MINUTES OF THE A.G.M OF BENAVISTA BOWLS CLUB HELD AT BENAVISTA COUNTRY CLUB ON 1^ST APRIL 2010 AT 12.30

 

1. Present – 34 Members attended (see attached list)
2. Apologies – 31 Apologies were received
3. Proxy votes – 29 Proxy votes were received.
4. The Chairman of the meeting Club Vice-President Tony Farmer welcomed all the members and new members to the meeting. He called for 3 tellers to supervise the voting, Neil Marshall, Jan McManus and Roger Fabron volunteered.
5. The minutes of the last meeting were accepted. Proposed by Len Musgrove and seconded by Dave Finestone.
6. There were no matters arising from the minutes of the last A.G.M.
7. President’s report – Vice-President Tony Farmer then read out the Presidents report. He once again welcomed all members old and new to the A.G.M. he also welcomed Hughie Holgate our President and owner. He said that since Hughie had taken over the Club it had been like a breath of fresh air, and thanked him for all the improvements in both the club facilities, and the bowling facilities including the fact that we now had Sunday bowling on a regular basis and he thanked Allan Bates for arranging them. We also had more sponsored competitions many of which were members only. He thanked the staff at the club for their cheerful service and the fact both food and drinks were now available 7 days a week, from 10am through happy hour and until 8.00pm. He talked about the annual and 6 monthly playing fees available to members and said Hughie would talk about these later in the meeting. He also said that our membership was reducing year on year due to various reasons, and the bottom line was that expenditure was more than our income by about €900 per year. It was only due to efforts of the social committee Maggie, Frances, Judy and Doreen, raising extra money through raffles and social events that our bank balance remained stable. With regard to Sponsorship all the sponsored competitions for the coming year have been agreed (a list is attached) the main sponsor being Black Tower and Tony asked that members consult them if they needed financial advice, he also said that there was a possibility that San Miguel may sponsor a new competition. He stated that we will be entering 3 teams in the Tigers and the Lions League which had reverted to a 4 trip format.  He then thanked the 2009/10 committee for all their hard work, Neil Marshall who had not only organised both of our Classic Competitions, but also 10 other Club Competitions and Ros Wright for writing out some 1000 score cards. Russell Roper the Treasurer for keeping the club finances under control, Doreen Fabron Secretary for everything she did, and Bill Ogden who as Vice-Captain stood in for the Captain whenever necessary and was on the selection committee. Dennis King a Captain who has the total interests of Benavista Bowling Club at heart and Diana his long suffering wife, Ken McBride as our Federation Representative and lastly Sandy Guthrie for his input to the selection committee. Finally he wished the new committee every success in the coming year. (Copy of full report attached)
8. Captain’s report – Tony Farmer then read out the Captains report as Dennis King was playing in the final of the Santa Maria Open. Dennis thanked all the committee for their dedication and hard work for the past year. He thought that results over the year had been indifferent, but we still managed to finish runners up in the Tigers League and the Leopards still had a chance of winning the Lions League. He also congratulated all the members who had had individual success in various competitions over the 2009/10    season. He said he wished to draw the attention of members to dress code and said we should be proud of representing our club and we should endeavour to wear club shirts on all occasions when we represent the club. He also said that he had noticed dissention, from some members during the year. It is not fair to pick on a single member of the committee because all decisions are jointly made! If you have a complaint or comment put it in writing and it will be discussed at the next committee meeting. If we do not know about it we cannot deal with the problem. He went on to wish Steve McManus a speedy recovery from his illness. He thanked Hughie and his staff for providing the facilities and refreshments during the last year, and also the social committee for their hard work. Lastly he wished the new committee every success for the coming season, and said despite some member’s complaints, we are a friendly club where everybody is welcome. (Copy of full report attached)
9. Treasurer’s report – Russell Roper presented the treasurers report and the Balance Sheet. He stated that the opening balance €7330 and the closing balance €7409 which means the club only received €79 of income over expenditure. Our stock in hand was worth €943. The membership figures have declined again and we had 25 less members for the year ending 31^st December 2009. In the hope costs will not increase too much in 2010 the budget has been reduced to €2315 and fees would remain at €17. He said that over the last few years the bank balance had increased and to that end the club proposed to subsidise new club shirts and introduce more prizes for club competitions which will be discussed later in the meeting. Finally he thanked Roger Fabron for his help in collecting the annual subscriptions and Doreen Fabron for managing the finances during his absence. Tony Farmer then called for a proposer for the acceptance of the balance sheet. Proposer D. Musgrove, Seconder Frank Vernon. (Copy of full report attached.)
10. Hughie Holgate - President and owner of the Club thanked the retiring committee for their hard work during the past year. He said he was introducing a new range of playing fees for the club members starting 1^st September 2010, it consisted of 3 options and members could combine 2 of the options depending on how long they were here for.

Option 1. €50 per month playing fee.

Option 2. Quarterly playing fees – the first 3 quarters @ €115 and the summer quarter @ €55.

Option 3. Four monthly playing fees – the 2 four months @ €150 and the last @ €100

Options 1 & 2 could be combined or options 1 & 3. This would mean the yearly playing fee would rise by €20 to €400 per annum for the permanent and the rest of the members who spent part of the year in England would be able to choose how much they wished to pay. (Full list of playing fees attached.) He said that he knew that 90% of the members at the club supported the club; there were still those members who just played their game and left without even buying a drink. He quoted the example of the Siddalls Bar.B.Q which was free at the end of the Super 8 competition and attended by 95 members, as opposed to the last Bar.B.Q. he arranged at the club which was attended by only 13 members. He said that the atmosphere was good, and the spectators enjoyed watching the bowlers whilst having lunch or drinks. He is trying to make the best of the club and along with the help of the committee he asked members to support the facilities of the club. He needs to increase the revenue of the club house to make it viable. He reminded the meeting, the committee do not get paid for their services, and if members have a complaint they should remember this, and put the complaint in writing, so it can be discussed. He then asked for question, David Finestone asked for confirmation as to which 2 options could be combined and asked if there was any incentive for playing all fees up front, Hughie said he would give a free Planche meal as an incentive. Frank Vernon asked if there would still be the €7 pay as you play fee, he was told no, but if members did not want to pay any of the playing fee options they would have to €10 for 3 hours or 21 ends the same as the public. Frank thought this would discourage at lot of short term members. Doreen Musgrove pointed out that under the new arrangements members would be able to play for 7 months at the same price they now play for 6 months. Hughie said he was trying to keep everyone happy, and that his partner who now wants 6 monthly meetings to discuss finances suggested every member had to pay €100 up front and then €5 per game! He said the committee quickly kicked that suggestion into touch!!

1. A proposal to amend the make up of the selection committee was tabled by Ken McBride and Neil Marshall. The proposal was to decrease the number to 4, the Club Captain and the 3 team side captains. (Copy of the proposal attached) It was asked how the side captains would be chosen, would they be nominated, elected at the A.G.M or chosen by the committee. Doreen Musgrove said the teams would still be picked in the same way. Bill did not agree with the change, Richard Welton asked if there would be any more scope for manoeuvre, Doreen Land thought the side captains would want to keep their teams unchanged as they do today, Neil agreed sometimes the selection committee got things wrong. Russell Roper said the captains were not able to watch how members of their teams played and it was thought that, not only the skips should report to the captains, but also the No. 2’s. Geoff Land asked if the Club had been registered with the Ayuntamiento, Tony said not yet, so Geoff suggested a sub-committee to do a feasibility study and report back. He said that way we could change the constitution before it was registered and it would save having to vote for the addendums each year. Tony asked the members before we go down that route did we want to take a vote to judge the feeling for or against the proposal. The members asked for a vote. The result of the vote was 19 for change, 42 against. The proposal was defeated.
2. Federation news was read out by Doreen Fabron as Ken McBride the Federation Representative was bowling in the final of the Santa Maria Open. The Federation membership had dropped to 132 on the Coast; D.J. Hilton is now our local Chairman and the Provincial Delegate at National meetings. He was also the person who chose the Malaga side to play the National squad. The Kings Cup competition in summer had been cancelled, however alternative competitions may be arranged for federated players, and teams will be able to be made up with players from different clubs. Club champions were able to play in the Nationals 25^th September to 9^th October at Torrevija, but if they do not wish to travel, the club can substitute or call for volunteers!! Entries to be in by 31^st July. The Andalucian Championships are at Mijas 1^st – 10^th May, and the Federation are organising a 2 woods pair’s competition to follow. John Carr is organising training sessions for all abilities. Possibly a new organisation to be formed called Lawn Bowls Spain, to run as well as The Federation. Ros Wright asked if you would have to be in both organisations. Barry Pemberton asked who thought of this! The members thought it had not been thought through and we would believe it when it happened. We were also asked if we preferred lower entry fees for Federated competitions of prize money. Members thought it only concerned federated members.
3. Duggie Bowden had proposed a reduction of the membership fees from €17 per annum to €5 per annum. At this point the Chairman said he would like to combine the proposals in items 11, 12 and 13. Duggie protested and asked for his proposal to be treated separately. Tony Farmer persisted and tried to explain his reasons, he said as they all affected club expenditure they should be looked at together. The other 2 proposals were, 1. New club shirts should be purchased and sold to members at a subsidised price and 2 to introduce semi-finalist prizes for Club tournaments. Duggie continued to protest! Tony continued to put his point across asking Duggie to let him finish. Duggie said he did not agree with the way Tony was dealing with his proposal and he left the meeting. This left Peter Fry who had seconded the proposal to put the case.  Tony then proceeded to explain how at this moment we had €6700 in the club funds but by the end of August it would only be about €5700 and if we agreed on the subsidised shirts this would reduce funds even further. There was also the proposal to give semi-finalists prizes in major club tournaments which would also reduce club funds and he was reluctant to recommend further expenditure that would reduce our bank balance below the €2000/3000 mark, as if, as in the past a major sponsor pulled out at the last minute, we would need to cover the sponsorship, from club funds. Peter Fry was asked to put his argument for reducing the fees, he said as far as was concerned, it stemmed from our March Classic when 3 players from England who had play in the Classic for years were told that this year it was a club competition and to enter they would have to join the club, which they did. He thought it was unfair they should have to pay €17 and that €5 was a much fairer figure, and the suggestion was the reduction would only be for 1 year.

Peter then asked to see the proposed new shirts, and Doreen Musgrove asked what would happen to the old shirts. Peter asked who would buy the new shirts; Tony said that he hoped all the members would, so we could have uniformity in the league teams, with visiting teams and all other occasions when members were representing the club. The old shirts had been a bad buy, they had shrunk, the colour had run and they were uncomfortable to wear in the hot weather and nobody liked them. We still had 16 old shirts in stock which we had been unable to sell. April Barlow asked why we didn’t sell the old shirts off cheaply. She was told that nobody would buy them. The new shirts would actually cost approximately €25 but members would be able to buy them for about €12 and all members would be able to buy if they wanted 2 shirts each at that price. A notice will go on the board showing the different designs. Russell said that the balance we had in the bank was due to good housekeeping and we could have a buffet with drinks after club days say once a month. This would both be good for the members and also for Hughie.

We then had the vote for items 11. 12 and 13

Item 11 Reduced membership fees   3 for – 57 against.

Item 12 New Club Shirts                46 for – 14 against.

Item 13 Semi-finalist prizes            36 for – 24 against.

1. The addenda to the constitution approved in 2007 were re-approved unanimously by a show of hands.
2. The next item was the election of the new committee. There were 5 uncontested nominations and 4 contested seats on the committee. They were Secretary Doreen Fabron or Paco. Vice-Captain Reg Goode or Bill Ogden. Ordinary Member Richard Welton or Ken McBride. Ordinary Member Selection Committee Barry Pemberton or Ted Arundel. Voting papers were handed out and the tellers returned the results. Those voted in were Doreen Fabron, Reg Goode, Ken McBride and Barry Pemberton. All other members were elected unopposed.

President:                         Hughie Holgate

Vice President:                 Tony Farmer

Captain                                      Dennis King

Vice Captain                    Reg Goode

Treasurer                          Russell Roper

Secretary                          Doreen Fabron

Competition Secretary     Allan Bates

Ordinary Member            Ken McBride

Ordinary Member

Selection Committee        Barry Pemberton.

The adoption of the committee was proposed by Roger Fabron and seconded by Neil Marshall.

1. Three members were asked to sign the minutes as a true record of the meeting they were Geoff Land, Roger Fabron and David Finestone.
2. The meeting was then handed over to the new committee.
3.  The meeting closed at 15.15.

A.O.B

1.  Ted Holmes asked when the Green was going to be inspected, he was informed the man from Sportscrete was due to be in Madrid on the 14^th – 15^th April and will be attempting to visit us to assess the problems.

2.  Ken had asked Neil to ask members as the numbers for the Club Winter/Summer League tail off towards the end of the season if there was any other format they would like to play. Tony suggested members gave it some thought and wrote down suggestions.

3.  Doreen Musgrove thanked the retiring committee for all their hard work during the last year.

4.  Tony Wright asked if we could revert to the original club colours of yellow and green on the new shirts. The new committee will look onto it.

Signed as a true record.

   Geoff Land.                           Roger Fabron.                         David Finestone.