Stoolball news in 2015

Below is the final Stoolball England e-newsletter for the year. If you would like your own personal copy of future e-newsletters, please email richard@… with a heading of “Subscribe”.

Just a quick note, post AGM, in my Chairman’s Report to the 36th AGM, I failed to mention that Bluebells Stoolball Club were the 1st club to get “Clubmark” accreditation. That was in June 2009 under the old scheme.

As expected John has been a hard act to follow. I hope that I have done a satisfactory job as Chairman this year. There has been one or two faux-pas but with the supreme help of all the committee, we have achieved most of the things we set out to do.

For over 25 years we have been obtaining the best possible insurance terms for every stoolball club.

For the same amount of time, we have been ensuring that the available stoolball equipment is plentiful and of acceptable quality. We are able to supply this equipment to stoolball clubs at a favourable rate.

Every year we run summer academies in the Horsham and Wealden areas.

We organise Sussex Schools competitions for Years 7/8 and 9/10 and also run Primary School tournaments.

We supply loan equipment to schools that want to start up stoolball.

We regularly attend sporting festivals all over Sussex and beyond when invited to.

We organize Coaching, Umpires and Scoring courses for those wishing to partake.

We had to change insurance brokers during the season which has brought a huge amount of disruption to the usual smooth running of insurance procedures. Our insurance officer has made a number of long distance visits to our new brokers to formulate an arrangement that is satisfactory to us and will be the basis of our schemes for the future. This is the reason for the proposed constitutional changes to our classes of membership. Thank you Michael for your dedicated work on this front.

We have been working this year with Gray Nicholls and Safari on the supply and quality of bats and balls. We have worked with Factory Eleven and Peter Gray to come up with sets of wickets that are light enough and interesting enough for use in primary schools. Anita has also been working with Gray Nicholls to set up a Stoolball England webshop.

Once again, Stoolball England has managed the Sussex Schools Year 7/8 and Sainsbury’s School Games Year 9/10 competitions. Both were held in “blazing” July. A fine standard of stoolball was exhibited at both events which bodes well for new players to enter the senior ranks in the coming years. Both competitions were won by Oathall School, Burgess Hill with Ringmer Community College, gallant runners-up in both.

Further afield, loan equipment has been delivered to a school in Winslow, Buckinghamshire and to one in Kent near Sittingbourne well outside the usual Kent playing area. Stoolball has continued to be played in the West Midlands and also this year, on the beaches of St. Michael’s Mount, Cornwall.

Our Welfare Officer has been busy this year. I must emphasise that by being affiliated to Stoolball England, all leagues and associations should have their own Welfare Officer to deal with issues before the need to consult the governing body.

This season, Newick Stoolball Club have embarked on getting “Clubmark” accreditation. “Clubmark” is Sport England’s Quality Club Accreditation Scheme. An accredited club is recognised as a safe, rewarding and fulfilling place for participants of all ages, as well as helping parents and carers know that they are choosing the right club for their young ones. Newick are getting close to accreditation. I would encourage all clubs to consider working towards “Clubmark” accreditation.

We have been short of volunteers this year to help us with the events that we are asked to support. Consequently, we had to pull out of a couple of long-standing commitments. However, the events we were able to attend attracted huge interest. The two I will pick out are the “Uckfield Sport for All” and the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum’s “Woodfair”. A huge thank you to the committee members and those volunteers that supported our events this year.

There has been much work by Rick Mason and myself to keep our website and Facebook up-to-date and relevant, but there are some glaring omissions in the information we provide. Same leagues have all their club contacts, fixtures, results and analysis on the website: thank you West Kent, some have few details. Can I ask all leagues to have a look at the website and please provide us with the missing details.

We are being asked by various councils, notably Rother District and Hastings Borough Councils for information on which teams play on which grounds, so they can complete their “Playing Pitch Strategies”. These sorts of request will increase because of our recognition as the national governing body.

For the 4th year, we have organised “England XI v President’s XI” games and again they were very successful. A big thank you to all volunteers without whose help, the day could not take place. A number of points have been raised about the day. Firstly, there was disappointment with the playing surface at HCC. We will be exploring alternative venues for next year. We had some feedback about the names and make-up of the two teams. When Stoolball England was recognised by Sport England as the NGB, we were asked to hold a prestige game each year. We chose “England XI v President’s XI”. Both teams should be evenly balanced with batters and bowlers evenly distributed through both teams. We will be re-visiting our selection criteria for next year.

The future will hopefully include the digitisation of all our stoolball records and photographs. We will be asking you all if you would be able to lend us important documents and photographs, so we can expand our digital archive. We might be able to share with Netball England, who are also starting a digital archive. Joint projects with other NGB’s can only raise our profile.

Finally, Kay, our Secretary is retiring at the AGM this year after over 30 years of sterling service to Stoolball England and the National Stoolball Association before that. I would like you all to join with me in thanking Kay for her hard and dedicated work and wishing her the best for her retirement. We will be doing ‘something special’ next year for both Kay and John in recognition of their work, but don’t tell them though, it’s a secret!

Richard Emsley – November 2015

I hereby give notice of the 36^th Annual General Meeting of Stoolball England to be held in the small meeting room at Rawson Hall, The Street, Bolney , West Sussex, RH17 5PF on Sunday 22^nd November 2015 at 11am. Please notify all your League or Association members of this date. Any League, Association or Club in membership may attend this meeting, but only Stoolball England officers, Vice-Presidents and one representative from each affiliated body are entitled to vote.

Please note: The name of any member being nominated to become a Stoolball England Officer or a Vice-President should be submitted to me in writing 10 days before the meeting. Nominations will not be taken from the floor. When the agenda items have been concluded, there will be an open forum where affiliated members will have the opportunity to raise and discuss any matters of concern.

Refreshments will be available from 10.15am for everyone and I look forward to welcoming you to what I hope will be an informative as well as social occasion.

Please make every effort to come to the AGM. However, if for any reason you are not able to attend and cannot send a deputy, please contact me by telephone or in writing before the meeting. It is important for the wellbeing of the game that those of you who are involved in the organisation and structure of stoolball attend this meeting to express your views. I look forward to seeing you there.

Kind regards

Kay

Kay Price

Hon. Secretary, Stoolball England

36^th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

to be held in the Rawson Hall, The Street, Bolney , West Sussex, RH17 5PF

on Sunday 22^nd November 2015 at 11am.

AGENDA

1. Chairman’s welcome

2. Apologies for absence

3. Minutes of the 35th Annual General Meeting

4. Matters arising from those Minutes

5. Chairman’s Report

6. Treasurer’s Report

7. Constitution: Copy of proposed document enclosed with AGM documents including details of the changes being made.

8. Presentation of President’s Award

9. *Election of Officers:    Existing Post Holders:

President:                Shirley Reed

Chairman:                Richard Emsley

Vice-Chairman:         Anita Broad

Hon. Secretary:        Kay Price (not seeking re-election)

                                                 Nomination: Sally Booker

                                                 Proposed:Stoolball England Committee

                                                 Seconded: Kay Price

Hon. Treasurer:        Trevor Parsons

A minimum of five Officers Melissa Mantle (resigned during the season and not seeking re-election),

Michael Ledwich, Rick Mason, Toni Wheatley, Ruth Arthur and Kelvin Speirs.

10. *E1ection of New Vice-Presidents: Existing Vice-Presidents: Ann Peck,

Marian Stanbrook, John Pritchett,

Delia Saunders, Brian Johnson,

Mick Cawley, Gwyn Griffith,

Richard Emsley, Peter Cheesman,

Edward and Jenny Keates and Keith Younger

11. Election of Life Members:             Nomination: John Price

                                                                    Proposed:Stoolball England Committee

                                                                    Seconded: Shirley Reed

                                                                    Nomination: Kay Price

                                                                    Proposed:Stoolball England Committee

                                                                    Seconded: Shirley Reed

12. Independent Examiner:                David Stoner from D.A. Clark & Co. Ltd of Horsham

Stoolball England

Hidden Villages with Penelope Keith is airing on More 4 next Tuesday at 9pm. It should feature an item on stoolball in Glynde, with Anita Broad and Andrew Lusted. Sadly no live action as it was raining too hard.
http://www.channel4.com/pro…/penelope-keiths-hidden-villages

On Sunday 16 August 2015 at Wivelsfield Green, seven teams from the five Divisions in of the Sussex County Stoolball Association (SCSA) plus teams from Kent and Surrey competed for the Expo Cup in an 11-a-side tournament where the proceeds from the day were being donated to Cancer Research.

This competition was first played in 1968 following an invitation to the Sussex County Stoolball Association to run a competition at the County Agricultural Showground in Ardingly.  The proceeds from that day were donated to The Sussex Churches Restoration Fund and the contact with this organisation was Gladys Anderton who played stoolball for ClaytonStoolball Club.  In the beginning there were just the five representative teams from the Central, East, Mid, North and West Divisions in Sussex but over the years the competition has been expanded to include teams from Kent and Surrey

Playing on two pitches with matches consisting of four overs per innings, the tournament got under way at 11am in very warm sunshine.  A good sized crowd were treated to some very big hitting and at times some brilliant fielding and catching.  As the day progressed it became apparent that the West division team with players from Loxwood, Angmering and Eastergate, would be the team to beat.  Their closest game was against Central Division which West won by 2 runs, but in the main, the policy of fielding first adopted by the West skipper, Nicky Gorman, paid handsome dividends.

Their final match against Surrey also proved very challenging as leading scorers Caroline Gorman, Connie Chapman and Fiona Kilfeather were dismissed early, but sensible batting from Kim Bicknall and Nicky Gorman helped the team maintain their unbeaten status and meant they were overall winners on the day.

In the presentation ceremony, the Expo Cup was presented to West Division by the Mid Division President, Daphne Hunt, and the runners-up were Mid Division who were also hosts for the day.  Margaret Bertin, their Chairman, thanked all the helpers from Mid Division who provided refreshments and sold raffle tickets throughout the competition.  She also thanked everyone else who contributed by scoring, umpiring and playing as well as the numerous spectators who supported them.  Finally she was proud to announce that over £400 had been raised at the event and that this money would be donated to Cancer Research.

Kay Price, President SCSA

This traditional tournament is for those teams not featuring in the event at Seaford and they were greeted with clear skies, perpetual sunshine and superb playing surfaces at Plumpton Green on Sunday 9 August 2015.

Particular praise and sincere thanks must go to the small group of umpires who officiated throughout a day of highly competitive stoolball in very testing and tiring conditions. With ten teams playing in two groups, stoolball was being played non-stop from 11 through to 6.30pm. As with most stoolball tournaments, the innings consisted of 4 overs and teams of 8 players, but runs came in large quantities as the ball raced over the fast outfields. In the last game of the round robin matches in Group 2 produced an amazing total of 175 runs as Yapton (91) just squeezed home against Maresfield (84).

Special mentioned must be made of Ansty who came back to competitive league stoolball earlier this year after a lapse of nearly 20 years, as they beat East Grinstead in their very first match of the day. Well done to all involved.

Read more on Horsted Keynes win the Rest of the League tournament…

Perfect weather with hot sunshine and an almost cooling sea breeze awaited all the top teams from the Sussex County Stoolball Association as they gathered for the 48th annual tournament at The Salts in Seaford on Sunday 2 August 2015. Playing in three groups, the teams got underway promptly at 11am and the games ran smoothly throughout the day without any major incidents.

Early results quickly suggested that Lindfield from Central Division, together with Loxwood and Angmering from the West Division would be winners of their respective groups and this proved to be the case as all three teams went through undefeated. Joining them in the semi-finals was Stone Cross from East Division who had scored the most runs in their preliminary matches edging out Bolney from Central Division and Fletching from North Division as the best placed runner-up.

Read more on Angmering win Seaford tournament…

The idyllic setting of the Mound playing field surrounded by trees and interspersed with “bee encouragement” plots full of cornflowers, poppies and daisies at Christ’s Hospital, Horsham was the perfect setting for the inaugural fund raising Set4Sussex stoolball tournament on Friday 10 July 2015.

A very warm evening saw play get underway on four pitches with teams representing All Types of Mortgage (AToM), Regency Restorations, Sony DADC, Spofforths, D. Durrants Removals, Bluecoats Sports Health and Fitness Club, Broadbridge Heath Leisure Centre and Team Pub.

As memories of playing at school slowly got into the psyche of those recovering from a hard day’ work, so the runs started to flow.  Energy and not a little skill were starting to flow in abundance as members of both sexes started to send the ball to all corners of the field.  Enjoyment and success were being shared in full alongside frustration and disappointment, but happiness, bonding and boundless enjoyment was the keynote of the evening.

Read more on Bluecoats win Set4Success tournament…