Minutes of the Management Meeting held at Ripley Castle - Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Members Present


Graham Hyde (GH), Tricia Heard (TH), Jeff Watkins (JW), Isabel Peel (IP), Tony Whittaker (TW), Bill Kitson (BK), Martin Blackham (MB), Sir Thomas Ingilby (TI), John Barratt (JB), Eric Houseman (EH), Anton Lodge (AL), Roger Deakin (RD)

Apologies for Absence


Received from Bob Skaith (BS), Steven Coombs (SC), Barry Gill (BG), Justin Park (JP), Chris Newton (CN), Peter Crack (PC), Ben Drummond (BD), Dion Wood (DW)

Minutes of the meeting held on November 17th 2008 were accepted as a true and accurate record of that meeting and duly signed by TI

Matter Arising


There were no matters arising

A one minute’s silence was observed by members of the Management Committee in memory of Ron Fry who died recently. Ron was an active Committee member for many years and Umpires Secretary and latterly a Life Member of the League.

Correspondence and Secretary’s business (Tricia Heard (TH)


Ken Coad in his position as Secretary and Chairman of the Nidderdale Junior League has received correspondence from Peter Walker, the Junior League Treasurer, regarding subsidising Level 1 and Level 2 coaching courses. A discussion took place and it was agreed to direct the enquiry to the relevant section and policy on the League web site but also to identify from which clubs the enquiry originated and to investigate the policy of other local Leagues in relation to subsiding costs of coaching courses. It was felt that a co-ordinated approach should be made with other Leagues contributing part costs if applicable. This would avoid double funding.

Thirsk 3rds will play their home fixtures at their Racecourse Ground on Sunday’s in 2009 and a letter was received by Bob Hesk, the Groundsman at South Kilvington. He was querying the fixtures for South Kilvington and Thirsk 3rds. It came to light that Thirsk 3rds had not informed Mr Hesk of their change of home venue.

GH informed the Committee that Ackril Newspapers would not be taking up advertising space in the 2009 League Handbook.

Treasurer’s Report (Tricia Heard (TH) in Bob Skaith’s (BS) absence)


The current account stands at a credit balance of £3655.00 and the deposit account £8286.00
The books were currently with Bob Morley for auditing purposes.
BS has received £250.00 from the Royal Bank of Scotland in recognition for his voluntary work with the League.
TH asked BK about non payment of Junior indoor 6-a side league fees.
There was nothing further to report to the Committee.

Disciplinary Panel (Anton Lodge AL)


There was nothing to report to the Committee

Overseas Players (Tony Whittaker TW)


TW thanked Erik Thompson for his hard work in setting up the Overseas Player protocol and registration forms.
TW reported that Immigration rules had changed which will affect our overseas players.
Following the League AGM the secretary had received a document from the YCB via the ECB called a Managed Migration Briefing Paper. (annex 1)
The section which is relevant to the League is the Sports Visitor Visa.
TW read out the main points.
TW will arrange for this document to be sent out to all clubs within the next 2 to 3 days with some additional wording explaining that responsibility lies with individual clubs and detailing the League’s position and understanding.
MB talked through the points as well and expressed concerns over the current League policy/rules and some tightening up may be necessary.
There was nothing further to report to the Committee

League Solicitor (Martin Blackham (MB)


There was nothing to report to the Committee

Umpires Secretary (Jeff Watkins (JW)


JW reported that he had sent information out to all prospective Umpires for the forthcoming 2009 season asking if they were available to stand in matches.
3 would not be standing in 2009
2 new umpires in 2009 however
JW assured the Committee that he would have enough Umpires to fulfil fixtures
There was nothing further to report to the Committee

Ground Committee (Ben Drummond (BD)


BD sent his report via email to the secretary.
A Ground Committee meeting would be scheduled for 6 weeks time.
There was nothing further to report to the Committee

Junior League Representative (John Barratt (JB)


JB reported that Ken Coad was the new Junior League Chairman and Secretary and would undertake this dual role.
JB reported his thanks to Erik Thompson and Eric Houseman after they gave many years service to the Junior League
Grounds were to be arranged for the Junior representative fixtures.
There was nothing further to report to the Committee

Cup Competitions and Evening League Secretary (Barry Gill (BG)


In BG’s absence TH read out the report received via email.
On 16th January BG received an email from Frank Wilkinson at North Stainley who has left the Nidderdale Evening League to join the Harrogate Evening League. BG asked the Committee if North Stainley should be fined for a possible breech of rules. TH to look into this.
There was nothing further to report to the Committee

Six Aside Junior Indoors (Bill Kitson BK)


We have now played 18 sessions of junior cricket this season. The Under 9 age group began on11th January playing shorter sessions on Sundays. Due to the volume of entries, one team in the under 11 league has not yet played a game, they will start on 7th February.
Some clubs have already played all their games with Harrogate B, under 11s, being the only team to have played all unbeaten. Although it is too early to predict the outcome, competition this year has been particularly strong amongst the regular playing clubs and there has been some excellent cricket. The new clubs are beginning to develop an understanding of how the Indoor works. It is unfortunate that with limited hours available it is impossible for all teams in the age groups to play each other. The situation is being reviewed at present to try and find an additional venue as we already have four more clubs who have expressed an interest. (Ripon Grammar School??)
The sports hall has been supplied, at their request, with provisional dates for next season and following confirmation the affiliation fee of £71.50 will require payment. This saves the League £4.14 per hour. Based on the current 156 playing hours this amounts to an overall saving of £645.84 for the season.
Last year we reported a potential problem concerning roof repairs to the Sports Hall. In the event they were cancelled. We were informed last week that the repairs are to take place before the end of our programme. Following a meeting today, it has been decided to re-seal and not replace the roof. This will now not affect our sessions but will take place during school hours only over four weeks in March. All clubs were forewarned as the original schedule would have closed the Sports Hall for two weeks. They have now been advised that those fixtures are unaffected. Unfortunately the Hall floor is always re varnished during the February break and this does not normally affect us. However, the floor sealant this year will be more potent and we will be unable to use the Centre for two sessions on week end of 21st February for U15 and U9. These fixtures will move to late March and be played on Sundays.

League Representative Side (Dion Wood)


There was nothing to report to the Committee

Golden Oldies (Sir Thomas Ingilby (TI)


Since the League AGM there has been good progress.
11 more clubs have come forward to make their grounds available. 35 grounds are now available. This may be enough.
There are currently 25 teams confirmed with 4 having paid deposits
TI has produced a document setting out plans and actions and the desire to establish a formal Committee.
Names have been assigned also.
TI has met with the Yorkshire Tourist Board who are handling the Press elements of the event and are very keen and positive.

League Dinner (Chris Newton (CN) and Eric Houseman (EH)


The date of the 2009 League Dinner has been changed to Friday 6th November 2009.
CN had met with The Cairn Hotel representative to discuss the 2008 dinner.
Prices for the 2009 dinner have therefore been held at 2008 prices.
The event will take place in the larger Windsor Suite although the Committee felt that the smaller, Promenade Suite provided a better venue.
The League have first refusal on the Promenade Suite should it become available.
EH reported that speakers were being sought and Luke Sutton, ex Derbyshire, was a possibility.

Any Other Business


TH mentioned that she is still prepared to run the scorers score which was mentioned at the AGM although there has been no interest to date.
• JB asked if the League web site could be updated more frequently with Management Committee meeting minutes. GH said that as part of the handbook update for 2009, officers would be updated and as and when meeting minutes are approved, GH would forward them to BD for addition to the web site.
JW asked, in recognition of the many years of effort, Erik Thompson should be made a Life Member of the League. This was seconded by EH and agreed by all.

Date of Next Meeting


Tuesday 24th March 2009, 7.30pm at Ripley Castle.

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