Minutes of 1999 annual general meeting
held at 7.30pm on Wednesday 15th December 1999
at Portishead C.C.

Present:
D Grewcock (Chairman)
R Humphreys (Secretary and Treasurer)
J Waters (U13/U11 Secretary)
Wrington
Nailsea
Congresbury
Blagdon
Claverham
Clevedon
Portishead
Cheddar
Uphill Castle
Worle
Winscombe
Optimists (David Lee)
Failand & Portbury
Peter Sanderson (SCB)

Absent:
Cleeve
Weston-super-Mare

Apologies:
Tony Willoughby
Simon Hopkinson

1. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved.

2. Matters arising: discussion of the new U11s league format. It had been a well balanced league with a good standard.

3. The Secretary then delivered his report (see later).

4. The U13/U11 Secretary then delivered his report (see later).

5. Discussion of the reports then ensued. In particular the issue of clubs fielding over-age players was addressed. The Chairman summed up the position: The rule as to age qualification is the rule. An opposing manager may object to an over-age player being fielded. It is open to managers, having regard to the issue of safety, to agree to allow an over-age player to participate but it is not fair to put this point to the opposing manager on the day. Prior consultation in all respects is encouraged.

6. John Waters observed that in his view the non-fulfilment by the U11 clubs of all fixtures was not because of the change to the league format.

7. The Treasurer presented the accounts which were accepted. He raised the point that he had been unable, despite enquiries, to identify an account which paid a reasonable rate of interest on deposits at the level required which was available to an unincorporated association (of which the League is an example).

8. There was discussion of trophies and the extent to which the costs of supplying these is justifiable. After discussion it was determined that, whilst cups would continue to be presented as at present, individual player trophies would be purchased by the League and presented only to:

(a) the U11s league winners;
(b) the U13 cup winners;
(c) the U13 cup runners up.

9. The level of subscriptions and fines was discussed and no change was made to these.

10. The representative team managers reported an extensive programme of games played:

(1) Sue Edwards had taken a U14s team on a tour to Northampton. They had played a 2 day game and a time game. The U14s had also played and won games against the Bristol & District League and the Bath & District League.

(2) Derek Blower reported two games by an U15s representative XI the first at Long Ashton against Bristol & District League was won (best performances from League players Simon Green (W-S-M), Hugo Hanchet (F&P) and Warren Stafford (W-S-M); also a win against Pembrokeshire in which Hanchet, Butler (Cheddar) and Booth had performed well.

(3) John Waters reported two U11s games. First a win against Pembrokeshire with good performances from Edmunds (Wrington), Lyons (Blagdon), Gilmour (F&P) and Miles (W-S-M). Second a win against the Bath & District League at Temple Cloud.

(4) Keith Berridge delivered a written report of a U13s game narrowly lost against the Bristol & District League (see later for further details).

11. A change was made to rule 5 by the deletion of the second sentence: "the initial stages of the competition for players under the age of 11 shall be run on a friendly basis with the later stages run competitively."

12. The following officers were elected:
Brian Rose (President)
Doug Grewcock (Chairman)
Robert Humphreys (Secretary and Treasurer)
John Waters (U13/U11 Secretary).

13. The following representative managers volunteered and were elected:

U11s: Nigel Cook (Uphill)
U13s: John Waters (Nailsea)
U15s: Sue Edwards (Wrington)
U17s: (it was determined to wait to see which teams entered before selecting a manager).

14. The Secretary was asked how many fixtures the U17 teams would have and he advised those present that, irrespective of the number of entries, there would be at least 9 or 10 games scheduled for each club.

15. Optimists applied to enter a team at U15 level and their application to join theLeague was accepted.

16. Details of a new U13 Sunday League had been circulated to members. Some concerns were expressed about this and it was noted that Somerset Cricket Board had started the League without any reference at all to the NSYCL. The Secretary was concerned that the resources of volunteer managers, already in short supply, might be stretched to the detriment of NSYCL teams. Peter Sanderson (SCB) said that the League was intended only to generate 3 or 4 matches between participating clubs. John Waters explained that Nailsea would be entering but purely in place of existing friendlies. The Secretary reported that his understanding, from the organiser of the new League Mark Naylor, was that its aim was mainly to fill the gap in 11-a-side cricket in the North East Somerset area which arose because the Bath & District League only ran 8-a-side games at U13 level.

17. There was discussion of the School of Excellence which Nailsea C.C. are hoping to build. John Waters explained that it was hoped to raise £500,000 but there was no guarantee that this could be done. The Chairman indicated that the League would be willing to make a small contribution but nearer the time.

18. The contents of the police notice warning clubs to be careful of people they allow to be in charge of youngsters was noted.

19. Peter Sanderson (SCB) explained some changes in the SCB's junior organisation. Julian Wyatt had been moved to taking charge of the County 2nd XI and he Peter Sanderson had been given the job of getting the corner competition running better. He accepted that the competition lacked credibility and that it had lacked attendance by county youth coaches. Part of the difficulty, he explained, is that he (like others) is a self-employed coach and is only available to put in the hours which SCB are prepared to engage him to spend on their behalf.

20. He said that he had circulated all clubs and schools asking for nominations for county trials and had had over 700 nominations at 5 levels. The county squads for year 2000 had already been chosen and boys would have to do exceptionally well in the corner games to get into those squads this year. Corner coaching was being arranged for corner squads, to be selected from those nominated, each of which was to be supplied with a qualified coach. Year 2000 corner matches would be trials for county squads in year 2000.

21. Peter Sanderson provided details of various coaching courses run by the SCB as well as a scheme called "active sports" intended to be partly lottery funded and established to give opportunities for players at district level. In response to questions from the Secretary, he accepted that the aim of the SCB youth organisation was solely to identify excellent players as possible entrants into a professional career structure.

22. John Waters observed, with support from the meeting, that North Somerset youngsters were generally not in Somerset squads when they were established at the U11 age and that, once established, the Somerset squads were difficult forNorth Somerset youngsters to get into.

23. Derek Blower appreciated what had been said but expressed the concern that concentration on excellence alone would not motivate people to watch county games; too few youngsters at primary school age were receiving coaching or indeed any kind of introduction to cricket at schools. Peter Sanderson explainedthat the SCB did not have enough coaches in the North West area to provide comprehensive coverage. Coaching is a relatively poorly paid job and so there are not as many coaches available as were needed. Conversely, the SCB did not have enough funds to put more coaches into the North West area.

24. The meeting concluded with the hope for a long, hot, dry summer.

Chairman.........................Dated.....................2000

MINUTES OF 1998 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
HELD AT 7.45pm ON MONDAY 15th JANUARY 1999
AT NAILSEA C.C.

Present:
Tony Willoughby (Chairman)
Robert Humphreys (Secretary)
John Waters (Junior Secretary)
Sue Edwards (Wrington)
D Grewcock (Claverham)
D Turner (Weston-super-Mare)
K Berridge (Nailsea)
P Bush (Bristol & District League)
S Donaldson (Bristol & District League)
M Ball (WestCountry Ground Care)
R Cooper (WestCountry Ground Care)
Portishead
Wrington
Worle Airways
Congresbury
Cleeve
Clevedon
Blagdon
Cheddar
Winscombe

Apologies:
Uphill Castle
Clifton Flax Bourton
Keynsham


1. The minutes of the previous annual general meeting with read and approved.

2. The Secretary /Treasurer delivered his report (see ante). As regards finances,the League continued to be entirely self funding and to remain on a stable,though modest, footing. Subscriptions were not recommended to increase forthe coming year. The accounts presented were accepted.

3. John Waters (U13/U11 Secretary) delivered his report (see ante). He added the observation that very few spin bowlers had been used in U13 and Ull gamesand he asked team managers in the coming season to try to encourage their use more.

4. The Secretary did not recommend any changes to the rules and no rule change proposals from members been notified to him beforehand.

5. Derek Turner (W-S-M) raised a suggestion from the floor that points be awarded when games are rained off but that there had been no requirement to re-arrange and play. The Secretary observed that this was an issue which had been fully discussed and voted on at the 1996 AGM but had been rejected. The reasoning at that time, which was still felt to apply, was that the object of running the League was to "promote, develop and encourage youth cricket" not to get points. What was sought to be achieved was the playing of the games rather than the cosmetic appearance of league tables in which all clubs appear to have fulfilled all their fixtures.

6. Rod Cooper (WestCountry Ground Care, the League's sponsors) delivered a tribute to Chairman Tony Willoughby who had declined to allow his name to be put forward for re-election. For over 30 years he had held the League together and ensured that the cricket was offered through the clubs to local youngsters; he had undertaken this onerous task with energy and enjoyment throughout. Members of the press were present and a series of photographs were taken.

7. Election of officers then took place:

President: Brian Rose
Chairman: Doug Grewcock
Secretary/Treasurer: Robert Humphreys
U13/U11 Secretary: John Waters

8. Tony Willoughby then gave a brief report on the U17 festival hosted by the League and held at Lodway C.C. South Somerset had been the winners. Bath & District had dropped out at the last minute and the League had fielded a 2nd XI Unfortunately the League's Ist XI had been weakened (absence of the W-S-M top players) and had been eliminated in the first round, leaving it to win the 3rd place play-off with its 2nd XI. Wins in additional representative games against Pembroke and Bombay Touring XIs had been achieved.

9. John Scott (W-S-M) delivered the following report as U15 representative manager:

The side had two fixtures - one against Bath & District and one against Bristol & District. The first game was played at Lansdown and we as the visitors totalled 153, which at the time I did not think was nearly enough. The main contributor was Nick Moore who scored an excellent 52 before unaccountably being bowled. The Home Side made a steady, if slow, start but collapsed to the bowling of Crawford and Weber who each took 3 wickets and we secured victory by a very comfortable 70 runs.

Two days later, we played a very strong Bristol S District side at Weston-s-Mare and Gloucestershire & West of England Young Cricketers Pick and Pearson both scored 50s which allowed the visitors to score 188 for 5 in their 40 overs. Crawford again bowled well taking 2 wickets as did Shepherd. In reply, we started sleadily and with the score past 150 for loss of only 2 wickets it seemed only a light touch on the accelerator would see us home. However, we could not manage to do this and although the first 4 batsmen, Moore 30, Weber 18. Perry 34 and Crawford 54, all batted well we ended 13 runs short of the target with 5 wickets standing.

For representative games, I think it as well to involve as many people as possible and basically, only 2 games does not allow this. However, as a Corner Manager also, I effectively had 5 games for the squad and over the 5 games, 20 individuals played at least 1 game. However, the Corner Manager and the Representative Manager will not always be one and the same and I would recommend if possible that more representative games be arranged.

10. Sue Edwards (Wrington) reported that the U13 representative XI had played one game against Bath which it won. There had been a mix up with the Bristol &District over venue and so the game against them had not been played. The match played had been a successful method of getting players opportunities.

11. The Secretary reported that in attempting to arrange oppositions for the League's representative XI he had endeavoured to arrange fixtures with some ofthe Corner XIs run without success by the SCB. He had received a consistent reaction from Corner XI managers summed up in a letter from the South East11l Corner manager which observed:

"The Corner games are prescribed and any games outside that remit are not encouraged. So I will have to cancel the fixture for Monday 27* July at Portishead. Please accept my sincere apologies."

Derek Turner (in his capacity as North West Corner administrator) said he was astounded to hear this.

12. The following representative managers were elected for the coming season:
U11 John Waters (Nailsea)
U13 Keith Berridge (Nailsea)
U15 Derek Blower (Nailsea)
U17 This was left open with a view to making an appointment after the meeting.

13. The experiment of bolstering the U13 fixture list with two additional 40 over fixtures had not been a success, observed Derek Blower (Nailsea). There was some sympathy for this view at the meeting and it was felt best not to continue the experiment.

14. Matthew Govan (Clevedon) expressed the view that with the establishment bythe SCB (via its North West Corner administration) of the Sunday afternoonWoodspring League (offering league points to clubs fielding up to three U17s) our own U17 league should be disbanded. Whilst it appeared, somewhat unfortunately, that the effect of this points incentive by the Woodspring League was to discourage clubs with smaller pools of U17 players from running full U17 teams (e.g. Clifton Flax Bourton, Clevedon, Winscombe, Portishead), many of those present considered that our own U17 division continues to be successful and worthwhile and necessary.

15. Phil Bush (Bristol & District League) reported that some clubs in his league were considering forming a U17 super-league. The Secretary observed that this proposal did not seem to him to accord with the aim of our league of promoting a framework for all within our geographical area.

16. John Waters (Junior Secretary) proposed that the U11 division move from its long standing status as a "friendly competition" with, in recent years, an end of season play-off for final places amongst the top four clubs, to a straight league basis without play-offs. After discussion, this proposal was carried.

17. There being no other business the meeting concluded at 9.40pm.

Chairman............................. Dated 15th January 1999