Annual General Meeting Minutes 25/09/2012
WIMBLEDON ANCIENT GOLF SOCIETY
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
HELD ON 25th SEPTEMBER 2012
AT WIMBLEDON COMMON GOLF CLUB
Present:
Gerry Robinson (Chairman), Rhod James, John Stembridge, Peter Middleton, Vip Patel, Steve Shaw, Andy Burn, John Quilter, Quintin Heaney, Tom Fawcett, Peter Berring, Mike Dearden, Rob Jones, Will Fairbairn, Magnus Robinson, Gerry McGuffie, Fred Shutes, Martin Sumpton, Dave Middleton, Bob Hill, Chris Bunning, Anthony Shutes, Simon D’Arcy, Richard Trinnick, Richard Latham
Apologies:
Mark Adams
1. Minutes of last AGM
The Minutes of the AGM on 29 September 2011 were approved.
2. Reports of Members of the Committee
Website (John Stembridge)
JS reported the change in website host in December 2011 had gone through successfully. Over the next 12 months it is proposed to post lots of photographs. A separate photo site is being created with help from Magnus Robinson. JS also still plans to speak to Graham Hansen to get Graham’s input regarding necessary updates to the website.
Finance (Chris Bunning)
CB reported the Society had an opening surplus on 1 January 2012 of some £11,000. The further surplus for the year to date is £1,100. After deduction of the Majorca subsidy (£8,000) the current surplus for the Society is £4,222.
We currently have £5,230 in the bank with £1,368 on deposit, a total of £6,598. That figure is made up of:-
- Retained members funds - £1,635
- Hole in one fund - £741
- Surplus - £4,222
It was agreed that we will immediately transfer £1,000 of the surplus to the 25th Anniversary tour fund.
Merchandise (Anthony Shutes)
AS reported that the WAGS sweater for 2012 had been well received. The WAGS caps were also now all mostly distributed.
Fixtures (Richard Latham)
Richard confirmed the great success of the 20th Anniversary Majorca Tour, and another full attendance of the Cornwall tour in September. Given increased attendances generally, the Pine Ridge event in November will be members only.
RL reported that 2013 will be the 20th Anniversary of the Cornwall Tour. St Mellion have offered to provide a personal trophy. The 2013 tour will be the usual second week of September date.
Steve Shaw reported on Eric Warburton’s proposals for the first WAGS “Northern Tour”. It was agreed this should take place on the weekend of 14 to 16 June 2013. The golf will take place at Dunham Forest, Mottram Hall and Wychwood Park, with accommodation in Central Manchester. The cost (including all food) is currently budgeted at £387. This excludes the cost of the proposed coach from Wimbledon/Richmond. These proposals met with general approval.
RL reported on the 2013 fixtures. Broadly these will be:-
- March – West Byfleet
- April – The Dearden Decanter event, again at Mill Ride
- May – Lingfield
- June – Northern Tour
- July – Wells Wine Glass event (Leatherhead as opposed to Betchworth Park)
- The remaining fixtures will be on the lines of the 2012 season.
It was noted that the facilities at Seaford Head are being rebuilt. Even though the course is still open, there will be very little/nothing “off the pitch” by way of facilities. Steve Shaw therefore recommended that for one year only, his event be switched to East Brighton Golf Club. This was agreed.
Membership (Gerry McGuffie)
GM reported that the UK membership now stands at 50. Mike Dearden raised the question of whether the Committee intends to strictly adhere to this limit? Mike reminded everyone that the limit was there for a purpose, and that if we carry on admitting new members, we could have serious difficulties over members being disappointed about not being able to attend events.
Rhod James responded by explaining the discussions that have taken place about this issue on the Committee. The Committee were very aware of this problem and monitoring event levels closely. Steps have already been taken to avoid disappointment by, for example, making the Pine Ridge event members only. Furthermore RL had been booking increased slots at events.
Gerry Robinson also pointed out the “paradox” here in that we look to find our new members and vet them by bringing them along as guests first. If we were to therefore restrict opportunities for guests, to some extent that is self-defeating. GR also said that at the end of every season there tends to be a fall out of a few members so the likelihood was that even if we were to admit further members now, there would still be some capacity come end of season changes.
GM reported that there were two applications for membership pending. An application from Martin McCabe was tabled, proposed by Bob Hill and seconded by Chris Bunning. It was agreed to admit Martin as a member (handicap to be decided!). GM will communicate with Martin accordingly.
GM also reported the intention of Tony Batt to apply for membership at the start of the 2013 season.
After further debate, it was decided for the moment at least to entertain no further applications for membership other than Tony Batt’s. The Committee will then review the position further before the start of the 2013 season.
Otherwise GM was commended on the general quality of his communications!
Handicaps (GM for Mike Beament)
GM reopened the debate about the handicap system. He reported he has received a lot of feedback from individual members with ideas about a system for automatic handicap increases. He described two of the suggestions.
It was agreed that GM will feed back all responses to the Committee, who will then make a decision about a new system for the start of the 2013 season.
3. Election of new Committee Members
GR reminded the Members that Committee Members are appointed for two years at a time. Of the 8 current Committee Members, 7 (the exception being John Stembridge) are up for reappointment. GR also confirmed his intention to retire from the Committee after 19 years of service (9 as Secretary and 10 as Chairman!).
GR reported that RJ is proposed as Chairman, Anthony Shutes as Secretary and Richard Trinnick as Merchandise Secretary. GR also explained that it was proposed that Richard Latham, Chris Bunning, Gerry McGuffie and Mike Beament all be reappointed to their current positions.
Further proposals were made at that stage. Mike Dearden was proposed for Chairman by Andy Burn, and seconded by Will Fairbairn.
There was also a suggestion that Vip Patel should be Merchandise Secretary. However no seconder could be found or his application!
GR proposed that the following six appointments be made for a two year period:-
- Anthony Shutes as Secretary
- Richard Trinnick as Merchandise Secretary
- Richard Latham as Fixtures Secretary
- Gerry McGuffie as Communications Secretary
- Mike Beament as Handicap Secretary
- Chris Bunning as Treasurer
These appointments were proposed by Peter Berring and seconded by Vip Patel. All the appointments were approved by the meeting.
GR then asked for a vote on the position of Chairman. Rhod James was proposed by Richard Latham and seconded by Bob Hill. Mike Dearden (as above) was proposed by Andy Burn and seconded by Will Fairbairn. After a vote of the members present, Rhod James was appointed as Chairman.
4. Any Other Business
The handicap debate restarted! RJ said there were two entirely separate issues here. The first question was whether the membership agreed we should have an automatic increase system (to sit side by side with the automatic cut system). That was agreed by the meeting. RJ then explained that the entirely separate second issue is what that system should be. That was the role of the Committee to take forward on the back of the individual representations by members.
In that regard further comments were provided by Martin Sumpton who recommended we adopt the CONGU system (as has also been recommended by Magnus Robinson). John Stembridge queried whether the CONGU system was more suited to an individual club where people are playing the same course at every time. Martin explained that the system does allow for playing at different courses.
Finally Vip Patel suggested that there had been occasions where the handicap cutting system had not been rigidly applied. RJ invited Vip to specify those situations where a cut had been missed and draw this to the attention of Gerry McGuffie.
RDFJ
27th September 2012