Treasurer's Report for AGM Feb 4 2025

 John O’Gaunt Seniors Section

Treasurers Report- Final

Calendar Year 2024 – ending 31/12/2024.

Attached to this report are the Audited Accounts for the last Calendar year, Balance Sheet,

and Prior year comparison.

Another year of successful Senior’s activities comes to an end. I’m pleased to report that 

from a financial point of view we have achieved our objectives and are well positioned as a 

section financially moving into 2025. More of this in a moment. Prior to this I’d like to 

reiterate my thanks to Trevor Darrington who once again has provided his professional 

expertise to the Audit of these accounts.

We set out this year to manage a tight budget and minimise the impact of high inflationary 

pressures through good husbandry. The Seniors section looks to make a very small margin 

on all activities, whilst also allowing ourselves to meet the desire to help our community. 

This is achieved through our contributions to the Captain's chosen Charity, and assistance to

the Junior section. 

Most of our revenue is derived from members playing in Competitions, Inter Club Matches 

and participation in Seniors organised events. In all cases Costs pretty much match Revenues 

and managing our cashflow is crucial. With fantastic support from fellow committee 

members responsible for these activities we have been able to provide a very active 

programme and meet our financial objectives. 

We treat each event as a small project – each with a budget for income and expenditure. 

This year our activities covered 55 such projects. Keeping on top of this level of financial 

transactions requires the whole team to work closely and in harmony. I’d like to thank all the 

committee members involved for getting us through this – and all have a smile on their 

faces!

I’d also like to recognise the great assistance we get from the Club staff – House

management and Finance. Without their help this job would be very difficult.

We end the year with £8893 in our bank account. However, considering prepayments, 

creditors and debtors, and accruals for costs not yet received this is reduced to £2496. We 

started the year with £2418 in available funds – so you can see that overall difference 

between costs and revenue is as low as £79! However, the final balance includes a payment 

from our Seniors funds of £3500 to the Seniors Captain's chosen Charity. Many of our 

significant costs appear over the last month of the financial year – Christmas Fayre, Annual 

Dinner and Charity donation. It takes a little time for these costs to work their way through 

to our Bank account – hence the need for the accruals.

Also, at the end of the year we are holding funds for the 2025 Golf tour at Forest Pines. This 

promises to be a great 2-day event in May. In this year’s accounts I have classified 

these moneys as ‘Prepayments’ of costs and revenues.

The Accounts identify that the 21 Competitions generated income of £6014 before 

allocation of the Captain’s charity payment. Direct costs against this are £3194.42, leading to 

a surplus of £2820. Inter Club Matches provided an income of £10904, and through careful 

controls over costs led to a small surplus of £965. This is a significant achievement by Algy 

and his team of Organisers.

During the year we have also spent £662 on New Club House Boards and Trophy engraving. 

We have also now purchased a small scorecard printer for £148.98 (including supplies) to 

enable our Competions team to produce their own cards.

Our total contribution to the Captain’s charity is £6590. This includes Richard’s allocation of 

the combined Captain’s efforts which generated £3090. As mentioned above we have been 

able to generate £3500 from our funds. In addition, in 2025 a further £50.25 has also been 

added from BHF collection tins. This makes the final total to be paid to the Charity of £6640. 

We are delighted to pay this amount to The British Heart Foundation and hope this in some 

ways helps achieve their extremely worthy cause.

In addition to the Charity, we have also been able to repeat previous years donation to the 

Juniors section. 

At the beginning of the 2024 year the committee set a Budget for the year. A comparison  

shows a surplus (net of adjustments) of £78 compared with a budget of £597. However, the 

Budget did not include the increased Charity donation or the new Honours Boards. For our 

main categories of activity, the variances are minor:

- Competions £6014 versus a budget of £6361

- Inter Club Matches - £10904 vs £10944

- Events - £7803 versus £6175 

Looking forward to 2025 my objectives from a financial perspective are 

- Ensure we support the Section's many activities and continue to make a small 

contribution

- Support Seniors committee on all new ventures and challenges

- Look to continue to simplify the accounting process and provide more rapid insight 

into our financial activity

Barry Donovan

Honorary Treasurer – JOG Seniors

Minutes of the Seniors Committee meeting Jan 5 2025

 

Present: Richard Westergreen-Thorne (RWT), Tony Lloyd (TL), Jonathan Lean (JL), Algy Grimes (AG), Barry Donovan (BD), Nigel Underwood (NU), Dave Wood (DW)

 

1 Minutes and matters arising

Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted.

Matters arising: None

2 Captain’s Report (RWT)

RWT presented a draft version of his report to the AGM

3 Vice Captain’s Report

TL had sent out sympathy cards to the wives of one member and one former member who sadly passed away recently

4 Immediate Past Captain’s Report

Nothing to report

5 Treasurer’s Report (BD)

BD presented a set of accounts which are currently being audited by Trevor Darrington. He reported a small surplus for 2024 and forecast a surplus of around £1,600 for 2025. RWT thanked Barry for his work this year.

Finances around three competitions were discussed.

A)      It was agreed to continue with the Three Clubs and a Putter competition despite the declining number of entries.

B)      Concerns voiced by members about the cost of the Arthur Lucas (Bring and Win) Cup were discussed and it was decided to reduce the competition fee from £5 to £3 and to reduce the minimum cost of the prizes required to be purchased by entrants from £7.50 to £7, bringing the total cost down from £12.50 to £10. This competition will be a non-qualifier for handicap purposes.

C)     Concerns voiced about the cost of the Christmas Fayre were also discussed. It was decided to keep the fee at £11 to cover the cost of prizes but to include free sandwiches and chips as this had proved very popular when it was introduced last year. This competition will be a non-qualifier for handicap purposes.

 

 

6 Honorary Secretary’s Report (TL)

I have signed up four new members since our last meeting: Ray Nicholls, Jack Kennedy, Alan Holme and Richard Newman. Martyn Graham, who has moved to Potton, will be joining us in March when his membership of South Beds expires. Martyn is keen to play in our matches, having previously played against us for South Beds.

Much of my time since our last meeting  has been spent negotiating new dates for Brocket Hall and Luffenham Heath home matches after the Bedfordshire County Ladies Week meant that we could not have Monday June 30 and Tuesday July 1.

I resolved Brocket Hall by simply swapping the home and away matches.

Luffenham Heath has been more difficult but, because of the circumstances, Nigel Tarn has agreed to let us have Friday August 15. This places us on JoG which I know Luffenham Heath were keen on. I am very grateful to Luffenham Heath who have been very understanding.

Bear in mind we were already one Tuesday down as the Sir Malcom Stewart Cup is always played on June 24 which this year falls on a Tuesday.

The club is now hosting a Faldo Junior Tour Series for 13 to 21-year-olds from August 11 to 13 which is a great scoop for John O’Gaunt but might impact on our home match against Saffron Walden on Tuesday August 12. As things stand our fixture is safe but I await further information from Nigel Tarn.

All these issues have convinced me that our calendar is so full in the main playing season that we cannot entertain any more events unless we drop something else.

I have contacted all the clubs we play where the staggered start will apply from next year and they have all responded enthusiastically.

The newsletter is now going out to 290 recipients which I think reflects the rude health of the Senior Section. Now that I understand the daily limit of 500 emails and the best practice of reducing links to a minimum I have experienced far fewer problems.

TL went on to present a draft report for the AGM

7 Competition Secretary’s Report (JL)

JL gave a brief report as there had been only one competition since our last meeting – the Christmas Fayre. He thanked colleagues who stepped in to help with the competition while he was recovering from knee surgery.

8 Match Secretary’s Report (AG)

Algy presented his draft report for the AGM

 He reported that the selection process for the first tranche of matches was now ready and suggested it was tested by committee members. If it worked TL would send the link to the rest of the membership.

In his capacity as Senior Representative on the Club’s Handicap Committee AG reported that winners of the Green Tilley and Holmwood Plate knockout competitions last year would see their handicaps cut by one stroke. This is now the club policy for all of the club knockout competition winners. This policy was endorsed by the Senior Section Committee to also be adopted for senior section singles knockouts (Green Tilley and Holmwood Plate) for 2024 onwards to ensure that we keep in step with the club.

Finally, Dave Wood volunteered to assist Algy with the selection process for matches.

9 Trophy Custodian’s Report (DW)

DW presented his draft report to the AGM.

A discussion was held about the menu for the Christmas Fayre which had met with mixed reviews. It was agreed to look at the possibility of a carvery in future or to revert to a Christmas Dinner menu.

Action point

DW to report back at the next meeting on March 13

10 AGM Agenda run-through

RWT led a discussion on the AGM agenda. It was reported that there had been no further nominations for office or requests for other agenda items.

Action point

TL to circulate the AGM agenda to all members. TL to ask the organiser of the roll up on the day of the AGM to get players out promptly so that they would have time for lunch before the AGM. TL to publicise in the newsletter and remind members that we need 30 members to be present for the meeting. TL to create sign-in sheets to record AGM attendance.

11 Committee eligibility

The committee exercised its authority under the constitution to set eligibility rules for anyone standing for office.

Currently the constitution states that  “only members of the senior section who have taken part in a minimum number of Section events  (the number to be determined by the committee from time to time) can stand for office”.

A motion proposed by the Captain was passed, adding:  “All members of the senior section at the time of the 2024 AGM to be held on Feb 4 2025 are eligible to stand for office on the senior section committee for 2025”.

12 Stableford roll up

A discussion was held on the roll up and the inclusion of dates where players could enter a card for handicap purposes. It was decided to operate those stableford roll ups which are on the 2025 calendar as previously agreed with Bill Walker. Roll up attendees will have the opportunity to confirm in advance of starting their round, by signing up via IG, if they wished it to be considered for handicap purposes and also informing their playing partners.

13 Contact details for 2025

TL had produced a list of contact details for 2025 and a list of officers of other clubs that we play in matches.

14 Charity donation

With money raised by the Senior Section plus money from raffles shared with us by the club we are able to donate £6,640 to the British Heart Foundation in addition to money already raised by the Longest Day Challenge for Macmillan Cancer Care. TL reported on the poll held by the club to determine which charity all four captains – club, ladies, seniors, juniors – would support this year. The result of the poll, and the name of the successful charity, should be known by the time of the Senior Section AGM.

15 AOB

A)      DW reported that the Baz Backhouse Trophy was considered by our Trophy supplier to be beyond repair and offered a choice of replacement trophies or using a similar one already in our possession. JL said he would have one last attempt at repairing the existing trophy.

B)      Discussion was held on how the sign up and fair selections would work if, for any reason, there becomes a problem to continue setting up the matches using Google Sheets – a very complicated process requiring exceptional I.T. skills.

C)     BD to contact Gordon McLeod to discuss interaction with the club over the handling of Senior Section finances

 

The meeting ended with RWT thanking all committee members for their hard work during the year.

 

Dates of future meetings

Tues Feb 4 after AGM

Thurs Mar 13

Thurs April 10

Thurs May 8

Thurs June 12

Thurs July 17

Thurs Aug 14

Tues Sep 16

Thurs Oct 16

Thurs Nov 13

Thurs Jan 13 2026/ Thurs Feb 3 AGM