Minutes of Annual General Meeting, 29 November 2009

The 30th Annual General Meeting of Stoolball England (SE) was held in the Renshaw Room, Wivelsfield Village Hall on Sunday 29 November 2009 at 11am.

1. Present

Stoolball England Officers:

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

Vice-President:

• Delia Saunders

Leagues, associations and clubs represented:

• Mid Sussex Mixed Stoolball League: Carole Brown
• Lewes Mixed Stoolball League: Rick Mason
• Surrey Ladies Stoolball Association (SLSA): Becky Hull and Ruth Arthur
• Sussex County Stoolball Association: Doris Younger
• Mid Division (SCSA): Daphne Hunt and Kelvin Speirs
• West Division (SCSA): Kevin Hilliard and Rosemary Newland
• Central Division (SCSA): Gerry Miller and Barbara Parsons
• North Division (SCSA): Sybil Voller and Keith Younger
• Sussex County Umpires Association: John Fitzpatrick and Fred Newland
• Wessex Friendly Group: Shirley Reed

Apologies for absence:

• Melissa Mantle (SE Coaching Development and Chief Coaching Examiner)
• Barbara Fitzpatrick (SE Marketing and Publicity Officer)
• Jacqui Davidson (Hailsham Mixed Stoolball League)
• Mr and Mrs B Bertin (Sussex County Stoolball Association)
• Karen Spiller (Mid Division SCSA)
• John Pritchett (Vice-President)
• Brian Johnson (Vice-President)
• Gwyn Griffith (Vice-President)
• Richard Emsley (Vice-President)
• Ann Peck (Vice-President)

2. Chairman’s welcome

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Annual General Meeting of Stoolball England and because it was the 30th anniversary of the reformation of the governing body of stoolball, photographs were taken of all those members in attendance.

3. Minutes of the 29th Annual General Meeting

The Chairman briefly went through the minutes of the 2008 Annual General Meeting and following a proposal by Ruth Arthur (Surrey) which was seconded by Shirley Reed (President), the minutes of the 29th Annual General Meeting were unanimously approved and signed as a true record.

4. Matters arising

It was agreed there were no matters arising from the minutes.

5. Chairman’s report

The Chairman’s report had previously been circulated with the meeting agenda to all the affiliated leagues and associations in membership and further copies were made available at the meeting. The Chairman quickly went through the major points in his report, in particular congratulating Bluebells Stoolball Club who in 2009 were the first club to achieve Club Accreditation status. He also took the opportunity to rectify a serious omission and thank umpires Alan Kirby, Shirley Reed, John and Barbara Fitzpatrick, Trevor Parsons, Andy Jones and Sarah Reeves who had officiated in the first under 14 County Girls Schools Tournament at the Waterhall, Brighton. There were 12 secondary schools at this event competing on one of the hottest days recorded last summer.

John Price spoke about the amount of work which had been done by the officers of Stoolball England and he thanked them all for their whole-hearted support during the year. In particular, he mentioned John and Barbara Fitzpatrick who were not seeking re-election at this AGM. They had both made valuable contributions to Stoolball England in the last three years and would be sadly missed. Other items of interest during the 2009 season were:

1. A successful Level 1 course had taken place at Greenway School, Horsham at the end of May under the tutorage of Helen Murdock. Our grateful thanks go to Helen and the 16 participants.
2. Following a successful coaching programme in six Horsham Primary and Junior Schools in the summer, Becky Hull (Surrey) gave a summary report of the coaching team’s work in these schools. As a result of these activities and the obvious lack of stoolball equipment in these schools, it was interesting to record that one headmaster proudly announced that his pupils had collected over 60,000 “sports vouchers” via the Tesco and Sainsbury schemes. Therefore, it became clear that it would be in Stoolball England’s best interests to get stoolball equipment included in the 2010 catalogues of these two companies. Stoolball England are very grateful to Sainsbury’s who have agreed to include our equipment in their catalogue next year, but sadly Tesco, even though we are mentioned in the National Curriculum, have stated that Stoolball “is not mainstream enough to be included in their catalogue”. A disappointing outcome for us and the schools.
3. Following our name change at the end of last year, the updated Stoolball England application to obtain “recognition” as a governing body has now been with Sport England for ten months. Therefore it was disappointing to learn that, apart from a letter of acknowledgment received in February, our application has gone no further and has still not been officially assessed by Sport England.
4. Another disappointment followed when BingoLotto restarted in September only to be withdrawn a month later.
5. Over the past three years, Stoolball England has received valuable support from Keith Younger who has refurbished and mended numerous old bats and wickets and enabled us to loan this equipment to schools and clubs who are starting up with no funds to buy equipment. To thank him for his services, Keith became the first winner of the President’s Award (Item 7 in the Agenda) and President Shirley Reed presented him with a wooden bowl made of burr wood with the grateful thanks of everyone in the world of stoolball.

In conclusion, John Price recognised that the year ahead was likely to be equally challenging and exciting as the last 12 months and asked for comments from the floor, but none were forthcoming.

Acceptance of the Chairman’s report was proposed by Becky Hull (Surrey), seconded by Kelvin Speirs (Mid Division, SCSA) and was unanimously approved.

6. Treasurer’s report

The Treasurer, Trevor Parsons, told the meeting that the Stoolball England accounts were in a very healthy state and it had been a very successful year with equipment sales up by 20% showing a profit of £2,870. The Public Liability and Personal Accident Insurances showed a profit of £1,503 and there was an increase in the revenue obtained from affiliation fees. The coaching courses carried out by Melissa Mantle at University College, Chichester and during the summer at Greenway School in Horsham had also provided a valuable income of £1,600 for Stoolball England.

Trevor reported that all the monies created during the year had been earmarked to fund our publicity leaflet (copies of which were circulated at the meeting) and the Coaching Manual, both of which would be going to press during the near future. The leaflets will be going to libraries, leisure centres and health clubs in Surrey, Kent, Sussex and parts of Hampshire, and the 48 page Coaching Manual will be available to clubs, schools, colleges and universities.

The coaching programme carried out in Horsham was funded through Sport Unlimited and Stoolball England were very fortunate that they were able to claim the total sum spent on this initiative with support from the Sussex County Sports Partnership.

On the expenditure side, under “administration expenses”, the sum of £1,426 included half-page advertisements which were in two of the quarterly editions of Physical Education Matters, the official journal of the Association for Physical Education, which is circulated to PE professionals countrywide. Total profit for the year amounted to £4,826.

The majority of Stoolball England funds are now held in two accounts within NatWest, and Trevor reported that it had been a very satisfactory first year of office for him. The Treasurer was given a vote of thanks by the meeting, and acceptance of the accounts was proposed by Rick Mason (Website Administrator) and seconded by Barbara Parsons (Central Division, SCSA) and unanimously approved.

7. Presentation of President’s Award

This took place during Item 5, Chairman’s report.

8. Election of Officers

• President: Shirley Reed, proposed by the Stoolball England Management Committee, seconded John Fitzpatrick
• Chairman: John Price proposed by the Stoolball England Management Committee, seconded Rick Mason
• Vice-Chairman: Kevin Hilliard proposed by the Stoolball England Management Committee, seconded Fred Newland
• Hon. Secretary: Kay Price proposed by the Stoolball England Management Committee, seconded John Price
• Hon. Treasurer: Trevor Parsons proposed by the Stoolball England Management Committee, seconded Kay Price
• Officers: Melissa Mantle, Toni Wheatley, Michael Ledwich and Rick Mason, proposed by the Stoolball England Management Committee, seconded by Doris Younger

Two new Management Committee members Becky Hull and Ruth Arthur (Surrey) were proposed by the Stoolball England Management Committee, seconded by Doris Younger (SCSA) and all the Officers were unanimously approved.

Following the Election of Officers, the Vice-Chairman, Kevin Hilliard, also congratulated Bluebells Stoolball Club on their success and urged everyone present to go back to their leagues and associations and promote the Stoolball England Accreditation Scheme with the aim of recruiting at least one or two clubs in their ranks. He promised he would help any interested clubs with their applications and his details were to be found in the latest edition of the newsletter.

8. Election of new Vice-President

In recognition of all the work that Keith Younger has carried out on behalf of stoolball, he was proposed as a new Vice-President by Daphne Hunt (Sussex) and seconded by John Fitzpatrick (Sussex County Umpires Association) and unanimously approved.

9. Independent examiner

Stoner Cottingham of Horsham were proposed by Kevin Hilliard (Vice-Chairman) and seconded by Ruth Arthur (Surrey) and were unanimously approved.

10. Any other business

1. The Chairman gave a brief demonstration on how to oil a stoolball bat and referred members to the latest edition of the newsletter where information on oiling a bat and looking after stoolball equipment can be found.
2. Congratulations were offered to the Chairman and Secretary for their contribution during the year by Doris Younger.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 12.10pm.

Kay and John Price, Stoolball England
1 December 2009