Minutes of Management Meeting, 26 January 2009

The Management Committee of Stoolball England met at 53 Kings Road, Horsham, on Monday 26 January 2009 at 7.45pm.

Present

• Shirley Reed (President)
• John Price (Chairman)
• Kevin Hilliard (Vice-Chairman)
• Kay Price (Secretary)
• Trevor Parsons (Treasurer)
• Rick Mason (Website Administrator)
• Barbara Fitzpatrick (Marketing/Publicity)
• John Fitzpatrick (Umpires)

Apologies for absence:

• Michael Ledwich (Insurance)

Minutes of the last officers’ meeting

The minutes were signed and approved as a true record.

Matters arising from the last meeting

1. Active Surrey: Stoolball England attended the NGB Forum at Guildford on Wednesday 15 January and two coaches in training attended a 1st Aid Course at Guildford on 18 January
2. Japanese TV Company: no further news on their proposed visit to England in February
3. Stoolball in Pakistan: no further update has been received
4. Governing Body Application to Sport England: the final document updates are being made and the application will submitted in February
5. CRB application to The Media Group: Helen Murdock has been providing some valuable help to Stoolball England in the preparation of this application and it will be submitted in February
6. Stoolball equipment: samples of bats and balls have been received from a new supplier and these will be tested in the next few weeks. Subject to suitability, a preliminary order of 250 balls will be ordered.

Correspondence

Sussex County Sports Partnership

Stoolball England attended the latest NGB Forum meeting at Hailsham on 16 January 2009 and updates were given on the Community Sports Coach Scheme, Sport England strategy, School Sport Coaching Programme and funding bids via Sport Unlimited. Presentations were made by Jess Cook (EFDS Regional Manager) and Jackie Wood (Sussex Disability Multi Sport Coach) and by Shelley Meyern on the TakePART festival which will run from 27 June to 12 July 2009 in the Brighton area. A list of workshops taking place from January to June and the latest e-newsletter were received.

Central Council of Physical Recreation (CCPR)

• daily newsletters
• Policy Update January 2009
• a list of workshops for February
• a notification about the CCPR 37th National Conference on 6 May 2009 which is being held in London.

Stoolball England attended the latest Games and Sport Meeting on 20 January in London where excellent presentations were made by Phil Smith from Sport England and Richard Saunders (Chair of the County Sports Partnership Networks) and an update on BingoLotto which is due to be restarted later this year. NGBs will be provided with further update in due course.

Horsham District Council

Information received in their “Strive for 5 Community Involvement” scheme which will take place between 25 April and 4 May in sports centres in the Horsham area as part of the governments “Change4Life” national campaign.

Google Statistics and Alerts

The statistics for December 2008 have been received and a Google alert advising us that stoolball was due to be played in Augusta, Maine as part of a weekend’s activities remembering the games brought over to America by the Pilgrim Fathers.

E-mail request for information about stoolball received from a College in Essex. The Sports Co-ordinator has been sent a copy of the Year 7 lesson and plans and a copy of the rules of the game have been posted.

East Sussex Sports Development Awards

An information pack has been received and potential candidates will be considered.

Home Office

The latest newsletter has been received on Vetting and Barring with fresh information on the new Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) initiative which is being introduced from 12 October 2009. This scheme will run in conjunction with the current Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check. The difference between the two is that an ISA check will reveal if the person is registered and able to work with children and/or vulnerable adults and a CRB check will reveal if the person has a criminal record or if there is any relevant non-conviction information.

Treasurer’s Report

Trevor Parsons reported a deficit for the last month of £65 which is normal at this time of the year due to lack of sales activity during the winter months. During the transition period, Stoolball England currently has two cheque accounts which contain £16,352.56. During the next two months, Stoolball England will be reviewing their levels of stock and reordering as appropriate.

Coaching Manual

The text of this manual has been completed and some photos added. However, it has been identified that a further 10-15 are needed to complete the document. These will be added as soon as possible and in the meantime, Stoolball England will be assessing the best way to publish this manual.

Rules Review

In the absence of Michael Ledwich, it was decided to contact him and find out whether he was in a position to complete the review.

Logo/Bi-fold leaflet/website/business cards

• Logo: In response to a request at the meeting in December to create a new logo for Stoolball England, Rick Mason made a presentation of the two new logos he had created. Both were excellent logos, but finally members of the meeting voted for the second example. Rick was congratulated for the quality of the two logos and for the amount of work that has gone into this project. Rick also agreed to produce a document setting out the “house style” as regards letter headed paper, business cards etc, for everyone to follow.
• Bi-fold leaflet: Following approval of a new logo, Kevin Hilliard agreed that the leaflet could be finished and made available for printing.
• Website: It was agreed that it was a suitable opportunity to make a change to the name of the website to www.stoolball.org.uk. Rick agreed to purchase the relevant “Stoolball England” names.
• Business cards: This is another area where progress can be made with the approval of the new logo and the text can incorporate the proposed new website name.

Sporty Kidz

Stoolball England held a meeting with James Adams and Rob Outen two Associates from Sporty Kidz who are multi-sport coaches and have a number of part time coaches on their staff. They concentrate on promoting school sports, primarily in the Brighton area, at all times of the day (from 8am through curriculum time to after school clubs) and they are very keen to help us spread stoolball. Sport England are meeting up with Sporty Kidz again on 28 January.

Competition Managers

Stoolball England met up with Becci Allan, a Competition Manager with the responsibility for stoolball. Since our last meeting in November, Becci has been in contact with the other eight Competition Managers in Sussex and as a result was happy to report that, with Stoolball England support, a Sussex Girls under 14 Schools Tournament will be held on 2 July 2009 in the Brighton area. The date is within Brighton’s TakePART festival and it also falls into the National School Sports Week proposed by the Youth Sport Trust.

Indian Stoolball Federation

The ISF has forwarded some sample equipment, bats, balls, scorebooks, rule books and photos for Stoolball England to approve. The Indian group have made excellent progress and the game should go well there.

Any other business

• A newly produced book about Southwater has provided Stoolball England with some interesting history on one of the early stoolball clubs in West Sussex.
• It has been noted that one of our stoolball bat manufacturers, Newbery, has a change of ownership.
• We have asked Hunts County Bats for a quote for stoolball bat key rings
• A recently produced book about William Winstanley has an excerpt on stoolball circa 1650.
• Shirley Reed was approached by the Petersfield Post for some comments on stoolball which were then printed.
• Trevor Parsons wished to pass on his thanks to everyone for all they are accomplishing for Stoolball England.

Date of the next meeting: Monday 23 February 2009 at 7.45pm.

The meeting closed at 10.50pm.

Kay and John Price, 27 January 2009

Tags: meetings