AGM Report 14th May

The Club’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held at Cantley Park on the 14th May 2019. Thanks to all of you who attended. The slides presented are attached below.

The main topic of discussion at the AGM was facilities. It is now three seasons since we merged. In the first season we were deliberately even handed playing the same number of adult matches at each. This season we played men’s at one venue, ladies’ at another, alternating by week which venues the men’s and ladies’ used. The goal was to support umpiring and to that end it was a success, but the downside is that it feels like we are two clubs because the men and women are kept apart. On top of this running two clubhouses is a drain on resources.

A quick show of hands at the AGM confirmed what the Management Committee (MC) was thinking, which is that next season we would like to consolidate as far as possible at one venue. Whilst idea has support, a number of disadvantages and risks were discussed. Also 38 of you responded to a recent survey and this gave us some feedback on the quality of facilities and playing experience. MC needs to take a decision in June and will look at how we gather that.

A two-pitch venue is our goal. This is what we offer to the juniors by using Wellington on Sundays. We have had exploratory discussions with Wellington about whether this could be a solution. It isn’t for next season but might be in future seasons and we will continue those discussions. We will also talk to the council’s that own Cantley Park and Birch Hill but recognise we have yet to develop a business case.

Aside from facilities we reviewed the season and elected a new MC. David Badger was elected our new Chair. We thanked the outgoing chair Ian Wilson for the years of service he has given the club, guiding it through the merger process. Thanks also to other important people who are stepping down, Playing Section Captain Mary King, and Welfare Officer Jess Morgan with Mary assuming responsibility for the role.

David Badger took us through the rationale for a new management structure that combines MC with the Playing Section (PS). Proposed changes to the constitution will be published with the aim of ratifying them at an EGM on our start of season open day. If you want to see the slides from the AGM they are on the website.

Have a lovely Summer everyone,

Robbie Campion

SHBC Secretary

P.S.

The first MC/PS meeting post AGM occurred on 20th May chez Badger. In attendance were David Badger, David Murray, Laura Kennedy, Robbie Campion, Nigel King and Ravi Patel.

Look out for a further invitation to give your views to help us decide on where we play our Adult home matches next season. Thanks to those who already participated in our survey and who came to the AGM. It is now crunch time. We need to make a decision in June.

We checked where we were with recruiting Captains and Coaches for Adults and Coaches for Juniors. We are in a pretty good place with a few gaps left to fill, but still have a few people to speak to before we communicate this.

We are encouraging Captains of Adult team to share the burden or admin and organisation with someone in their team e.g. a vice captain (just as junior coaches have the support of a team manager). We discussed best practice for Slate, Pitchero and WhatsApp and plan to share.

The Men’s and Ladies’ sections will be looking for members to help shape the plans for next season and will be organising a couple of evenings to kick this process off. This will feed into the operating plan to be presented on the Open Day. It will also be a good excuse to get together and have some fun.

After reviewing the options, we decided to stick to Saturday the 31st August for the Club Open Day and EGM. We are sorry if this clashes with your holiday plans, but we felt a Saturday was the best day and we need to reserve the following Saturdays for friendlies in preparation for the start of the league in late September.

The MC will next meet on 17th June.