Committee Meeting Minutes 31/01/2012

Wimbledon Ancient Golf Society
? Minutes of Meeting of the Committee at The Rose and Crown
Tuesday January 31st 2012

Present Gerry Robinson (GR) (Chairman), Gerry McGuffie, Rhod James (RJ), Richard Latham (RL), Chris Bunning (CB), John Stembridge (JS), Mike Beament (MB), Anthony Shutes (AS)

Apologies for AbsenceMike Beament (MB), Steve Stoner (SS)

1. Minutes of last meeting
RJ produced the Minutes of the last committee meeting on 14 November 2011. These were approved

2. Merchandise
AS reported in relation to the merchandise item for 2012 which will be a pullover commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Society. AS has communicated with each member checking their size(!). He has received a response from about two thirds of the members and has therefore made an “educated guess” about the size of those who have not replied!!
The pullovers will be ready for the West Byfleet event which will be the first fixture of the season on 30 March.
CB reported he still has a supply of surplus merchandise from past years. It was agreed that he will bring this to the Byfleet fixture and it will be available for anyone who wants it
We revisited the question of coloured caps to recognise a landmark number of appearances. AS will revisit the past records and remind the committee about the landmarks. He will then check the appearances list and identify which members have now become entitled to a new cap.

3. Finance
CB reported that he has prepared the year end accounts to 31 December 2011. Furthermore all members accounts are now up to date on the WAGsite, again to 31 December. (It should therefore be noted that any member who has made a payment in January will not have that reflected yet in the accounts that are currently on the WAGsite). The P&L account for 2011 is as follows:

Income from members subscriptions - Ł4,045
Events income - Ł30,664
Interest - Ł6
Less cost of events - Ł30,854
Less miscellaneous items (merchandise/sundries/insurance) - Ł987
Surplus for 2011 - Ł2,874
Surplus carried forward at the start of 2011 - Ł8,221
Closing surplus at the end of 2011 - Ł11,095

This figure is represented by:

Balance in current account - Ł5,665
Balance on deposit account - Ł16,365

Total Ł22,030 of which:

Ł12,830 is deposits paid to us in advance
Ł257 the hole in one fund
There is a deficit of Ł2,152 in relation to members funds
Ł11,095 is the surplus carried forward

GR questioned the deficit in members funds. CB made the point again that various members have made payments in January which will reduce this figure. CB also said that this time of year, before we have asked for the annual subscriptions, is always the lowest point in terms of the members’ funds balance. CB will therefore look to recover all the individual deficits when he asks for 2012 subscriptions.
There was some debate about the level of subscriptions for 2012. Subscriptions have remained constant at Ł85 (plus a Ł10 deposit for every individual home event) for four years. After discussion it was agreed that the subscription will remain frozen at Ł85 for another season.
There are 10 home events in the current season. Members will therefore be asked for a “core” payment of Ł185 (to which will be added or subtracted the individual balance on each members’ account at the end of last season).

4. Membership
The committee reminded itself again about the rules for junior members. They pay Ł10 less per event than full members. Say therefore the price for a full member for a given event is Ł50. The full member will have paid Ł10 of that in advance by way of a deposit at the start of the season. They will then pay Ł40 on the day. Any junior attending is only charged Ł40 so they therefore pay Ł10 less.
There was some discussion about incentivising juniors. It was also noted that not all juniors are registered on the WAGsite. It was agreed that GM will communicate with the respective fathers of each existing junior WAG so that they can each arrange for their sons to register.
It was noted that neither Will Fairburn or James Hanham have participated in a WAGS event for a long time. CB will write to each of them to see if they want to retain their membership for 2012.
It was also noted that Chris Stokes had his membership suspended for 2011, at his request. CB will also write to him to clarify his position.

5. Fixtures
RL circulated the 2012 fixture list which was approved. It is as follows:

30 March – West Byfleet
18-22 April – El Especial 20th Anniversary Majorca tour
8 May – Chartham Park
7 June – Betchworth Park
27 July – Mannings Heath
28 July – Seaford Heath
17 August – Richmond Golf Club
7-9 September – West Country Tour (Launceston/St Mellion/Castle Combe)
25 September – Wimbledon Common
10 October – Worplesdon
10 November – Pine Ridge
14 December – Burhill (Christmas Cracker)

Commenting on individual events, RL said he had spoken to Peter and Fred Berring who had sanctioned the return of the Berring Bowl and AGM to Wimbledon Common. RL will communicate with Martin Sumpton to explain this decision.
There was some debate about the Worplesdon fixture in October which will be the most expensive individual event of the year. It was agreed that notwithstanding the cost, we should proceed with the fixture because it is an excellent venue and in any event, the committee have agreed in the past the principle of having one expensive event a year.
SS is in the UK in February. RL will therefore arrange with SS to issue the fixture card. In the meantime GM will circulate the details of the 2012 fixtures to the membership.
RL reported that following his unsuccessful bid to host the 2012 tour, Mike Dearden is still interested in arranging an Estonia tour in 2013. The committee agreed in principle to support this. RL will therefore give the positive news to Mike Dearden!

6. Website
GR confirmed he has spoken to Graham Hansen to explore the issues described in the 14 November 2011 minutes. Things were left on the basis that Graham would now speak to JS. This has not yet happened.
GR reminded the committee about the two key issues here which are what happens regarding website access if JS “goes under a bus”. Secondly can we develop the site so that we can park the existing data and have a new site running in parallel.

7. Handicaps
GM will start the season playing off 7.5, as winner of the VL in 2011. He will also conduct the usual pre-season review of handicaps with assistance from MB

RDFJ
01.02.2012