Report of January Council Meeting

[<<] [>>] by Ian Vincent
24 Jan 2009 (CqE Official News)

Council met on Saturday 24th January at Hurlingham. The Vice-Chairman, Barry Keen, chaired the meeting for the first few items as Patricia Duke-Cox was stuck in a train.

John Spiers was welcomed to his first meeting.

Roger Bray, the Hon. Treasurer, reported that the outcome for 2008 was expected to be a surplus of approximately £1,000, though that includes about £7,000 of investment income (net of tax), so the underlying position is less rosy. Some expected expenditure did not materialise, so the outcome is better than budgeted, but substantially worse than in 2007 due to costs associated with the restructuring.

A provisional budget was agreed for 2009, but the estimate for commercial income is very uncertain and may well have to be revised downwards. The office extension is treated as a capital item, and is currently expected to cost £52,000.

A bursary scheme for juniors was approved in principle and should be operational this year.

John Solomon is retiring as a trustee and was thanked for his service. Colin Irwin will replace him.

The main business was to consider a set of recommendations from the International Committee for Council's policy towards the World Croquet Federation, which was set up about 20 years ago. They were presented as a set of motions, with background information for each. The first two were general in nature, re-affirming support for the WCF and seeking to increase its effectiveness. The others covered topics such as drugs policy, the MacRobertson Shield and a World Team Championship, and stewardship of the Laws. The resolutions are published in full for CA members in the documents section of the website.

Council also agreed in principal to a temporary variation of the Laws of Association Croquet to allow experiments with additional lifts and a restriction on the opening for top level play, but left it to the Laws Committee to agree the detailed wording in the light of comments received.