Minutes of management meeting on 23 February 2009

The Management Committee of Stoolball England met at 53 Kings Road, Horsham, on Monday 23 February 2009 at 7.45pm.

1. Present

• John Price (Chairman)
• Kay Price (Secretary)
• Trevor Parsons (Treasurer)
• Rick Mason (Website Administrator)
• Barbara Fitzpatrick (Marketing/Publicity)
• John Fitzpatrick (Umpires).

Apologies for absence:

• Shirley Reed (President)
• Kevin Hilliard (Vice-Chairman)
• Michael Ledwich (Insurance)

2. Minutes of the last officers’ meeting

The minutes were signed and approved as a true record.

3. Matters arising from the last meeting

1. Japanese TV Company – unfortunately we learned that this visit had been postponed for the time being
2. Major League Baseball – the latest news from Sam Marchiano is that the Major League Baseball DVD on the origins of baseball is due for release in the near future
3. Coaching Manual – a few more photos are needed to complete this document and then it will be ready for printing
4. Trifold leaflet – final changes are being made and then the leaflet will be ready for printing
5. Stoolball England websites – Rick Mason has purchased all available Stoolball England websites
6. Sporty Kidz update – a meeting was held with this coaching company on 28 January and we hope to work with them on future projects. They are very keen to work with us and would like to take a Level 1 coaching course.

4. Correspondence

1. Hillwood College, Kandy, Sri Lanka – Stoolball England were surprised and delighted to receive news from this college in Sri Lanka, especially because W.W. Grantham visited them in 1928 and a picture which appeared in the Sussex County Magazine is featured in our green “History” booklet. They still have an area in the college called “the stoolball Court” and are anxious to start playing the game again. Equipment and a DVD have been sent and were thankfully received.
2. Google Statistics and Alerts: The statistics for February were not available at the time of the meeting but Stoolball England had been notified about several new pictures featuring stoolball which had been placed on the internet recently.
3. Requests for information about stoolball have been received this month resulting in two new mixed teams and three schools interested in starting the game.

5. Treasurer’s Report

Trevor Parsons reported a surplus for the month of £620 and the first equipment sales for the new season were banked. In the two current accounts, there is a total of £16,662, however, during the next two months, there is a great deal of new equipment to be ordered and, as reported below, a number of other projects, badges and shields to be financed. Trevor was congratulated on producing a clear and concise statement of account.

6. Printing quotations

Since the last meeting, a number of quotations have been obtained for documents and projects which Stoolball England have been working on during the winter and which will need to be printed during the next few weeks:

• the rule book
• trifold leaflet
• coaching manual
• t-shirts for the coaching initiatives
• business cards
• letter headed paper
• continuation sheets
• club accreditation badges
• plaque for successful clubs

7. Insurance

In the absence of Michael Ledwich, it was not possible to provide an update on the Insurance premiums for the 2009-10 season, but this will be available at the General Meeting which is being held at the end of March at Cowfold.

8. Club Accreditation

The first application had been received from Bluebells Stoolball Club who play in North Division and are affiliated to the Sussex County Stoolball Association. As previously mentioned, quotes are being obtained for a plaque and individual badges for successful clubs and their members.

10. Rules Review

During the last six weeks, Rick Mason has been thoroughly reformatting the rules of stoolball and at this meeting members of the Management Committee were asked to comment on the final few pages of queries which had been raised. In most cases, rules were moved from one section to another for the sake of clarity and with a few more changes, the final draft should shortly be ready to go to the printers.

11. Any other business

1. It was reported that, due to a delay at Sport England, it was not possible to let the meeting know where Stoolball England had been successful in their “Sport Unlimited” application to fund the Horsham Junior and Primary Schools initiative
2. It was also decided that Stoolball England should apply for more funding through “Awards for All” so that equipment and other necessities can be purchased to support the Horsham Coaching initiative and other similar projects, for example the TAKEPART scheme in Brighton & Hove in June.

Date of the next meeting: Sunday 29 March 2009, 10.30am for an 11am start at Cowfold Cricket Pavilion.

The meeting closed at 11.30pm.

Kay and John Price
22 March 2009

Tags: accreditation, meetings, other countries, rules