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