Present: Saqib Ahmed, Martin Cartledge, Zamir Khan, Rahul Punj, Murray Scott,  Matthew Stevenson, Dan Webb

Apologies: David Peters, Simon Gooch, Mike Burge


Matters Arising From Previous Minutes

• Chairman: since the last meeting, David Banner has resigned as cricket chairman, and also from his position on the CPSA board. Matthew Stevenson said that he would write to him to thank him for his efforts in recent years.
• Buckinghamshire Advertiser Midweek League: this will not get off the ground this year but remains a possibility for the 2004 season.
• CPSA Annual General Meeting: this took place last week and a new board structure was agreed. There is a new position of cricket representative and this is currently vacant. Dan Webb very kindly offered to take on this role, for a limited period of time initially.
• Clubhouse keys: Matthew Stevenson said that everyone who needs a key now has one.
• Sir Ali memorabilia for the club web site: there has been no progress on this.


Cricket Report

• Overseas players: Safi Ahmed has arrived from India and has been playing regularly for the 1st XI for the last four weeks. Adnan Khan has been unable to get a visa and will not be coming this season. Nouman Habib is in the country and there is a possibility that he might be available for the second half of the season.
• Teas: there have been some complaints about the new tea ladies re quality, quantity and cleaning up.
• Cricket v. Hockey match: this will take place on Friday evening, 18th July. Tony Hewston is organising the cricket team, and Andy Watts is organising the hockey team. There will be a barbecue in the evening, run by Shabir Ahmed, and all CPSA members will be invited. Matthew Stevenson expressed concern that the numbers and margins for the barbecue, and its marketing to all CPSA members, was not being done very proactively.
• President’s Day: Matthew Stevenson said that the President’s XI was close to being finalised. Judy Mander has agreed to do the teas, catering for 40 people with a budget of £120. There will not be a barbecue in the evening, because we are having one the week before (see above). The president, Sam Machin, is being kept informed of all the plans.
• TVL results: both teams are near the bottom of their respective leagues. The 1st XI has been under achieving, but results have picked up recently. The 2nd XI is finding it tough going in a higher standard of cricket, and has been missing several key players from last season.
• Other results: the Sunday 1st XI has only played one MASL match since the last meeting, for a variety of reasons, a defeat against Thame Town, but has played several friendly fixtures. The Sunday 2nd XI has continued to show much improved form on last season, with five victories already.
• Availability: this has generally been good, and we managed to put out a 3rd XI for the first time in seven years at the weekend.
• Juniors: in the absence of Phil Noot, there was no report.


Ground Report

• Covers: Andy Watts’ initiative on this subject has paid off, and the welding work is in progress. We will need to put together working parties to fit the wheels and guttering when the basic framework has been delivered to the ground.
• Square: this has not been playing quite as well recently, with a little bit of uneven bounce. David Banner believes that this is due to a) the recent very dry weather and b) the long term need to remove the thatch from underneath the square.
• Outfield: this remains in magnificent condition.


Treasurer’s Report

• Current balance: Murray Scott said that the current balance was £570, with £1000 having recently been paid over to CPSA.
• Match fees: these are all up to date.
• Annual subscriptions: Matthew Stevenson said that there were now only three notable debtors, and all of these had promised to pay up at the weekend. Obviously, there will be several new players to chase with a Saturday 3rd XI now playing fixtures. Dan Webb is on the case here, but some flexibility will be needed for occasional players, or those making up the numbers to enable the fixture to be played!
• CPSA Spring Ball: Matthew Stevenson said that he was still chasing three debtors for this event.
• ECB raffle: Matthew Stevenson said that he had distributed the tickets; they need to be returned by Friday, 25th July latest.


Any Other Business

• Closing up: Matthew Stevenson said that there were big problems with the post match clean, tidy and lock up process. Firstly, it was falling to the same people every week to do this time consuming job. Secondly, there were no procedures or checklists to follow. Thirdly, as a result of this, windows and doors have been left unlocked, keys have been missing from the rack, the tea urn has been left on overnight, too much cash has been left in the till etc. Matthew Stevenson took the action to produce a checklist for closing up. Martin Cartledge said that all the players should chip in and do the cleaning up tasks together; locking up would have to be left to the last keyholder to leave the building.
• Annual awards: Matthew Stevenson said that we had forgotten to present these to the 2002 winners, as was our intention after they were not given out at the Spring Ball, and took the action to get this sorted out.
• Next meeting: this will take place on Wednesday, 6th August, 8.00pm, in the clubhouse.