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Cheltenham Civil Service Skittles Club
Minutes of AGM
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CHELTENHAM CIVIL SERVICE SKITTLES CLUB

Annual General Meeting 2004

MINUTES of the meeting held 15 July 2004, 19:30 at the Civil Service Sports Club, Tewkesbury Road, Cheltenham.

PRESENT :  Tony Clay (Chairman), Reg Rowley (Treasurer), Patrick Phair (Scorekeeper), Brian Wood (Fixtures' Secretary), and representatives from 10 teams.

Apologies received from SAS and SOS

MINUTES of 2003 AGM

Read and accepted as a correct record.

Actions Arising:

• A diary of main events had been pinned to the notice board, and Brian Wood said he would ensure its continuity.

• Reg Rowley had fielded enquiries from prospective new skittles players.

CHAIRMAN'S REPORT

We had reported to the CACSSA AGM 2004 that we lost one team in 2003 but several of its players had joined surviving teams. We had 9 entries for the Summer 2003 competition, and 12 teams in the 2003/2004 Winter League - in each case one fewer than the previous year. Fifty-nine players entered Player of the Year 2004, compared with 49 in 2003 but well short of the record 91 entrants in 2002. We managed to get all 2003-2004 matches played before the Easter break which allowed the Cheltenham League use of CACSSA facilities for knock-out competitions.

Our finances were healthy and we did not envisage raising match fees for some time to come. The backlog in engraving our silverware had been eliminated and trophy maintenance costs would be minimal from now on.

The Chairman concluded by expressing on behalf of the Club our gratitude to the Clubhouse Managers and all the staff for their unstinting support in organising stickers, arranging room layouts, participating in competitive skittles, and much more.

There was some discussion about using Bar Staff as reserve players, and it was agreed that Bar Staff could make up the number in emergencies. In this capacity, exceptionally, they would not be in breach of the rule demanding that a player may represent only one team in any season. Delegates were reminded that "guest" players could be used in emergencies, but each was restricted to 4 appearances per season, would have to pay the £1 per night guest levy, and could represent only one team per competition.

TREASURER'S REPORT

Reg Rowley submitted a detailed break-down of income and expenditure, and declared that the Club's finances were healthy despite declining income. He noted that the rebate from CACSSA meant we effectively paid no Alley hire fees this year. His report was accepted by the Meeting.

This led to discussion on how we might attract new teams into our club, and it was noted that meetings between Clubhouse managers and other Departments, and publicity in the local press, had led to MYOBB entering Summer League 2004. The Meeting applauded the work being done to attract new teams and players, but skittles' club members were encouraged to renew efforts to recruit players and teams from the GCHQ workplace.

Action: All Club Captains and Members

DONATIONS TO CHARITY

It was now clear that our annual donations to charity were affordable only because of the CACSSA rebate. It was agreed that the use of the rebate in this manner was inappropriate. The donations originated when the Skittles' Club was awash with clubs and players leading to an embarrassingly healthy bank balance. Those days were gone forever, and it was agreed therefore that the donations should cease forthwith. The Chairman undertook to inform the charities concerned in a sensitive manner.

Action: Tony Clay

Various alternative ways of raising money for charity, eg running Player of the Year or a front-pin tournament as charity events, were discussed and would be considered separately. At the same time, thought would be given to using the rebate for the benefit of CACSSA skittlers, eg by improving the quality of some trophies, laying on ploughmen's suppers for POY events. The Committee would take the lead.

Action: Committee

SCOREKEEPER'S REPORT

The scorekeeper said he was pleased the score cards were coming in regularly. He tries to come to the clubhouse to collect them regularly.

The meeting was pleased to see the results and tables appear regularly and promptly on the web sites. Reg Rowley said he sends reports to the Echo and wondered if anyone from the meeting had noticed them.

FIXTURES REPORT

The fixtures secretary was again pleased to note all the games had been played, albeit with only 3 rearragements mainly due to extreme weather one day.

We were able to schedule all the competitions for the winter teams before Easter and were pleased to be able to let the Cheltenham League use our alleys for the final rounds of their competitions. This worked successfully for all parties involved and is likely to be repeated next spring.

The Cheltenham league brought with them a closed circuit television to afford everyone in the Geoff Hardy Room a view of the action on the diamond. This was so well received that we aim to experiment with it on Summer Finals' Night, 3 September 2004.

EQUIPMENT

Our pins and balls continued to give good service. Plastic sheaths were rotated annually to equalise king and quarter pin damage. It was agreed that the Treasurer should purchase a few new pins providing the cost of small orders was not prohibitive.

Action: Reg Rowley

STICKERS

There was general satisfaction with the stickers: some were rather too slow, especially when compared with the more athletic specimens. It was important to let the Clubhouse Managers know of any particular problems, "no-shows" especially.

Action: All Team Captains

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Tony Clay said it was time for a new Chairman, but he would continue until the right person became available. Patrick Phair, Reg Rowley and Brian Wood were re-elected. Reg Rowley said he would continue as Treasurer for just one more year. The position of Secretary would be considered separately.

Action: Committee

AOB

Rob Templeman (Beethoven's Vth) was interested in trying out new points-scoring systems, especially awarding points for winning each leg, as well as points for winning the game. Alternatively, Gerry Chivers (A-Bombs) wondered whether some form of handicapping might be welcomed by the weaker teams. The Meeting was cool to these ideas, but it was agreed to experiment with scoring leg-by-leg during next Summer's competition, possibly in parallel with conventional scoring.

CACSSA had provided a new, large trophy cabinet for all the clubs to share. Some of our trophies were already placed in it.

Brian Wood announced he would be leaving the office soon and this would impact on the internal web site there. All are encouraged to use the Internet site (www.bwood.co.uk).

There being no other business, the meeting closed at 21:15.