AGM HELD AT NHIA, LETCHWORTH,

ON MONDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2009

1. PRESENT:

            Jonathan Sewell (JS)                Chairman                                            

            Alan Brockett (AB)                    Secretary                                                                                 

            John Luke (JL)                          Competition Secretary                                               

            Jeremy Huntley (JH)                 YDO

            John Deaville (JD)                     Treasurer

            Toni Gates (TG)                        PRO

            Peter Wright (PW)                     Elected Member

            Sharon Fane (SF)                     Elected Member

            Eric Wilson (EW)                      Elected Member

            Paolo Infantino (PI)                  Elected Member

14 Members as the attached list

The meeting commenced at 8.05pm and JS opened the meeting by confirming the Preliminary Notice for the AGM as 14^th October and the Agenda/Notice as 20^th November 2009

2. APOLOGIES:

  Derek Northend

  Jan Swallow – Lidlington PC          

3. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS AGM:

Acceptance of the Minutes of the previous AGM was proposed by Adrian Emson, seconded by Peter Wright and approved by the members.

There were no matters arising

4. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT:

    See attached report

JS then presented JL & AB with a gift from the committee in recognition of their long term of office that was sadly coming to an end tonight; both JL & AB expressed their thanks for the gifts and explained that their time on the committee had been an enjoyable one particularly with all the support that the committee had given them and wished the new committee every success

5. REGION’S ACCOUNTS/TREASURER’S REPORT:

    See attached report and Income & Expenditure Account.                

    The closing balance, after uncleared debits and credits as at 31 October 2009 is £3,297.16

Acceptance of the accounts as presented was proposed by Toni Gates, seconded by John Luke and passed by the members.

6. REGION’S MEMBERSHIP FEES:

It was proposed by JD that the plussage that the Region adds to the Membership Fees charged by the EPA be kept at £3, with concession for new members joining up to end of August remaining at £12.

After discussion with the members present it was proposed by Alan Roden and seconded by Alan Huntley that the Region’s plussage should be increased to £4. This was accepted by the majority of the Members

7. ELECTION OF OFFICERS ETC:

JS advised the members that there had only been one nomination for each post of Vice Chairman, Secretary, Competition Secretary and PRO and therefore under Rule 7.2.1 of the Constitution the following Officers were declared elected.

        Vice Chairman – Steve Zimmerman

        Secretary – Martin Hughes

        Competition Secretary – Rosina Huntley

        PRO – Sharon Fane

JS also advised the members that Toni Gates had applied to be the Regional Coach and that as there were no other nominations the committee would be appointing her as Regional Coach, but subject to her achieving her coaching award from the EPA before the next AGM.

Nominations for Elected Members have been received from Peter Wright, Paolo Infantino, Eric Wilson and Peter Taylor and therefore under Rule 7.2.1 of the Constitution they were declared elected.

8. ANY OTHER BUSINESS:

JS encouraged a discussion on the member’s thoughts on running two Round Robin Triples over a weekend; an overwhelming majority of the members present were in favour; Peter Wright did, however, express concern at holding the week end event at the same venue due to the aggravation with the host club’s members

Luton Snowboule was confirmed as 27^th December 2009

NHIA Triples was confirmed as 25^th April 2010

Queen’s Head Triples was confirmed as 25^th July 2010

White Hart Triples was confirmed as 1^st August 2010

Bird in Hand Mixed Triples was provisionally booked as 12^th September 2010

NHIA Fixed Coche Triples was confirmed as 26^th September 2010

JS thanked all members for attending the meeting and closed it at 8.50pm

2009 – Chiltern Region

Chairman’s Report

Good Evening, welcome and thank you all for coming to this year’s AGM – one of two  opportunities during the year for the Region to discuss what is important to us in taking the game forward.

Before we get into the meat of the AGM can I ask you all to join with me in spending a moment thinking about those that we have lost and those that have suffered serious illness during the year.  I am sure that all of our thoughts are with those that have been battling serious illness.

When I came to think about 2009 it had been very different to the two previous years when I have sat in front of you.  The Region has, I believe, been more cohesive than it has been previously without hitting the highs on the pitch that we did last year.  That is not to say that this year has been unsuccessful on the pitch but, I think, an indication of how far we have come over the last few years.

On the national scene it has been a year of some discord, whether it was the disciplinary hearings that came out of the Rastatt tournament or whether it was the international qualifiers – the espoirs (which didn’t happen), the Premier and Open leagues that suffered from lack of entries or the impasse between the EPA and the English ladies over the team for the World Championships in Thailand.  Hopefully next year will see a more joined up approach between those who organise and those who play – and hopefully of benefit to those that play in the region.

For instance, there is likely to be a new National Coach next year and whilst we have tried without success for a number of years to have more coaches trained in the region I have high hopes that this will be sorted with a new National Coach, which should put the coaching that we organise in the Region on a sounder footing.  At the AGM on Saturday a range of motions were passed which hopefully will start to move the game forward whether you aspire to represent your country or just to play the game.

However in the middle of this came the greatest achievement from any players in the region.  Four of our juniors (Max, Reece, Ross and Sam), coached by Toni, entered the English juniors.  For those of you that didn’t follow the qualifiers closely, they consisted of the 4 players playing singles, doubles and triples between them – so a real test of their ability to play as a team.  As I am sure you all know at the end of the qualifiers our boys were victorious.  But, for me, this is where the story turns from one of skills on the pitch to one of support and generosity.  The way in which members of our region and even those from further afield gave both effort and money in order to help the boys make the trip to Tunisia was truly impressive.  The boys had a great time and acquitted themselves very well at the World Championships, with Gareth as their manager.  I am sure it was an experience they will always remember and will be of great benefit to their boules education.  I was very pleased to present them with the President’s Trophy last week at the Dinner Dance as an indication of the respect and admiration that they have garnered this year.

But the boys weren’t the only ones from the Region to represent England this year.  Alan Newland, Myra Huntley, Adrian Emson, Sarah Huntley and Ben Gallimore represented England in Germany at the beginning of the year and Toni Gates, Steve Zimmerman, Emma Jones and Amy Huntley helped England defend the Home Nations trophy in Swansea.

In addition Jeremy Huntley, Sarah Huntley and Adrian Emson (playing with Scott Ashby of Kent) finished a very creditable 3^rd in the Premier league so a very big congratulations to them.

At the beginning of the year the European Cup for Clubs came to a conclusion with the Engine getting through to the English finals at Whittlesey and successfully winning through after a tight semi-final and final.  This makes the Engine the first, but hopefully not the last, English club champions from the Region.  The Engine were therefore England’s representatives in the first International round, where they played host to the teams from the Netherlands (PUK Haarlem) and Slovenia (SD Sloga Ljubljana).  A fun packed weekend was planned, the weather held out but ultimately the Dutch team ended up the victors.  Incidentally the Dutch will be playing in the final (last four) this weekend.  The Engine made lots of new friends and were congratulated by the EPA for being such great hosts.     

For our Regional qualifiers we tried something a bit different this year, playing the final two qualifiers over a weekend.  At our Regional Open meeting there was a generally positive view of this approach but there were some who preferred just playing on Sundays.  I would appreciate further feedback on this.

From these qualifiers we were able to select a very strong set of 16 adult teams and (nearly) two junior teams.  The weekend before Brean we played challenges against Leicestershire and Norfolk – retaining the trophy against Leicestershire but losing against Norfolk.  We hope to repeat this next year, hopefully at a single venue.

Whilst our performance at Brean didn’t reach the successes of last year it was still a very successful weekend.  Being runners-up in both the Championship and the Challenge makes this one of our top 3 weekends at Brean, and as ever the pure results hide a wealth of stories of triumph and heart-break.  But for me the stand out team performance came from the Select Squad, coming third in the second division, with the Juniors (Max, Sam and Ryan (from Kent)) as the division’s top juniors.  All in all a very successful weekend for the Region.

Whilst I don’t intend to go through all of the winners of the Regional titles it was noteworthy that all of the Titles winners were first time winners, which I think is another sign of health for the Region, so a big congratulations to all of those players and to all those who played as the spirit and sportsmanship were of the highest order across the tournaments.

A couple of years ago we set up two funds – for piste development and for international representation.  We eventually paid out all of the 2008 funds for international representation (once the EPA got around to making their claims on the players) and we paid out a couple of claims from the piste fund.  We will also be administering the excess funds from the juniors world championship fund raising.

There are a few “thank yous” that I want to say.  First of all to all those members of the committee who have put so much effort in over the year, and all of those that have helped with the Regional tournaments.  But most of all I wish to thank those members of the Committee who are standing down – Rob Munday, John Luke and Alan Brockett.

John and Alan have been stalwart members of the committee for many years now.  John has organised many competitions on behalf of the Region , but more than that has always been willing to help others run competitions or even run them on others behalf – for example down at the Engine.  We wish you the very very best in the future, wherever that might be.

Alan has been the Regional Secretary for at least the last 7 years and in that time has put in tremendous effort to try and move the Region forward, providing invaluable support to a series of Regional Chairman (at least four I believe) – his knowledge and experience will certainly be missed.

I will close by wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a successful new year, both on and off the piste, no matter what your aspirations.

Jonathan Sewell

Chairman, Chiltern Region

23rd November 2009

CHILTERN REGION EPA TREASURERS REPORT FOR 2009

Balance at Bank at 31^st October 2009 is £3862.29 

less un-cleared Debits of £872.55

plus un-cleared  CreditS of £307.42 leaves a Cash Book balance of £3297.16

Expenditure was £5276.03

Income was £4227.38 leaving an excess of expenditure over income £1048.65 overspend

This however has been absorbed by the cushion of £3000 in the bank.

Kit for 2008 was £2336.54

Less extra paid by CH members, East Midlands & Kent teams  £574.78

leaving a balance of £1761.96. All outstanding kit money has been paid. 

£161.96 over budget.

ILM Sponsorship again was £750

Competition entries down by £67 from £2089 to £2012

Raffle takings down from £834 to £763 which considering the recession is pretty good and still one of the highest years.

Admin expenses were within budget by £57.81 and Sundries were over budget by £674.43

This is due to the EPA not sending out costs of £515 for the North Sea and World Championships for 2008 until February 2009. So we didn’t know what to budget for.  Junior expenses were £1182.87. Over budget by £182.87. This very difficult to budget for, when setting the budget as we don’t know at the time how many Juniors are going to qualify for which competition.. 

EPA Membership this year returned a precept of £819 up on 2008 by £84.

There may be a need to increase the cost of the Round Robins  and the other regional competitions, which are all Doubles of some description. This will be discussed at the first committee meeting in the new  year.

Trophies were over budget this year by £92.40

Overall we were £1243.65 over Budget but £26 over budget on incomings leaving us a total of £1217.65 budget deficit. I am working on next  years budget but will not finally set it until after the first committee meeting when competition fees have been discussed, as setting it to early, before having the likely figures to hand can result in a deficit, as has happened this year.

The Region set aside a Piste & Travel fund of £1000, to help clubs with piste materials and lighting etc and to assist players with their travel expenses when representing England. One club (Lidlington PC) so far has taken advantage of this at a total cost of £140 towards their new lights.  Two clubs, the Plough Langford and Great  Brickendon are at present getting quotes together as they are expanding their piste areas. I am awaiting these costs so that we can work how much to assist them with.

There are no travel expenses this year for senior teams that I am aware of. The England Juniors team  all came from the CH Region this year. Garry Gould one of the Junior team members parents set up a travel fund which has received donations from members, raffles etc to cover their travel costs which will be in the region of £250 each which is billed to them direct by the EPA. They raised £1600 and any residue after the EPA has been paid will go into a Junior fund. There have been other travel expenses which come under Junior Expenses, this is shown as separate item as the juniors funding comes from the ILM Sponsorship money.

Competitions & raffle takings were down but not by much. The Region is still on a sound financial footing although we returned a loss on paper.

All in all with due diligence and careful husbandry the CH Region can look forward to good and successful season financially next season.

The 2008 Chiltern Accounts were scrutinized and certified as correct by Neil Harding from the accountants Bradshaw Johnson & Co, in Hitchin for no charge and Neil has kindly offered to do the same for this years accounts, which I will sending to him shortly.

Finally I would like to propose a vote of thanks to Lynn Howard for her unstinting work running the raffles, she has raised a staggering  £4162 over a period of 5 years for the Region, which is remarkable. We wish John & Lynn all the very best when they depart for Australia.

John Deaville

Treasurer

Chiltern Region EPA

16^th November 2009

Norfolk V Chiltern

On Saturday eight adult teams and one junior team made the journey over to The Cottage for the day – although the journey was somewhat longer for a couple of people who got a little lost but managed to find us in the end!!

The day started well with a close first round which we won 5 – 4. Unfortunately things went a little wrong in the next round and we lost 7-2. This score does not reflect the scores as we had 4 games that were narrowly lost. Rounds three and four were closer but sadly we lost them both 5-4. Hoping to finish off the day on a high everyone went in to the last round raring to go and win their own games. Unfortunately this round did not go our way and we lost 7-2 but again had some very close games that could have gone our way which included one lost to 12 two lost to 10 and another two lost to 9.

Well done to “Her Butts” (Richie, Elaine and Harvey) for being the top Chiltern team of the day – Let’s hope you can carry this on next week and bring back top team from division two in the Combined squad.

So sadly on the day the result did not go our way, but as the day went on, our much loved ‘Chiltern team spirit’ kicked in and all the spectators were watching all games and when teams had finished their own games all spent time cheering on each other. I think that as a whole, the squad had a good day and hopefully it will be useful for bringing our team spirit alive quicker at Brean!!

I would like to say thank you to ALL the teams and supporters that made the effort and came for the day out. Also a big thank you to all those from around the region who lent me shirts for the day - they are all washed and ironed as promised and sat on my table waiting to be given back. If I don’t see people before I will bring them to Brean.

Thanks again and good luck all for the weekend

Sharon

OPEN MEETING HELD AT LUTON SPORTS & SOCIAL CLUB,

ON WEDNESDAY 01 JULY 2009

1. PRESENT:

Jonathan Sewell (JS) Chairman

Alan Brockett (AB) Secretary

John Luke (JL) Competition Secretary

Toni Gates (TG) PRO

Jeremy Huntley (JH) YDO

Gareth Sullivan (GS) Regional Umpire

Peter Wright (PW) Elected Member

Paolo Infantino (PI) Elected Member

10 non-committee members as the attached list

2. APOLOGIES:

John Deaville (JD) Treasurer

Derek Northend (DN) Membership Secretary

Alan Roden (AR) Team Manager

Sharon Fane (SF) Elected Member

Chrissie Brockett

3. INTRODUCTION:

JS opened the meeting by explaining that the main purpose of the meeting was to see if the members wished to change any aspects of how the committee was running the Region and to discuss the motions the Region and other Regions had submitted to the EPA for presentation at the EPA Congress meeting scheduled to be held at Solihull on 18^th July 2009 and to nominate the necessary delegates to that congress.

4. FINANCIAL REPORT:

In JD’s absence his report was read out by AB.

There is £5,741.08 banked

In those accounts there are receipts of £5,394.00 in membership fees of which £4,587.00 has been paid to the EPA leaving £807.00 Regional Precept.

Through the fund set up for specific use on work to existing or new pistes, £140.00 has been paid out to Lidlington PC towards lighting and this leaves an outstanding balance in this fund of £690.59 including £330.59 carried over from last year.

The Travel/expenses fund stands at £500.00.

The Cash Book and Income & Expenditure sheets have been audited and approved by Neil Harding of Bradshaw Johnson & Co.

5. MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY’S REPORT:

DN’s report was given by JS - the Region currently has 317 members of which 44 are new members.

30 Clubs are registered with the EPA

6. COACHING:

TG explained that all the Region’s coaching courses etc were available to view on the web site.

JS advised the members that the Region was still trying to get EPA coaching courses held in the Region

7. PROPOSALS FOR REGIONAL CHANGES:

JS advised the members that there is a possibility that the Region will hold and run regular events at Whittlesey during the winter months; during week ends but obviously avoiding the winter leagues.

The discussion took place of what jurisdiction the Region had over non-affiliated leagues in the Region’s area, particularly over discipline, with specific input from the league chairmen and Regional Umpire present; the Region and therefore the EPA has no jurisdiction because in all cases the non-affiliated leagues’ constitutions made no reference to either the Region or the EPA; it was recommended by the members present that the non-affiliated leagues should introduce reference to both the Region and the EPA in their constitutions at their next AGMs.

Action: all leagues to liaise to introduce a clause into their disciplinary rules that permits any league to ban a player from playing in that league if they have been banned from any other league.

JS sought comments from those present and that played in the Region’s Triples competition about using a weekend for two of the “round robins”; comments were

• Most were very happy with the way that the weekend went and the atmosphere throughout the two days

• Only objections that had been made centred around player’s family and/or work commitments

• From an organising point of view disrupting parking for all other events that were scheduled at Ickleford over the weekend was difficult.

• The weekend didn’t and couldn’t replicate the Brean Sands weekend

• Using a weekend freed up a Sunday for other events

• Using two consecutive days did, as was intended, increase the pressure on players to perform

• Why not utilise two weekends for all Region’s Round Robin Triples

Action: prepare a motion for the Region’s AGM that two of the Region’s Round Robin Triples competition be played over one weekend

Eric Brown requested that he be given as much notice as possible of what will be required of Bancroft PC with regards to the Region’s Junior competition to be held there on Sunday 6^th September 2009.

8. EPA CONGRESS:

All motions that have been sent to the EPA by all Regions and that were accepted by the EPA to be added to the agenda for their Congress of Regions’ meeting were individually discussed and ultimately voted on; the results were:-

• Motion 1 – Schools Cup and affiliation proposed by EPA Management Committee – voted to back the motion

• Motion 2 – Competition Organisers proposed by EPA Management Committee – voted to back the motion

• Motion 3 – Playing proposed by East Midlands Region & Motion 4 Playing Matters proposed by Chiltern Region were considered together as they were very similar; the members voted that the Chiltern Region motion should take precedence over the East Midlands one; JS to contact EMEPA to discuss integrating the two motions together; with the proviso that the second paragraph reads “if the FIPJP structure is now to segregate male and female players” the members voted to back the motion

• Motion 5 – Working Groups proposed by the Chiltern Region – voted to back the motion

• Motion 6 – Creating a Piste Register proposed by the Chiltern Region – voted to back the motion

• Motion 7 – Grass Routes Development proposed by the Chiltern Region – voted to back the motion

• Motion 8 – Tiered Licensing proposed by the Chiltern Region – voted to back the motion

• Motion 11 – Discipline Procedures proposed by the Kent Region – voted to back the motion

9. APPOINTMENT OF REGIONAL DELEGATES TO EPA CONGRESS:

In answer to a question raised on the matter JS explained that delegates would be bound to vote as the Region had instructed on precise matters but that they would be expected to use their collective discretion when faced with matters that hadn’t been discussed in the Region beforehand.

JS again explained that the Region was entitled to be represented at the EPA Congress on 18^th July @ Solihull by one delegate for every 60 members or part thereof that were registered with the EPA on 30^th April.

As the Region has over 300 members registered, 6 delegates were required.

Those who offered to be delegates and were accepted were

Toni Gates

Jonathan Sewell

Jeremy Huntley

Keith Beattie

John Luke

Lynn Howard

10. ANY OTHER BUSINESS:

There was not anything raised.

The meeting closed at 10.10pm.

Motions from Chiltern Region

Motions on Playing Matters

World Championship and/or European Championships

Streamline the national series - by either minimising the number of juniors/ladies/espoirs/ over 55s tournaments or playing some at the same time. 

As the FIPJP structure is now segregating Male and female players. Single sex qualifiers can be held on same day at the same venue freeing up calendar.

Move to a system where we play 2 - 3 qualifying Grand Prix. The Top 8 from those tournaments then play 2 – 3 tournaments (at different) to select top 8. The precise number of tournaments to be decided at the Congress / AGM. Once a team has qualified for worlds/European's a coach/team manager is allocated to them to monitor their performance and arrange for them to play in top competitions. The remaining teams from the Top 8 are offered coaching opportunities to play abroad.

The top 2 from the top 8 would go straight into the following year's top 8, should they wish to.

Nationwide Opens

The EPA to work with the regions to establish a national series of Opens (with cash prizes). Aim to establish an umbrella sponsors for the series and a sponsor for each Open.

This series to form the basis of the “EPA Masters” with a suitable reward for winning.

Home Nations

1 day qualifier at central location. This qualification is separate to world or European qualifiers. Each team that qualifies can claim up to £80 per team in expenses against accommodation or travel.

Champion of Champion

Only regional winners and runners up are eligible to play in this event. No regions to schedule regional tournaments that clash with the C of C. Reward to be offered to the winners (eg entry to EPA Open).

Motions on Structure - Working Groups

For the EPA to form, as part of its structure, a series of Working Groups (virtual if necessary), drawing on the expertise available in the regions.

These groups are to tackle ALL areas of the sport for example

• Finances / fund raising

• coaching and team managers

• juniors

• espoirs

• senior representation

• venues

The aim of these groups is to concentrate on improving the sport in their given section. They will work closely with all regions sharing ideas and structures. These groups will work with the national coach, YDO etc but will take on a lot of the pressure and work load.

Motion on Creating a Piste Register

For the EPA to create a register of pistes for national competitions (to be administered by the umpiring community) - in terms of size and difficulty (with the EPA laying down some guidelines). 

Long term aim would see us start to work together (regions/EPA) to develop pistes of the right standard, but we have to document what we have first.

Motion on Grass Roots Development

For the EPA to work with the regions to generate and implement a strategy for the development of grass roots boules in the country.  Such a strategy to encompass youth development, shared learning, promotional activities and “grass roots” competitions.

This would be a mixture of freeing up the calendar (see above) to allow the local opens to begin flourishing again, advertising campaigns, school initiatives etc.  Basically, for the EPA to offer a proposition to players no matter at what level they play.

Motion on Tiered Licensing

For the EPA to conduct a feasibility study in implementing a tiered licensing (eg 3 tiers for club, regional, national) with the bottom level being (eg) £5).  The study would look at the feasibility in terms of how this will affect membership and (importantly) income needs and report back to Congress next year.

The aim of this would be to tap into the vast unlicensed swathe of players.  Get them into the structure, offer coaching and help them develop.  We could then start to run competitions by license type (as well as Opens) which would create a progression. 

Motion on Amendment to the Constitution

Amendment to Clause 5.4.6

Add “, subject to any amendments as may be agreed at the AGM” to the end of the last sentence.

Notice of Open Meeting

To be held at Luton Regional Sports Centre @ 8.00pm on Wednesday 1^st July 2009

Agenda:

1. Introduction

2. Apologies

3. Financial Report

4. Membership Secretary’s Report

5. Coaching Report

6. Proposal for Regional Changes

7. EPA Congress

8. Appointment of Regional Delegates to EPA Congress

9. Any other Business

The region are looking to host an EPA coaching course in our region. This is to qualify players as coaches not to improve your play. The region are happy to pay for any of our members to take this course/exam but in return we will expect you to help at a minimum of two of our organised coaching days over the following 2/3 years. The layout of the course can be found on the link below. If you are interested please contact Rob Munday (contact details can be found on the committee page). We need to know of your interest by the ends of March.

AGM HELD AT NHIA, LETCHWORTH,

ON MONDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2008

1. PRESENT:

            Jonathan Sewell (JS)                Chairman                                            

            Rob Munday (RM)                     Vice Chairman

            Alan Brockett (AB)                    Secretary                                                                                 

            John Luke (JL)                          Elected Member                                                         

            Jeremy Huntley (JH)                 Elected Member

            John Deaville (JD)                     Treasurer

            Toni Gates (TG)                        PRO

            Peter Wright (PW)                     Elected Member

            Derek Northend (DN)                 Membership Secretary

            Gareth Sullivan (GS)                Umpire

16 Members as the attached list

The meeting commenced at 8.05pm and JS opened the meeting by confirming the Preliminary Notice for the AGM as 13^th October and the Agenda/Notice as 13^th November 2008

2. APOLOGIES:

   Lynne & Dave Ciano.

 Adam Sullivan

3. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS AGM:

Acceptance of the Minutes of the previous AGM was proposed by Adrian Emson, seconded by Derek Northend and approved by the members.

There were no matters arising

4. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT:

    See attached report

5. REGION’S ACCOUNTS/TREASURER’S REPORT:

    See attached report and Income & Expenditure Account.                

    The closing balance, after uncleared debits and credits as at 31 October 2008 is £4,345.81

Acceptance of the accounts as presented was proposed by Peter Wright, seconded by John Luke and passed by the members.

6. REGION’S MEMBERSHIP FEES:

It was proposed by JD that the plussage that the Region adds to the Membership Fees charged by the EPA be kept at £3, with concession for new members joining up to end of August remaining at £10. This was proposed by Rob Munday, seconded by Tony Richards and accepted by the Members

7. ELECTION OF OFFICERS ETC:

JS advised the members that there had only been one nomination for each post of Chairman, Treasurer, Membership Secretary and Team Manager and therefore under Rule 7.2.1 of the Constitution the following Officers were declared elected.

        Chairman – Jonathan Sewell

        Treasurer – John Deaville

        Membership Secretary – Derek Northend

        Team Manager – Alan Roden

JS also advised the members that Jeremy Huntley had applied to be the Regional YDO and that as there were no other nominations the committee would be appointing him as Regional YDO, but only after he has received CRB clearance by the EPA.

Nominations for Elected Members have been received from Peter Wright and Sharon Fane and therefore under Rule 7.2.1 of the Constitution they were declared elected.

JS advised the meeting that the committee was prepared and authorised under Clause 7.2.2 of the Constitution to accept nominations for two more Elected Members, should anyone wish to be elected.

8. ANY OTHER BUSINESS:

JS advised the members that it was the intention of the Region to hold an open competition sometime in July/August

Luton Snowboule was confirmed as 28^th December 2008

NHIA Cuckoos Mixed Triples was confirmed as 26^th April 2009

Queen’s Head Triples was confirmed as 26^th July 2009

White Hart Triples was confirmed as 2^nd August 2009

Bird in Hand Mixed Triples was provisionally booked as 13^th September 2009

NHIA Cuckoos Fixed Coche Triples was confirmed as 27^th September 2009

White Hart Charity Triples was confirmed as 4^th October 2009

JS thanked all members for attending the meeting and closed it at 8.35pm