2020 AGM Agenda

 

2020 AGM Agenda (2:30pm Tuesday 2nd February 2021)

 

1. Welcome by the Captain

2. Apologies for Absence

3. Minutes of the 2019 AGM (taken as read)

4. Matters Arising

5. Captain’s Report - attached

6. Honorary Secretary’s Report - attached

7. Competition Secretary’s Report - attached

8. Honorary Treasurer’s Report and adoption of Accounts – report attached

9. Appointment of an Auditor

10. Appointment of Officers for 2021

 

Position	Nominee	Proposer	Seconder
Captain	Bill Walker	Algy Grimes	Jim Peacock
Vice-Captain	Algy Grimes	Bill Walker	Michael Newstead
Honorary Secretary	Richard Westergreen-Thorne	Bill Walker	Jim Peacock
Honorary Treasurer	Les Bolland	Bill Walker	Chris Roy
Match Secretary	Richard Westergreen-Thorne	Bill Walker	Chris Roy
Competition Secretary	Jonathan Lean	Bill Walker	Michael Newstead

 

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

 

11. Address by the Captain

12. Address by the Honorary Secretary

13. Address by the Competition Secretary

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

15. Close of Meeting

 

 

 

 

Welcome by the Captain

Gentlemen, 

In place of the normal verbal Captain’s welcome to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Seniors’ Section of the John O’Gaunt Golf Club, I would simply like to thank you all for your tolerance and cooperation in facilitating this virtual meeting  caused by Covid19 restrictions. By way of context, we will confine ourselves to those essential matters that require our attention in order for the Section to continue to operate in a constitutional manner. It is hoped that, at some time during 2021, we will be able to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting to deal with any outstanding business.   We will therefore follow an agenda that is as similar as possible to a normal AGM agenda. Items that require a vote of members have been dealt with through an on-line survey taken in the preceding week. Committee members’ annual reports and addresses covering the coming year are provided as part of these minutes,

Bill Walker

2020 Captain’s Report

There is a saying, “if you want to make God laugh, tell him what is going to happen”. When I rose to my feet to address you on the 4 February 2020 having just assumed the role as your Captain, like so many people I had my 2020 vision. How wrong can you be? This year of Covid19 has certainly been a year of trials and tribulations like no other. No matches, a reduced number of competitions with no presentations and 3 periods of lockdown with us all at varying levels of risk to our health and wellbeing to mention just some.  

A motto that is close to my heart (that of the Royal Air Force) is “Per ardua ad Astra” “Through adversity to the Stars”, and in so many ways I feel that we in the Seniors’ Section have lived up to that. We have welcomed so many new members to our ranks that we ended this difficult year with more members than when we started. Together and through the longest day event on 21st June, the coffee morning on 23rd September and the reduced number of competitions, we raised a magnificent £5,291.99 for Macmillan Cancer Support in a year when the need was never greater. Please see the attached letter of appreciation from Macmillan Cancer Support with a statement of how our donations are being used.   

It has, nevertheless, been a busy year for your committee with so much needing to be done behind the scenes to keep the Club functioning as best it could within the many and changing restrictions placed upon it. I am pleased to say that the Club has looked to the Seniors’ Section Committee and members for our cooperation and support which we have given willingly. As a result, I feel the relationship between Club and Seniors’ Section has grown closer. This is illustrated in a variety of ways from the secondment of Seniors’ Section Captain onto the Golf & Social Sub-committee as well as the Focus Group created to select our next Head PGA Professional to the repositioning of our honours boards to a prominent position in the club house and many more improvements in between. I can assure you that this trend is set to continue.

I wish to pay tribute to my Committee who have worked tirelessly in the background to respond to short notice changes to plans in order to maximise our opportunities to play the game we love while keeping us as safe as possible within this ever changing environment of restrictions. Also, I wish to express sincere thanks to our cadre of ex-officio members who have contributed their part to oiling the wheels of our Section. In particular, Tony Lloyd for managing our blog to keep us all abreast of events, and Anthony Bell, who stepped into the breach to create and manage a Covid19 safe roll-up that he named The Tuesday Group. Also, those who stood ready but whose role was severely restricted by the pandemic, John Ellary(Clothing) Dave Woods (Trophies and Annual Dinner) Ken Doggrell (open invitations).  Last but certainly not least my thanks to Malcolm Lee for setting up the “unlocked Seniors” WhatsApp Group. If there has been one characteristic of our Section that has kept us together through these difficult times, it has to be communication. For that I am sure all members will agree that, in addition to those mentioned,  Richard Westergreen-Thorne’s newsletter has been informative, amusing and an absolute must Sunday morning read.  

So, in summary, a difficult year, but one which has provided a platform for your Section to grow in stature and prominence within a Club that has come through adversity and continues to aim for the stars.

Bill Walker

Annual Report by the Honorary Secretary

 

Not the year we had planned or hoped for at the time of last year’s AGM and we must simply look back and appreciate the golf that we were able to play during the year.

 

It was very pleasing to see that we were able to restart competitions very quickly when given the all clear to do so but sadly that did not extend to matches with other clubs. In discussions with these clubs it was clear that they had similar emotions to us as the year unfolded. It is pleasing to note however that all were very keen to renew rivalries and friendships with us as soon as we are able to resume playing inter club matches. As a consequence, we have a full fixture list for 2021 including all of the clubs that we were due to play in 2020 – let’s hope we can play some of these matches as the season progresses.

 

Both before the initial lockdown started and then again during the summer lockdown relaxation period we were able to respond to contacts from two additional clubs looking to play matches with us. Whilst we do not currently have vacancies for games it is good to know that we have the security of options to play other clubs in the future if we were in a position to need them.

 

I was very pleased to see that the Senior Section Blog reached a fantastic 10,000 hits during the year. At such times as these it has proved an invaluable way to keep in touch with members and record for posterity our activities.  Thanks go to Tony Lloyd for maintaining the blog and updating information so quickly including the notes of our committee meetings. In particular, the blog gave us the opportunity to showcase what was going on within the Seniors including the results of each competition that took place and, in most cases, accompanied with a photograph of the winner. I know that many people appreciated the opportunity to look at the results and the scores as a substitute for the prize giving at the end of competitions.

 

The weekly Newsletter was used as our main means of communicating all things seniors as the year progressed. It was pleasing to see a steady stream of responses to each edition and the engagement of members in sending in suggestions for Newsletter content and providing helpful feedback to the Committee. 

 

A popular decision was to run the ‘Virtual Knockouts’ in the early part of the year as a substitute for real golf. Fate took a turn and we reached the stage of the final pairings just as we started to play competitions again so it seemed to be an almost seamless transition.

The AGM is usually a time to look back over the exploits of the past year but, as we embark on 2021, we are better served this year in looking forward to the opportunities to play golf that lie ahead - and finally getting to grips with the new handicap system.

 

Richard Westergreen - Thorne

Annual Report by the Competition Secretary 

 

As you can imagine, this report will be a lot shorter than normal due to the greatly reduced number of competitions that we were able to hold.

 

The first casualties of the pandemic were the Green Tilley Singles knockout and the Foursomes knockout.  At the time when the first rounds were due to be played there was great uncertainty about what we would and would not be able to do on the golf course.

The first competition that we were able to hold ‘properly’ was the Reg Batson Trophy on 14thJuly after the first lockdown restrictions were lifted.  Strict protocols were put in place for this and all other competitions.  Although normally a medal competition, the committee decided that it would be kinder to change it to Stableford off the Yellow Tees on Carthagena – about as gentle as we could make it!  An easing back into competition golf.  Congratulations to Ian Riches (41 point!), Jack van Gorder (39 points) and Alan Kirkham (39 points) who took the honours.

Next up was the Senior Section Annual Stableford on 28th July held on JOG off the Yellow Tees.  Well done to Chris Sullivan (39 points), David Wood (37 points) and Richard Westergreen-Thorne (37 points) who were on the podium for this one.

 

Senior Captain’s Day was able to take place on 25th August but with a greatly revised schedule of special events on the day.  Honours were taken by Richard Cooper (37 points), Tom McEvoy (35 points) and Ian Riches (again!) (34 points).

 

The Bailiff Shield was held on 1st September with Ralph Black (37 points), David Wood (36 points) and Neil Pinnington (35 points) scooping the prizes.

 

October was busy with The Gordon Percival Team Trophy on 6th (won by Len Greaves, Sam Standen and Stephen Foster with Nick Schumann winning the Martin Ives individual Stableford best score with 38 points.  This was closely followed by the Seniors Autumn Singles Stableford on 13th October (Richard Coventry 35 points, Ian Riches (again!) 34 points and Stephen Collins 34 points prevailing) and then the Seniors 3 Clubs and a Putter on 20th October.  This was won with an incredible 41 points by Philip Armstrong closely followed by Sam Standen (39 points) and Nick Seeley (36 points).

 

The TSB Seniors vs Juniors on 27th October was an honourable draw but with the trophy being handed to the Juniors to keep clean until next year!

 

Finally, the last competition we were able to hold was the Seniors and Ladies Scramble on 3rdNovember.  This was won by Bill Walker, Elaine Olson-Williams, Bill Conway and Jean Cobb with a nett 67.8.

 

Because of the very restricted number of competitions that we were able to hold it was decided that the Golfer of the Year award should not be given this year.  Next year it will be an interesting event with the new World Handicap System allowing for larger adjustments of handicap index both up and down.

 

Many thanks to all those who entered the competitions in 2020.  The Senior Section came under constant praise from JOG administration for the high number of competitors who were able to successfully enter their scores on the IG app thus vastly reducing the work required to finalise competitions and to get the results out quickly.

 

Jonathan Lean

 

TREASURER’S REPORT   

1st January 2020 – 31st December 2020

 

Gentlemen, it is my privilege to present the John O’Gaunt Senior Section audited accounts for the year end 31st December 2020.

 

At the end of the last financial year to 31st December 2020 our end of year balance was £3878, which is up on £2392 the previous year. This is out of step and higher than the levels we have tried to maintain. This is entirely due to the lack of events this year. This has meant a lack of subsidy to the likes of the Christmas Fayre and Senior’s Dinner. 

 

To address the issue subscriptions will therefore be £5 for 2021.

 

I am very grateful to the officers and the organisers of the competitions we did hold for collecting the money and for using the account sheets provided. This helps me account for the money and keep the books straight and makes the audit easier.

 

We have made a profit this year of £1486. All the money taken in will, as always, be spent for the benefit of the members and will continue to be in this coming year.

 

This leaves us with the healthy and sensible final year balance of £3878 (including £2663 in the current account) to take forward into our new financial year of 1st January – 31st December 2021.

 

The entry fee for any matches played will therefore remain at £20.

 

I would like to express my sincere thanks to William Skelding for carrying out the audit this year. 

 

I would also express my grateful thanks to John Ellary who ably runs the supply of Senior Section clothing and ties.

Les Bolland

 

 

2020 Annual General Meeting

 

 

 

2020 Annual General Meeting

Tuesday 2nd February 2021 at 2.30pm

 

NB: Only those who have (re)joined the Section and paid the annual fee before 2nd February 2021 are entitled to participate in and vote at the Meeting. 

 

The following are already proposed for office and a seconder is requested – email jogshonsec@gmail.com if you wish to second any of the following: 

 

Position	Nominee	Proposer
Captain	Bill Walker	Algy Grimes
Vice-Captain	Algy Grimes	Bill Walker
Honorary Secretary &  Match Secretary	Richard Westergreen- Thorne	Bill Walker
Competitions Secretary	Jonathan Lean	Bill Walker
Honorary Treasurer	Les Bolland	Bill Walker

 

Other nominations are welcome and must be proposed and seconded by 2020 members and the nominee indicate their agreement to be nominated in writing to the Hon Sec (email to jogshonsec@gmail.com) by Monday 18th January 2021. If other valid nominations are received, a vote will take place in advance of the AGM. 

 

Proposals for Any Other Business should be notified to the Hon Sec by email by Monday 18th January 2021. Items should be Proposed and Seconded by two 2020 Golfing Members of the Section who should be named on the written request. 

 

Richard Westergreen - Thorne (Hon. Sec.) 30 December 2020 

 

Senior Section Committee Meeting 9th December 2020

Notes for members - Senior Section Committee Meeting

9th December 2020

 

In Attendance

Bill Walker (BW), Algy Grimes (AG), David Gauge (DG), Les Bolland (LB),

Jonathan Lean (JL), Richard Westergreen – Thorne (RWT), Peter Horlock (PH) and Gordon Macleod (GM) (for item 1)

 

Notes

1. Peter Horlock 

PH and GM joined the meeting and discussed a range of topics including the works being undertaken on the course, current playing arrangements, pro shop, Captains Charity and clubhouse/catering.

2. Minutes Previous 

These were accepted as a true record.

3. Matters Arising 

All actions from the previous meeting had been completed or were on the agenda for this meeting.

4. Captains Report

The 5 weeks since our last meeting has been relatively quiet on the active golfing front given that we were locked down for 4 of them. However, a number of important matters have been highlighted to the members through the weekly newsletter 2 of which contained rather lengthy Captain’s Corners.

The main topics covered were as follows:

1. Section Finances for 2021 proposing a reduction to £5. This received some push back

proposing that it remain at £10 with any surplus being used to support the Juniors’

Section. The way forward has been agreed ex-committee and needs endorsement at

this meeting.

 

2. Section Status. Evidence of our work looking into the formalisation of the Seniors’

Section provoked a small number of responses (10). The majority were supportive,

although a few expressed concern about the potential increase in membership causing

management difficulties in organisation of competition, match and social activities as

well as diluting the level of camaraderie and ethos of our group. If all members of 55 and

above became Seniors’ Section members, the Section would stand at 599 which

represents over 50% of the Club membership. I have been in contact with members of

The Elders at Gog Magog GC (considered a Club of similar size) to compare best practice.

I am currently looking into the Club’s archives to clarify details of our original

inauguration leading to our current status and working with the Club to clarify details

and agree a way forward.

 

3. Due to a misunderstanding regarding dates the exchange day with Northampton GC for 2021 has had to be cancelled. A date of 18 July 2022 for this event has been tentatively agreed . I have invited the 2 representatives of Northampton Seniors’ Section to visit us as guests next year as a means of keeping in touch and they have responded with a reciprocal  invitation.

 

4. A short note was included in my last Captain’s Corner to highlight the relocation of the

Seniors’ Section’s Honours Board to the alcove opposite the main bar

 

Following discussion it was agreed that BW should continue to liaise with the club regarding Senior Section status.

 

 

5. Vice Captains Report

AG reported on the members of the section with whom he has been in contact and their progress back to playing golf.

6. Treasurers Report

The state of play as of today (3rd December) is as follows.

 

Cash in the bank £5117.60

Of this £2085.30 is captain’s charity money

Leaving a balance of £3032.30

 

At present we are all square with the club with just the Xmas Fayre to come.

There are 81 signed up to that which gives an income of £405 of which £243 will go to the captain’s charity leaving an income of £162. The prizes and raffle will be £290 meaning that I will subsidise the event £128.

 

If the subs are £5 with any payments over that going to charity then I am subsidising the subs by £850 (assuming 170 sign ups). That gives a total subsidy for Xmas Fayre and subs of £978

 

The Xmas Fayre last year spent £800 on prizes plus subsidy for the senior’s dinner was £400. Total £1200 (figures rounded up)

 

Three decisions need to be made on our usual gratuity to the F & B staff, our donation to the Juniors, and our gift of wine to the admin staff. For the last 3 years we have given the F & B staff £200. We have given the Juniors £100

and the admin staff a bottle of wine each. That is 6 bottles as I include Richard and the gardener.

 

My recommendation is that we do the same this year.

 

I also propose that we give a nice bottle of something to Lee and Sue. They have been very good to us over the discounted vouchers and it would be a one off.

 

The recommendations by LB were agreed and LB will distribute the presents and donations over the next few days.

 

7. Hon. Sec Report

Not a great deal has taken place since our previous meeting and my focus has been on

moving things forward for next year.

 

I still receive a small but steady number of questions, queries and observations from

members usually following a ‘prompt’ in the Newsletter.

 

With the calendar now fixed I am about to enter the matches with other clubs on to the club diary to go alongside the competitions that Jonathan is putting on to the system. It is the start of the AGM season and I have already heard from South Beds about their new officers for 2021. Like us they seem to be waiting to see what happens over the coming weeks with regards to fulfilling matches and the arrangements for them if they do take place. I will pass on any comments from other clubs that may be of interest regarding their plans for 2021.

 

Further to the comments by Bill Walker in his report Northampton have agreed a provisional date for 2022 but this would be a Carthagena day unless it was 3 balls from 11.00am. This will need to be further discussed with them and, hopefully, that can be done over a game with their Captain and colleague in the new year.

 

I have been in contact with Dave Wood and he is doing a very good job trying to keep track of the trophies. We will need to make sure that trophies are engraved with the new winners’ names and I have asked Dave to let me know the current position as I believe some have already been engraved by winners.

 

Once we have had this meeting and made a number of decisions regarding 2021

arrangements, including those for the AGM, I will go ahead and circulate to members.

 

8. Comp. Sec. Report

No competitions have taken place since the last committee meeting since the Powerball competition had to be cancelled.

There is one remaining competition this year with the Seniors Christmas Fayre and Baz Backhouse Trophy on Tuesday 22 nd December. Currently the entry list is full with 81 players and there are 16 on the waiting list. Proving to be very popular despite the weather and lack of the usual prizes.

I will start to put the 2021 competitions on the system now that the calendar is finalised. I will attempt to complete this job before Christmas.

There is still a fair amount of uncertainty about the format for these competitions because of Covid. Michael Grace is keen that we continue with a 1 tee start to maximise the number of players that can enter. He is happy to block off tee times from 7.30am up to around 1pm which would allow 102 players playing in threes. Using 2-tee starts would limit this to the following:-

JOG and CAR 3-balls – 69 players

JOG and CAR 4-balls – 92 players

If you look at previous competitions such as the Autumn Stableford from 2019, it used a 2 tee start from 8.30. The field had a maximum of 81 people playing at 9 minute intervals. That is the minimum gap you would go to. R&A recommend 10 minutes (3 balls) and 12 Minutes (4 balls) but Michael advised that we don’t follow that too closely as it would seriously reduce capacity.

A One tee start from 7.30 – 12.54 @ 9 minute intervals would get up to 111 golfers playing. The recommendation is to insert gap times at 9.00; 10.30; 12.00 to keep a better pace of play meaning 102 golfers would be able to play. Far better numbers realistically.

Pace of play is far harder to ascertain in a 2 tee start. David used to provide a finish time on the card too which acted as a good guide. There is an issue and expectation with pace of play at JOG which can be unrealistic but we should be targeting 4hours on CAR and 4hours 15 on JOG as realistic expectations.

We are maintaining 10 minute tee time gaps for social distancing purposes and to optimise course capacity.  Most of our competitions are 3 ball playing groups where theoretically we can go down to 9 minutes but having to leave ‘gaps’ to keep a better pace of play.  This results in virtually no change in maximum numbers who can play.

 

Traditionally we have had the presentations immediately after finalising the competition which, with a 2-tee start would be around 2.30-3pm. With a 1 tee start this would be delayed until 5 - 5.30pm so none of the early starters would still be there.

JL to enter the competitions for 2021 on to the system as a one tee start. When we are able to return to holding presentations in the clubhouse we will review this arrangement. The alternative, once presentations are allowed again, is a two tee start which makes it easier to hold a presentation but which limits the numbers able to play.

9. Immediate Past Captains Report

Nothing to report.

10. 2021 arrangements

The subscriptions arrangements for 2021 were agreed in item 6 above.

Two tee start for competitions for 2021 is part of the ongoing discussion with the club led by BW and noted in his report.

Both Knockout competitions have been entered on to the system for 2021.

It was agreed that RWT will offer to those members due to organise individual matches in 2020 first refusal to organise the same matches in 2021. It was agreed that match fees for 2021 will remain at £20 subject to a final check on catering costs and menu choices by RWT. Arrangements for recruitment of players would remain the same as planned for 2020 with an expectation that members play Home and Away against the same club. Selection over the season to be based on the fairness criteria used in 2019 to give everyone roughly the same opportunity to play.

It was agreed that we will publish a paper version of the Senior Section Calendar for 2021alongside an electronic version.

Once the arrangements for 2021 are confirmed and officers appointed at the AGM RWT will circulate a revised entry for the Senior Section segment on the club website to be uploaded.

11. AGM 

It was agreed that the AGM would proceed on 2nd February as a ‘virtual’ meeting. The arrangements for publication of notice of meeting, nomination for Officers for 2021 and the invitation to members for agenda items, etc. would proceed as normal.

DG will investigate Survey Monkey as a means to canvas members views on any topics where  a vote is needed at the AGM. 

It was agreed that there would be no changes proposed at the AGM in the Constitution (latest version 2017). If there was a need to discuss changes to the constitution at a later stage then an EGM of members would be held.

12. Trophies and presentation to winners 

A report from Dave Wood had been circulated in advance of the meeting. This report included an audit of the status of each of the trophies, their condition and where they are held at present. 

RWT will contact Dave about the engraving of the trophies and he will report back at the next meeting.

13. Date and time of next meeting 

19th Jan time to be agreed 

14. 2nd Feb – AGM 

The committee will meet at 2pm (provisional time) to conduct the business of the AGM.