Minutes of AGM held on 20th September 2010 at the Talbot

Present:  Chris Barlow, Phillip Barlow, Dave Cooper, John Lea, Paul McLaughlin, Steve Murphy, Chris Parry, Ted Randles, Barry Tipton, Mike Turner, Margaret Walker, Pat Wallace, Billy Williams, John Pritchard (minutes).

Apologies: Gordon Vickers.

The Chairman opened the meeting at 8.05pm, welcomed all those present and thanked everyone for attending. A brief resume of the Agenda was given to those present. Apologies were received from Gordon Vickers who could not make the meeting.

1. Election of Officials

The first item on the agenda was the Election of Officials and the following people were nominated / elected:-
 

Gordon Vickers could not make the meeting tonight and sent apologies, but also asked to be nominated for the Committee again and was duly elected.  Barry Pace and Ray Lamb were also not present but were nominated, seconded and elected by those present.

2. Statement of Accounts

The Treasurer presented the Statement of Accounts for 2009-10 and copies were made available for those present. John Lea proposed that the Accounts were a true record of the league's finances and they be accepted, this was seconded by Pat Wallace and carried unanimously by all present.

3. Any Other Business

No formal written proposals were received before the deadline of 31st August, so the Chairman gave a quick summary of recent news to the meeting.    First, the Open Knockout final was to be held on 30th September at the Royal Oak in Hoole. 

Second, the 2010/11 Winter League will start on 20th October and to date 9 teams have confirmed they will be competing.   They are:   Bawn Lodge,  Cross Foxes,  Egerton Arms,  Royal Oak, St. Theresa's Club, St. Werburgh's Club,  The Talbot,  Union Vaults and the United Services Club.  We welcome two new teams to the Winter League this season, Bawn Lodge and the Royal Oak, and it is great that we have Bagatelle back in Hoole again.

Three other venues are "possibles" at the moment, namely Blacon Sports & Social Club, the Home Guard Club and the City Arms.    At the moment, Blacon look most likely to become the 10th team, the Home Guard have undertaken to let me know ASAP, and at the moment, it looks like the City Arms will be struggling for players.

Definitely not competing:-  Spital Vaults, the landlord is very keen to enter but cannot get enough players to commit to a team, the Stanley Arms, Saltney Social Club,  Saltney Ferry Hotel (currently closed).

No formal amendment being proposed, the format for league and cup matches will remain the same as last year's Winter League, ie. if a team only has 6 players available, the two lowest scoring players will be allowed to play again, and they are to play in the order in which they appear on the team sheet, i.e.. the first named will play 7th and the second named will play 8th.   In the event of a team having 7 players, the lowest scorer can play again.   If there is a tie for the lowest scorer/s, the opposing captain will spin a coin to decide who plays again.    This will apply to all League, West Cheshire Shield and Northgate Cup competitions.   In the Five-A-Side competition, if a team only has 4 players available, the lowest scorer will be allowed to play again.

Summer League postponed / re-arranged games were discussed, and there are still two critical games outstanding.  The United Services have arranged to play St. Werburgh's Club and the Cross Foxes are attempting to re-arrange their game with St. Theresa's now the club has re-opened.

Following instances where teams had not turned up,  it was suggested that, out of courtesy to the opposing team, if a game had to be re-arranged or cancelled,  all clubs must let the opposition know by noon at the latest on the day of the game, otherwise the points or the game will be forfeited.  A statement to this effect will be added to the Winter League fixtures when the sheets go out.   It is hoped everyone will follow this 'code of practise' to avoid food being prepared and people travelling unnecessarily.

Mike Turner raised the issue of practise at St. Werburgh's where the best cues were locked in a cupboard most of the time and were unavailable.  From the following discussion it's clearly happened before and the chairman undertook to raise this with St. Werburgh's and report back.

The Chairman said that all dates for next years Knockout would be published in advance and no-one would be allowed to play their sticks early at the "semi-final" stage under any circumstances.   This followed comments about events at St. Werburgh's where some players had played their sticks early as they could not attend on the designated night and it was felt this detracted from the evening.

Some general discussion about bagatelle continued until 8.50pm. when, there being no other business, the Chairman thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting.   Those present then dived into the excellent chilli which was served by Talbot landlord Pat Wallace.  Thanks Pat!

END OF MINUTES