Meeting Minutes: 5th March 2018 (postponed from 12th December 2017)

Present:
Darren Anderson , Paul Beard, Alan Brunton, Peter Carfrae, Paul Healy, Mike James, Luke Peters, Michael Prevost, Dave Shorter, Ray Steele, John Thorp, Chris Turvill, Colin Turvill, Ian Turvill, Frazer Webb.

Apologies:
Paul Donlevy.


1. Minutes of the previous meeting on the 13th December 2016 were accepted. Ian Turvill proposed, John Thorp seconded, carried unanimously.

2. Captain's Report - Dave Shorter:
Thoroughly enjoyed the year, was a good year. Would be good to get some more people to each event though, and the November event at Leatherhead was poorly attended. Other than that it was a good year.

3. Treasurer's Report - Chris Turvill:
Not a lot to say. We made money last year due to cancellation of North Hants. Fines were up which is good. We budgeted for a loss last year, we lost less than expected due to the cancellation. Fines and Raffle totalled £500 last year which really helps us maintain playing at some of the better courses and keeping the event price down for members.

4. Handicap Secretary's Report - Chris Turvill:
Current systems works ok. Paul Beard raised question whether we would adopt the new system (reference World Handicap System). Chris indicated that it was being adopted generally in 2020 and we could do the same if that was the vote of the AGM.
Discussion ensued and resulted in a request to Chris and Frazer to run a new set of handicaps under this new system alongside the real handicaps during 2018 season. Thus a set of representative data could be provided at next year's AGM in reference to possible adoption of the new system.

5. Fixtures Secretary's Report - Ian Turvill:
We budgeted to lose slightly this last year. All events booked this year except November's. Possibly looking at Camberley Heath but at £68 each. This was deemed to be too high by the general discussion. Costs are increasing and so we need options. 3 are available - 1st is to increase the general event price to £42, 2nd is to increase membership to £30, 3rd is to charge members more for the top courses. Discussion indicated the 3rd option was favoured. Dave Shorter proposed, John Thorp seconded and vote was unanimous. For 2018 Burhill will be charged at £45 for members, cost for guests. No other events will be affected.

Discussion indicated a few other courses to consider for future events - Puttenham, Tyrells Wood, Dummer, Guildford. Ian indicated he would research and consider for 2019. Members were asked to contact Ian with any other suggestions. Ian indicated that the course for the all-day event needed to change. East Berks has been good and we will continue to do an 18 hole there in 2019, but we need to change things around. Suggestions aired were The Drift, Oxfordshire, Calcot Park. Paul Beard indicated he would contact Ian with some other suggestions.

6. Election of Officers:
Captain:
Dave Shorter's tenancy as Captain has ended. As per norm, the current Vice Captain, Paul Donlevy, has taken over as Captain. No proposal or seconder needed - confirmation was by unanimous vote.

Vice Captain:
With Paul Donlevy becoming Captain, the Vice Captain position becomes vacant. Paul Healy was proposed by Alan Brunton, and seconded by Ray Steele. Upon confirmation by Paul of his willingness to accept the role, Paul was appointed with unanimous vote.

Chairman:
Frazer Webb had indicated his willingness to continue in this role. He was proposed by Michael Prevost, and seconded by Paul Beard, and appointed after unanimous vote.

Secretary:
Frazer Webb had indicated his willingness to continue in this role. He was proposed by Dave Shorter, and seconded by Peter Carfrae, and appointed after unanimous vote.

Fixture Secretary:
Ian Turvill had indicated his willingness to continue in this role. He was proposed by Chris Turvill, and seconded by Paul Healy, and appointed after unanimous vote.

Treasurer:
Chris Turvill had indicated his willingness to continue in this role. He was proposed by Ray Steele, and seconded by Peter Carfrae, and appointed after unanimous vote.

Handicap Secretary:
Chris Turvill had indicated his willingness to continue in this role. He was proposed by Alan Brunton, and seconded by Paul Healy, and appointed after unanimous vote.

Reporter:
John Thorp had indicated his willingness to continue in this role. He was proposed by Alan Brunton, and seconded by Darren Anderson, and appointed after unanimous vote.

Webmaster:
Frazer Webb had indicated his willingness to continue in this role. He was proposed by Colin Turvill, and seconded by Ian Turvill, and appointed after unanimous vote.

7. Any Other Business:
A. Price increases - raised by Chris Turvill
Chris indicated that prices are generally rising and if we want to play good courses we would need to increase our monies to cover this.
With Chris's agreement, it was deemed that this item had already been covered during the Fixture Secretary's report.

B. Insurance payments - raised by Paul Healy
Paul Healy suggested that membership should be raised to £30 to include the Bronze insurance payment.
Discussion was adamant that this should not be the case, so item did not get proposed or seconded and no vote was undertaken.

C. Buggies in 4 balls only - raised by Chris Turvill
At the all-day event in 2017, the playing order had Chris playing in a group with 1 buggy all day - thus meaning he was a lone walker. Chris raised this with Frazer at the event, and Frazer apologised about this at the time, and would endeavour to ensure buggies were only in 4 balls from then on. Indeed, Frazer has adopted this principle since that event. Although it was agreed that there would be circumstances when it may have to happen again, there was unanimous approval for Frazer to continue adopting this principle when creating the playing order.

D. Food choices - raised by Luke Peters
Luke requested that Apple Crumble and Chicken appeared on the menu no more than 2 times in a year. Ian responded that it was not always within his hands to determine food, but that he would take the feeling of the AGM into account and try to mix it up a little more. Peter Carfrae seconded this item, and resulted in a unanimous vote.

E. Thank you to webmaster - raised by John Thorp
John thanked the webmaster for a great web site. All joined in the thanks.

F. Fines for newbies - raised by Alan Brunton
Alan raised a point indicating that we needed to be careful with the fining of new players - whether guests or members. If we did not, then he was concerned that some would be put off returning. Captain replied that we are already taking this into account, and that we go easy on newbies. No vote required.

G. Blob fines - raised by Alan Brunton
Alan raised the topic of having fines for blobs. Paul Beard indicated his concern regarding the amount of fines players who performed poorly would receive, and indicated he did not think it was a good idea.
Consensus from the AGM was that this was not a good idea, and no one seconded the proposal so it did not reach a vote.

H. Captain's fines - raised by Mike James
Mike indicated that in other societies the Captain was fined double that of the members. Paul Beard seconded this proposal. The matter was carried by majority - 13 for, 2 against.

I. 18 hole all day format - raised by Michael Prevost
Michael Prevost indicated that he had heard a few people say that the all-day event with 27 holes was becoming hard for them to achieve (as we all get older!). So he proposed that the event should be reduced to 18 holes and we go to a 'really' nice course further afield.
Discussion ensued and consensus was that this should not go to a vote, but the idea had some merit and should be examined for future all-day events.

J. Change all day event format - raised by Ian Turvill
Ian indicated that the all-day event would be better if we reverted back to a 9 hole morning and an 18 hole afternoon. Paul Beard seconded this, and the vote was carried by majority - 14 for, 1 abstain.

Meeting closed at 7.05pm.