Amersham & Chalfont April 2004 Club Minutes

Amersham & Chalfont Hockey Club
Minutes for meeting held on the 21st April 2004

Those attending :
Warren Scott (WS) Drew Downing (AD) Peter Colwill (PC) Jo Peters (JP)
Sarah Watts (SW)
1] Apologies from: Caroline Chipperfield (CC) , Andy Watts (AW) , Emma Hewitt (EH)

2] the minutes of the last meeting (24th March) have been misplaced and so were unable to be accepted – it was agreed though that nothing not already known was contained therein.

3] Juniors - the stick skills session on 28th March went well with enough volounteers helping out. The certificates will be produced in-house.
- positives from the season : loads of matches were organised and fulfilled giving the youngsters plenty of match practice , that two parents have offered to run / organise a side in 04/05 , one parent is going on an “assistant coaches” course and another who is helping the U12’s
- still need more helpers and coaches to alleviate some of the workload of Tony and Ian
- SW to organise what teams are to be entered into junior’s leagues in 04/05

4] Ladies - sent to me by EH as she was unable to make the meeting :

1. End of season finishing positions:
• Ladies 1st XI – finished 2nd from bottom in Prem Div, so playing in Div 1 next season.
• Ladies 2nd XI – finished 5th in Div 2, so will be playing in Div 2 again this year.
• Ladies 3rd XI – finished as Div 4 Champions, so will be playing in Div 3 next season.
• Ladies 4th XI – finished mid table in Div 5, so will be playing in Div 5 again this year.

2. End of season awards:
• Ladies Most Improved Player of the Season – Erin Ruxton
• Ladies Player of the Season – Laura Patterson
• Ladies 1st XI Player of the Season – Annie Brothwell
• Ladies 2nd XI Player of the Season – Catherine Watson
• Ladies 3rd XI Player of the Season – Gillian Brewer
• Ladies 4th XI Player of the Season – Helen Kitto
• Ladies 5th XI Player of the Season – Felicity Duke

3. President’s Day – well done to ACHC ladies who defeated the President’s XI 2-1, and well done to Jan Carter for fielding the ladies President’s side.

4. Henley Summer League starts in May (dates and times attached), 1st XI pool is on a Monday evening and 2nd XI pool is on a Wednesday evening. Slight problem is that netball is on a Monday eve so clashes with some games.

5. Captaincy –
• Ladies 1st XI – no response as yet
• Ladies 2nd XI – Erika stepping down, Clare happy to stay
• Ladies 3rd XI – Cathy stepping down, Fay standing
• Ladies 4th XI – no response yet
• Ladies 5th XI – Al and B both stepping down
• Mixed – Annie stepping down

6. Good points about this season:
• Ladies Indoor had a very successful 2nd season, winning the league in the first half of the season and doing OK in the second half. Doing very well against some very experienced teams at the South Indoor Champs at Haslemere.
• Team selection has been done effectively and fairly throughout the season regularly on a Tuesday evening before training.
• Ladies training attendance has been very good
• We’ve had lots of help at ladies training from Warren, Giles, Catherine, Dave, James, John Spicer and Celia.
• Most teams have had a successful season, and played very well.

7. Issues this season:
• Ladies training – very hard to keep all teams happy, and still no decision has been made regarding training for next season.
• Disagreements between Ladies 4th XI Captain and Vice Captain.

8. I have notified all of the ladies awards winners who were not at the Club Supper that they have won an award, and I have told them to contact B to get their awards as she has them.

5] Men - selection went well over the season – good attendance by captains and was done in a friendly manner. The section was hampered by a lack of availability and promotion of youngsters.
- we all agreed that there had to be a friendly 6th team next season (04/05) which needed to be supported by other players in that they would have to double up to make up numbers and provide games to occassional players to keep them connected to the club
- NW as fixtures secretary to start arranging these 6th team fixtures. If at home, to be at 4:30 so as to allow other players to play their main game and then help out
- training was good (thanks to Steve Jack) and challenging , numbers were okay and but as always could have been better / more consistent attendance
- the season got off to a sluggish start and most teams didn’t seem ready for the league season, this was compounded by the lack of complete availability
- there was consensus that the men’s and ladies sections needed to compare how they each operate to then find out best methods of operating
- all of the men’s captains (except for PC) are stepping down
- we need to put together a “pack” of captain’s duties so that all are aware of what they have to do every week , of course, this will probably promote the need for more vice-captains to be used (teas , confirming with opposition , back to clubhouse , maps / different kit when away , 1st aid kits , social promoting / ticket sales etc)
- re teas, better guidelines as to who is entitled to eat – a suggestion was made that “tags” are handed out to the two captains with numbers on which correspond to the number of teas ordered (and produced) which are then handed out to their players. This way, we ensure that the visitors eat as well as our players / referees

6] finance - basically the finances are on target , we’d transferred £4,800 to CPSA re the “astro fund” by the end of April). There are a few estimates re astro costs in March & April and March & April teas. Collection of match fees was going well, thanks to Jo Peters and Warren Scott – AD to continue sending out the summary on a regular basis to the captains. AD provided evidence of cash at bank position by photocopying bank statement and passing to the committee.
- AD to have a separate sheet for the AGM giving notes re the accounts when presenting to the membership

7] Business - the leaflet drop happened as planed – however there seem to have been inconsistences as to which streets got deliveries – AW to write a letter of complaint.
- otherwise, still picking up external bookings for use of the clubhouse which is very good for our cashflow.

8] Social - everyone agreed that the club supper was an excellent “bash” and so many thanks to Zoe for organising.
- the committee expressed it’s sadness that the Irish night social event had to be cancelled but fully understood the reason – that basically there is still no Social Secretary on the board and that other people’s efforts were naturally being directed towards organising the Club Supper

9] Astro - still trundling along , the main sticking point being finance basically
- the committee suggested that a “project team” be formed - headed by AW but to give him some support
- SW to find old 5 year (and active sports) plan to be reviewed as a basis for the club’s progress
- that there were a couple of schools thinking of building their own astros – we are going to have to think of how far we want to get involved / support these given the existing plan in Chalfont.

10] CPSA board - minutes of last meeting (3rd March) were circulated prior to this meeting to the hockey committee
- the hockey committee decided that the change of use of the ring fenced astro monies (to help pay off CPSA bank loans) should be discussed with the membership at the AGM – there were naturally some concerns that ACHC would have sufficient control, that the monies would be fully accounted for (and highlighted in the CPSA accounts) and that the hockey section is only loaning CPSA this money until it was needed for the astro project. It was also agreed that the saved interest costs would be shared between ACHC and CPSA

11] Easter tour - in the end, there were aprox 25 people on average every day on tour over the Easter weekend – enough for men’s and mixed but left the ladies team needing to gain recruits from other teams (and therefore not able to fulfill every fixture). Also, the men found that some of their opposition were very weak / young
- WS to write to the organisers to raise this point
- two of our men’s players were invited to play in the main festival game (Warren Scott and Darryl Chiles)
- all the feedback is that everyone thoroughly enjoyed the weekend so many thanks to Sara Daughtrey and Fay Rider for organising

12a] President’s Day - excellent weather with some enjoyable matches
- the committee thought that and feedback received was that the order of matches (ladies , juniors and men’s) was the right order. The Vintagers V U18’s was a particularly good game to have
- thanks to the umpires for taking time out to help us
we decided that the day should be given a higher profile amoungst the membership (which would involve promoting earlier etc) to get more supporters pitch side , to be actioned by the next committee in 04/05.

12b] Club Supper - that it was a thoroughly enjoyable event
- the change re the trophies was definitely a good idea – ie that all award winners should be given a small trophy which they can keep
- SW’s mother kindly offered to handle the engraving of the 6 main awards for free so thanks to her
- it was noted that It was unfortunate that AS , BH and (especially) AD were unable to attend and therefore provide information to the membership about the award winners and to “lead” the event. The playing awards were given out by EH and WS with the President (SM) handing out the six main awards, so thanks to them.
- it was agreed that the notification on each place setting of previous year’s winners was a good thing – however, something along the lines of a “day programme” was suggested for next year’s event to provide information to the members about the days events and timings and thereby encourage more to attend.
- that the seating arrangements worked – based on people’s requests as to who they wanted to sit next to.
- the food being situated at one end also worked well
- one suggestion was that there should have been bar staff walking around taking order from the tables as would have made it easier for the guests and possibly increased consumption)
- the committee agreed that it was right to limit the number of guests invited in that it was felt that the club didn’t really benefit from having local press / councillors etc attend for free). In the end, only our President and his wife were invited.
- it was sad to see that the number of guests was only 126 and that in particular, only three vintage players were in attendance – AD to contact them to discuss. The tickets were we believed the same price as last year (but a heavier penalty for late acquisition to encourage people to buy the tickets early thereby helping the organisers arrange re numbers etc), that it was the same weekend as last year (one week after Easter).
- we felt that this premier hockey club) social event needed to be promoted earlier , ie around xmas to maximise the interest and numbers attending.

13] AGM (7th May at 7:30) - firstly, thanks to Zoe for arranging the sending out of the notice to all members by e-mail and by post
- AD to finalise accounts (with explanatory notes) and circulate to committee members prior to meeting
- all committee members to forward suggestions re list of worthy people to thank in chairman’s speech etc
- AD to contact 3 candidates re Chairman to discuss role , time req’d to fulfil role etc
- AD to pass list of all hockey roles to NT to then be distributed by e-mail (weekly newsletter) by 28th
- it was good to see that most current committee members will be continuing in the existing roles or are thinking of helping out in other capacities


14] AOB - meeting to be arranged in May involving AD , WS , EH , DP , SJ to discuss coaching / training requirements for the 04/05 season
- WS suggested that (and the committee agreed) there should be only one members database for the entire club. Captains especially work off their own lists which are sometimes more up to date than the main listing. What all sections and CPSA need to do is discuss / agree on what they want from such a database and accumulate the relevant information accordingly
- AD to contact MS to discuss this
- the committee also agreed on the fact that at the moment, we don’t seem to have any real guiding plan in place as to where we want to be in 5 years time nor how to get there – both re playing and socially. This needs to be lead by CPSA as they are the umbrella organisation which can provide guidance in keeping with their local mandate as well as finances in the long run.
- AD to confirm with MS that he is aware of the hockey AGM in case any cricket members wish to attend

at this point , the meeting ended – thanks to all on the committee who have worked so hard over the present season, and looking forward to an interesting AGM, especially the election of officers.