GSMBA: Minutes of Management Committee Meeting, 03 March 2025

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APOLOGIES
None received
MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

  1. The minutes of the previous meeting on 13 January 2025 had been circulated and, there being no
    amendments, were approved and signed as a true record by the Chair.
    MATTERS ARISING FROM MINUTES
    None
    REPORTS
  2. The Secretary had researched trophy catalogues and proposed 4 trophies to replace those which had not been returned (see Attachment A), which he had circulated to the officers. Members of the Committee were happy with the selection and authorised the Secretary to proceed with the purchase.
  3. He had also drafted a series of amendments to the Constitution (Attachment B), the outcome of the Officers’ review, which the Management Committee approved at our meeting on 04 November 2024. He would attach this document to the calling notice for the AGM, to be issued later this week.
  4. He had passed on routine correspondence from ESMBA, including an updated diary for 2025-26 (no changes which affected GSMBA dates) and a reminder about registration of competitors. A short discussion ensued but we realised that this did not mean any changes to rules and in any case no GSMBA entrants were affected.
  5. The Treasurer reported that the current balance stood at £7520.96 and the only major expenses to be expected before the end of our financial year would be the cost of engraving trophies and the cost of buying new trophies (see para 2 above). Phil Jennings (Kingsway) had spoken to Quedgeley Council who administer Kingsway Community Centre, explaining our requirements for 12 sessions over the period September to March and that we would release any reserved day, as soon as we knew they were not required. They had approved our request (Attachment C), however, they did request that GSMBA enter into a formal contract for booking County days, which basically confirm that we accepted their terms and conditions of booking. We agreed that the Treasurer would sign this on behalf of GSMBA.
  6. The Membership Secretary was pleased to say that our total membership stood at 329, a small increase over the previous year, which had been welcomed in the recent ESMBA minutes. The reasons for the increase we mainly the formation of a new club at Caer Glow and more members at established clubs.
    Another club, Huntley, had shown some interest in joining GSMBA. More generally, we should encourage clubs to register as many players as possible with ESMBA.
  7. The Competition Secretary said that all County Championship/National Qualifiers had now been completed. The final competition, Fours, had been won by Mike Sparrow, Jo & Saul Featherstone and Mike Dooley who beat Rose & Derek Wilson, Peter Hesling and Fred Lawson in the Final. As regards National rounds, ESMBA had allocated the following qualifiers from Gloucestershire:
    • Mixed Fours: 1 team, Carol English, Jo & Saul Featherstone and Mike Dooley, which will be
      held at Melton Mowbray IBC on 08 March.
    • Over-55 Pairs: 1 team, Monica Carter and Carole Preece, at Melton Mowbray IBC on 09 March.
    • Singles: Saul Featherstone, at Melton Mowbray IBC on 10 April
    • Fours: 1 team, Jo & Saul Featherstone, Mike Sparrow and Mike Dooley, at Melton Mowbray on 12 April
    • Triples: 1 team, Trevor Clark, Jo & Saul Featherstone, at Melton Mowbray on 13 April
    • No allocation for Pairs due to the complex ESMBA rule, which considers number of competitors and other factors. He was joined by the Committee in wishing all GSMBA’s teams success in their events.
    • One change in rules that might also encourage more entries was the abolition of the rule that imposed a penalty, if a qualified team/individual did not appear at the National event.
  8. Despite the reduction in entry fees to £5, which had increased the number entries, he was very happy to report that income from fees (£726.96) had more than covered costs of hire (£585), with a further £121.96 profit from provision of tea & coffee. The allocation of this surplus, together with that from sale of tea/coffee at ICC matches, to a charity was mooted (see para 18 below).
  9. The League Secretary was considering changes to the format of the Winter League for next season, mainly by making matches 3-wood triples, rather than fours. Other innovations mentioned were introducing a time limit or possibly reducing the number of ends. This could mean that clubs would be able to field additional teams and may improve players’ skills. He noted that few players practiced with a purpose – we just played games. Although the County does have qualified coaches, clubs don’t make use of them to improve skills.
  10. He also commented on the home/away format used for KO Cup semi-finals: he understood that this competition was intended to be a straight knockout and suggested that next year the semi-finals and final should be played as a single game at a neutral venue. The meeting was content with this arrangement.
  11. The County Team Captain was pleased to record that Gloucestershire had finished second in their ICC group and gone on to meet Cheshire in the knockout stages played in Solihull. Cheshire won 30 points – 10 points. There were no published outcomes on the two issues arising in the ICC concerning the Herefordshire v. Avon match cancellation, or the lack of an umpire at the Avon v. Gloucestershire match, though the minutes of the latest ESMBA meeting indicated that these issues were still under consideration.
  12. The new double rinks fours competition at Melton Mowbray was well attended with teams from across the country. Dorset were the eventual winners, in a final with Hampshire. While the event was a positive experience, indeed several ex-Gloucestershire players were pleased to see that we had entered a team, Mike Sparrow was concerned that it had also revealed the gap between GSMBA and the best performing counties (see also his remarks about skills and coaching in para 9). He would like to see our team develop and become more competitive, using the coaches and County training days. Monica assured the meeting that, if re-elected, she had plans to address this.
  13. It is likely that ESMBA will continue the double rink competition, however its other innovation, the Over 55’s Triples was less successful and may not be repeated.
  14. In the Two Shires Trophy Gloucestershire’s home match was played on 08 February at Kingsway, with 24 players taking part in 2 rounds of 3 bowl triples games. Worcestershire had a close win with 21 points – Gloucestershire 19. The away match is on 23 March in Stourport (a new venue
    for Worcestershire).
  15. As this is my last report before the County AGM, I would like to thank everyone putting their name forward for the county team and their contribution to each fixture.
    TOURNAMENT OUTDOORS AT GLOUCESTER CITY BC
  16. Teams had enjoyed their experience on Gloucester City’s all-weather surface last year. Nevertheless, the meeting felt it was very dependent on weather and it required a lot of work to organise. In the absence of someone to take on the work, we did not wish to put on a similar event this year.
    AOB NOT REQUIRING ADVANCE NOTICE TO THE COMMITTEE
  17. Val New (Bishop’s Cleeve) raised the issue of evening games in the Winter League, which involved longish journeys and late returns. Other members noted there were good practical reasons for allowing evening fixtures: some teams had players still working, who could not play in the afternoons and most clubs were dependent on Community Centres and Village Halls for matches, which were often occupied by other groups during the daytime. Playing in the evening was permitted and would continue.
  18. Reverting to the surpluses acquired from match fees and tea/coffee sales (para 8 above), Mike Sparrow proposed that we donate to the Quedgeley Scouts camping equipment fundraiser. It would show our good will to our County venue and local causes and may even engage some interest from these younger people in Short Mat bowls. We could even increase these surpluses by re-introducing a raffle at County matches and events. David Bubb noted that in past years we had contributed monies from this source to Gloucester homeless charity. On Mike’s proposal, the meeting agreed to donate £250 to the Scout’s fundraiser (approx. 25% of their target). In future we would use this last Committee meeting before the AGM to select a charity and make a suitable donation out of these funds.
  19. As League Secretary, Mike Sparrow was aware that we had rules for which, if broken, no penalty was specified. Some Committee members deplored poor standards of dress, absence of correct stickers and other issues, however, the wording of rules, using terms such as ‘may’ or ‘should’, made it more difficult to penalise offenders. We agreed that Mike would lead a full review of League rules before the beginning of the next league season.
  20. The date of the next meeting would be confirmed by the newly elected Committee following the AGM on 23 April 2025.
    LIST OF ATTENDEES
    Chris Evans (Chair, Kingsway), Andy Todd (Secretary, Cheltenham Whaddon), Jenny Carter (Treasurer, Wotton Hall), Mike Sparrow (League Secretary, Defford), Barbara Bubb (Membership Secretary, Forest of Dean), Monica Carter (County Captain, Ripple), David Bubb (Forest of Dean), Phil Jennings (Kingsway), Dave Yendole (Defford), Val New (Bishop’s Cleeve)
    Minutes prepared by:
    Andy Todd
    Secretary, GSMBA
    Signed as a true record:
    Chris Evans
    Chair, GSMBA