Present: Matthew Stevenson, Simon Gooch, David Peters, Andrew Amor, Murray Scott, Saqib Ahmed, Satish Sharma, Rahul Punj, Phil Noot, David Banner

Apologies: Tony Hewston, Zamir Khan

Matters Arising From Previous Minutes

·         There has been no further progress on the 2001 subscription debtors: John Cooper, Richard Heath and Matthew Woods.

·         Mudo Ahmed and Rahul Punj still owe £20 each for club shirts; Asif Ahmed’s debt has been covered by expenditure on cricket balls (see below).

·         Saqib Ahmed said that he had not yet transferred the outstanding £100, from the merger with Sir Ali, into the club account.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that the rugby events had been a success re the positive feedback from the hockey section, but added that the work had, for the most part, been done by the usual committee stalwarts, and that the support from the cricket members had been disappointing.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that the turnouts for the ground work parties had been very disappointing.  As a result, there is still much to do before the season starts.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that the turnout from senior players for the first two indoor nets was good, but only six attended the last one.  There was a good turnout from the colts on all three occasions.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that he had recruited six volunteers to run the bar, for the hockey section, at their annual dinner on Saturday, 13th April.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that he had received the missing Sunday 1st XI scorebook from Sidley Cricket Club.

·         Matthew Stevenson said he was drumming up support for the evening part of the social event on Saturday, 20th April; he said that he expected the numbers for the food to be approximately 30.

·         David Peters said that there were still four annual award rophies, which had not been returned for engraving.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that he had so far been unable to find a volunteer to be the cricket representative on the CPSA social committee.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that he had started work on a rota for the colts, teas and bar.

·         David Banner said that the fixture booklets had been printed.

Treasurer’s Report

·         Murray Scott reported that the current balalnce was £219.

·         The invoice amount for the TVL balls and handbooks is £453.43p, payable on 30th April; Murray Scott kindly offered to cover the shortfall with a personal loan.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that the profit from the indoor nets was £51.

·         Matthew Stevenson said that the club owed Asif Ahmed £16; this is made up of the £36, which he has spent on cricket balls in Pakistan, less the £20, which he previously owed for a club shirt.

·         Murray Scott suggested that a poster should be put up on the club noticeboard, advertising the annual subscription rates, and encouraging players to pay up at their earliest convenience.

Ground Report

·         David Banner has purchased an electronic scoreboard.  In the short term, Peter Glen has offered to help fix it to the side of the clubhouse.  In the longer term, a solid base will be built for it in a strategic position on the ground; the location of the latter is still to be agreed.

·         David Banner has made a proposal to the CPSA board re managing the ground.

·         The large stones have been removed from the soil mounds surrounding the car park, which means that they can now be grass seeded.

·         It was agreed that the old Guinness sightscreens could be used to cover the storage containers.  The latter are an eyesore, and do not help visibility for fielders at square leg or cover point.

Cricket Report

·         Matthew Stevenson said that he had written a letter to the vice presidents and life members, and had sent it out along with a fixture booklet.

·         The recruitment posters have been printed and are ready for distribution; Simon Gooch has taken the action to get them displayed on local notice boards, such as the library, community centre and leisure centre.

·         It was agreed that we need to have regular, weekly selection meetings.  It was thought that Sunday evening would be the best time.  We do not currently have a volunteer to chair these meetings, which should be attended by all four captains.

·         It was agreed that the club practice evening should continue to be on Thursdays, as in previous seasons.

·         Phil Noot said that the colts fixtures had been arranged.  The first practice sessions will be on Thursday, 25th and Saturday, 27th April.

·         David Banner will invite John Fisher, of the Buckinghamshire Advertiser, to come down to the club on the afternoon of the opening event, on Saturday, 20th April, with a view to him giving us some publicity in the local press.

·         It was suggested that the cricket opening event could be promoted at the hockey dinner.  Matthew Stevenson agreed to take this action.

·         It was agreed that each captain should have a set of keys to the clubhouse.  David Peters said that he already had a set, so three new sets need to be cut.  David Banner agreed to take this action.

·         Saqib Ahmed said that he was making arrangements for us to have two overseas players next season, Nouman Habib and his cousin.  Matthew Stevenson said that the club could not promise to subsidise their expenses.  Rahul Punj said that we should organise some fund raising events on their behalf, and suggested a curry night and a summer barbecue.

·         Simon Gooch kindly volunteered to attend the Special General Meeting of the TVL, at Slough C.C., on Monday, 22nd April.  As well as collecting the cricket balls and handbooks, he will vote on the club’s behalf on the proposals re payment of players.  It was agreed that our position is that we do not support the payment of players, but nor do we have much enthusiasm for rules and regulations on this subject, because we do not believe them to be enforceable.

Any Other Business

·         Wednesday, 1st May was pencilled in as the provisional date for the next meeting.