Club meetings + Info.
updated 27th february 2023 - committee
27th February 2023 - committee
Hi everyone - we had a committee meeting 27th Feb to discuss pre-season preparations to get the club and players in shape so that we can hopefully have a successful bowling season.
Thursday 30th March 11 am for 11.20 draw + start @ 11.30
Please text Kevan 07505320612 if you hope to attend.
If successful the another comp will be arranged Thursday April 6th.
Our Club's AGM was on Wednesday February 8th 2023
summary of decisons
1] membership fee to remain £12
2]match playing fees remain at £2 (tea and coffee free)
3] council permit fees (for match players ) assumed as £80 will be subsidised by 50% with a reduction of £5 for payments made at AGM meeting - therefore £40-5 = £35 on the day
If permit fees less than £80 then refund will be given to members.
4] council permit fees (for match players )paid after the meeting will be £40 to all match players and to be paid on or before the second vets match of the season.
5] non-match players (i.e. social players)will not pay permit fees
6]To clarify - social and casual membership (non team players) will not be required to pay a council permit fee to play on our club - as we want the community to utilise the club green and facilities and to encourage existing/new members to occasionally play or learn to play bowls or join in club social competitions/hiring out the green for functions - as we consider that anything more than social/casual membership charges will be off-putting for low income/youngsters/learners/families/infirm /non-team players to enjoy this sport.
Non members and non-council permit holders are welcome to play on the green any day there is not a match by paying £1 per visit.
7] Our club has volunteers amongst its membership who carry out work for the club including looking after the bowling green/clubhouse and to help the club in all its bowling/social activities - saving the council some four thousand pounds per year and providing the club with much better bowling green and club facilities.
This voluntary work allows our club to recover 50% of the permit fee payable to the council - (which has gone towards the upkeep of the green in the past ) and also to apply for funding as a community group.
This year the permit fee refund is higher because the permit fees are - so the committee is proposing that club members are further helped by keeping our club membership to £12 membership.
Also all club members or guests of members who do voluntary work for our club (12 hours per year minimum) will enjoy a Christmas party as a thank you for the efforts put in for the club, during the year, so that these benefits can happen.
8]notes:
a)all members can bring guests with them to the club.
b)members not playing in a team do not need a permit to play on our bowling green.
c)anyone in the community can play on our green for £1
b)council permit players from the borough can play for free on our bowling green.
c)organised events will have their own rules - so that our members' families/friends and the local community can enjoy our club's facilities.
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Due to family commitments Paul Pover has resigned as chairman of the club - and so there is a vacancy for this role.
We would like to thank Paul for his services to this club over the years - being in the Vets B team - especially with us going self management and the difficulties with Covid rules and regulations.
Although he is staying with the club and helping out as needed he will be giving priority to his family commitments .
---------------So a big thank you to Paul and good luck in 2023-------
Due
to family commitments of some committee members we desperately need committee members and active organisers to keep our club and its activities going - please come forward to help - so as to distribute the workload - our volunteers save £40 for all our permit paying members and saves the council £6000 per year in maintenance - it cannot happen without volunteers.
Main Committee (in 2023 )
Vacancy - Chairman + temporary club secretary
Paul Pover - general committee poverp@hotmail.com
07929 617383
Barrie Howarth - BCGBA safeguarding Officer
01204 410165 email : barrfor@hotmail.co.uk
Kevan Latham - Club Coordinator + bowling green + web site + club audit
mob: 07505320612
email :kevan.latham@ntlworld.com
Norman Jones - Treasurer mob:07972606423
email: jones.n19@sky.com
Malcolm Austin - bowling green tel: 07720 287460
email: malcolm.austin4@ntlworld.com
Sub Committees
volunteers still required to be proactive for :
1] raising sponsorship for funds
2] for schools/club/volunteer group contacts
3] to look after and improve flower beds/ surrounds
4] to look after the clubhouse/kitchen/toilets/organise decorating
5] Bowling green + surrounds
Kevan Latham + Malcolm Austin + volunteers required
6] To organise competitions / events
7] Social secretary - required
8] Training + coaching – organising these events with schools/clubs and the general public
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AGM notes 19th February - 2022 - kev
Our Agm was held on Wednesday 16th February 2022
Venue : Astley Bridge Conny Club
The following notes are a summary of the meeting points and voting
1] We all paid our respects to absent friends - Alan Walsh/Fred Kay/Robin Craig - all well known bowlers and members of our club.
2] Our chairman, Paul Pover, was ill and sent in his report thanking the committee members/club volunteers/treasurer/funding organiser/green workers/website organiser/clubhouse maintenance /team captains for their efforts this year in keeping the club going.
3] Treasurer's report (by Norman Jones) - outlined the + and - of the club accounts - in summary Kevan (who audited the accounts) stated that in the 5 years that our club has been looking after our own green our account balance has risen from £500 to £10,000 and we have improved our club facilities - new kitchen/improved toilets/ fit for purpose bowling green / equipment shed and tools/defibrillator/hygiene equipment for covid/lovely surrounds/better seating.
4] Team secretaries to contact their team players to establish that they will have a full team this year so that the leagues can be informed.
5] All players in the various leagues must be registered with them and have a BCGBA number and also a park permit to play.
6] The following vets league proposals will be put to all vets team captains in the league's March meeting and so we voted on them so that our team captains know how to vote in that meeting.
a) Reducing the player age to less than 60 was rejected
b) Dropping the word 'park' from BVPABA league was rejected
c) An earlier start to vets matches from 1.30 to 1pm was rejected
d) Continuing this season with 10 players in vets league was accepted.
7] The club membership fee for everyone is to remain at £12-was accepted
8] The subs for playing in a match are to be £2 - this was accepted
9] Although the council permit fee will be £72 per person - our club team players will pay £36 (as our club gets a reduction due to us looking after our own green) - non team players will not pay a permit fee. - this was accepted
10] Do the members want to take on the financial running of the clubhouse in order to receive a further 50% reduction in permit. (permit fee will then be £0 and members will still be entitled to play on other park greens for free.)- this was rejected.
11] Volunteers are required from every team to keep the toilets /kitchen/ clubhouse clean and tidy after every match day - this was accepted.
12] we welcomed our new members
Ken Bissitt
Sandra Doel
Phil Doel
Ray Forrest
Alan Parker
Peter Clinton
Christine Clinton
Harry Moores
13] Membership fees were collected at the end of the meeting ( £12) (membership cards will be left in an open box on the window ledge inside the clubhouse for members to collect ).
14] Council permit fees wont be collected until June/July
15] A request for organisers to come forward for various aspects in the running of our club.
16] Any other business - various comments to clarify points above. - especially important was the continued funding of work on the green and ways of keeping this funding going - members were asked to keep this in mind.
Another comment was advertising our club in shop windows - to increase membership / income.
17] A copy of accounts is available from Norman Jones if requested.
18] Everyone was thanked for attending and joining in -meeting closed
2020-2021 Annual statement
From Paul Pover [chairman] + Kevan Latham [coordinator]
Hello Club members – Hope that this annual statement finds you all in good health and spirits and that you have had at least your first covid jab.
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The committee is aware that Terry Edwards passed away recently - Everyone at the club send their condolences to his family.
Terry was a well respected member of the club and used to be an active committee member- he will be a missing personality in the club and around the bowling green this year - RIP Terry.
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As we are not allowed to have meetings we present this annual statement in our club web pages
– The annual accounts have been completed and audited now ( thanks to Norman Jones [treasurer] and Kevan Latham [audit] )
– In summary the nett balance in the accounts (after spending the committed grant money) is virtually the same as at February 2020 – which is a great achievement with the commitments that we had since february last year to the present with no income from membership / playing subs /return permit fee - if members wish to see a summary of our accounts they are welcome to ask and will receive them via email or a copy can be dropped through your letter box (name and address please) .
Last year was unprecedented due to the virus and its restrictions with some social bowling only.
A lot of time and effort was input into finding ways of managing the club’s commitment to looking after the bowling green so that it did not revert back to the council.
The very hot spring and early summer meant finding extra expenditure on keeping the green watered so that it did not crack up during lockdown restrictions.
A lot effort was required in keeping pace and communicating with council and bcgba over rules and regulations and keeping membership informed of what was/was not allowed on the bowling green and clubhouse.
Thanks to the various team captains for organising the scheduling of booked bowling sessions:
Norman Jones
Terry Tansey
Barrie Howarth
Kevan Latham
There was no income from bowling and the membership fees that were paid have been retained for 2021 membership.
The club has managed to maintain the bowling green to an excellent standard – thanks to our volunteers saving us/the council thousands of pounds and giving us a much improved bowling green with grants received from sport England.
A big thank you to our contactor Mowitt for regularly mowing the green and the advice throughout the year .
We had another break-in at our equipment cabin – resulting in time being spent on security and repair – thanks to our volunteers again – saving us hundreds of pounds.
We have managed to raise funds for the spring work to get the bowling green in shape for 2021 and also funding to improve our hygiene facilities at the clubhouse so that we will feel safer there after our Covid jabs.
More of what we achieved appears on our web pages.
2021 new season – looking forward
Club meetings for the start of the 2021 season are not taking place [ due to covid ] but your committee has been active all year and is still active and making plans as can be seen on this website .
The council permit charge is still undecided but we think that it is likely to be £45 to £50.
We await their decision – and then we will decide if we will be able to reduce the figure as we hope to get a 50% refund for maintaining our own green.
The committee have discussed some aspects of membership charges and in the new season the plans are that the fees paid by members in 2020 will be carried over to the new season 2021.
-We are in the thros of creating a French boules rink with additional canopy and seating facilities with funding from Sport England. - details can be seen on the French boules project page.
We are still working on updating our hygiene facilities to make the club house and bowling activities more covid secure.
Final covid requirements will appear on the club’s web page as soon as we know more from the council.
Fees for 2021 for team players/non-team players/casual membership will be resolved as the Covid situation and council fees are clearer – we have done a ‘head count’ and presently 95% membership are interested in keeping with the club - we have almost got 3 vets teams and a conny team already.
Whatever the permit fees are - members will be reimbursed a proportion due to the 50% refund that we have been promised for our member volunteers managing our own bowling green.
This year we will be accepting new members
Casual members not playing bowls will not pay anything - so family members please request a membership card from Norman.
Social and casual membership not in a team will not be required to pay a permit fee to play at our club - as we want the community to utilise the club green and facilities and to encourage existing/new members to occasionally play or learn to play bowls or join in club social competitions/hiring out the green for functions - as we consider that anything more than social/casual membership charges will be off-putting for low income/youngsters/learners/families/infirm /non-team players to enjoy this sport.
Work on and around the green
A big thank you to our contactor Mowitt for regularly mowing the green and the advice throughout the year .
A big thank you to all our volunteers also.
I estimate that our volunteers have saved the club / council some £5000 this year in labour - keeping the surrounds tidy and the green / verges in great condition with regular treatments and/free of leaves /boxes repaired and regularly scarified .
We have a great bunch of volunteers - who give up their time to make the club special for all our members and the community - who we hope will be able to join with us once again when it is possible .
We would welcome other members to join with us in making our plans easier to achieve - as we have lots of ideas and funding to make these plans happen - we just need more hands - whether it be for physical work / admin work / enquiries for products - shopping around on the internet for good bargains of things we need / skills like plumbing or flagging or painting or joinery work /cleaning and improving the clubhouse / organising events /competitions /making enquiries with other businesses or groups who may want to sponsor us and join in with our open bowling events or coaching for youngsters in clubs and schools.
We go into 2021 with a really good green and realistic plans for making our bowling club safer /more comfortable /pleasant /adventurous for its members and the community.
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Updated 16th January - kev
-Club meetings for start of the 2021 season are not taking place [ due to covid ] but your committee is still active and making plans as can be seen on this website .
- The annual accounts are in preparation and will be complete by mid February ( as is normal) .
-The Committee will audit and review these and will provide email copies of the summaries to members on request - so keep checking this site.
-We have managed to raise funds for the spring work to get the bowling green in shape and also funding to improve our hygiene facilities so that we will feel safer after our Covid jabs.
-We are in the thros of creating a French boules rink with additional canopy and seating facilities with funding from Sport England. - details can be seen on the French boules project page.
For your interest the last AGM details were as follows :-
posted 19th February 2020 - kev
Our AGM 2020 went well today - Kevan chaired the meeting as Paul had urgent commitments.
First of all I did not thank the outgoing committee members who have done a lot for the club over the many years.
Eddie Gregson and Ken Lord - so thank you for doing a great job and for still being involved in club activities.
Our committee member Malcolm Austin has never been introduced properly but has been involved mainly in the green maintenance and surrounds this season - so thank you for joining us and doing a great job.
Our latest help in the social side of things is Terry Tansey who is going to organise competitions and will be our 'competitions organiser' .
As for the meeting read on - I will summarise as follows.
1] We reiterated what we discussed at the EGM viz: to make the income and expenditure balance we had to continue to keep our present membership and that we had to continue with 4 teams (3 vets and 1 conny).
All team captains said that they had enough players.
If for some reason the outcome is different come April then the captains must get together and sort out the teams to facilitate this crucial point.
Team captains are responsible for letting the league know of the players and their regstration numbers before and during the season as members are recruited.
2] The council permit charge is still undecided but we had done our figures and stated that after a club refund - the permit charge for our members will be no higher than £40 - this was agreed by a large majority of the 30+ members present.
This will be collected when the council has made its final decision.(maybe by team captains)
note that members not playing for a team at Astley bridge park do NOT have to pay a permit charge - just £12 membership and regarded as 'social membership'
3] The club membership is to go up to £12 from £10 for the 2020 season - this was passed by all present.
4] The match playing charge for all team players on the day would rise from £1 to £2 for the 2020 season - this was passed by all members present.
5] The club summary accounts for 2019 were presented to everyone prior to the meeting starting and no-one had any adverse comments - so are taken as passed. - thanks to Norman Jones for all his efforts this season in keeping a track of the income and expenditure + Kev for audit and the club captains for collecting the subs each match. - it worked really well last year - good teamwork.
6] A request for organisers and volunteers in the various club activities was again made so as to distribute the workload.
Especially the social side of the club to keep our new members/future members/social bowlers involved in the club.
- thanks to the offers of help and the suggestion that a Friday social day be set aside during the season for members to meet up on a regular basis- this will be advertised on our front page.
7] The meeting was then closed.
8] £12 memberships were then collected.
Please look at the bottom of this page for club post vacancies.
Club members achieving :
full dbs /safeguarding and BCGBA level 1 coaching accreditation
:- (as at 1/7/2018 ) are as follows
Barrie Howarth / Edward Gregson / Kevan Latham / Malcolm Austin / Paul Pover / Rosalyn Wilcock
Club members achieving :
full dbs and BCGBA level 1 coaching accreditation
:- (as at 1/7/2018 ) are as follows
Barry Winrow / Kevin Harwood
see page on coaching/welfare for further details