Notes from the meeting
Attendance: Bill Walker (BW), Algy Grimes (AG), David Gauge (DG), Richard Westergreen – Thorne (RWT) Les Bolland (LB), Jonathan Lean (JL)
Apologies: None
Robert Bage (Club Vice Captain) attended the start of the meeting and discussed matters of common interest, including the club 2022 calendar, post lockdown arrangements on and off the course, staffing and senior section status.
Tom Simm was unable to attend but BW met him prior to the meeting to discuss Senior Captains Day arrangements.
Minutes Previous – agreed
Matters Arising – all matters arising had been addressed
Prostate Cancer Day
Jim Kerr (JK) attended for this item on behalf of the organisers of the day who are currently Jim Peacock (JP) Tony Goodson(TG) and himself.
The committee reaffirmed their support for the event. The consensus of the meeting was that it will be difficult to organise a day along normal lines this year both in terms of the arrangements for the day and for fund raising. It may be better to have the next Prostate Day scheduled for 2022 in its usual time slot of April and not hold an event in September. This would give a greater opportunity for the day to be successful. After discussion it was agreed that JK discussed the way ahead with TG and JP before deciding and that this would then be relayed to the committee.
Action Point: to be an agenda item at the next meeting to see how the committee can best support the event.
Captains Report
In addition to the normal programme of inter-club matches, Section Competitions andintroductory rounds of golf with new and prospective members of both Club and Section, my strategic activities have been to continue to build on the Section’s standing within the Club. This includes publishing an updated draft constitution in preparation for the planned EGM (now postponed until later in the year) and liaising with Club officials regarding my request for similar facilities to those afforded to the Ladies’ Section. The latter has resulted in 2 informal meetings with Club officials.
Draft Constitution
I was advised that the publication of our updated draft Constitution had resulted in “a few raised eyebrows” from Club officials, some of whom questioned whether it was needed at all, given the existence of a Club Constitution and whether it should be replaced by a simpler set of rules which referred out to the Club Constitution. However, it was accepted at our informal meetings that the Club Constitution was itself in considerable need of update. I agreed that once an up-to-date Club Constitution was published I would be happy to recommend to our members that our constitution be replaced by a much simpler set of rules founded upon the Club Constitution. Unfortunately, it was estimated that this could take up to 18 months. I therefore proposed that I work with the General Manager to amend our Constitutionto address any concerns Club officials may have before proceeding to obtain Section membership approval at a general meeting. I also offered to assist the Club with updating the Club Constitution should they require it.
Seniors’ Section Status
Since the last meeting I have written to the Club Captain addressing the differences inadministrative and financial support between the Ladies’ and Seniors’ Sections. This resulted in an informal meeting between me, the Club Captain, Vice Captain and General Manager. We agreed that such matters as governance, and financial support should be looked at holistically across all Sections through a working group approach and thus my request for an honorarium should be held in abeyance until a Financial Management Policy was produced. However, I asked if the allocation of a Seniors’ Section Captain’s car parking space could proceed as it would provide a visible statement that the Seniors’ Section status was on a par with the Ladies’ Section. However, the matter was raised at the General Committee meeting (GCM) on 30 June and was not agreed due to there being some concerns among members regarding the Seniors’ Section annual subscription.
I offered to brief the next GCM and answer any concerns they may have. However, the response was to request a second informal meeting but this time with the Club IPC present. This took place on Friday 16th July and resulted in the same conclusions as the first meeting except that Captain Pauline agreed that the General Committee did not need to be consulted regarding the car parking space and also undertook to set up the working group to draft a financial management policy ASAP.
Meetings of Club Sub-Committees
I have been advised that Club sub-committees have been reconfigured and that I have been seconded onto the Golf sub-committee chaired by Alistair Campbell with the first meeting of the year taking place on 19 July. I will therefore provide a verbal synopsis at our meeting the following day
Vice Captains Report
AG outlined the members whom he knew were ill or injured and the contacts he had with them. Members of the committee added additional information that they knew about the welfare of members.
Action Point: RWT to include in a Newsletter a request that any members knowing of a concern with a fellow member should contact Algy Grimes so that he can respond on behalf of the section.
Treasurer's Report as of 6th July
Bank Account is £6456.31
Of this £1951 is set aside as Captain’s charity money leaving a balance of £4505.31
We have still not received the money we are owed by the club for the Rex Cleaver (£415) on 8th June (I have paid for the prize and raffle vouchers though)
We have also not settled up with the club for the home match against St Neots. On 22nd June
I am always working with a 4 – 6 week delay on these matters. Emails have been sent asking the club to deal with them please.
Membership is now at 179 (4 new members since the last meeting)
Hon. Sec Report
It has been a good initiative to offer to play a round with new members and most of them have taken up the offer and seem to have really appreciated it. There is one new member who has expressed an interest who is yet to play, and I will try again to fix something up for him. It has also been good to mix and match the groups between Bill, Algy, Jonathan and myself.
We agreed at our last meeting that we should continue this practice next year and I wondered if we should also look to appoint a ‘new member ambassador(s)’ from the membership. Essentially, one or more members who would be allocated new members to contact, answer questions, perhaps arrange a game and generally make them feel welcome. Several clubs seem to do this, and I will raise at the meeting to see what others think.
The selections for the second batch of matches have been circulated. There are 58 in the squad and the average selection percentage is 52% across the year. In practice, people are generally within a 40- 60% band and everyone has been selected for at least one home match. There have not been any issues to date with withdrawals for this second batch. We now have two reserves for Beds and County at home so just need to recruit one more.
It would be a good idea to canvas the membership at the end of the year about the arrangements for 2022. Particularly, whether we have home and away games with the same club tied together and also whether we continue to have a Joker. I expect there will be a range of views, as always, on this topic so it will be good to get a sense of what people want.
Next years calendar is a separate agenda item and has, so far, been arranged without the need for many alterations to the pattern of this years. All of the clubs we play have confirmed, provisionally, their agreement with proposed dates.
We have Dave Wood due to attend a meeting of the committee later in the year and we need to decide in advance of that session some principles regarding trophies and presentations both for those events yet to happen or be completed and also those that have already been completed.
The Newsletter continues to elicit two or three emails from members after each edition and the mailing list is now over 180 a week with the growth in membership, we have seen this year.
Agreed at the meeting:
- We will look to enlist a small number of existing members to help new members get a game, find out more about us, get to know people, etc for 2022 via the AGM
- A questionnaire will be sent to members after matches have finished to canvas views on use of the JOKER, linking home and away matches for selection, etc. and also ask any other questions to the membership that seem appropriate at the time
- RWT to send our draft calendar for 2022 to Michael Grace for consideration
- We would accept the proposal of Michael Grace that we alternate courses for home matches year on year with visiting clubs if JOG does not return to odd and even days for 2022
- Agenda item for the next meeting will be the presentation evening and trophies and Dave Woods to be invited by RWT
Comp. Sec. Report
Since the last meeting we have had the following competitions.
Annual Medal Trophy and Jubilee Cup. This was won by Michael Newstead with a net 69. A special mention to Richard Westergreen-Thorne who came second with net 73. There were 82 entrants with one withdrawal and 7 NR cards. A smaller than usual field strangely but Medals are stressful!
Seniors/Ladies Mixed Greensomes. This was a bit of a struggle at the end as the date was changed and all seniors who put their names down for the initial date were automatically moved to the new date in order of entry. As there were more seniors than ladies, not all the seniors got selected including one whose wife was playing. She then decided to withdraw in a huff which left an odd number of ladies resulting in Susan Firby the organiser having to drop out also. We got there in the
end. The competition was won by Alan Kirkham and Marion Farrow.
The financials proved to be more complicated than they needed to be, principally because neither Susan Firby nor myself had done it before and we failed to consult Les. It was further complicated by the fact that the club supplied sandwiches at a cost of 92p per head and I still do not know who requested this! Anyway, we will get it right next year and most importantly, everyone enjoyed it.
Rex Cleaver Championship Trophy. 83 entries with one withdrawal on medical grounds. This was won by Clive Thompson with net 67 who wins the Rex Cleaver Championship Trophy, with Peter Imray second and Tony Whittaker third also on net 67. Best Gross was Peter Imray with 77 to win the Bessant-East Scratch Trophy.
The Reg Batson was played last Tuesday 13 th July. The trophy was retained by Bob Bage with an impressive net 69 on JOG. Second was Michael Case and third Brian Bullen.
At the time of writing, we have 97 entries out of a maximum of 102 for the Annual Stableford on 20 th July. A reserve list is set up just in case.
Seniors Member and Guest entry currently at 39 entries out of a maximum of 44. Andy Shilton is doing a sterling job of organising this event. Inadvertently, switching from a 1 tee to a 2 tee start has caused big problems with the zones.
Regarding the action point concerning how to address the issue of odd numbers for competitions where there are teams such as 4BBB, Ken Robinson Scramble etc. I have given this some thought and I think that the best approach would be to allow entry to the competition up to the maximum number but in the event that there is not a correct number for the particular event i.e. divisible by 3 or 4 as appropriate, I will allocate the entries in order of entry date for the correct number of players
with any remaining players becoming reserves. If the entry is full I will set up a reserve list and this will be used on a first come first serve basis. However, the big problem is late withdrawals. I think that we need to continually remind members
that they should let me know in good time if they are not able to play for any reason so that reserves can be found. It would also be very helpful to have an indication of those who don’t mind being last minute reserves. Occasionally, late withdrawals are unavoidable for medical reasons etc.
Otherwise, no problems. Happy to take on board any suggestions members might have.
Immediate Past Captains Report
DG had nothing to report.
Return to play after lockdown
• arrangements for matches
The arrangements for matches for the rest of the year were discussed. As most matches are away then we will need to be guided by the host club regarding arrangements. We will continue with the current arrangement of no expectation to shower and change, a rolling lunch, sit with your playing partners and casual dress for the time being at home games.
• arrangements for competitions:
It was agreed that we would continue with the current arrangements for competitions as this maximises the number of people who can take part and makes it easier to organise in the current circumstances. This will be reviewed as the years progresses.
• Senior Captains Day
AG outlined the arrangements which were discussed. A poster was subsequently attached to the next Newsletter outlining what is involved. A presentation event will be trialled at the end of the day like those held by the club - with early starters in the frame for a prize invited back to the club for the presentation
• Roll up i
The provisional arrangements were discussed and confirmed. BW will circulate a set of ‘rules of engagement’ for the organisers and circulated to members. A sign-up list will be posted for members to sign up as organisers for individual sessions.
EGM and Constitution
Held until further notice
Section Status
Covered in the Captains Report and subsequent discussion
Calendar 2022
Covered in the Hon. Sec. report above
AOB from members
- Mike Marshall has asked if we consider Senior Section Honours Boards
We have now got two boards on the wall opposite the bar and BW continues discussions about honours boards with the club.
- Peter Imray has asked for us to look at awarding trophies for the best aggregate nett and/or gross scores for the Annual Medal, Rex Cleaver and Reg Batson combined
After discussion it was agreed that, as the Annual Medal and Rex Cleaver were qualifying events for the Reg Batson there should not be a trophy for the three combined. This will be reconsidered at the next meeting when the calendar for 2022 is discussed.
Brian Bullen had raised questions about Pro Shop vouchers as prizes and matches with Knebworth
It was confirmed that we would continue to offer pro shop vouchers as prizes rather than a top up on club accounts. This was because we get a 10% discount on the vouchers saving a considerable sum over the year, it makes the award more ‘special’ as it does not get lost on your club account and it provides business for Tom Simm.
Knebworth will play on the course of the day for our home games each year.
Date and time of next meeting
5 October - Dave Woods to be invited to attend
16 November - Review arrangements for Annual dinner
18 Jan 2022 - Review arrangements for AGM
1 Feb 2022 - AGM
