Report of AGM and Council Meeting

[<<] [>>] by Dr Ian Vincent at Hurlingham
24th October 2014 (CqE Official News)

The AGM was held in the Terrace Room at Hurlingham on Saturday 18^th October, a very warm, but windy, day, as we discovered when the papers laid out on the chairs before the meeting suddenly flew round the room! The attendance of 64, plus the President, Quiller Barrett, was similar to last year. The Chairman of Council, Jeff Dawson, gave its annual report in two parts, with an opportunity for questions and discussion after each.

The first part covered the general work of Council and its committees, focussing on:

our narrow loss to New Zealand in the MacRobertson Shield and the appointment of Ian Burridge as International Performance Director to help us develop the top players of the future;
the introduction of the new edition of the Golf Croquet rules and trial of some changes to the handicap system;
the work done by Liz Larsson in the CA office and shop, with Steve Mowbray replacing Liz Budworth, following her retirement, and Fiona Knee taking over from Jamie Mussie.
the retirement of Roger Bray as Hon. Treasurer and the selection of Peter Death to succeed him.

Jeff himself was retiring after a busy two year stint, and was thanked for being a very effective and consultative Chairman, along with David Maugham, Peter Death and Jonathan Isaacs, who had been chairing principal committees.

The second outlined the position with the structural changes that had been extensively discussed following the report of the Federation Working Party. The first phase, enabling Federations to become members of the CA, was being voted on at this meeting. Consultations about other changes, such as closer integration of Federations, widening of the individual membership base and consequent removal of club voting, and increases in subscription rates, had taken longer than he had expected, but he still hoped to bring proposals to a Special General Meeting in March, 2015. Several helpful points were made in the subsequent discussion.

Roger Bray briefly commented on the 2013 accounts, the last set he would introduce, pointing out that that the surplus shown was artificially high, as the costs of the test tour were being charged to 2014. He also noted that turnover was considerably higher, at about a third of a million pounds, than the income and expenditure shown, as figures for the shop and tournaments were shown net rather than gross. The adjusted surplus shown by the management accounts was 2% of turnover, which looked a lot more reasonable.

Both sets of constitutional changes were passed with majorities comfortably above the 6-4 majority required, by both Member Clubs and Individual Associates, who will henceforth be known as Individual Members.

There were no contested elections and the proposal that Roger Bray be elected a Vice-President (after 22 years as Hon. Treasurer and 39 years on Council) was overwhelmingly endorsed. He was presented with a copy of Robert Kanigel's book "The man who knew infinity", which is to be rebound in a presentation binding, as a token of thanks for his outstanding contribution.

The Steel Bowl for the most improved female AC player in 2013 was presented to Caroline Denny (Bear of Rodborough) and the Apps Bowl for the most improved male AC player in 2013 to Harry Fisher (Oxford University); the Spiers Trophy for the most improved GC player in 2013 had already been presented to Harry Dodge (Budleigh Salterton), for the second year running. Daphne Gaitley was given a Lifetime Coaching Award. Diplomas were awarded to Brian Bucknall (Phyllis Court), Eileen Buxton (Ashby), Colin Gregory (Letchworth); Roger Hayes (Bath); Julie Horsley (Sidmouth); Derek Humphrey (Northhampton); Phillip Joseph (Hurlingham); Jeremy Marshall (Kingston Maurward); Alan Reeves (Bakewell); Bronach Reid (Hurlingham); Graham Rosser (Wellington); Wendy Rosser (Wellington); Brian Roynon (Nailsea); Cheryl Stephenson (Chelmsford and Bentley); Richard Stevens (Hamptworth); Vivian Thomson (Phyllis Court); Julian Tonks (York); David Tutt (Letchworth) and Roger Wood (Compton).

The President, Quiller Barrett, in his closing address, welcomed Ian Burridge's initiatives and expressed the personal view that, in his experience with governing bodies of other sports, there was a huge disconnect between croquet's and its players, which was both embarrassing and unhelpful. He hoped that the structural reorganisation championed by Jeff Dawson would help towards remedying that, and urged those present to spell out the benefits of change and encourage their clubs to vote on the issues.

The Council meeting in the afternoon started by co-opting Brian Wilson, to chair the Marketing Committee, and Dave Kibble. It elected Tim King as Chairman and Brian Shorney as Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the Management Committee. Jonathan Isaacs was elected to chair the Development Committee; Martin French, Handicap; Roger Bray, Investment; Jeff Dawson, AC Laws; and Brian Fisk, AC Tournaments. The other chairmen were unchanged. Roger Staples joins the Executive Committee.

The main items of discussion were about ball manufacture; Golf Croquet handicapping, where a proposal was referred back to the committee for further consideration; and the proposed structural changes. In the light of the vote at the AGM, it was agreed that Jeff Dawson should write to the Federations asking them to join. Indications from his consultations with them so far were that most would be willing to do so, but several did not want closer integration. Other points to emerge were that most of them were:

not convinced that a single point of payment for clubs would give much advantage;
happy with the idea that their member clubs should be required to join the CA, at least as affiliate members ... but were less sure that their clubs would be;
supportive of broadening the membership base and willing to accept some rise in club subscriptions to finance that and wider distribution of the Gazette, though they differed in details of how these should be implemented;
not in a position at this stage to comment on proposals further in the future.

Although there were concerns about the timetable being tight, there was also a reluctance to lose momentum, so it was agreed that Jeff should put proposals to the December meeting of the Management Committee, for discussion at the January Council, publication in the February Gazette, and a vote at a Special General Meeting at the end of March.