Introducing your new Senior Section Committee, clockwise from top left: Seniors Captain Algy Grimes; Vice-Captain and Competitions Secretary Jonathan Lean; Immediate Past Captain Bill Walker; Match Secretary Andy Shilton; Honorary Secretary Richard Westergreen-Thorne; Honorary Treasurer Richard Coventry
The Committee was elected at the Seniors AGM at which reports were presented by all the officers, including retiring Honorary Treasurer Les Bolland, who was thanked for his past service.
Algy presents Bill with a gift from members following his two-year captaincy
Attendance: Bill Walker (BW), Algy Grimes (AG), David Gauge (DG), Les Bolland (LB), Jonathan Lean (JL), Richard Westergreen – Thorne (RWT)
Dave Wood (DW) (Item 3)
Tom Simm and Club Vice Captain Rob Bage were both absent on the recommendation of BW as the meeting was largely focussed on preparing for the AGM.
Minutes of meeting
1/ Minutes previous – it was agreed to correct reference to Wendy Ashdown to Wendy Ashcroft.
2/ Matters arising – action points from the previous meeting:
There were no items not covered elsewhere in the agenda.
3/ Review of Annual Dinner and Trophy arrangements
DW attended for this item and was thanked for his efforts in tracking down trophies, getting them engraved and organising both the Annual Dinner, Presentation Event and the awarding of trophies to 2020 and 2021 winners at various other times. The final presentation of the year took place just prior to the meeting.
Discussions covered the various aspects of the role undertaken by DW and any ‘lessons learned’ from 2021.
The key issue was the length of the Annual Dinner and the lateness of the hour when it finished. It was agreed that the dinner should be shortened and DW would look at:
Starting earlier than 6.45 for 7.15
Having large print copies of the seating plan available around the clubhouse to speed entry into the Burgoyne Suite
Discussions with the club for suggestions as to how the proceedings could be speeded up
DW agreed to continue with the role for 2022 and will return to a committee meeting later in the year to discuss plans for the Annual Dinner for 2022. DW will also undertake to ensure that the trophies are returned in time to be presented to their 2022 winners on the day of the competition and will liaise with JL, He will make use of the trophy space being given to the seniors by the club to store trophies and make it easier to keep track of them and get them engraved.
4/ Captains Report
The significant strategic development to note since our last committee meeting is the
agreement of a new financial structure for the Seniors’ Section agreed by the General
Management Committee meeting on 1st December 2021. This development was
communicated to the Section members on 9 December 2021. Despite drafting the
background to the proposal and the proposal itself, I continue to chase the record in the
minutes to determine precisely what was agreed.
The fundamentals are as follows:
1. The agreement ensures:
a. Continued Section financial viability.
b. Retention of Section financial autonomy.
c. Adequate control mechanisms would be put in place to ensure the
manageability of the Section.
2. The agreement with the Club covers:
a. Removal of Section annual subscriptions.
b. Alignment of Section competition entry fees with that of the Club (currently
£4
c. Club to provide annual honorarium in line with Ladies’ Section.
Matters to be agreed internally at this meeting:
What control measures are required to ensure Section events remain
Manageable if extra numbers come forward?
It was agreed at the meeting that we would need to be flexible depending upon sign up numbers. We would advertise our early events as two tee starts but if numbers were large then we may revert to a one tee start.
Do we retain a competition entry fee of £5? However, this would constitute
£4 entry fee £1 charity raffle. (All monies retained by the Section with
Section paying all competition costs.)
It was agreed at the meeting that we would keep to the club agreed £4 entry per competition and £1 charity raffle for competitions. It was noted that members did not have to pay a £10 membership fee in 2022.
Do we instigate a match entry fee on the basis of equanimity? If so, how
much?
It was agreed at the meeting that we would add a small match fee element to match costs and we hope that the match fees will not exceed £25 per match but this will be dependent on food costs.
RWT to follow up.
How do we maintain an adequate level of charitable giving?
It was agreed that AG would consider the various options and return to them at the next meeting.
Do we have sufficient safeguards to ensure continued liquidity?
LB confirmed that there was sufficient liquidity within the seniors' accounts for the transition to the new arrangements.
Do we need to draw up parameters for the use of the honorarium?
For example, expenditure confined to entertainment of Section guests and Section
event subsidies, drawn down onto Section card per requirement for club
house expenditure plus any expenditure outside club backed up with
receipts. All endorsed by Section Captain only or Vice Captain.
It was agreed that AG would devise some draft parameters for discussion at the next meeting.
Other Topics Ongoing
Annual Handicap Review. On Monday 10 January I participated in the Club’s annual
handicap review. This is a newly created procedure under the new WHI rules. These
rules flag up members whose handicap has varied during the year by amounts that
exceed pre-designated thresholds. The review was carried out by a subset of the Golf
Sub Committee. Namely, Golf Sub Committee chairman, the 3 Section Heads and
Michael Grace.
My main purpose was to provide input recommendations regarding Seniors’ Section members that had been flagged by the system. My input was expected to be based on any background information such as illness or injuries etc or with respect to members’ performance in non-qualifying events such as matches and roll ups. This latter input needed to be evidence based and not merely subjective. Given the late notice of this (14 December) evidence was limited and therefore so was my input.
For the future I have initiated a roll up record book to record the names of
members who take winnings and their score. Match performance we already have.
Hopefully this will allow more meaningful input next year. I also asked for more precision
regarding what constitutes evidence and what constitutes a non-qualifying event.
Greater control of trophies for Trophy Custodian (Dave Wood).
I have agreed with the General Manager that a lockable display cabinet will be allocated to the Trophy Custodian to enable him to take full control of all Seniors’ Section trophies.
Club Website – Seniors’ Section News Area. Our Blog Editor (Tony Lloyd (TL)) has
agreed to take charge of content within the Senior’s Section news area of the Club
website. A discussion is needed between TL and RWT to agree coherence rules
between Blog, Club website and newsletter if all 3 are to be continued.
Golf Sub Committee Meeting = Feedback
Lots of discussion regarding course format and impact on etiquette and members’ behaviour/conflict will be a significant point of discussion for next meeting. A proposal of allocating holes to members by surname for special attention when playing to: look for unrepaired divots, pitch marks, unraked bunkers with rewards for best holes on each course. The new website is to include webcams on first tees.
It was agreed that for the Prostate Project Day non-members of
Club will be required to pay a member’s guest green fee. This is not a change from
previous arrangements.
My report to the meeting covered the new Section financial structure. I was asked whether the new membership eligibility included Ladies. I responded that our eligibility criteria were not gender specific. This is in line with Club and national trends. My successor will be invited to the next meeting at 5pm on 15 February 2022.
Section Membership.
Clarity is required on the information published to all Club
members defining eligibility of Seniors’ Section membership and the process for
indicating members’ wish to participate in Seniors’ Section events. The General
Manager has agreed to announce the revised eligibility rules in a future round up
newsletter to members. However, he has counselled that, despite this newsletter being
sent to all members, only approximately 10% of members read it.
My view is that as long as we have done all we can to ensure that all Club members can “reasonably be expected to know” the eligibility criteria, we have met our remit.
Action: A reminder in the Newsletter to ensure that they are not ex-directory and upload a photo to help the Section Captain put as many names to faces as possible, would also be helpful.
It was agreed that we would use the mailing list for the Newsletter as the effective ‘membership list’ of those interested in taking part in seniors’ events. People would be on this list if they rolled over from 2021, contact RWT to express and interest in taking part, sign up for events and are then contacted by RWT.
5/ Treasurer's Report
LB reported that the books are with William Skelding for the audit in preparation for the AGM.
There is £2134.30 in the bank to carry over to start next year.
The balance sheet will be circulated once it is complete nearer the AGM
6/ Vice Captains Report
AG outlined his recent contacts with senior section members about their health and welfare.
The biggest challenge to the role is finding out about members who have health and other issues and It was agreed that a note would go in the Newsletter asking members to let the Vice Captain know if they hear of any member that we should contact.
7/ Hon. Sec Report
Since the last meeting I have been progressing several related items as we ready ourselves for 2022. These include:
- publishing the 2022 calendar of events to members and dealing with members queries and questions
- setting up the matches for 2022 on the IG system and revising the paperwork that will go out to match organisers and participants ready for launching the sign-up arrangements after the AGM
- inviting 2021 Match organisers to take the same responsibilities in 2022 before opening out to the membership
- starting the process of responding to and contacting fellow secretaries at other clubs ready to send out our contact and officer details to them after the AGM and begin calendar planning for 2023 (we have already received one offer of dates for 2023)
Next steps include inducting and supporting the new Match Secretary into their role and publishing the sign-up arrangements for matches. I also am awaiting from Michael Grace a copy of the 2022 menu so that we can agree a charge to participants in matches – it will need to go up from the current £20 a match but how much?
The arrangements for the AGM are in hand and the Agenda will be confirmed at the Committee Meeting on 18th January and published to members after the Committee Meeting.
We need to agree the ‘membership’ arrangements for 2022 and the information sent to club members about participation in our events during the year.
8/ Comp. Sec. Report
Since the last meeting we have had the following competitions.
The Arthur Lucas Bring and Win on 16th November was won by Andy Shilton with 40 points, a clear winner over Paul Life in 2nd place with 38 points and Ralph Black in 3rd , also with 38 points. There were 60 entrants. A few ‘prizes’ left over which can be added to the pot for raffles or other Charity raising efforts.
The Christmas Fayre was a Shotgun start attracting the maximum of 75 entrants. Congratulations to Richard Westergreen-Thorne who won with 37 points just edging out Greg Whitecross and Steve Cooper who also had 37 points.
I have now entered all the 2022 competitions on the system. As agreed, all will be 2-tee starts at 9 minute intervals with a start time of 9am to allow for course preparation. There will now be only 2 zones – early and late. The exceptions to this will be the Arthur Lucas Bring and Win and the Christmas Fayre which will both be Shotgun starts at 10am.
This new arrangement does limit the numbers of entrants slightly as follows:-
JOG – 84 players in groups of 3 with 14 groups off each tee.
CAR – 81 players in groups of 3 with 15 groups off the 1st tee and 12 off the 9th tee.
Shotgun – 75 players in groups of 3 with 7 groups starting 5 minutes early off seven selected tees.
The following issues need to be decided:-
Do we continue with the £5 entry fee consisting of £2 entry and £3 raffle? Does this need to change to bring us into line with other club competitions? I do not think that we should revert to selling raffle tickets on the day to raise money for the charity raffle as there have been no objections that I am aware of to the current system. We can easily revert to bottles of wine as prizes if this is preferred with just names of the winners on the bottles but I like the idea of supporting the pro shop with winning vouchers. These can be purchased in advance if preferred so that prizes can be awarded on the day.
It was agreed at the meeting that the entry fee would be £5 for all competitions with £1 going to the Captains Charity.
There has been some discussion about the format of the scramble competitions. At the moment, after the tee shots, only the players whose drive was not taken will take the next shot until the ball is on the green. It has been pointed out to me that this is not the way that the Ken Robinson was designed, and we should revert to all players playing each shot.
It was agreed at the meeting that we would continue with the current rules as this allowed all four team members more opportunity to be involved.
9/ Immediate Past Captains Report
DG had no matters to report.
10/ AGM
The meeting reviewed the draft agenda for the AGM prior to it being circulated to members. It was confirmed that the reports to members by officers will refer to 2021 matters and thoughts regarding 2022 would be covered in the agenda items after the Officers are elected for 2022.
It was confirmed that questions for the Q&A session after the AGM could be sent to RWT in advance of the meeting as well as raised from the floor.
After the AGM the Minutes will be circulated, and this will include Officers Reports. RWT asked that he is sent copies of the notes used by Officers when making their reports soon after the meeting so that they can be circulated with the minutes.
Prostate Day
After discussion it was agreed that BW would seek a meeting for the Committee with the organisers Tony Goodson and Jim Kerr to confirm what help was required and how the seniors could assist with the arrangements.
Administrators for Clothing and Invitations from other clubs
Derek Young has come forward to take on the role of Clothing Administrator.
Ken Doggrell has stood down as the Administrator for those invitations from other clubs and it was agreed that RWT would take over the roll as part of his duties as Hon. Sec.
AOB
Club Website – RWT outlined the discussions he had held with Tony Lloyd who is taking on the responsibility for content in the senior’s element of the News section on the club website alongside that of the blog.
The website has the potential to be very useful once the club moves to a new website. In its current format its use is limited to the publication of brief articles of which only the last six are easily visible to members at any one time and entries for other club events and activities also find their way into this section.
It was agreed that a ‘Meet the Committee’ piece would be placed on the news section and the blog soon after the AGM. Tony Lloyd has requested photographs, and these will be supplied by committee members at the AGM.
Swap Day – it was agreed that BW would investigate with the club whether it would be feasible to have a swap day in 2023. If that were the case then we would look to find an interested club.
Paul Marshall asked a question about getting more competition boards on display in the clubhouse and BW agreed to write to Paul updating him on progress.
Rafe Bateson raised a concern about the quality of the scorecards and this will be passed on to the General manager.
Andy Shilton asked about the lower age for senior membership being 55. He had been informed that the traditional age for membership was 60 and this was similar to most of the clubs we play in matches. However, lowering the age has been informally discussed with the club and the decision was made to limit changes at the moment to the changes associated with the membership fee but could be returned to at a later date.
Date and time of next meeting – 1st Feb immediately after the AGM
Action – AG to bring proposed dates for 2022 Committee Meetings to the meeting on 1st Feb.
Just one more presentation Captain Bill before you step down! Alan Kirkham receives a certificate and pro shop voucher for his runner-up place in the Senior Section Golfer of the Year competition. Alan scored 79 points throughout the season, the winner, Paul Hammond, having collected 93.
The final Senior Section competition of the year was a resounding success, with 75 golfers competing on a surprisingly mild December day from the John O'Gaunt yellow tees.
As ever with the Christmas Fayre, everyone went away with a prize of a cut of meat or bottle of wine or spirits.
In first place, on 37 points, was Richard Westergreen-Thorne. Close behind him, also on 37 points but beaten on countback, were Greg Whitecross and Steve Cooper.
Just pipped on 36 points were Philip Armstrong, Chris Dennis, Paul Hammond, Ian Riches and Michael Newstead.
Winners of previous competitions who had been unable to collect their prizes were also recognised.
Seniors Section trophy winners who were unable to receive their awards at the recent presentation evenings were finally recognised at a mini-ceremony outside the clubhouse after the Christmas Fayre competition.
Club Vice Captain Rob Bage was presented with the Reg Batson Trophy, Rob and Algy Grimes were awarded the Captains vs Vice Captains Trophy and Chris Sullivan received the Annual Stableford Trophy for 2020.
One of the highlights of the Senior Section calendar was held in the Burgoyne Suite when around 80 members and guests gathered for the annual dinner and presentation of trophies for 2021.
The evening opened on a sombre note with Seniors Section Captain Bill Walker paying tribute to Jim Peacock and John Ellary, two stalwarts of the section who passed away recently. Everyone stood to remember Jim, a former Senior Section Captain, and John, who was responsible for section clothing. Members touched their ties in a fitting tribute.
After Grace and the Loyal Toast, Captain Bill gave his address and Toast to the club, ladies and guests, followed by a response from Club Captain Pauline Aubigne.
This was followed by a presentation of a cheque for £4,282 to Michelle Hutchinson of Macmillan Cancer Support. Over Captain Bill's two-year tenure the section has donated the grand total of £11,481 to his chosen charity, which Michelle told the audience was invaluable for their work in the community.
Moving on to the main business of the evening Captain Bill, assisted by Master of Ceremonies Dave Wood, presented Trophies to the following for their endeavors during 2021.
I 
Other 2021 winners were: Clive Thompson, Rex Cleaver Championship Trophy; Rob Bage, Reg Batson Aggregate Trophy; Rob Bage and Algy Grimes, Captains v Vice Captains Shield; Philip Armstrong, Kethro Tray Captain’s Trophy, Some, who were not able to attend the dinner, were presented with their trophies at last week's presentation evening.
