Apologies:
Hughie Harkins, Simon Gartshore, Chris McGill, James Ilbery, Armani Sharif,
Cyrille Viossot, Mike Bush, Kevin Whiteman, Shail Parihar, Alex Murray, Savitri
Thomas, Tony Reeves
Minutes of AGM 2010 accepted.
Chairman’s Report. A successful season despite the 1st XI being relegated. 2nd XI
promoted. Surrey has selected us for Chance to Shine – taking cricket into
schools. Laurie Johnston was thanked for the huge effort he’s put into making
this happen.
Lisa Stephens thanked for the excellent job she’s done with the Ladies Cricket –
including being part of a league next season.
Problems with the outfield which are beyond our control – credit to our
groundstaff. Roger should be congratulated for having his square the best in
the League. (The outfield was voted the worst – not Roger’s fauklt but the
drainage dropping in the dry weather. A set of covers was acquired – a good
investment for the future.
Simon Hards Development Officer at Surrey thought S&M to be the most
progressive club in Inner London. The club is threatened by increasing costs so
it’s important to maintain a good financial basis.
It’s been clear that the club had to introduce proper financial transparency –
Wayne has done a phenomenal job to put the club on a firm financial footing.
Some financial irregularities were discovered and club member was found to
be doing runs to Makro to stock up the bar and it became apparent that Steve
Logan had been buying his weekly shopping and getting the club to reimburse
him. It was a failure of the club to allow him to write cheques to himself. Steve
has said it was an oversight – we have been putting through a process to get
the money back and we’re investigating back from 2010 to 2007.
This illustrates the success of the committee in being able to get to the bottom
of this, taking hundreds and hundreds of hours, to the point where we now
have financial transparency. A substantial amount has been saved.
Finance Report.
Last November 2008, £8300 from insurance which allowed us to get through
the winter.
This year there are more people owing the club money than debtors.
£6136 from Steve Logan. Wayne identified £15K worth of disputed items. He
admitted £6136. We’ve looked at it again and we think the figure might be
somewhere closer to £9K. We’re expecting the first £1K to be paid off tonight.
Unpaid subs and match fees. Given the state of the economy, there is a
provision that if you pay before 31st May, the figure comes down to £150.
Christmas forest £3k a year for the next 3 years.
Refund on Scottish Power £1.4K.
£3.5K is owed to Thames Water following a dispute with the previous
Chairman. We are paying £250 a month.
Wayne’s excellence in getting insurance down to £2.2K from £5K. And in
uncovering fraud. Without him taking over, the club would be in a poor
financial state. He’s decided to take it easy this summer. All 2010 invoices paid
off.
Not much in the bank but that will change....
The Chairman wanted the club to minute the efforts of Wayne and assisted by
Tina and Savitri in getting the club’s financial position more favourable.
JG stressed the importance of paying subs and match fees.
JG also said there was petty pilfering going on in the bar. Urged people to be
vigilant behind the bar and to get others to supervise them when they’re
getting a drink.
JG stressed we need to get a grip on these areas before we move on.
Martin Thompson – why do players play if they haven’t paid their subs? And
could we have a payment plan for match fees?
JG said you can’t add match fees to membership as it depends on how often
you pay.
MT said if you commit to play for a club, you should do so and the financial
commitment is a way of achieving this.
Barty: there have been good and bad captains. You’ve got to turn up with
money if you’re playing for the club. This year, if people don’t pay, they don’t
play.
Dave Gladstone: non-payment of subs is a bigger problem. Got to get to a
point where if you don’t pay, you don’t play. Should be non-negotiable.
JG: it’s the captains’ responsibility and they have to be supportive of this.
Match fees – no profit there. It needs to be better managed.
DE: Trying to run as many teams as possible, so it’s a balance between putting
out 5 teams or losing a league.
JG: If there’s no agreement in place by a certain point, then the player should
not be picked. A show of hands indicated that the club agreed that this should
be implemented.
DE: payment plan can be set up for £150 to be finalised after May 2010.
CS: Should look retrospectively at fees not paid last season.
Roddie Bell: If you can’t pay, we can find another way of paying eg. your time.
Last year, asking for money he’d have a hostile attitude for even asking.
JG would prefer cheques and BACS forms rather than cash.
Barty: At the end of the season, you’ve got 8 months to save up for your subs.
Disappointing that some players are getting away with it. Captains need to be
stronger.
RB: Should delegate a senior player to get match fees.
Lisa: Would it be more beneficial to employ bar staff?
Tina: Problem of trust again – can you trust them?
JG: Bar staff will be on a percentage rather than on an ad hoc basis. Putting in
checks to avoid malpractice. Ideally the bar should be open all day all weekend
and get people into the club, especially with lower bar prices!
1st XI – although relegated, not far away from being a mid-table side. Couldn’t
close out games and couldn’t get the points. Young players came in and did
well, Kash, DD...and the opposition sides are staying the same. Every
confidence in bouncing back.
2nd XI – Lee thanked everyone.
4th XI – should have won the league. Used 40 players so consistency is a
problem.
PC – getting 5 teams out is a plus point and makes us stand out from the other
clubs in the area.
JG: It shouldn’t just be about the 1st XI.
5th XI: very enjoyable – 3 captains. Lots of colts to give adult cricket. Rory,
Sarwan, Wayne, Aidie, Kevin Morgan, Roddie B. Beating Dulwich home and
away the high points. Jim Roebuck’s 3 runs in 3 hours, Cyrille’s disputed 6.
Playing at Belair Park – changing rooms are being installed. New league based
in Kent. Won 6, lost 6.
JG: great credit to club to 5ths doing so well in the league.
Development XI:
Colts: LJ – Under 15s had a good season but can do better. Sayif the find.
Ladies: 1 friendly against the U15s, they were shaking in their boots. Lost by 6
runs. 5 matches at home this season. And in the development league. Lisa’s
looking for more support this year. Thanks to Coach and Bernie for their help.
Ebony came down from the England Ladies side.
JG: reiterated the club’s support for the Ladies.
New structure to reorganise the officers in a way best represents the interests
of the club. Vice Chairman didn’t add anything to the representation of the
club. With nine members, 5 would be required to be quorate. Also Pavilion
Manager, Ladies, Colts members would better represent the diversity of the
club. 14 members is too many to achieve a quorate – the new structure
reflects the effectiveness and representativeness.
PC: Junior Club Captain.
JG: They don’t have a voice on the committee, even though they are the future
of the club. Junior members could go to their representative with any
problems.
Unanimously passed by the AGM.
Finance committee would do a lot of stuff via email that would keep an eye on
the financial running of the club. Passed by the AGM.
JG was woken up by his wife when he was in America.
Development C’ttee will be a focus for JG to get a new clubhouse.
Executive nominations:
JG thrilled that two juniors were prepared to stand
JG dying for a pee
Matt Clark/Dave Gladstone
Thanks to Laurie Johnston for continuing to be Welfare Officer – a vital role in
the club.
Membership and Match Fees:
JG recognises that things are hard and we can offer a better deal now. To
incentivise payment and to offer a reduction provided it’s paid by the end of
May. Asking the Ladies to pay a fee which Lisa S was happy to accept.
CS: re discount. Can people pay up front for match fees? Trial for the 3s next
season.
CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY BY THE AGM.
AOB PC inquired about outfield. JG said we need a huge amount of input from
the club to fill trenches etc. Working parties can be supplemented by those
who had trouble paying last year.
Cricket force immensely important this year – this year we’ll be concentrating
on netting, boarding and other external improvements rather than the
pavilion.
Baz: Has cut a lot of the banking but needs a hand with clearing it into the gully
and burning it. JG: as soon as we can get the tractor on it, we’ll get the help.
JG: thanks to Baz, he caught a burst pipe before it caused too much damage. It
saved a lot of money.
Deals can be done on materials if companies are approached that it’s for
charity.
Baz has given a list to Barty of the things that need doing. JG said he’d act on it.
Lisa Stephens asked if he was still a member. JG said no – appropriate that he
stood down.
JG said he’s spoken to the police. Civil courts is an option.
Teas:
DG passed on info that quality was variable. ME agreed. Peter Edwards asked
to be able to make a proposal. Jeff Knott put himself forward. Tina K said it was
important the same thing didn’t happen this year.
The tea issue was to be resolved by end Feb.
Baz: re a letter that was posted on the noticeboard. Chris and he deny any
knowledge. Baz wanted to know what had happened. JG thought it was an
unfortunate episode, there’s no evidence that Baz and Chris were involved and
that a colleague of John Baigan’s who might have perpetrated it. JG would like
to move forward on this. JS said it was an accusation that was made by the
barman at Dulwich CC. JG had to write to the head of Kings College Hospital.
Someone who knew that there was a problem with John Baigan precipitated
this letter. Baz said that we he wouldn’t write a letter without signing. Chris
Reardon said he wouldn’t write a letter – would like some closure on the issue.
JG hopes that we can all move on.
President voting: Peter Edwards was voted for a second term of 3 more years.
The meeting ended at 21.55