[<<] [>>] by Quiller Barrett
12th September 2002 (CqE Official News)

This item is 'Chairman's Report' on the agenda of the 2002 AGM. But in fact our Rules require the Council to submit a report to the AGM and I want to move more in this direction. It is a convenient year to make this change because the Management Committee has been able to look at the principal objectives that Council and our committees set a year ago and monitor how much progress has been made.

Coaching

Successful Coach Qualification Courses were held at Surbiton, Southport and Cheltenham; more are planned next year.

Revisions to the Coaching Manual have not yet been completed and the committee is still investigating the possibility of producing a coaching video or DVD.

Development

Grants from the CA to Budleigh Salterton, Cheltenham and Sussex County are enabling these clubs to carry out work to improve their lawns that are used for major CA tournaments. Grants were also made to some smaller clubs and to Federations.

A working party on Gateball has not reached any conclusions; the initial impetus to promote the game at Southport has not been maintained.

A Lawns Advisory Group has been established to help clubs.

Golf Croquet

The significant growth of golf croquet continues at club and Federation levels. But entries to some CA competitions have not been as great as anticipated and the reasons for this are being sought. The objective is to consolidate existing events.

It is too early to rate the success of the automatic handicapping system for golf croquet.

The CA is ready to work with other national bodies to produce a set of rules suitable for all levels of play worldwide, but full international co-operation is proving to be difficult.

Work continues to train and qualify referees.

International

The CA has increased its influence on the World Croquet Federation and now has stronger links with the NZCC, ACA and USCA. We have not yet arranged matches with emerging association croquet nations such as Canada and Egypt.

The WCF has accepted our bid to hold the Association Croquet World Championship in England in 2005.

An elite training squad has been set up and special coaching is being given to juniors with the potential to reach top-class play.

Laws

Printed versions of the Official Rulings on the Laws of Croquet will soon be available.

Work continues on producing a new edition of the Basic Laws of Croquet and on publishing material about referee training.

Management

Inter-committee communication has improved.

Communications between the CA's committees and our members have relied on the Secretary, the Gazette and the website. There is still plenty of scope for our committees to provide more information, and possibly interaction, on the latter.

Council members have not reviewed as many long-term policy issues as anticipated and this is being addressed.

Marketing

Jeff Dawson was appointed as the new CA Agent and sales revenue continues to grow at a very healthy rate.

A very successful survey of croquet players was carried out and committees are using the results to help them plan ahead.

The public relations function is being strengthened.

Work continues on creating a membership canvassing kit, on attracting more legacies, and on an awareness campaign of the benefits that CA membership can bring. A new initiative is being considered to encourage non-member clubs to join the CA. (Individual Associate and Club membership of the CA remain static at 1604 and 120 respectively.)

Publishing

The CA's website has been redesigned with a new structure.

Plans are being made to integrate the website with databases used for administration and sales.

Tournaments

Many CA tournaments were oversubscribed.

There has been more interest shown in Schools and Students championships.

The Fixtures Calendar was published on schedule.

Consultation with players took place regarding the changed format of the Open Championships and the majority were in favour of it.

Sport England

Little progress has been made on compiling a Strategic Development Plan for the CA. Council has this item on its agenda.

Council Medal

A Council Medal was awarded to Judy Anderson in recognition of the outstanding development work she has done over 20 years, particularly in East Anglia.

The New Office and the President's Appeal

Council members debated at some length the helpful offers we received from clubs to accommodate the new CA office. Once the decision was taken to move to Cheltenham building work proceeded apace and our Secretary should be working in his new environment by the time of this AGM. Council is most grateful to Nigel Graves and Janet White, his assistant, for their patience and understanding during the time when the new location was being discussed. Sadly we are saying goodbye to Janet after more than five years, as she will not be moving to the Cotswolds. We thank her for her contribution.

Thanks are also due to David Magee, and to Bryan Judson who chaired the Management Committee this year and is retiring from Council; they had the major responsibility for seeing through the building project.

The President is launching an Appeal for donations to top up our reserves, which have been depleted by some £60,000 in order to move the office to Cheltenham.

Quiller Barrett
Chairman of Council