Committee Meeting Minutes 09/02/2009

Wimbledon Ancient Golf Society
Minutes of Meeting of the Committee at the Rose & Crown, Wimbledon
Monday February 9th 2009

Present Gerry Robinson (GR) (Chairman), Rhod James (RJ), Gerry McGuffie, Chris Bunning (CB), Richard Latham (RL), Steve Stoner (SS), John Stembridge (JS)
Apologies Mike Beament (MB)

1. Previous Meeting
The Minutes of the last Committee Meeting, which was on Monday 10th November 2008, were produced and approved.

2. Finance
CB reported on the current finances of the Society. There is £4,970 held in bank accounts of which £1,119 is in current account and £3,851 on deposit.
Of this total £1,364 is retained members funds, and the hole in one fund stands at £295. The balance represents surplus cash retained by the Society plus funds towards the Welsh tour in June 2009. £2,000 of the surplus cash is currently allocated to the next major overseas tour fund.
Those present reviewed the position on the level of annual subscriptions. It was agreed to freeze subscriptions at their current level of £85.
There are 9 "home" fixtures planned for 2009. That will mean that each full UK member will pay £175 representing (a) the £85 annual subscription plus (b) a £10 "deposit" for each home event. In the usual way, there will be a deduction from the £175 representing any balance carried forward from 2008 for a given member.
In addition to this payment, any new member will pay a joiners fee of £10 (see below).
CB plans to send out the annual subscription letters in the next week or so.

3. Membership
Applications for membership were tabled in relation to 6 new members. These individuals are listed below (followed by those proposing and seconding them, and the proposed joining handicap).


The Committee voted to accept the applications for membership of all of these individuals, and they are welcomed to the Society.
The full UK membership currently previously stood at 42. With the addition of these 6 new members, this takes the full UK membership to 48. The Committee noted that this is getting close to the capped UK membership of 50, which is the position under the Society's constitution.
It was recognised that come subscription time, the Society will probably lose a few members, as it tends to do annually. Nevertheless it was noted that both the number of new members, and the overall total of UK members, is higher than for many seasons.
It was noted and that junior membership remains at 8 and overseas membership at 11.
GM will now send the usual welcome email to every new member and get them signed up to the website. CB will write to each new member regarding financial requirements (noting that Rob Faulkner has already paid some of what is due).

4. Fixtures
SS was complemented on the work he has done on the 2009 fixture card. GM is to provide SS with the addresses of all new members so they get the fixture card.
SS raised the regular annual issue of certain members not having their contact details updated on the website. That will mean they will not receive the fixture card. SS and JS are to therefore liaise over a round robin email being sent to all members warning everyone to update their personal records as this is required for the fixture card.
Concern was expressed about the poor arrangements at Pine Ridge in November 2008, given that this venue features as a repeat fixture in 2009. Following a change of ownership, there was a multiple booking of societies on the day, with the result that the WAGS block of tee off times was delayed. Because of the large numbers attending the event, this in turn meant there was some risk of the final Groups finishing in the dark! It was agreed that RL would speak to the Club about this issue.
RJ reported on numbers for the Welsh tour in June 2009. 20 slots have been booked. There are currently 19 members and guests who have confirmed they are attending and paid a deposit. There are additional guests also playing on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which takes the numbers of golfers on those days to 20, 21 and 20 respectively. The tour is effectively therefore full.
Various further expressions of interest were noted. RJ will therefore now approach the Clubs concerned about the possibility of extra spaces. He will also email those who have expressed interest but not yet paid a deposit to get them to make a firm commitment (or otherwise).
There was discussion about the Wimbledon Park event which is again a repeat fixture for 2009. This was a very slow round in 2008 with certain players finishing in the dark! RL has therefore arranged for the tee off times on the day this year to be earlier.
Tandridge is a new fixture for April 2009. They are insisting we play 18 holes in the morning before lunch with 9 holes in the afternoon. This being the Dearden Decanter, there was some discussion about whether the afternoon round should be scraped because, as with Richmond, there is a serious lunch on offer at this Club! It was agreed that the format of the day would be left in the hands of the organiser Mike Dearden who will make a final decision as to whether we play the afternoon round and if so in what format.

5. Merchandise
SS will provide umbrellas to all members as the 2009 item of merchandise. He was authorised by the Committee to get on with this.
SS described a number of items of historic merchandise that he still has in stock (caps, shirts, towels, shoe bags, balls). He will email all the event organisers so they can help themselves to these items by way of prizes.

RDFJ
10.02.2009