Notes of the Senior Section Committee Meeting Jan 17, 2023

 

Attendance:

Algy Grimes (AG), Jonathan Lean (JL), Bill Walker (BW), Richard Coventry (RC), Richard Westergreen – Thorne (RWT), Tony Lloyd (TL) Andy Shilton (AS)

 

Apologies: Tom Simm (TS)

 

Mike Tipper (MT)

 MT joined for this item and discussed with the committee various matters of common interest including charities, the club vice-captain appointment, synchronising the start dates of the various captains within the club and the coming golfing season.

 Action:

JL to invite Nigel Tarn to attend the next meeting for a few minutes so that the committee can introduce themselves to him.

Minutes previous and matters arising

Agreed with no matters arising not covered on the agenda.

Captain's Report (AG)

Following on from the last committee meeting I reported that the proposal for a Swap Day had passed through the Golf Sub-committee and was awaiting ratification by the GCM. This has been forthcoming so we can arrange one Swap Day each year from now on. The next one being on 17th April with St Ives.

I must congratulate my Vice-Captain Jonathan on winning the Arthur Lucas ‘Bring & Win’ competition in November. He beat two others on countback with 35 points. Well done. I was hoping to announce the successful bidder for the 4-ball voucher to the Cambridge Country Club but unfortunately there were no bids. I therefore asked the Ladies Captain to send a message to her members to seek a bid. We got one from one of our Senior members, so we split the proceeds between mine and Lorna’s charities.

We held the Annual Presentation Dinner in December where I presented the various trophies and certificates for the year. Well done to all prize winners. I would also like to formally thank David Wood for organising the event, in particular guiding me through the different trophies to present to the appropriate winners. However, it was very disappointing that the Charity representative cancelled at short notice which didn’t give time for them to arrange a substitute. The cheque presentation will now take place at the AGM. The total amount raised through the year being close to £6,600.

At the last event of the year, the Christmas Fayre, the Baz Backhouse Trophy was won by Nigel Underwood with 47 points, outstanding round, shame it wasn’t a qualifier and a handicap cut! A great result with 18 temporary greens. Thanks to Richard Coventry, helped by Tony Lloyd, for organising refrigeration of the meat and the other prizes so well. As usual Jonathan Lean managed the results and raffle winners to again make my role so easy.

Apart from this meeting I have one more Golf Sub-Committee meeting which is next Monday 23rd , after that it is on to the AGM and handing over the captaincy, and most importantly and unfortunately the car park space to Jonathan, I will miss that more than anything.

Finally thank you to all on the committee for the hard work you have put in to make my year so enjoyable, I really appreciate it.

Vice Captain's Report (JL)

JL reported on his contact with members since the last meeting.

Immediate Past Captain's Report (BW)

There was one dispute since the last committee meeting that arose during the bring and win competition. This dispute was addressed, resolved through amicable discussion and documented in the disputes log.

Treasurer's Report (RC)

RC provided a copy of the accounts that have been ratified by the Auditor and will be presented at the meeting and these were discussed by the committee. He raised several further points regarding financial matters which were covered under AOB.

It was agreed that BW would present the report at the AGM as RC is not able to attend.

Secretary's Report (RWT)

We have ended the year with around 240 ‘members’ and just under 250 people receiving the Newsletter each week. I have put a note in the Newsletter asking if anyone wants to be taken off the mailing list and will look at the list and match it to the club membership list once fee renewals have been completed.

The numbers have increased by around 50 from the previous year when we had subscriptions, but it has had less of an impact on entries to competitions and match entries than this figure would suggest. We have gained a number of people to the mailing list who like to receive it out of interest rather than because they wish to play.

One of our key challenges for 2023 is to ensure that we encourage as many new members as possible to join in our activities. For example, the increase in club membership in the Autumn gained us quite a few new members, many active golfers, when it was too late for them to be able to participate in our events. We need to get them to join in with the new programme of events this year.

I have explained in the Newsletter the reasons why the matches are skewed with regards to when home and away fixtures are played, and Andy references it as well in his note that will soon go to members about signing up for matches. I will refer to a couple of points about the 2024 calendar at the meeting. I have already had offers of dates from other clubs for 2024.

We will look at adjusting the balance of home and away matches in 2024 but we are restricted by the number of competitions taking place in September. If we want to address the imbalance we may need to look at moving some competitions to free up some Tuesday slots.

Action:

RWT to liaise with JL, AS and TL with possible options to move one or more competitions to free up Tuesday slots for matches and then report back to the committee.

The Swap Day is in place with St Ives on 17^th April and St Ives are in contact with Amy about their arrangements for the day. I would like us to agree at the meeting the arrangements we would like for ourselves when we go to St Ives and I can then agree them with our hosts.

Gordon has been in touch as he has had an enquiry from Newmarket about holding an Away Day at JOG in 2024 and he has got back to them to see if they are interested in switching to a Swap Day. They have responded to show initial interest which they are going to take up with their club. Whatever happens with Newmarket we will need to start looking soon for a club to swap with in 2024.

It was agreed that the Swap Day would have a similar format to the previous year to differentiate it from the Away Day and that it would be held in the earlier part of the year to avoid a clash with the Away Day.

Now that it is an established part of our year the Secretary needs to be involved in arranging the Swap Day as it impacts on the calendar for the year and fixing the right date is important. However, it would be good to give someone the opportunity to organise the day rather as a Match Organiser does and I would like to propose that we look to find an organiser each year.

Action:

Agreed and RWT to publicise the organiser role in the Newsletter

Finally, I am pleased to see the fantastic numbers looking at the blog each week and would like to congratulate Tony Lloyd for his efforts with this throughout the year.

Action:

The handover of email addresses to be discussed by the various committee members affected. To be confirmed at the next meeting when a draft officers contact details form will be agreed for circulation to members, club staff and club officers and other clubs.

RWT has been in conversation with Gordon Macleod regarding publicising the opportunity to play in seniors events to the club membership and in particular those reaching 59/60 years of age.

It was agreed to confirm to Gordon that we would like him to send our a message in his regular communications with members and also to send a targeted email to those aged 59/60.

Action:

RWT to coordinate with Gordon.

Competition Secretary's Report (JL)

Since the last meeting we have had the following competitions.

The Arthur Lucas Bring and Win on 15th November was won by rank outsider Jonathan Lean with 35 points. Second also on 35 points was David Streatfield. Third on countback but also on 35 points was Chris Dennis.

The Seniors’ Christmas Fayre and Baz Backhouse Trophy on 20th December was won convincingly by Nigel Underwood on 47 points. Second on 43 points was Terry Domagala and third on 42 points was David Wrench. Nick Schumann and Peter Wade just missed out on countback with 42 points also.

All 2023 competitions are now on the system, but I have a couple of minor issues about tee times that hopefully by the time of this meeting will have been sorted out.

The entry fee for the knockouts has been altered to £4 as per club standards.

Tony Lloyd has been very helpful over the past few months in learning the ropes so that he can run the competitions next year.

The Green Tilley and the Foursomes Knockout both open for entries at 4pm on 7th February. Both the Match with the Ladies on 9th March and the 4BBB on 14th March open for entries on 2nd February.

Action::

The tees, handicaps and cards to use in the knockouts if a male plays a female member needs to be confirmed and circulated to members. JL and TL to investigate and publicise on the sign-up page of the website and all of the rules for knockout matches to be communicated via the Newsletter.

Match Secretary's Report (AS)

Arrangements for next season are making good progress.  All matches are now set up on the system ready for players to enter.

 We have had several of the Match Organisers drop out.  These are David Price, Tony Goodson, Bill Walker, Peter Jarman, Nick Schumann.  With the change from Dunstable to Northampton Brian Bullen is without a game to organise.  I’ve written to all the MO thanking them and to Brian separately thanking him and asking him if he wants to take on another match.  He has verbally said he’ll get back to me but hasn’t yet.

An appeal for organisers last week gave us two volunteers (David Streatfield and Nigel Underwood).  This week’s Newsletter will repeat the request.

 The ‘Matches Special’ is ready to go after this meeting signs it off.  A draft for comments was circulated prior to the meeting.

The final piece in the matches jigsaw is the cost per game.  I’m still waiting for the final menu from the club.  Hopefully I’ll have it by the time of the meeting.  I’ve had discussions on the previously discussed desire for a fixed price from the club.  The clubs’ position is this is preferable, but it can only happen if we reduce the menu further to items of a similar price.  This is for discussion at the committee meeting.

 A discussion took place regarding what is intended by the term ‘smart casual’ as the dress code for home matches. 

Action:

 JL to liaise with AS and a brief explanation of smart casual will be included in the ‘matches special’ and followed up in subsequent communications regarding matches.

 A discussion took place regarding how much we charge members to take part in matches compared to competitions and compared to what other clubs charge. This led to further discussion about reciprocal arrangements with other clubs.

 Action:

 See AOB below

 Annual Dinner and Trophies

 Dave Wood attended for this item and was thanked for his efforts on the evening and with the trophies. DW provided an update on the position with the trophies and a discussion took place about the Dinner. It was agreed that the arrangements worked well but that it was disappointing that there were spare places with 67 attending and a capacity of 80. A discussion took place about ways to increase attendance and, or, splitting the presentation of trophies from the Dinner and have two separate events.

 Action

 To put on the agenda for the meeting after next to consider canvassing the views of members about the various options in plenty of time to make a decision for late 2023.

 It was agreed that the booklet published for the evening needs to be reviewed for 2023 and be gender neutral.

 Dave Wood agreed to continue to research the origins of the various trophies and who the former members were who donated them. He will also seek to find if any of the trophies were donated with express conditions as to who can play for them. He will consult Wendy Ashcroft in the process of doing so. He will report back to the committee on his progress at a future meeting. It was agreed that the information that Dave Wood discovers could be placed on the blog for other members to read.

 AGM

 There was a discussion regarding the arrangements for the AGM. It was agreed that sign up sheets would be placed around the room for those who attend to sign.

 RWT asked that those speaking at the meeting passed him a copy of their notes soon after the meeting to help him compile the minutes.

 Concern was raised about the threshold for being quorate at an AGM and whether it should be reduced to a lower figure.

 Action:

 Item to be put on the AGM agenda and JL to draft a motion that could be used at the meeting to lower the threshold at future AGM. Depending upon the attendance at the AGM JL to decide whether to seek agreement from the meeting on this draft amendment.

 New Member Liaison Role

 It was agreed to confirm the draft role description that had been circulated and to promote amongst members.

 Action:

 RWT to publicise via the Newsletter and to look for one or more members to take up the role.

 Prostate Day

BW outlined that the next Prostate Project Charity Day will take place on 3 April 2023. This is a Club event that will be managed and organised by Bill Walker, Algy Grimes and David Barlow.

The format of the day will be similar to previous years with a pairs golf competition with a shotgun start, followed by a meal and presentation of prizes. During the preceding weeks and on the day itself there will be an on-line auction, a raffle and other opportunities to donate to the Prostate Project Charity. To date there have been meetings with past event organisers and various Club representatives and an outline plan drawn up. A further meeting of the organising team took place on 12 January 2023 adding more detail to the plan and allocating actions. Plan implementation will now progress in earnest with a further meeting towards the end of the week commencing 5th February 2023 shortly after which the event details will be published.

Close coordination with activities during the Club charity weekend will be achieved through a Club Charity Committee. Future updates will be provided as and when required.

Action:

It was agreed to publicise the Prostate Day in the Newsletter and offer the organisers support if required.

Senior Member and Guest Day

It was agreed to seek a member to take over the running of the Member and Guest Day from AS that takes place on 1^st August.

Action:

To publicise the opportunity in the Newsletter

AOB:

Honours Boards

Paul Marshall had asked about having more seniors’ honours boards on display in the clubhouse.

Action:

Paul to be thanked for his query and, after discussion, it was agreed that BW would respond to him on behalf of the committee.

Cost of entry to competitions

RC raised some issues of consistency across the range of competitions and it was agreed that all competitions would have a £5 entry fee with £1 going towards the raffle – profits to the Senior Captains Charity. The exceptions will be the matches with the Ladies which will be a £5 entry fee but some differences with financial arrangements, and the knock outs at £4 as they do not include a raffle.

Cost of playing in matches and reciprocal arrangements with other clubs

A discussion took place regarding both matters and AS is awaiting costings from the club to enable us to make a final decision on what to charge players.

We want to be fair to our members and it is difficult to compare pricing with that of other clubs. For example, some have a subscription, some subsidise catering at matches, some levy for staff tips, half way house, etc. All clubs are different.

Action:

Both matters to be returned to at the next meeting when, hopefully, the cost of catering at JOG is known.

JL will enquire about the arrangements at other clubs and what they charge participants during the coming year. To be revisited at a future committee meeting when further information is available in time to inform decisions for 2024.

Date and time of next meeting

7^th February after the AGM with further dates for 2023 to be proposed by JL at the next meeting.