at the Towns Club Sittingbourne 4th September 2003.
The Chairman welcomed everyone
and opened the meeting at 2015hrs.
Present; Vice
Chairman & Acting Chairman Steve
Kendall (Maidstone)
Secretary Chris
Saville (D & D)
Treasurer Di
Welburn. (Medway)
Maidstone;
Tunbridge Wells;
Medway; Jackie
Peckham, Tony Earl, Dave May, Gerry Peckham, Garry Speller & Debbie Allen.
Dover & Deal; Anne
Keen & Craig Carlson.
Apologies For Absence;
Peter Sainsbury..
Minutes of Previous A.G.M. 19th
October 2002 at the Towns Club.
After due time for comment it
was proposed by Garry Speller and seconded by Di Welburn that they be accepted.
– carried unanimously.
Matters Arising;
Garry Speller asked about SCBBA,
Chris Saville informed the meeting that he had written to Simon Tinto but had
never had a reply. He had seen the SCBBA County Secretaries individually, but
had not coordinated anything. He would see them at the Intercounties and
formalise disbanding the association.
The chairman asked Chris Saville
if had eventually received the half of the honorarium offered by Janie Macoy at
an earlier AGM for deputising as KBBA Secretary during her illness. Chris said
he was disappointed to say that he had received nothing.
Correspondence;
The Secretary read out a letter
he had received from Bar Billiards Ltd a few days earlier regarding dramatic
increases in table hire charges for interleagues etc and cessation of all
sponsorship. This would increase the association’s bill for table hire for the
interleague weekends from £211 to £564. This would clearly make the
interleagues untenable in their present form. The letter had arrived since the
14 day deadline for proposals had elapsed, but the Secretary had included it on the agenda because of its importance, The Chairman ruled
that it had to be discussed and the meeting agreed that any necessary rule
changes could take place because it was an emergency situation affecting the
future of the association.
The secretary suggested that the
only way forward was to book the tables for two consecutive weekends where they
could be left for the week. He had also been approached by the Alma regarding
the loss of revenue at the pub from not holding the interleagues there. The
Alma’s holding company, Enterprise Inns, had indicated that they might be
willing to contribute towards the cost of table hire if the association
continued to hold its festival weekends there. The Dover and Deal league would try to hold their
finals night that week and Chris Saville indicated they would be prepared to
make a small donation towards costs. The meeting felt that it should not be
obligatory as D & D would be doing all the work and if this proposal did
not go forward, we would not be able to afford interleagues next year. It was
generally agreed that no other venue would be available for two consecutive
weekends and if interleagues were to be held next year it would have to be at
the Alma. Chris Saville indicated the he had anticipated this possibility and
had made provisional bookings of the pub and tables for either the end of March
or the start of May (preferred by D&D), the only available times. He and D
& D would offer to host the festivals, despite Chris’s decision to resign
as KBBA Secretary because of the griping last year, it was the only way the
interleagues could function.
It was proposed by Dave May and seconded by Steve Kendall that Chris Saville should complete the negotiations with the various parties to hold the interleagues at the Alma on Sat/Sun May 1st/2nd (bank holiday weekend) & 8th/9th. The rules appertaining to interleagues would need to be considered under that section of the meeting.
President’s Address;
In the absence of the President
there was no President’s address.
Secretary’s Report (as
dictated);
Kent has a national champion again this year with the Alma, Deal winning the National Pub Team Championship. Chris Saville represented Kent in The Open Singles and won four out of six legs as did John Burrows, but lost on count-back. Jan Taylor was unable to play in the Ladies to to torn ligaments and Di Welburn went as reserve. She also lost on count-back to Joyce Mannel, both winning two out of three matches.
The ‘A’ interleague was successfully defended by the original Dover and Deal (East) side. The league did the double for the first time by winning the ‘B’ as well. The Ladies Interleague was won by Medway The knock outs day showed a dramatic increase in entrants with the inclusion of the Open Pairs.. The Ladies Pairs was won by Ann Keen and Liz Skillen, Alan Farra won the Over 50’s and with Dan Jackson the Open Pairs. A new face for the under 22’s with Wayne Wells at last admitting to being 22, so the title went to Shaun Speller. The Alternate Rules was won by Mark Foster.
The Ladies ‘A’ intercounty side won division 2 winning 5 of their six matches. Di Welburn & Janie Macoy won 5 with Jackie Peckham and Ann Keen winning 4.
The open intercounties saw the Kent side narrowly avoid relegation. Chris Saville won 3 out of 4 and all players won at least one leg All the players present fought well on the day, but it is sad to report that several of them would not have been playing if some of the top players in the County showed the same enthusiasm for representing their County. Similarly a lot of very hard work put into the interleague weekends was spoiled by griping from a few players.
The KBBA web page has continued to be the principal source for info on all matters and entry forms, though similarly there have been occurrences of a few people being unable to help KBBA & themselves by logging in or getting a friend to log in and retrieve information. It’s a much better way of running the association, forms are always to hand and not received once in the post and lost. You also will note from the Treasurer’s report that there are no every day Secretary’s expenses this year.
I would like to add my thanks to Di Welburn for getting control of the association funds once again.
Finally we continue to fight the decline in the game. You have heard the letter from Bar Billiards Ltd. We will get no help from them in future. If the game is to continue it is up to the few people here to continue fighting together as a team.
Treasurers Report;
The Treasurer circulated the
balance sheet, and outlined the financial position. She explained that this was
all new to her and hoped that all was correct. The meeting was very grateful
to, at last, receive reports and that the association appeared more financially
sound than last year. Chris Saville pointed out that this was largely due to
the lack of Secretary’s printing and phone costs due to internet
communications. It was proposed by Garry Speller and seconded by Jackie Peckham
that they be accepted, with a vote of thanks to Di Welburn for her efforts.
Proposals;
1) Committee proposal that voting at AGM’s be restricted to
three delegates per league and no officers, This was carried unanimously.
2) Committee proposal that voting at committee meetings be
restricted to one representative per league and the serving officers. Garry
Speller proposed and Tony Earl seconded that this be amended to two reps per
league plus the officers. The amendment was carried unanimously.
3) Interleagues. In the light of the earlier developments,
the rule obliging KBBA to hold the interleagues at different time of the year
be dropped. It was proposed by Chris Saville and seconded by Di Welburn and
carried unanimously that rule 4, Appendix A under Interleagues be removed.
Election of Officers;
Dave may had offered to take
over as KBBA Secretary, Chris Saville said that, as he would be heavily
involved in the interleagues, he would volunteer to remain in post for one more
year. This would allow a more structured handover to Dave and allow Dave to
become familiar with maintaining the website etc. Dave would take over as
Chairman for this year. Steve Kendall agreed to remain as vice chair to assist
Di as a signatory to accounts. Garry Speller proposed that the sitting officers
be voted into office en bloc, this was seconded by Tony Earl and carried
unanimously. Dave May was proposed as Chairman by Chris Saville, this was
seconded by Di Welburn and carried unanimously.
Secretary’s Honorarium;
The Secretary asked that the
honorarium not be increased and then left the meeting, on return he was
informed that the Honorarium would remain at £125.
Life Vice Presidents;
There were no new proposals.
AEBBA Affiliation;
It was proposed by Ann Keen and
seconded by Dave May that we remain affiliated, this was carried unanimously.
SCBBA Affiliation.
This had been discussed earlier.
Any Other Business;
Open Singles 2003-4; The
Secretary said that, despite entry forms being handed out at the Kent Classic
and being on the web site for three months there were only two entrants,
himself and Peter Sainsbury. The meeting decided that the match should be
played at the UK Leisure Club Sittingbourne on (or before) Thursday 20th
November. Garry Speller would liaise with the club and book the table with the
27th as a reserve date.
The Secretary said that he had
been emailed by Peter Sainsbury with a view to moving the NBBA final back one
week. Concern was expressed at allowing leeway when we had been 100% firm on these rulings before. It was agreed that
this be allowed, only on this occasion, and only because the request had been
made several weeks in advance of the date.
Fees; An increase was not
considered appropriate and the Treasurer proposed that they remain the same,
this was seconded by Chris Saville and passed unanimously.
Date and Venue of Next
Meeting;
A January meeting would not be
necessary this year due to the proposed lateness of the interleagues. The
meeting was set for March, date to be advised at the Towns Club.
The Vice Chairman closed the meeting
at 2135hrs.