Chalfont St. Peter Cricket Club: Minutes, 16th March, 2005

Present: Matthew Stevenson (chairman), Saqib Ahmed, Shabir Ahmed, David Banner, Zamir Khan, Phil Noot, Andy Parsons, David Peters, Rahul Punj, Dan Webb

Apologies: Murray Scott

Matters Arising

• Annual award trophies: David Peters received one more trophy back this evening – he will now get them engraved.
• Junior club shirts: Zamir Khan reported that these had now arrived. Phil Noot will distribute and make an appropriate charge - £10 was mentioned as a reasonable figure. This will make a good profit for the club, and promote the club name as well.
• Indoor nets: Rahul Punj reported that he had not yet managed to book anything up – for the second year running, it would appear that we have left this too late.

Ground Report

• Square: Matthew Stevenson asked Shabir Ahmed to look after the square again in 2005 and he was delighted to accept. Terms and conditions will be finalised in the next week or so.
• Outfield: there was a discussion about softball at “the club”. Matthew Stevenson made it clear that the cricket section is fully supportive of the benefits that the softball section brings to “the club”; however, the committee had some concerns (see below). Matthew Stevenson asked Andy Parsons to relay these concerns to the CPSA board.
o Dan Webb reported that two of his Sunday 2nd XI players have left the club because they are unhappy about softball being played at Chalfont Park. Both Dan Webb and Matthew Stevenson, as chairman, made it clear that they are in favour of softball at the club and do not accept this argument. However, it is a concern that we have lost members.
o The cricket section is impacted by wear and tear on the outfield, and line markings etc., for which we are marked down by TVCL panel umpires.
o The unavailability of the ground for cricket matches (juniors) and practice is a concern to members, although the softball section has been very helpful in trying to ensure that there are no clashes.
o The potential damage to the cricket square from softball matches is a concern. Matthew Stevenson said that the acquisition of the coconut matting strip should largely mitigate this. Rahul Punj said that ideally you need two matting strips, because the groundsman will often be preparing separate wickets for the Saturday and the Sunday. He may also be repairing ends from the previous week.
o The restricted access to the groundsman, to both the square and the outfield, is a concern. It would now be very difficult for anyone in a full-time job to do the square part-time in the evenings. The increasing number of junior cricket fixtures is a factor here as well as softball matches.
o David Banner has done a lot of outfield repairs voluntarily and at his own personal cost. The committee was worried about “the club” taking advantage of him re repairing and recovering the outfield after softball matches. It was felt that the CPSA board should draw up a contract, to be put out to tender, for this work (at the moment there is a vacuum, because outfield repairs are covered neither by the contract for the square nor the contract to cut the outfield).
• Work parties: it was agreed that some more work parties should be arranged prior to the start of the new season – David Banner will organise.
• Rubbish Skip: Rahul Punj will try to obtain a rubbish skip at a favourable rate.
• Machinery: David Banner and Shabir Ahmed reported that there were no immediate issues with machinery, although the outfield mower needs a new seat and the new scarifier will need some new blades before too long. David Banner also reiterated his concerns about the lack of storage capacity at the club for machinery.
• Covers: Matthew Stevenson asked David Banner to obtain/purchase some new tarpaulin covers if they are required.

Cricket Report

• Overseas players: Matthew Stevenson will chase Adnan Khan to check that everything is still okay. Rahul Punj will speak to Adil Irfan to see if he wants to come back again this season. Javaid Ali was discussed as a possible alternative if either Adnan or Adil prove to be unavailable. Matthew Stevenson emphasized that the terms and conditions for overseas players remain the same i.e. the club is unable to pay them or to provide any assistance with travel and accommodation, so they must make their own arrangements.

Finance

• Fixture booklets 2004: there is still £100 outstanding from last year’s fixture booklets. Zamir Khan said that he needed a copy print of the original invoice in order to obtain the money from his debtor.
• Annual dinner 2004: there has been no further progress on Shahid Din’s debt.
• Annual subscriptions 2004: there has been no further progress on the two outstanding debtors, Amit Puri and Dean Page.

Fund Raising

• ECB Raffle 2005: Matthew Stevenson said that he had ordered £500 worth of tickets
• Fixture booklets 2005: Zamir Khan reported that he so far had seven advertisements – he said that if Keith Neave can get the printing done for us as discussed in January, then we should make a profit similar to last year.

Fixtures

• Senior fixtures 2005: Dan Webb reported that he was making good progress – the main gaps are away fixtures for the Sunday 2nd XI.
• President’s Day 2005: Matthew Stevenson asked Dan Webb to chase Sam Machin (again) re confirmation of a date for this year’s fixture; provisionally, it is set for the first Friday in August again.
• Junior fixtures 2005: Phil Noot said that he now had the junior fixtures, apart from the Under 17s which have not yet been finalised. He has forwarded this list to Neil Turner, who will hopefully now be able to arrange his softball fixtures in such a way as to avoid clashes with junior cricket.
• Buckinghamshire Under 15s match: Dan Webb reported that he had arranged for a county match to be staged at Chalfont Park. Matthew Stevenson asked him to resolve any catering issues with Caroline Chipperfield and Taylormade.

Any Other Business

• Next meeting: Wednesday, 13th April, 2005, 8.00pm in the clubhouse.
• Chairman: Matthew Stevenson said that he expected to be away on business for the next three months – he hoped to be back for a few weekends to play cricket and will remain in email contact, but will not be around midweek to chair committee meetings etc. Dan Webb very kindly offered to chair the meetings in his absence.