Herts SQUASH AGM Minutes

	Herts_SQUASH _{County Committee Meetings}

	MINUTES OF THE 2004 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HERTS SQUASH RACKETS ASSOCIATION HELD AT CANNONS ST ALBANS, ON 14TH JUNE 2004 Present: Jason Foster Acting Chairman Domnic Webster Secretary Dean Clayton Treasurer Isobel Smith Ladies Captain Betty Longhurst League Secretary Sally Ann Webster League Secretary Lesley Garner Herts Closed Organiser Derek Thorpe Website Administrator 1. Apologies: Haileybury Ladies Team, Knebworth Ladies, Paul Drakes and Neil Melville. 2. The 2003 Minutes The minutes were accepted unanimously. Proposed by Tony Porter (Royston) and seconded by Dudley Fuler (HCC). Chairman Jason Foster introduced himself and the committee to the AGM. 3. Secretary’s Report Dominic informed the AGM that he had just taken over as Secretary and was still learning about the full scope of the job. He asked that if anyone had ideas for improving certain procedures or indeed had new ideas, to please let him know. Club affiliation is due on 1^st June 2004 and invoices are sent out to individuals at the clubs. Every club needs to be affiliated and Dominic added that if anyone wished to speed up this process to see him, as he was sent copies of all invoices. Clubs must declare all their players. If clubs do not affiliate England Squash will chase until they do. 4. Ladies County Isobel Smith reported that the Ladies Team were competing in Division 1 South. The squad consisted of Zoe Smith (Broxbourne), Isobel Smith (HCC), Maureen Winter (Broxbourne), Elke Rubsam (Cannons) , Sheila Blake (Hailebury), Laura Taylor (Cannons) and Emma Abbeglan (Bishops Stortford). At first weekend Herts beat Cambridgeshire 4-1 but lost to Essex 4-1 and lost to Norfolk 3-2 (who were fielding Cassie Jackman. We therefore came third overall and went to the relegation weekend. At the relegation weekend Herts beat Cambridgeshire 5-0 and beat Devon 3-2 but lost to SE Wales 4-1 . We therefore came second overall and avoided relegation and remain in Division 1. The ladies Vets Team of Isobel Smith, Lesley Garner, Maureen Winter, Elke Rubsam, Sheila Blake and Jill Gaskell enjoyed a successful season. ……………………………………….. 5. Mens County The Men’s senior team were weakened by the unavailability of Chris Ryder, Galen LeCheminant, Chris Ryder and Jason Foster due to various reasons. The squad was Adam Fuller (HCC) Keith Timms (Broxbourne) Simon Venables (HCC) Martin Geear (B/Stortford) Lasantha Fernando (Radlett) and Mark Cottingham (B/Stortford). Herts lost to Dorset 4-1 and to Essex 3-2 and lost 3-2 to Berkshire, stirling performances by all players though. Herts came last and went to the relegation weekend. At the relegation weekend Herts beat Hampshire 5 – 0, beat Bedfordshire 5 – 0 and beat Dorset 4 – 1. Herts won the weekend and so remain in the same division for next season. Mens O’35 The team was Martin Geear (B/Stortford), Lasantha Fernando (Radlett), Gavin Roger-Lund (Cannons St. Albans), Martin White (HCC), Tom Griffin (Hazlewood) and Dominic Webster (HCC). Herts beat Northamptonshire 5 – 0, lost to Cambs 3-2 and beat Wiltshire 4-1 and came second overall at the weekend. Cambridgeshire and Herts were promoted. Mens O’45 This team won the National Inter County Playoffs and became the first Herts Team to win a National Title. The team of Peter Leary, Derek Thorpe, Dave Cooper (Captain), Julian Craxton, Phil Collins, Dave Kinley and Gary Spindler made it to the National Playoffs in March at Nottingham Squash Club. They beat Lancashire 3-2 in the semi finals and went through to play a very strong Yorkshire team in the final. The Herts team beat Yorkshire 4-1 and became champions. A fantastic result. A special presentation of a photo and plaque was then made to Derek Thorpe on behalf of the Committee to commemorate the occasion. 6. Junior Report Ray Waller, Chairman on the Junior Committee, reported to the AGM on progress with the Juniors. He explained about the structure of the committee and listed junior reps and their clubs. They are always looking for more junior reps to join them. Current committee are: Ray Waller (Chairman) U17 Dave Sciberras (accounts) U15 Dudley Fuller U19 John Dixon U12 Juian Craxton U9/U11 and girls Ron Worrell Administrator/Secretary. Ray explained that the committee pay Ron Worrell £50 per month to run the varoius leagues and competitions. They received an Awards for All grant last year and have put this to good use, promoting squash in schools and clubs around Herts. Junior Herts Closed will be held over three weekends, a fun event for U9/U11 at Radlett on 18/19^th September, U13 and U17 on 25/26^th September at Cannons and U15 and U19 on 2/3^rd October at HCC. Any sponsorship gladly received. There are currently more ranked juniors than before, Adam Fuller who left juniors three months ago was ranked No.3 in U19 and other juniors that are currently ranked are Jonathan Fuller, Adrian Waller Neil Waller, Oliver Dixon and Tim Dixon. Adrian Waller had recently represtented England juniors at No.1. 7. Treasurer. Dean Clayton presented the audited accounts for year ended 31^st May 2004 and clarified a few points on Awards for All money and the sum that is given to the Junior Committee each year. The accounts were proposed by Corrin Lewis (Allenburys) and seconded by Derek Thorpe (Radlett). 8. Herts Closed 2003 Lesley Garner read a report of the 2003 Herts Closed. Unfortunately there were no sponsors last year and numbers were slightly down from the previous year with a total of 82 players against and entry of 90 last year. Results Mens A Keith Tims bt Simon Venables 3 - 1 Mens O’35 Martin Geear bt Gavin Roger-Lund 3 – 0 Mens Vets Peter Leary bt Derek Thorpe 3 – 1 Mens Vint Graham Ball bt Tony Clifford 3 – 0 Ladies Zoe Smith bt Isobel Smith 3 – 0 Ladies Vet Lesley Garner bt Elke Rubsam 3 – 2 Thanks to all that supported the event, players, officials and to Cannons for hosting the tournament. 9. Ladies League Betty Longhurst gave a brief report and confirmed that she would be standing down as League Secretary. The leagues had been successful but she is very concerned about the diminishing number of ladies playing squash in Herts and asked everyone to try and encourage any ladies playing squash to join the leagues. Jason made a presentation to Betty to thank her for all the hard work she had put in to running the leagues. Mens League Sally Ann reported that ten teams had been lost from the summer league last year. If we lose any more teams it is enevitable that we will another division from the leauges. Although there are a few new teams entering the lower divisions, we need more teams! The online leagues launched last winter have been a great success and the feed back has been good and has created more interest in other people’s results etc. The software does not work for a three-man team so will not be used for the summer league. However it will be fully operational again for the winter with the added bonus of team captains being able to input their own results. They will be given their own user ID and password to enter the site. All results will have to be authorised by the League However this brings another problem as players must play in their nominated order otherwise their results will not be accepted. In the current rules it states that the League Secretary should be contacted at least 48 before the match to nominate a new player for a team. Only a couple of team captains follow this rule. It is essential that players play in the correct, nominated order. If a team has players who are the same standard they will have to change at the half way stage. Sally Ann proposed a Rule Change to say that a team order must stay conistent and can only be changed at the half way stage. This motion was carried with no dissenters. The usual complaint of teams not turning up on time was raised. Now that the contact list is on the website everybody should be able to let people know if they are going to be late or just to remind a team of the start time of their courts. Also hot food should be provided after a match particularly in the winter season. Sally Ann confirmed that she would allow teams to postpone games due to the Euro 2004 football. An extra week will given at the end of the season. Sally Ann had provided laminated posters giving information on the website and asked that people took them back to their clubs to put on the notice board. Jason thanked Sally and Dominic for all their hard work in the running the leagues. 10. Election of Officers Betty proposed that Nicky Wase and Fiona McClure of Gosling take over as League Secretary. This was seconded by Lesley Garner of Cannons. The committee were re-elected on bloc. Dean Clayton will be stepping down as Treasurer and an appeal was made for a successor. 11. Any other Business Jason thanked Derek Thorpe for all his hard work on the Herts Website. Jason again spoke about club affiiliation and how important this was. He also mentioned the Club Charter run by England Squash, which is like a helping hand to clubs in setting up junior sections, getting coaches, etc. Chantry have been officially recognised as Bronze Club Charter and Bishops Stortford and HCC have been given a Silver Charter. Herts Youth Games last year, Derek Thorpe managed to get squash in as a demonstration sport. This year it will be a permanent fixture. 12. League Presentations Ladies Winner RU Summer League 2003 Gosling Winter League Div 1 Cannons Div 2 Allenburys Mens Winner RU Summer League Div 5 Harlow GSK2 Div 4 Potters Bar 1 Royston Div 3 HCC 3 Berkhamsted 4 Div 2 Harpenden RC 2 Tring 2 Div 1 HCC1 Broxbourne 1 Winter League Div 5 Harlow Ickleford Div 4 Hawks 1 Potters Bar Div 3 Radlett 2 Bishops Stortford 2 Div 2 Broxbourne 2 HCC 3 Div 1 R3 Stevenage 1 Radlett 1 The Wilkinson Sword was presented to R3 Stevenage for winning Division 1 for the first time. The meeting finished at 9.20 p.m.

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