Tel: 01702-366528 Steve Mann,

IMS

Date: 22nd February 2013 ITSD&O Demand Management

11th Floor SW,

Alexander House,

21, Victoria Avenue,

Southend-on-Sea,

Essex SS99 1AA

Minutes of Society AGM 2012 – Friday 22nd February 2013

The Meeting was opened at 12:40by the Chairman with 19 members present.

1. Apologies for Absence

These were received from John Jude, Ray McPhie, Robin Wood, Phil Smith, Lance Benfield, Tim Doran, Darren Stribling, Colin Merett & Laurie Feather.

2. Minutes of the Last AGM (2011) 24/02/12 and Matters Arising

These were circulated amongst those present and unanimously accepted as an accurate reflection of events. There were no matters arising.

3. Chairman’s Review

Phil reported as follows:-

Firstly, I’d like to say bigthanks once againto all members of the Committee and particularly Pete, Alan & Steve for their hard work this year and to the outgoing captain Derek Markey. An awful lot of work goes on behind the scenes to make the Society the success it is and this has to be fitted in around ever increasing work pressures. Without their input and time this Society would cease to function.

As always the Secretary’s report for 2011has covered most of what I was going to say, so as in previous years I will only add a couple of other points:

Attendance at outings continues to drop and this is almost certainly down to both work pressures and the increasing costs associated with playing golf. The Committee continue to look at ways to try and counteract this but there is no easy solution and courses seem more reluctant than in the past to reduce costs. Good to see that we have some new members joining this year (one returning after a break of a couple of years), but anything we can do to attract more members can only help our cause in getting the courses to offer better deals.

As many of you will know I am retiring this year so will be standing down in my role as Chairman, although I will continue to attend as many outings as I can. I’ve really enjoyed my time in office and I wish my successor, next years Captain, the committee and the Society the very best of luck in 2013.

4. Captains Review

Derek reported as follows:-

Can I first say that it has been an honour and a privilege to be Captain of the Society and I’d like to thank all the members of the Committee (especially Steve, Pete and Al) and all members of the Society for making it such a memorable year.

Highlights of the year were Captains Day at ThreeRivers and the outing to West Essex and drawing Bharat’s name out of the raffle, the first of many prizes he won this year.

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and to all who have represented the Society in the various National and team competitions. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my year and I’m sure my successor will have as much fun as I’ve had.

5. Secretary’s Report

Steve Mann reported as follows: -

Another successful year for the RCSL Essex Golf Society, despite a further reduction in the number of members (41) and a dip in average attendance at outings to 22.5. We have continued to offer a good level of subsidy at outings to all our members, using both our own funds and those received from the Regional Sports Club and we envisage being able to maintain similar levels during the coming year.

Qualification for National events continues to be restricted to those members of the Region who hold official current club handicaps. We were challenged, via our regional sports club chairman, this year as to why Essex Region does not always send participants to National events. We took the opportunity to robustly challenge why events continue to be run for the minority and I also personally challenged a member of the committee when I played against him in this years DKO competition. Despite understanding our concerns as always

the message we received back was a firm but polite no change. So the message remains the same I’m afraid and there now seems very little hope in this restriction being lifted. The Committee are as always open to fresh ideas on how we can best select our National representatives, but in order to give as many club members as possible the opportunity to play in these competitions, the current Committee still favours the selection policy we have used in recent years. This allows at least 10 players the opportunity to represent Essex Region. Places in other representative teams against local Societies etc will continue to be offered to non club members first.

This year’s best-supported outing was the trip to Garon Park, which attracted 34 members, the next best was the fateful trip to Lords(unlikely we’ll be going back there for a while)which attracted25 players. Only one member managed 100% participation in every event this year,Tim Fraser (obviously not busy enough at work Tim) and top money winners this year were Lance Benfield singles £65.00 and Steve Mann team£52.50, with the vast majority of members of the Society collecting a monetary prize of some sort during the year.

On an individual front, despite some excellent performances there were three nominees for this year’s Society Cup. The winner(s) of this trophy are chosen by the Committee and it is awarded to the golfer, or golfers, whom the Committee feel warrant the accolade of golfer of the year. This year’s nominees were Bharat Patel, Darren Stribling and Tim Fraser. This year’s winner will be announced later today at the AGM, but congratulations to all players any of whom would be very worthy winners after excellent seasons. The Secretary’s Trophy(OOM), awarded to the golfer who amasses the most points in Society sponsored singles events during the year, was won by Lance Benfield with 958 points, with Tim Fraser and Darren Stribling finishing joint second 32 points back on 926. In the team OOM category Steve Mann was victorious with 531 points closely followed by his regular partner Bharat Patel on 518.

In this year’s Matchplay KO competitions, Bharat Patel was victoriousin the singleswhilst in the pairsRichard DempseyNigel Green lifted the trophy. Bharat Patel & Mike Holdenwon the Scratch and Handicap titles respectively in this year’s Regional Championship at Bentley GC in May. This event also acted as the Essex qualifier for both the RCSL National Singles and team competitions. No one fancied the trip to the Nationals this year as reported earlier but in the Inter Region KO Team event where Essex were represented by Steve Mann,Bharat Patel, Duncan Johnson, Andy Jefferson, Brian Rackham & Darren Stribling some better news. After a 2-1 victory against a strong London N&W team at West Essex GC, we were narrowly defeated 2-1 (the two defeats coming on the 18th hole and the 3rd extra hole) against West Midlands at Gog Magog GC Cambridge who went on the win the finals. Steve Mann & Bharat Patel were 6 up through the first six holes in the 3rd game and were gross -3, which led to some accusations of dodgy handicaps back in the clubhouse from our opponents. For once it wasn’t Bharat on the receiving end but yours truly, they obviously don’t see me play week in week out eh!

So now on to the thank yous. Firstly, as always a special word of thanks to my fellow Committee members and especially to Pete Wrobel. Work commitments have continued to severely curtail my involvement with the Society this year and as always your help and support have been invaluable throughout the year. Skip Derek Markey, I hope you’ve enjoyed your year as Captain and I’d like to take this opportunity on behalf of the membership to thank you for all your efforts this year. Whilst I’m on the subject, congratulations to this years Captain Lance Benfield (another blue), I hope you enjoy your year. Finally a big thanks to all of the Outing Managers (your time and effort is very much appreciated by all and especially me) and of course to all the 41 members, who have all positively contributed to the Society’s continued success this year.

I’ll sign off by congratulating all of this year’s major/outing trophy winners and here’s to another successful and harmonious season for the Society in 2013.

6. Treasurer’s Report

Pete Wrobel’s written reports, in his capacity as Treasurer, together with the accounts for the year to 30/09/12 were presented to the meeting. The accounts were unanimously adopted by the Meeting.

It is anticipated that as in previous years funding from our Regional RCSL Sports and Social club will mirror the Society subscription rates and as such we propose to continue to freeze the joining fee at £20 per member.

7. Presentation of Trophies

Trophies and outing credits where applicable were presented by the Captain as follows to this years Major trophy winners: -

The Society Cup- Bharat Patel

The Secretary’s Trophy (Singles OOM Winner)- Lance Benfield

Team OOM Winner-Steve Mann

Singles Knockout Winner - Bharat Patel

Fourball Knockout Winners - Richard Dempsey & Nigel Green

Regional Championships Scratch Winner -Bharat Patel

Regional Championships H’cap Winner-Mike Holden

8. Election of Officers for 2012.

The following Officers were elected unopposed: -

Chairman- Jon Blows

Captain - Lance Benfield

Vice-Captain- Derek Markey

Secretary- Steve Mann

Treasurer - Pete Wrobel

H’cap Secretary - Alan Bambridge

Competitions Secretary- Derek Markey

Casual Committee Posts (1) - Glen Robe

There are currently two casual vacancies on the Committee and the Secretary agreed that he would again send out an invite to members of the Society to see if the positions could be filled.

9. Outings for 2013.

Based on the results of the questionnaire Pete presented the following provisional itenery for adoption at the meeting:-.

Thurs 14th March Boyce Hill 27 Holes + Coffee + lunch£35

Thurs 28th MarchBallards Gore 18 Holes + lunch£22

Wed 24th AprilChannels 27 Holes + C&BR + lunch£50 (option to add a 2 course dinner for extra £5.50)

Mon 13th MayBurnham 36 Holes + C&BR + lunch£42

Thurs 6th JuneChelmsford 36 Holes + C&BR + lunch£30 (Essex Regional qualifier, subsidised by Essex Sports club)

Thurs 4th JulyThree Rivers 36 Holes + C&BR + lunch + 2 Course Dinner£45

Friday 26th JulyHainault 36 Holes + C&BR + lunch£44

Mon 12th AugustMaylands 36 Holes + C&BR + lunch£42

Mon 16th SeptemberToot Hill 30 Holes + C&BR + lunch£50

October TBA

After some discussion it was agreed that we should reduce the number of Outings and that due to the lack of buggies and the current weather we should make the Boyce Hill outing an unofficial event for those still wishing to attend. It was also agreed that we should look to see if we could seek an alternative for the Channels outing which was deemed expensive. Pete agreed to look to see if Stock Brook Manor could perhaps offer a better deal. It was agreed that the venue for the October outing should be deferred to the Committee with a decision to be made later in the year when we could take advantage of any winter deals.

10. Motions from the Committee/ Membership.

No motions were received.

11. Any Other Business.

Several suggestions from members were received both via the questionnaireand at the meeting. These were discussed/voted on by those present.

  • The main topic of conversation was around the OOM and how we could best adapt this to reflect the drop in both attendance and the number of outings. The Comps Secretary agreed to investigate some potential alternatives (inc looking at how this may have effected this years results) and present a revised format to the Committee prior to the start of the season for ratification/adoption for the coming year.
  • Although not discussed on the day, 2014 marks the 50th year of the Society and it was agreed last year that the Committee should continue to look into how this can best be celebrated. Possible early suggestions included a weekend trip and/or a new trophy.
  • The Secretary on behalf of the Society thanked the outgoing Chairman for his contribution to the Committee over recent years and this was met with a warm round of applause.
  • A plea was again made to those present to find someone willing to take on the role of maintaining the Society Website. The Secretary agreed to review the questionnaire results as there was potentially an offer of help made, but Phil Lobley also said he would be willing to help should no other candidate be found.
  • The Secretary reported that due to issues in recent years the final date for entries for this years KO competitions would be 28th February 2013. No late entries would be accepted. The Comps Secretary also added that this years comps would start earlier and have more generous timescales in which to play matches. Extensions to dates will only be made in exceptional circumstances and it is hoped this will ensure that all games are played by the final outing.

With no other business to discuss the Meeting was closed by the Chairman at 13:40.

Steve Mann

Secretary

RCSL (Essex) Golf Society

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