BMGA
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING NOTES
Date: Saturday 26th January 2013
Time: 11.00am – 1.00pm
Location: Fort Dunlop Travelodge, Birmingham
AGM AGENDA
26th January 2013 – 10.30am for 11am onwards
Fort Dunlop Travelodge, Birmingham
1) Welcome, introductions & apologies
2) Minutes of last AGM and action points
3) Reports from the Executive Committee
· Chairman
· Marketing and Media
· Membership
· Development
· Clubs
· Finance
4) Executive Committee elections
5) Motions for debate and voting
6) AOB (time permitting)
C L O S E
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
REVIEW OF 2012
2012 has been another good year for the BMGA. Our Membership has taken a positive step forward again with the continuation of the two tier membership and in particular the free website membership which has seen us pull in over 140 new members this year.
We have again hosted a successful tournament calendar, ably supported by the ongoing media and marketing work. We said hello to the new Basingstoke course on the BMGA tour as well as visiting a number of our now established tournament venues, including a return to Splash Point for the Masters and a somewhat truncated visit to Strokes in Margate for the British Open. We also saw the BMGA get involved in a multi-sport event in Oswestry along with two successful public events in August and October that all helped drive up our membership numbers and public awareness of minigolf and the BMGA . Overall 120 players took part in all of our Strokeplay events along with an additional 90 players from the two public events we supported in Arkley and Bluewater.
The quality of play throughout the year continues to go from strength to strength as events become more and more competitive with a number of excellent individual performances, notably from our upcoming junior players, in a season that was dominated from start to finish the UK number 1 Player, Michael Smith who created BMGA history by not only winning all 3 majors in a career but even more impressive, doing the grand slam of major wins in one season! Congratulations also to the Kent Minigolf Club who made it 3 in a row by winning the Club Championship in November (and will be back in 2013 to go for an unprecedented 4 in a row).
On the International scene we saw Great Britain take on the rest of Europe with and a full men’s team at the European Championships’ in Porto under the leadership of Marc Chapman, the BMGA’ Development Officer. We hosted the World Adventuregolf Masters at Hastings for the second time and will once again be hosting the event, this time in June, across Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th (changed to enable more domestic players to take part). With the recent confirmation of a full Swedish team, alongside the two time German champions and a number of teams from Great Britain taking part this should be a terrific even once again.
As was highlighted last year, our development as a minigolfing nation and part of the WMF has come at quite a financial cost – course registration fees for example have caused a significant impact on our available revenue over the past 2 years. We have argued and debated the issue of registrations for the past 12 months in particular and whilst we have been able to reduce some of the costs, the overall impact on our finances has still hit us hard. To have any future as minigolf nation we must remain under the WMF umbrella and as such cannot ignore or avoid the costs as they currently stand. That said I am pleased that we are in a position to finally clear all outstanding debts to the WMF this season and will continue to be vocal on behalf of developing nations regarding this process.
I am really pleased with the work that the Executive Committee has achieved over the past 12 months, a tremendous effort with the limited resources we have at our disposal. I would also like to pass on a huge thank you to all the players and members who supported the running of events across the season, ensuring another superb season of minigolf for everyone who took part.
LOOKING FORWARD TO 2013
The planning and rationale behind the 2013 calendar has been shaped by events over the past 2 seasons. I have once again focussed the calendar on venues that I am confident we can get strong support from players, locally and nationally and have created a streamlined tour calendar for the season ahead. We have fewer events planned but importantly all of the key tournaments are all in place in what I know will prove to be an excellent and competitive tour. There are a lot of spaces between the dates for other events and this gives the opportunity for all of our clubs to organise Open events this season as well as chances to get new courses onto the tour, be they hosting BMGA club events or other supported events such as we saw in 2012 at Oswestry, Bluewater and Arkley. I would strongly encourage players and clubs in particular to develop links with local courses as this always proves to be the best starting point for any ongoing relationship between courses and the BMGA.
The official announcement of the 2013 calendar was confirmed via our website earlier this month and full details can be found at http://www.minigolf.org.uk/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=477:2013-bmga-tour-calendar-confirmed&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=60 along with details of the events and comments from some of the key courses hosting tournaments in 2012.
I am delighted that we are once again returning to both Wroxham Barns and Boscombe Chine on the tour this year (and both events will see Pro-Am events taking place during the relevant weekend). Following the successes of 2012 it’s also great to go back to Splash Point for the Masters in April and Strokes in September for the British Open (hopefully rain free this year!). March also sees a brand new event on the tour, the British Crazy Golf Open, a great way to experience the joys of Crazy Golf in all its finery and hopefully will ensure players are eager for more and enter the World Crazy Golf Championship in October.
As always any players who are keen to help run events this season please step forward and let the EC know if you want to get involved. The smallest help goes a long way to ensuring events can run smoothly and all input will be greatly appreciated by all involved in the tournaments in 2013.
I expect to see a strong presence by Great Britain at both the Nations Cup and the World Championships in Bad Münder, Germany later this year. James Rutherford and I will be contacting players shortly regarding the selection process (the process remains unchanged from 2012).
2013 once again sees some major changes in the Executive Committee line-up. Richard Gottfried is stepping down from his role as Marketing and Media Officer after 5 years in the role. Richard has been instrumental in the development of the promotion and awareness of the BMGA and minigolf during his time on the EC and will be greatly missed by myself and the rest of the committee. He has consistently shown what can be achieved with minimal resources and helped put the BMGA on the map both domestically and internationally. I would like to personally thank him for the tremendous amount of time and energy he has put into his role during the last 5 years.
Marc Chapman is also stepping down as Development Officer after 2 successful seasons in position. Marc has been instrumental in getting the Great Britain minigolf team to the position it is today and his enthusiasm and drive on the International scene has helped establish us as one of the most improved nations at EMF & WMF events. We now have strong base to build from and I would like to thank Marc for his commitment to the role over the 2 years he has been in post.
Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, the role of Membership Officer vacated by Marion Homer last year was ultimately unable to be filled so I have been managing this process in lieu of a replacement.
Whilst the gaps in the EC are not ideal, I am confident that with the existing members on board we will continue to operate well, and do not anticipate any adverse impact on the membership and our tour calendar for 2013. And of course it does open up opportunities for others to get involved and help move the BMGA forward over the forthcoming seasons.
Last year I planned to step down from the EC following the 2012 AGM but agreed to continue for one final year to support the new incoming EC members and also ensure that the BMGA continued to move forward. I fully intended 2012 to be my final involvement on the EC. However in light of the current situation with resources on the EC, I feel it would be unfair on the remaining committee members to step down at this point. There is still a lot of work to complete and I feel it is vital that I continue to support the existing committee members to ensure the BMGA is in a strong and healthy position and above all, continues to keep focussed on working for our membership. It is abundantly clear that we do need more people to get involved for this season and beyond and this will be one of my key goals for this year, ensuring a robust EC is in place to continue the excellent work for 2014 onwards.
Finally I would like to say a massive thank you to all the members, players, organisers, clubs and course owners for their ongoing support, enthusiasm and commitment to the BMGA, over the past few years – it really has been appreciated – and I wish everyone a successful and enjoyable minigolf season in 2013 and beyond.
Sean Homer
BMGA Chairman
Email:
BMGA MARKETING & MEDIA OFFICER’S REPORT FOR 2012 SEASON
As I come to the end of my fifth year as the BMGA’s Marketing & Media Officer I will be standing down from my role on the Executive Committee. I have enjoyed the last five years on the EC and I feel like I have achieved a lot in the time. I’ve put some good best practice into place and done my best to pass on my knowledge and expertise to those who have sought it. I will continue to promote Minigolf but at present I am unable to commit the time and expense that have been required by the post. It’s been a great experience to promote the BMGA and the sport of Minigolf since I joined the EC at the start of the 2008 season and I am looking forward to playing in the 2013 season and beyond.
2012
· I wrote 50 News Releases and posted these on the BMGA website, distributed to course venues, and to local, regional and national media. Variants were also sent to/published on PRLog, SportsFeatures.com, Minigolfnews.com, MiniatureGolfer.com and the WMF news site where relevant
· 202 pieces of Media Coverage were achieved
· Among the many highlights of the year was attracting the attention of the team at Transworld Sport and the subsequent news feature about the ‘Castle Golf’ World Crazy Golf Championship being broadcast worldwide
· Playing the sport that we do, it is inevitable that not everyone will take the game as seriously as we do, however it is interesting to note the ‘tone of voice’ for coverage of Minigolf, Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf over the years. Some reports take a humorous or trivial view, while others have approached the game with a serious manner. The coverage I have gained for the BMGA has varied from short news briefs to large features and everything in-between. A nice mix I think. I’m pleased that there has been pre-event and post-event coverage for many events, and some tournaments have received ‘live’ event coverage too
· The Oswestry Games was a very interesting project and the first multi-sport event that Minigolf has been a part of in the UK. My thanks go to the Oswestry Sports Council for their help and interest, Shelley Barrett and all the team at Putterfingers and the BMGA Coaching team of Emily, Ruth, Steve, John and Marc
· While visiting the London Golf Show and the exhibit by UrbanCrazy it was interesting to hear from people who had seen/heard about Minigolf and Competitive Minigolf via the coverage gained on Sky Sports News, Transworld Sport and the recent repeat of the ‘Nutters with Putters’ episode of Eggheads
· The “Introduction to the British Minigolf Association” leaflet is available on the BMGA website
· The BMGA and Great Britain team both have a continued presence online, with the BMGA website, and Facebook and Twitter accounts for both. These have been very useful in putting out news and results and also in tracking conversations about tournaments and TV appearances
· I have also been logging my hours of volunteering for the BMGA with Sport Makers.
2013
· For the coming season I have produced a BMGA Minigolf Facts document that is available on the BMGA website. This contains interesting pieces of information that will be of use to the BMGA, the media, other federations & associations, new players and veterans alike
· Keep an eye out for the repeats of Grudge Match, Russell Howard’s Good News and Coast
· There will also be a new Channel 5 TV show broadcast that features Crazy Golf in an episode!
· While there is success and interest in Minigolf and the BMGA online, it is important to remember that offline activities (in the ‘real world’) will always matter. Potential new players are out there playing on the 600+ courses in the UK. The BMGA needs to make contact with them. Leaflets and handouts, along with player registration forms are an effective way of getting information into people’s hands at the place where they are playing the game
· Players, Clubs and courses should take every opportunity to talk about Minigolf and the BMGA to the media, sports organisations and the public
· Being a part of a membership association, team and/or club is a discretionary spend and in the current recession people are looking at every penny they spend. The BMGA must be relevant and meet the needs of members. Therefore members and stakeholders need to be vocal in their needs. The right events, the right information, the right pricing and the right support needs to be given by the BMGA