Crake Valley Croquet Club Annual General Meeting
Monday 17th October 2022 at 9.30am in Greenodd Village Hall
Minutes
1. Welcome
Chair Simon Robins welcomed the following members to the meeting.
David Cornes, Sandra Cornes, Doreen Sharps, Frank Sharps, Peter Wardle, Graham Jowett, Roger Coates, Sheila Edmondson.
2. Apologies for Absence
Mark Southern. Ian Tupling, John Armer, Fiona Armer, Pat Munro, Peter Thompson, Sheila Thompson, Peter Gaskin, Kate Gaskin, Dave Williamson
3. Minutes of AGM held on Thursday 4th November 2021.
(sent to members on 9th November 2021).
The minutes of the last meeting were accepted as a true record proposed by Davis Cornes and seconded by Graham Jowett.
4. Matters Arising
There were no matters arising
5. Chairman’s Report (full report is attached to this document)
Chair Simon Robins presented his report to the members. In his report Simon highlighted the events, work on the grounds, and successes over the last year. The presentation of the trophy for the internal AC tournament was made to the 2022 winner David Cornes.
6. Treasurer’s Report (full 2022 Report and Accounts are attached to this document)
Treasurer Roger Coates presented his report and accounts.
Roger was highly commended for his thorough and detailed analysis of our financial situation at the club.
A motion, that the financial statement be accepted as an accurate record, proposed by Peter Wardle and seconded by Sandra Cornes was passed unanimously
7. Membership subscriptions
The document ‘CVCC Annual Subscriptions and Financial Stability’ prepared by the Treasurer was sent to members before the meeting. A further document is also available on the members area of the website as are documents ‘Crake Valley Croquet Club membership Bye-Law September 2022’ and ‘Crake valley ‘Croquet Club Bye-law Visitor and Guest Definitions’;
Following on closely from the previous item Roger outlined the rationale in the above documents, regarding the increase in subscriptions.
Roger noted the very high standard of the lawns and grounds. This has been a priority of the club and maintenance a highly intensive activity. He argued that if subscriptions were not increased then inevitably there would be less spending on the lawns and a reduction in the quality of the facilities offered.
Roger also said that a review of other club subscription fees, undertaken by Sandra Cornes, revealed that Crake Valley subs are low by comparison.
The Croquet Association has also recommended an increase in our club subscriptions.
Questions from the membership submitted before the meeting:
“Q1. Do we have any sense of whether members will accept an increase to £160, or fail to renew? What does our membership profile look like in terms of active members who might be willing to accept this increase, vs occasional attenders who might not? Have we / could we canvass views? “
A. It was hoped to test the idea of the increase in membership fees at this meeting. Graham Jowett also noted the possibility of the impact of subscription increases on membership, and agreed with the idea of some form of canvassing of the wider membership. He thought our strategy should be both to maintain and increase membership. David Cornes felt that any membership loss could be compensated for by new members.
“Q2. Could we plan to seek grant funding for major capital replacement items? This somewhat leaves it in the lap of the Gods when we get there, and clearly making provision is better, but is subject to 1) above. It may be if we really need to charge £245, we will have to do this anyway.”
A. Grant funding is only available for capital projects. We are working hard towards solvency and there is no major expenditure planned at the moment. Our present balance is the highest we have ever had so it can be used as a cushion till better times.
The Committee therefore, after much discussion, recommended the proposal that the subscription fees be raised with stepped increases (not including inflation) for all membership categories as per the table in the document sent to members.
The proposal that annual membership fees for 2023 be set at £120 for full members, £80 for Country members and £60 for Far Country members was accepted unanimously.
Sandra raised the difficulty of planning and resourcing the lawn programme as some materials will need to be purchased before April when membership subscriptions are due. With ever rising costs and problems with delivery it was decided to go ahead with ordering as soon as possible.
8. Election of Committee
After many years Peter Wardle is standing down from committee. Simon thanked Peter on behalf of all the members for his contribution to, and previous work on, the club committee. The remaining members of the committee were all re elected. Colin Dykes who was nominated for committee, proposed by Simon Robins and seconded by David Cornes was also elected
9. Any Other Business
None
The meeting ended at 10.45am