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ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - Meeting Record

Meeting, 2007 AGM Date, 24th April 2007, 7.45 pm Location, Civil Sports Club, Recreation Road, Maidstone Purpose, Annual General Meeting

1 Present Total 28, R.Harris, J.Hall, J.Cooper, T.Craig, W.Lavis, T.Stewart, J.Stewart, S.Neilson, M.Sheppard, J.Bradford, D.Howes, T.Tydeman, P.Newing, J.Pearson, A.Woollven, R.Hart, E.Skates, D.Goodwin, K.Hewitt, M.Cripps, M.Dudgeon, L.Etheridge, J.Kimber, D.Bettle, R.Moon, B.Benge, C.Day, C.Creed. Clubs - Barming 2, Civil Sports 3, Coxheath 1, Hillreed 6, Howard de Walden 2, Larkfield 3, MWMC 6, Sutton Valence 2, Trosley 3. 2 Apologies M.Hobbs, A.Haisman, M.Porter. 3 Minutes of 2006 AGM The Meeting Record for last year's AGM was approved and duly signed by the Chair. Proposer J.Kimber. Seconder M.Cripps. 4 Matters Arising It was pointed out that the newly appointed Vice President C. Creed's name was not included in the 2006/7 Handbook. This will be rectified in the next issue. Barming confirmed there had been improvement in limiting noise at their venue and thanked us for the inclusion of their request in the Hand Book. It helped in achieving a reduction. 5 Chairperson Report Julie's thanks were expressed to those who assisted in the league's operation and especially to Hillreed for their continuing Sponsorship. David Bettle (handicap competition), Janie Cooper (match cards) and David Goodwin (finances) of the Executive Committee for their support and hard work. Trosley and Sutton Valence for putting in place a Club Representative onto the Executive Committee. It made a difference in quickly sorting Club matters that might have been a problem. Eve Skates for her excellent and efficient work on and at the Handicap and Closed Tournaments plus for the coming Summer League which will be as admirably run. Barry must not be forgotten for doing the timings on the Tournaments, a beast of a task but he does it effortlessly. Congratulations to Phil Saxby and Tina Stewart on winning the Closed Tournament Open singles. Noting that it is the first time for sometime that Martin Hewitt has not figured in the winners column, it is for sure he will be back with a vengeance. 6 Match Secretary Report There were 35 late cards over the season. Overall getting cards in was good, up until the last week of the season, when there were 5 that had to be chased. The meeting gave its thanks for Janie's efforts in this role. 7 Treasurer Report A Balance Sheet was circulated. This is attached. It showed little difference on the previous year's incomes and expenditures. The General Fund currently stands at £5527. In both years we ran at a deficit, a sum of £677.15 this year. David recommended this should not continue for another season and offered proposals for an increase across the board to provide break even operating costs for the coming season. The suggestions made by David would accrue approximately £676 and were Proposed by R. Moon and Seconded by J. Kimber. The increases were: Team Registration £10 (was £6), Players £18 (£16), Reserves £10 (£8), Juniors £5 (£0) Retired £10 (£8). After discussion on the new Junior charge it was concluded it was very reasonable and affordable cost and all the increases were unanimously agreed. It was deemed to be a very equitable solution. The debate also included Youth development, which is recorded in AOB. 8 Allen Cooper Handicap Trophy Report David Bettle reported the Group stages had been pretty good, where half of them were within +/- 2pts for first and second place. Four group matches were not played which is considered too many. The number of fail to return/late cards this season was much higher than the previous perfect year (nil). An ineligible player was used in one match by Howard De Walden. The semi finals were between Howard De Walden A and C plus Larkfield C and F. The final was exceptionally good with Larkfield F beating Howard De Walden A by 5 to 4 - in the last leg of the last match. Thanks to Julie and Janie for their sterling assistance and Barming for staging the final. A questionnaire was proposed to review player opinion on the format as some teams do not like to enter the competition. Suggestions were made for having KO from start of competition (no groups), groups of 6 as at present, groups of four as previously. The view was overwhelmingly to use the four team group format. This will now be used for the coming season. The discussion included a reminder that the competition was a fun event with inter divisional mixing and not a win at all costs approach. Overall the view was the competition was liked and a welcome part of the playing season. 9 Maidstonetta Web Site Following discussion at last year's AGM a small report was submitted to this year's AGM by John Pearson, reflecting the website costs and what actually buys. On its introduction in 2003 a sum of £200 was paid by the MDTTA to set up the site (pages/images/databases/web space purchase/web site name purchase). Subsequently quarterly payments have been made of £180 and the cost is fixed. There is usually 5/6 hours per week of work to be undertaken. £100/annum is paid for the web space (server memory) and it has integrity, not being shared with other sites and hence does not crash/run slowly. The website name incurs a cost of £25 every two years. There have been 11000 hits per season. The report was discussed and thanks from the meeting were given to John for providing what was viewed as a professionally presented site considered as the best in Kent on TT. A recommendation was made that web advertising could be pursued to provide income and reduce operating costs. 10 Rule Changes This year saw none presented for consideration. 11 Election of Officers The following Officers were re-elected unopposed: Chair - Julie Hall. Proposed R. Moon. Seconded Ted Tydeman. Vice Chair - David Bettle. Proposed J. Hall. Seconded D. Goodwin. Hon General Secretary - Roger Harris. Proposed J. Cooper. Seconded J. Hall. Hon Match Secretary - Janie Cooper. Proposed J. Hall. Seconded T. Stewart. Hon Treasurer - Dave Goodwin. Proposed L. Etheridge. Seconded R. Moon. Development Officer - Andrew Haisman. Proposed J. Kimber. Seconded A. Woollven. The following were elected onto the Executive Committee as members: Evelyn Skates. Proposed J. Cooper. Seconded J. Kimber. Ray Moon (Trosley). Proposed B. Benge. Seconded M. Dudgeon. Peter Newing (Sutton Valence). Proposed J. Kimber. Seconded T. Tydeman. Mike Shepherd/Colin Creed (Hillreed) will attend as their Club representative. Barming confirmed they would ask their members for a representative but requested the dates for meetings were made known. 12 Presentation of Trophies Colin Creed presented the trophies on behalf of Hillreed. He was thanked for their sponsorship and Colin thanked the Association for conferring Vice President status last year in recognition of that sponsorship. Photographs were also taken of all those present to receive their trophies. Division 1 - Winner Civil Sports 1. Runner Up MWMC C Division 2 - Winner Trosley A. runner Up Hillreed B. Division 3 - Hillreed C. Runner Up Civil Sports 3. Division 4 - Hillreed D. Runner Up Sutton Valence C. The Mick Hibben Memorial Trophy (best average) - 97.2% Vince McAneney of Division 2 Hillreed B. It was noted the trophies were engraved with date 2008. This is being corrected. It was clear that perpetual trophies have been misplaced and would have to be subject of review by the Executive Committee. Those available, the Handicap and Closed winners were asked to be signed for receipt and safe return. Thanks were expressed to Mike Cripps for carrying out the Trophy Secretary role over the recent seasons. 13 Any Other Business The Honoraria for the General Secretary and Hon Match Secretary were affirmed as £110 and £140 respectively. Proposed J. Hall. Seconded M. Cripps. The declining membership numbers was discussed at length and especially in respect of Juniors. J. Kimber was instrumental and passionate in raising this matter as a concern for attention, which received wide debate. It was considered that support must be given to Clubs who have Juniors on their books and those actively seeking recruits. Support must come from the KCTTA as well as the MDTTA and possibly incorporating Borough/City Councils Development Teams. The support being in the form of amenities, including venues, advertising, getting more qualified coaches and development days. The floor was very much in favour of a creative plan , developed in conjunction with the Development Officer and volunteers in form of a Focus Group to make the desire come to fruition. The floor strongly felt that this matter must not be allowed to be just talk but be acted upon, by the Committee and the Clubs. Meeting closed at 2136 hours. Meeting Record Originator RH.