Minutes of AGM February 1 2022

 

Minutes of AGM

 

Tuesday 1st February 2022)

 

Attendees:

 

Phil Armstrong, Rafe Bateson, John Baxter, Anthony Bell, Geoff Beck, Les Bolland, Bill Conway, Richard Coventry, Alan Curtis, David Curwen, Pat Gilgallon, Tony Goodson, Algy Grimes, Darryl Hayler, Dave Henderson, Paul Jones, Jim Kerr, Jonathan Lean, Graham Lewis, Tony Lloyd, Tony McClean, Michael Newstead, Neil Pinnington, Chris Roy, Peter Salmon, Nick Schumann, Andy Shilton, Ray Smart, Sam Standen, David Streatfield, Terry Sweeney, Clive Thompson, Bill Walker, Richard Westergreen – Thorne, Fred Williams, Dave Wood, Derek Young

 

1.                  Welcome by the Captain

 

Captain Bill Walker welcomed members to the meeting.

 

Gentlemen welcome to this 2021 Annual General Meeting of the JOG GC Seniors’ Section.

Before we get into the meat of the agenda, I would like to put this meeting into context.

The purpose of this meeting is 3-fold. It starts by your committee providing reports of our activities over the past year (Items 1 to 9 inclusive). Then we will review and hopefully approve an updated version of our constitution which describes the system under which we exist at item 10.We then look to the future to elect our committee for 2022 and hear from our new committee on their plans.

 

Now with a 17 item agenda the main purpose of the chair is to focus the meeting on core business and not let it digress or dive down any rabbit holes. Which is why we have arranged for a less formal Q&A session after the AGM is complete. Needless to say if you have burning questions to address genuine concerns, please raise your hand and you will be given an opportunity to speak. However, if it is just mild curiosity or clarification that can wait until the Q&A session, then I would urge you to do so.

 

2.                  Apologies for Absence:

 

Robert Bage, Kevin Barbour, Simon Bettany, Andrew Bowen, Stephen Collins, David Crosby, Gerry Degaute, Alan Fowler, Keith Fuller, David Gauge, Peter Imray, William Skelding, Ned Yorke, Chris Walker, John Whitbread, Stuart Wilcox

 

3.                  Minutes of the 2020 AGM (taken as read)

 

Proposed: Bill Walker

Seconded: Chris Roy

Carried unanimously

 

4.                  Matters Arising

 

There were no matters arising not covered in the agenda.

 

5.                  Captain’s Report

 

Given the level of regular communication to you from your committee in terms of the informative, and dare I say entertaining, weekly newsletters from our esteemed Hon Sec Richard Westergreen-Thorne and my occasional Captain’s Corners, my annual report, is what I hope, merely a synopsis of what you already know. That is, if you have been reading all that stuff.

 I hope that you will be aware that, throughout the 3 years that I have served on your committee as vice- captain and captain, I and more importantly your committee have been working with our Club’s management to improve relationships with, and the Section’s standing within, our Club. I must say that this has been done through a policy of winning friends and thereby influencing people. Something initiated by my predecessor Captain Dave Gauge and for which I will and we should always be eternally grateful. This has involved reaffirming our status within the Club and aligning the administrative and financial support we receive with that of other Sections; particularly, the Ladies’ Section.

But to get the full picture I must take a step back, some 5 years to 2017 and talk about, what some of you more longstanding members might consider to be, the elephant in the room. Namely, our aspiration for a 2 tee start for our home matches. In 2017 we asked the Club if we could have a 2 tee start to our home matches with other Clubs. We were denied that request on the basis that it would set an unwanted precedent with quote “other societies within the Club.” When I revisited this request to the GMC in 2020 the response, which was unminuted, was “What has changed? Nothing; so why ask the question? The answer is the same” I therefore set out at the end of 2020 to establish the necessary changes in particular the standing of our Section within this Club. “we are not a Society, we are so much more!” we are not a threat to Club Management, we are an asset to this Club, dare I say a jewel in its Crown”. So what followed during 2021 is of course now history but I feel it needs to be recorded as part of our AGM for the year in order to ensure it becomes a matter of record:

On the 27th January 2021 the GM C accepted a statement that we were a fully inaugurated section of John O’Gaunt Golf Club. Actually, and had been since 1977.

On August 24th 2021 that fact was visibly substantiated in the form of a reserved parking place for our Section’s Captain.

On 1st December 2021 the GMC agreed a revised financial structure for our Section that puts us on a par with the Ladies’ Section.

Gentlemen, I feel the need to reassure you that I have been clear throughout all our negotiations with the Club that I (dare I say we) hold 3 fundamental principles as sacrosanct: We will maintain

1. Continued Section financial viability.

2. Retention of Section financial autonomy.

3. The right to implement adequate control mechanisms to ensure the manageability of our Section.

 

I want to also assure you that while our Section finances have always been robust they will be improved as a result of these new financial agreements. Moreover, I assure you that this could not have been achieved without the immense hard work of your committee and as importantly the vital encouragement and support of 4 individuals: Club Captains Phil Haddow, Peter Horlock and in particular Pauline Aubigne and our Club General Manager Gordon MacLeod who has been a constant advocate of our Section.

Nevertheless, the elephant is still with us in the room. We still have an unfulfilled requirement for a 2 tee start for our home matches.

I firmly believe that a principle of successful negotiation is to find a win-win solution by understanding the other man’s problem. The problem the Club has with agreeing our perfectly reasonable request stems from the lack of control and discipline within our club of its members. Some internal societies feel that simply because they are long standing members of many years they can start their roll ups on unauthorised multiple tees. Not just 2 but 3, 4 and more tees. It is my belief that until that problem is properly addressed and resolved, our request will remain an aspiration and nothing more. The Club, quite rightly in my view, has no wish to be constantly in conflict with its members, particularly those who have been members for decades. Nevertheless, without a clear and enforceable disciplinary structure where rules, dare I say justice, is enforced and seen to be enforced on this issue and others, we will not be able to move forward.

 Interestingly, when full tee time controls were imposed on the Club due to Covid, the problem disappeared. The prospect of a hybrid tee-booking system that allowed open play for roll ups but extended tee booking at peak congestion times was, I felt, an opportunity to revisit our request under more stringent controls. Unfortunately, if only from my perspective, the members required a return to the old open play system and, you guessed it, the problem of unauthorised multiple tee starts by internal societies, as well as many other aspect of bad manners and indiscipline has returned. Therefore, I sincerely regret to say that the elephant remains with us and is something that I must pass on to my successor.

Gentlemen, I sincerely hope that over the past 2 years you feel, upon reflection, that I have lead you through difficult times and our Section has emerged in an improved state. I must thank what I called at the outset and will always consider my dream team of a committee, and I can only repeat a much overly used cliché, it has been an honour and a privilege to be your Captain. Thank you.

 

6.                  Honorary Secretary’s Report

 

A very busy season of events despite the ever-present Covid concerns. 

 The competitions were very well organised by Jonathan Lean with very good numbers taking part and with many different winners. It was also pleasing to see a steady increase in membership over the year to over 190 by the end. There seemed to be three types of new member joining us, those new to the club, existing club members reaching 60 and then there were others who were already club  members and 60+ deciding to join in and take part.

You will remember that we were not able to play matches with other clubs at the beginning of the year due to course and catering restrictions but, as these were relaxed, we were able to start playing what are a very popular part of our activities. As many people commented, it was just great to be back playing matches after no matches in 2020.

As more home matches were at the start of the year and more away matches at the end we actually played 5 games at home and 11 away during the season. Over 60 members took part in the games and, whilst difficult to maintain with injuries and covid positives, etc. we tried to keep to our principle of ‘fairness’ with team selections. As we had less matches than normal, the same number of people wanting to play and less holidays all round to take us away from the course, the ‘average person’ played around 55% of the times they put themselves forward – a little down from our last season in 2019.

 As for the results you may remember that Bill Walker was an undefeated Captain in 2020 – we did not play any games. He was soon brought down to earth with an 8 – 0 drubbing at St Neots in our first game of the year!

Overall, home advantage played its part and we finished:

Home

Won 3 Drawn 1 Lost 1

Away

Won 1 Drawn 2 Lost 8

 

Highlight of the year had to be when Peter Jarman and Gerry Degaute both achieved a hole in one at Dunstable Downs in our last game of the season – what are the odds?

 I must thank our Match Organisers for all their efforts in getting teams together, at the right place at the right time, being flexible to changing scenarios and ensuring all went well on the day.

Both the Away Day and the Past Captains Away Day proved as popular as ever, thanks to Richard Coventry, and we have added a Swap Day for 2022 to our calendar.

We took on the organisation of the Tuesday and Thursday roll ups on the resumption of play and numbers are currently very healthy each week. Many thanks to Steve Cooper for organising the roll up for many years prior to this, to Anthony Bell who stepped in and organised the Tuesday Group for people to get a game on a Tuesday when we had tee bookings and to Malcolm Lee who organised the Whatsapp Group for those looking for a game. All proved really important to keep the section going and people involved.

The Newsletter continues to serve a useful purpose in keeping everyone updated and involved and it ties in well with the blog so ably edited by Tony Lloyd.

A new feature for 2021 was organising games for new members with members of the committee. These proved very popular and also very helpful in getting new members involved and something we plan to continue as a committee this coming year.

Finally, a thank you to everyone for taking part, helping out and getting involved. Our aim is to provide a range of opportunities so that there is something for everyone. The fact that over 140 people took part in at least one activity in 2021 shows that we had a very vibrant year.

 

7.                  Competition Secretary’s Report

 

It was a year when we were able to return largely to a full programme of competitions.

We had: -

 14 ‘normal’ competitions

 The Green Tilley, Holmwood Plate and Foursomes knockouts

 Mixed Greensomes with the Ladies plus Seniors and Ladies Scramble

 Members and Guests Day

 Senior Section Away Day

 Seniors vs Juniors Match

 

I do not propose to detail all the results in this report as they have been fully documented in Richard Westergreen-Thorne’s excellent weekly newsletters and the brilliant blog – thanks to Tony Lloyd for this.

What was not normal about them was that, due to England Golf directives, we were only allowed to have a one-tee start on the majority of the competitions. The upside of this was that there was theoretically no limit to how many entrants we could accommodate but the downside was that the presentations were adversely affected. Understandably, the early starters were not willing or able to hang around until all the late starters had finished and entered their results.

On this note, as a brief aside, well done to the vast majority of you who managed to enter their results on IG whilst the terminals were temporarily unavailable. The high percentage of successful score entries frequently drew praise from Michael Grace.

Towards the end of the year, England Golf revised their guidelines, and we were able to introduce 2-tee starts to some of the competitions and also revised the tee time intervals to 9 minutes instead of 10. A 2-tee start does reduce the course capacity somewhat. If we stick to groups of 3 we are limited to 81 players on Carthagena and 84 on JOG. If we changed to 4 ball groups this would increase the capacity but result in very slow play, particularly in medals. Shotgun starts which are preferable for the Arthur Lucas Bring and Win plus the Christmas Fayre and Captain’s Day would limit the numbers to 75 on both courses but at least everyone would be around for the prize giving.

What I have done is kept a record of the numbers of entrants to each competition and, where the numbers allow, we intend to use 2-tee starts for 2022 with the exception of the Bring and Win, Senior Captain’s Day and the Christmas Fayre which will be Shotgun starts.

I would just like to thank all those who entered and supported these events and hopefully enjoyed them. That is the main objective!

 

8.                  Honorary Treasurer’s Report and adoption of Accounts

 

It is my privilege to present the John O’Gaunt Senior Section audited

accounts for the year end 31 st December 2021. This my fifth, and will be my last one

as I am standing down

 

At the end of the last financial year to 31st December 2021 our end of year balance

was £3367, which is down on the £3878 of the previous year. I have been able to

subsidise events to the tune of £511.

 

This leaves us with the healthy and sensible final year balance of £3367 (including

£2134.30 in the current account). This provides us with a sensible amount to take into

the new financial year and the new finance arrangements with the club.

.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to William Skelding for carrying out the

audit this year and for many years previously. William is also standing down so a

new auditor will be required.

 

I would also express my grateful thanks to the late John Ellary who ably ran the

supply of Senior Section clothing and ties over the last few years.

 

I wish my successor, Richard Coventry, well for the future

 

Adoption of Accounts

 

Proposed: Chris Roy

Seconded: Jim Kerr

Carried unanimously

 

9.                  Appointment of an Auditor

 

It was agreed that Richard Coventry would undertake a search for a new Auditor to take over from William Skelding and report back to the committee on progress.

William Skelding was thanked for his hard work in undertaking this role for a number of years.

 

10.              Constitution

 

Gentlemen, once again I feel it appropriate that I give some context to the need for this update to our constitution. I believe it to be self-evident that there have been a considerable number of changes since our current constitution was signed off in 2017, particularly as it has remained unamended since that date. However, given the significant changes that occurred in 2021, the need for an update has become paramount. 

What might not be so apparent is that this update has been conducted with full consultation with Club Management. Indeed, when a draft was first published in June 2021 the feedback received was that quote “eyebrows were raised” and the question posed of quote “Why does the Seniors’ Section need a constitution and wasn’t this the tail wagging the dog?”

I believe the reason for that feedback was that it caused particularly the new members of the GMC to actually pick up and read the Club constitution and realise just how “unfit for purpose” it was. The Club has proposed that the Seniors’ Section should be able to function on a simple set of rules which referred out to the Club constitution. My response is that this is a proposal that I would wholeheartedly support just as soon as the Club is in possession of a

Constitution that is fit for purpose. However, I am told that the timescales for that are in line with the Club incorporation project which is some time off. Therefore until such time I feel we need a fully up to date Constitution and I hope you will agree.

I am delighted to say that work to create a new Club constitution is underway and I understand that one of our members is leading the way and using our constitution as a starter for ten.

So to business. I hope you have taken the time to read the updated constitution. My thanks to those who have provided feedback in writing prior to this AGM and whose comments have been for the most part incorporated into the latest version distributed with the agenda.

Let me finish by saying that the constitution is a living beast particularly during times of change such as these. So I hope those of you who have any criticism of the document will be constructive by offering alternative wording to that you object to.

To determine how to conduct this review either page by page or comment by comment can I have a show of hands of those people who would like to raise any matters of concern?

 There followed a discussion and the comments from various members at the meeting were considered  before the motion was put to those attending to accept the revised Constitution as presented as the Constitution of the Senior Section.

 

 

Proposed: Algy Grimes

Seconded: Richard Westergreen – Thorne

 

Agreed unanimously to accept the revised Constitution as presented to the meeting.

 

11.              Appointment of Officers for 2022

 

Position	Nominee	Proposer	Seconder
Captain	Algy Grimes	Bill Walker	Jonathan Lean
Vice-Captain	Jonathan Lean	Algy Grimes	Richard Westergreen - Thorne
Honorary Secretary	Richard Westergreen-Thorne	Algy Grimes	Jonathan Lean
Honorary Treasurer	Richard Coventry	Les Bolland	Bill Walker
Match Secretary	Andy Shilton	Richard Westergreen - Thorne	Algy Grimes
Competition Secretary	Jonathan Lean	Richard Westergreen - Thorne	Bill Walker

 

As there are no other nominations, the above were elected unopposed.

 

12.              Address by the Captain

 

Firstly, let me say how proud and honoured I am to be elected as your Captain for 2022. On joining the club back in 2014 I never envisaged being elected to such a position. So thanks to Bill for asking me to become his Vice Captain.

Bill has done a fantastic job over the last two years, with so much going on, not least the latest standing of the Section within the club and the changes to how we finance ourselves. He has also updated our Constitution which we discussed earlier. Having stood in for him at a couple of matches, which I enjoyed, it just goes to show I need to sharpen up my joke telling.  (So Andy tells me).

Thanks to the Committee for the great work this last year and I hope the next Committee with a new Match Secretary (welcome Andy) and Treasurer (Richard, of course returning to the committee) will be up and running very quickly. We meet after this AGM. We also have a new Clothing co-ordinator Derek Young. (Ties etc). Continuing with the Blog is Tony Lloyd and looking after the trophies and organiser of the Annual Dinner is David Wood. I would like to thank them for their efforts this coming year.

I would like to formally thank Les Bolland for his work as Treasurer for the last five years, and present him with a card and gift on behalf of the Section.

I was pleased to see how much everybody appreciated Bill’s efforts over the last two years and delighted to present him with this card, together with a pro Shop voucher, will it be new golf clubs or more lessons?

I hope you all enjoy the new season, taking part in the competitions and matches as much as I am sure I will. I also hope you will please support my Charity which will be UK Sepsis Trust. There are approximately 245,000 cases and around 48,000 deaths each year. Having suffered from Sepsis a few years ago I wish to support the work they are doing to ensure the symptoms are more quickly identified so that urgent help can be administered, speed of treatment is key with this ailment, I know only too well. I wouldn’t be standing here if it wasn’t for my GP recognising it and getting me into A&E swiftly. Unfortunately, our friend, John Ellary, was a casualty of sepsis only too recently.

On the subject of charities may I call on Jim Kerr to tell you about the Jock Allan Prostate Project Day on 4^th April.

Jim Kerr then briefly addressed the audience to publicise the day and ask for help with hole sponsorship, auction prizes and tombola prizes.

 

13.              Address by the Honorary Secretary

 

We now have an open system for JOG members who are 60+ to participate in Senior Section events as the membership fee has been dispensed with. The committee has agreed that the mailing list for the Newsletter will act as a proxy membership list and that all eligible JOG members who wish to take part in seniors events are encouraged to sign up for the Newsletter. This provides them with information about events, sign up arrangements and all other seniors’ activities and provides the committee with a way to communicate with those who wish to be involved.

There are currently 24 new seniors who have come forward since 2021. Three in the latter part of 2021 and a further 21 since the start of 2022.  There were 185 members at the end of 2021 and a further 6 members on the ‘courtesy list’ who were ex playing members now social members of the club.  Add the three together and there is a current mailing list of 215 members.

In previous years a number of members decide not to renew their subscription for the new year but this does not apply for 2022 and nobody has indicated they wish to come off the mailing list. I will write to all Courtesy members asking them if they wish to continue to receive the Newsletter and also do the same with the 2021 members.

The weekly Newsletter will continue to be the main means of communication with members during 2022 and this will continue to be supported by the blog which is receiving increasing numbers of hits each month and this was well over 600 in December 2021. Tony Lloyd has also now got access to the senior section of the news area of the club website and has begun to enter articles there. The scope to use this as a communication and promotional channel are currently limited but it will have an increasing value to us.

I encourage members to sign up to events, matches and competitions this year and am very encouraged to see the numbers who have already signed up for the first three events of the year that have recently opened for entry.

 

14.              Address by the Competition Secretary

 

So, what have we learned in 2021 that we can improve on in 2022?

 

As I have previously mentioned, I have kept a record of the numbers of entrants to the various

competitions and where we are able, I will be reverting to a 2-tee start on competitions with a limit of 84 on JOG and 81 on CAR. The exceptions will be The Captain’s Day, The Arthur Lucas Bring and Win and The Christmas Fayre, these will be Shotgun starts.A couple of observations.

Particularly applicable to late starters, please can you all ensure that, once you have finished playing, your score is entered, and cards put in the relevant box before you do ANYTHING else. The competitions cannot be finalised until all the results are in and leading scores checked against the score cards. Also, don’t forget to sign your score cards!

If anyone has to withdraw from an event, please can you make every effort to do this before the draw is done. I understand that some situations cannot be foreseen or controlled but please ensure that every competition you enter is clearly marked in your diaries or calendars to avoid clashing with other events that you have to attend. If you must withdraw, please can you contact me – not Gordon, Michael or Richard Westergreen-Thorne. Text or email is preferred as I then have a record of the withdrawal and can act on it when I am next at my computer. Phone calls are OK provided they are confirmed by text or email. Some of you have contacted me through the IG messaging system. This is OK but a bit cumbersome so if you can text or email please do so.

With a 2 tee start there is a later start time of 9am with only 2 zones – early and late. If any of you have inflexible tee time requirements in order to allow doctors, dentists appointments etc. please let me know before the draw is done. It is much more difficult to do this after the draw when everyone has been advised of their tee time.

There has been some discussion about the playing format of the Scramble competitions regarding whether or not the player whose previous shot is chosen should be allowed to take the next shot. We have discussed this in the Seniors committee, and we would prefer to leave it as it is with only the players whose shot is NOT selected being allowed to take the next shot until the ball is on the green. This is primarily to avoid one low handicap player dominating the group and also to speed up the play in what is typically a slow format.

Finally, as previously mentioned, the main objective is for everyone to enjoy the competitions no matter how well your performance in the events. I will continue to do all I can to ensure that this happens and all constructive and helpful comments as to how to improve will be carefully considered before being rejected!!

 

15.              Address by the Match Secretary

 

Firstly thanks to Richard Westergreen-Thorne for comprehensive and detailed handover of the role.

 

We will shortly be sending an email with the full details of matches and sign up arrangements so please look out for that email from Richard in the next week and get onto the web-site to sign-up.  In lieu of that email a few headlines for your attention:

 

·       We have a full fixture list of 13 clubs home and away so 26 matches in total.  The only change to previous years is Knebworth being replaced by Millbrook.

·       In 2021 we had more withdrawals than historically we have experienced which led to some match organisers scratching around for players.  This may well have been exceptional to do with the pandemic impacting availability and holidays etc.  But to mitigate the impact of withdrawals we are going to increase the number of reserves to 4 for each game.

·       We will also be reintroducing the JOKER where players can choose one away game that they want to be involved in.  This will be managed through a sign-up sheet on the notice board.

·       Historically we have paired home and away selections against the same club fixture but following last year’s ballot of members we now just ask you to make yourselves available for the same number of home and away fixtures.

·       We are not yet sure of the match costs as we are still waiting for final confirmation of costs from the club but it is likely to be between £20 and £25.  This still represents good value and is the first increase since 2019.

·       I’ll be looking to do as much as I can digitally this year and will provide support to anyone that needs help to do so.  Of course if you cannot work digitally I will support traditional methods.

 

I look forward to an exciting season of club matches

 

 

 

16.              Other Agenda Items – none were received in advance from members

 

None

 

17.              Close of Meeting

 

At the close of the meeting there was a question and answer session and points raised by members were taken to the Committee Meeting that followed the AGM and the notes of which will be published shortly.