be passed on to third parties and they only required a club address not a contacts personal details. Tim Rycraft queried how to get access to the 400 names from BDA interventions in Kent due to Data Protection as this was hindering the county from following up on interest shown. Chris Parkin offered to take this back to the BDA board to discuss. Delegates discussed the priority given by the BDA to promoting the sport with the over 65s when they would prefer a younger membership for longevity of the sport. This was explained to be the government criteria to get the retired population active and bowls was ideally suited for this but although this was the purpose of the Sport England funding it did not preclude younger people trying bowls at the roadshows. Tim Rycraft suggested that instead of voting earlier to decrease the membership fee it might have been preferable to have voted for an increase to fund equipment to go into schools to target youngsters. Brandon suggested the ESMBA were paying the BDA to promote bowls when they could do that themselves and see more benefit to short mat. With a lack of volunteers, as evident in the vacant committee posts, Simon Willies believed the BDA were still best placed to deliver regular events.

There being no further questions, Chris Parkin left the meeting at 14:30.

2.       Shropshire SMBA - ICC Regulations

On behalf of Shropshire, Herbie Bowden asked what other counties thought about the rule of players being tied after playing 3 times for the Premier team.  The consensus was this was restrictive and hindered county selectors from relegating players who did not perform well but conversely it was only brought in because of one county manipulating the system to strengthen their A Team in the latter stages to try and gain an unfair advantage.  Keith Hawkins suggested a consequence of winning the A-Team competition could be promotion to the Premier competition. Chris Hopkins suggested the matter should be discussed at the next management seminar.

3.       Hertfordshire SMBA  -  substitutions for National Championships

Jeanette Gayler gave the background for querying the substitution criteria for the National Championship finals which states that only 1 player can be replaced in a team.  They had 2 allocations for the finals and one player was taken ill after qualifying for the mixed fours final and one of the other qualifiers in the same team was her carer so they also had to pull out. The county was advised they would lose their place but then at short notice was told their 3^rd placed team would participate. Hertfordshire wanted clarification of the allocation process.

Chris Hopkins advised that there was a formula for calculating the order of qualifiers based on county membership numbers and the amount of entries for the county heats and every entry received by the ESMBA was placed in order, for each discipline, not just the 64 places required. If a team is withdrawn, the next placed team in that discipline takes their place. In this particular case, Hertfordshire’s 3^rd placed team was 67^th in the mixed fours entries nationally, using the formula previously mentioned. The 65^th and 66^th placed teams were unavailable to replace their own team that had to withdraw so the next team called in was their 3^rd placed qualifier.  Keith Hawkins advised that this had since been discussed by the management committee and it was agreed that the next 3 teams (65^th to 67^th position) would be put on standby in future in case of teams withdrawing.

4.       Shropshire

Suggestion that the ICC discipline be amended to a 3-wood pairs and the ends reduced to 12. This was discussed briefly and discounted as it would hinder progression to national and international competitions unless they were all changed too.

5.       Any Other Business

Safeguarding – Keith Hawkins advised that every county has to have a CRB checked safeguarding co-ordinator to deal with issues involving children and vulnerable adults and several counties have still not nominated anyone. As previously advised, unless otherwise notified the county secretary will be assumed to be the safeguarding officer. Ideally all umpires, coaches, county secretaries and county safeguarding co-ordinators should have a valid CRB check through the ESMBA. Checks through any other body including employers will not be recognized as there are no means of data sharing with an outside agency to who any offence would be notified. It has been agreed at committee that the ESMBA will meet the cost of CRB checks for the county safeguarding officers. Keith stressed that fines will be very hefty if anything happens within a county that does not have a safeguarding officer with a valid CRB check. Although there is no national renewal period, the ESMBA has imposed a 3-year renewal requirement for all CRBs.

Although there are adequate numbers of safeguarding officers on duty at the Nationals, Keith reminded delegates that any problem that arose whilst travelling was the responsibility of the parent, who should be putting their child’s safety first. He would be issuing guidelines to counties.

Administration – Roger Green asked what was happening on this matter. Simon Willies advised that only 50% of the 36 counties bothered to respond to the questionnaire but of the responses submitted 25% wanted a change. Moulten College are keen to provide administration and to host events in partnership with the ESMBA which would give a national base but it is still early days and talks are ongoing. They have student accommodation, which would be available outside of term time, for instance for players wanting to stay over for the National finals, they could provide office space, maintain the website and insurance scheme and the canteen is open every day. The floor does have a welded seam but they have offered to lay a new floor. The England trials were held there and the management committee will hold their Sept meeting there and be given a presentation by the college of what they can offer to the ESMBA.

ICC Fixtures – Richard Nichol queried the earlier start of fixtures in the ESMBA diary. Keith Hawkins advised the need to complete all round robin matches before the end of December to leave time to rearrange any cancellations due to seasonal bad weather.

Millennium Fours Competition – Babs Morokutti asked if this competition had been shelved as it has not been run for 2 years.  Chris Hopkins said there had only been 5 entries this year and only 6 last year so it was not viable to go ahead. Likewise the Woodbridge Trophy entries were minimal although the date had been moved and the format changed to triples at the request of counties but was still not supported. Entry forms will be sent out with the minutes as suggested by Jeanette Gayler since not everyone always remembers to check the website, which might increase entries.

Insurance Scheme – with Peter Winter standing down from end of August, Pam Fayers asked who would be running the scheme instead. Chris Hopkins proposed a vote of thanks to Peter for his past administration of the insurance scheme and advised the delegates that the committee would be discussing insurance at their seminar.

All ESMBA CRB checks are currently processed via Keith Hawkins.

Next year’s AGM date was set as July 13th 2013.

Meeting closed at 15.25pm