Draft Minutes
Attendance: Bill Walker (BW), Algy Grimes (AG), David Gauge (DG), Richard Westergreen – Thorne (RWT), Jonathan Lean (JL)
Apologies: Les Bolland, Tom Simm, Rob Bage
Minutes Previous – agreed
Matters Arising not otherwise on the agenda
RWT explained that it had not been possible to change the date of the Rex Bullock competition in 2022 away from the week of the Prostate Day as we have competitions and matches already booked for the weeks around the agreed date.
Annual Dinner, Presentation Evening and Trophies
Dave Wood (DW) attended for this item.
The meeting reviewed the current arrangements for the Dinner and Presentation Event. The Dinner is approaching capacity and almost all 2021 winners are attending or coming to the Presentation Event instead.
It was agreed that the club should be approached to see if we can hold the Presentation Event in the Conservatory as the numbers could be ‘lost’ in the Burgoyne Suite.
RWT passed the information he had collected from members attending both events to DW. DW will follow up on menu choices, any late bookings, and queries, etc. DW will also continue with the planning for the Presentation Event.
There are several people who are not attending either event to receive their Trophies and Prizes due to Covid concerns. BW will write to those not able to attend to seek to find an alternative option and will liaise with DW regarding trophies and prizes, etc..
DW will liaise with Wendy Ashdown and produce certificates for those in 2nd – 5th places in the GOTY. It was agreed that those 2 – 5th in GOTY will receive their certificates, if they are playing, after the Christmas Fayre. DW to liaise with those 2nd – 5th to confirm this arrangement or find an alternative arrangement if they are not playing and liaise with BW.
Those who are runners up in the knockouts will need to receive dummy envelopes at the Dinner as their prize is money on their pro shop accounts and there will otherwise be nothing to give them.
Captain’s Report
My activities during the period since our last meeting were somewhat curtailed by a bout of Covid which took me out of circulation for approximately 14 days. My thanks go to Algy and Richard for taking the reins during my absence.
Further to my report to our last Committee meeting my main activity this period has been on negotiating an agreement with the Club on a new financial structure aimed at removing what I see as the last major sources of friction between Section and Club; namely, the matter of our annual subscription and the disparity of competition entry fees. These negotiations have been detailed and I am confident that both Club and Seniors’ Section management are moving in the same direction. I have established 3 non-negotiable principles as follows:
1. Continued financial viability.
2. Retention of financial autonomy.
3. Adequate control mechanisms to ensure the manageability of the Section.
I am pleased to report that an agreement in principle has been reached, but which now has to be proposed to and agreed by the General Management Committee (GMC) before we can publicise the details to our members. The Club Vice-Captain Rob Bage has undertaken to put the matter before the GMC at its next meeting on 1 st December 2021.
The various items of the report were discussed, and it was confirmed that the committee agreed with the approach being taken by BW who will continue to keep committee members updated on developments.
Vice Captain’s Report
AG provided an update on the members whom he is in correspondence with regarding their health.
AG also reported that, with RWT, he had recently played the return game with members of the Girton Golf Club Committee and it was agreed that Girton should be considered as a possible club to play in the future if a vacancy appeared.
AG gave an update on recent clothing and ties sales and stock levels.
Treasurer's Report – circulated in advance by LB
Bank Account is £7947.02
Of this £4022.50 is set aside as Captain’s charity money leaving a balance of £3924.52
The matches have now finished and £194.50 was the profit that came into seniors funds.
The meat supplier has agreed to supply for the Christmas Fayre and that has been ordered. (40 items) I am intending to go to Costco in the near future to purchase the rest of the prizes.
I will act as organiser on the day and accept the meat delivery and set up the prize table. As a result, I will not be playing in the competition.
On that day I also hand out the bottles of wine that we give to the admin staff. These are purchased when I shop for the xmas fayre.
Last year we gave a gift of £200 to the catering and bar staff
We also gave £100 to the Junior Section.
I propose we do the same this year. That is what I have budgeted for. If that is agreed by the committee, I will then deal with it.
Membership is now at 191 (2 new members since the last meeting) Andrew Bowen and Peter Hoskins.
It was agreed to proceed with the gifts as proposed by LB.
Hon. Secretary’s Report
Since the previous meeting we have concluded our matches with other clubs for the year, I have been finalising the calendar for 2022 and have also been setting up, with others, the Annual Dinner and Presentation Events for December.
Our matches with other clubs almost did not finish as planned with fog at Dunstable Downs delaying the start, however, it was worth the wait with 2 holes in one. Gerry Degaute and Peter Jarman finished the season in the best possible way. Overall, we lost more matches than we won this year, but this was not surprising as, due to Covid we ended up playing a total of 11 away and 5 home matches.
I have subsequently written to all those who took part this year to thank them for taking part and outlining the basic statistics alongside publishing the matrix of selections. Next up is a questionnaire regarding some of the arrangements for 2022 and I plan to circulate a draft to the committee shortly for comments before we send it out to the membership.
The calendar is now ‘finished’ or as finished as it ever is at this stage. The main changes from 2021 are the change to play Millbrook rather than Knebworth and the introduction of a swop day with Northampton which will be an interesting addition to our season. This will take the form of 40 members from Northampton coming to JOG for the day and 40 of us going to Northampton on the same day with no green fees to be paid. The committee will start to plan the day in the new year and the cost of a coach will also be researched.
We continue to play games with new members and have several still in the pipeline before the end of November. As reported earlier they have proved very valuable to enable people to get to know us and start to find their way around roll ups and competitions, etc.
I was also asked by the club to be part of a members group to look at possible incorporation of the club and I agreed to do so after discussion with BW. I attended an initial meeting of this group, which is about 10 strong, covering people from a wide range of the membership. I subsequently attended a session with a solicitor, experienced in these matters, who took the group I belong to, club officers and committee members through the reasons to consider such a change. I will be attending a follow up meeting of the group on Thursday. If incorporation is considered by the group and the committee to be a worthwhile option for JOG to consider then it will be taken to the membership.
The Annual Dinner, Presentation Event and Calendar for 2022 are separate agenda items so I will not dwell on them here.
Finally, we will now need to start to get our heads around the AGM on 1st February and over the next couple of weeks I will look up the paperwork on what happened in 2020 to help with the planning.
Competition Secretary’s Report
Since the last meeting we have had the following competitions.
The Gordon Percival was played on the day of the last committee meeting and was won by Richard Cooper, Geoff Elcome and Andy Brown. The Martin Ives was won by Richard Cooper with 40 points. There was one late withdrawal making a total of 89. The missing person was awarded the average points for their handicap group.
The 3 clubs and a putter attracted 66 entrants and two withdrawals. It was won by Paul Hammond with 41 point! 15 of the entrants played to their handicap or better.
The Autumn Singles Stableford attracted 87 entrants of whom 3 withdrew injured and one disqualified for not entering a score. This was won by John Sandland with 40 points.
GOTY is now finalised with the runaway winner being Paul Hammond with a total of 93 points from his best 6 competitions. In other places were Alan Kirkham on 80 points, Lawrence Wilson on 69 points, Barry Donovan on 66 points and Geoff Elcome on 58 points.
The TSB Trophy was comprehensively won by the Juniors 5-1.
The Seniors and Ladies Mixed Scramble was won by Malcolm Lee, Andy Shilton, Pauling Aubigne and Sue College with a net 53.
Just a few more before the end of the season.
The Arthur Lucas Bring and Win on 16th November will now be a 2 tee start to ensure as many as possible are in attendance for the prize giving. This will limit the number of entrants to 75 with 9- minute intervals. 14 groups off the 1st tee and 11 off the 9th.
It is now confirmed that the Christmas Fayre can be a Shotgun start. This would limit us to 75 entrants and could not start until 10am to allow ground staff to prepare the course. In previous years it has been a 2 tee start from 9am to 11am and the average number of entrants is around 85.
Entries open on 9th November.
Once 2022 diary is finalised I can put next year’s competitions onto the system. As discussed, based on historical numbers of entrants, we will go for 2 tee starts where possible with occasional Shotgun starts for instance with the Arthur Lucas and the Christmas Fayre.
Immediate Past Captain’s report
Nothing to report
Section Status
Covered in Captain’s Report
AGM
This item will be covered in detail at the next meeting on 18th January.
Calendar for 2022
This was circulated by RWT and has been confirmed by the club.
There were a couple of minor tweaks since the last committee meeting and the addition of the Swap Day with Northanpton. It was agreed that the swap day will take the form of a 4BB competition for £1 each and BW agreed to research the cost of a coach for 40 people.
The minor changes to the calendar were agreed and the calendar for 2022 was confirmed.
Roll Up Management
BW has amended the rules to cover players not completing the round because of bad weather. The amended rules were agreed, and copies are in the roll up cupboard and the tin where the money is collected.
AOB from members
No items were received.
Date and Time of next meeting
18 Jan 2022 – Review arrangements for AGM
1 Feb 2022 – AGM
