APOLOGIES
Wendy Barr (Winstone), Val New (Bishop’s Cleeve)
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1.
The committee approved the minutes of the meeting held on 17 August 2026 and the Chairman
signed then as a true record.
MATTERS ARISING
2.
There were no matters arising.
OFFICERS’ REPORTS
Secretary
3.
17 clubs have registered and paid their fees to remain as members of GSMBA – 2 previously registered clubs have not renewed their subscription. There was some uncertainty at the meeting as to the correct number, 16 or 17. [Since the meeting the Secretary has confirmed the numbers given above].
4.
We received a proposal to change the format of the Inter-County Championship (ICC), which had been debated at the Open Forum, following the ESMBA AGM in July and these were circulate to clubs and officers. In brief, counties would be invited to submit entries to a new Premier competition of 8 teams, to be played over 2 weekends, while the rest of the competition would remain in its current format. There was a very short deadline for responses, but as it would not affect GSMBA’s participation (we wouldn’t consider entering the Premier competition), we made no comment. The proposal won’t be implemented until 2027-28 season if agreed at the next ESMBA AGM.
5.
Details of a new ESMBA campaign ‘Roll into Better Health), intended to interest more people in playing Short Mat, were distributed to member clubs.
Treasurer
6.
The current account balance showed £8600, however, there were outstanding amounts to go out to ESMBA for competition fees. Player registration fees had increased by 50p per player – this was the final increase of those agreed previously by ESMBA.
Membership Secretary
7.
301 players were registered with ESMBA, a decrease of 62 compared to last year.
Competition Secretary
8.
The County Championships and National Qualifying Games are now underway for the 26/27 season.
Entries are down by approximately 10% from last year although the same number of clubs have submitted players. The games are now being played at our new venue, the GL1 Leisure Centre. After two disciplines have been completed the comments from players are very positive. It is envisaged that holding the competitions at GL1 the entry fees will cover the cost of hiring this venue.
9.
Disciplines completed so far are –
Over 55’s Pairs: winners were Monica Carter and Mike Sparrow with runners up being Mark and Julie
Beaven.
Pairs: winners were Chris Evans and Scott Preece with runners up being Ian Broderick and Phil Jennings.
10.
A reminder of the dates for the upcoming disciplines are:
- Singles on Sunday November 8th 2026
- Triples on Sunday November 29th 2026
- Fours on Sunday December 20th 2026
- Mixed Fours on Sunday January 3rd 2027
11.
If anyone still holds the trophies or plates for the upcoming disciplines, could they please either bring
them on the day or let me have them before the disciplines take place.
League Secretary
12.
Since the last scheduled summer league match, and prior to the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place elimination round, the association has been subjected to a number of disruptive decisions by clubs or individuals, resulting in the elimination round, and consequently the semi-final and final round, not being played as yet. I have tried to make the best of a bad job as far as the summer league is concerned, I feel a venue is required for what will now be the semi-finals, that none of the teams taking part will have played at this summer season. I have approached Whaddon Bowling Club and have been given the green light to play the playoff cum semi-final at their venue.
13.
The teams involved in the semi-finals are Kingsway Swans, Kingsway Cobbs, Kingsway Cygnets and Forest of Dean. The winner will go forward to play Sharpness Otters in the final. I am informed Forest of Dean are not keen on travelling to Whaddon and Kingsway may find it difficult to find 12 players. Forest of Dean are meeting tonight and will inform me of their decision, I hope Phil can throw some light on the situation at Kingsway.
14.
I have been made aware not all GMBA competitions have appropriate forms on the website, that is being taken care of. I have had a few members asking where certain information can be found on the website, I would appreciate your help in identifying the issues you have had, if you send me an email with any issues you have encountered, I will get them attended to and hopefully resolved. A problem I have encountered is under the heading “Clubs”, there are all the team names from past winter and summer leagues, these can mask the information one is trying to locate, for instance Westbury on Seven have 1 team entered in the winter league and 6 team names, very confusing for the casual website visitor, please let me
know of any issues you have experienced.
15.
The 2 winter leagues have been published, and hopefully by now, most fixtures are complete. Could teams pass their completed fixture list to me as soon as possible please, if not already done so? I have received information that some clubs have not responded to requests for fixture dates that have been sent. I believe the norm was to acknowledge receipt of correspondence, just to let the sender know the message had been received, and was not sat in a spam folder.
16.
The winter league is under way with a reduced number of teams due to the withdrawal of a number of clubs. These clubs are Yorkley, Woolaston, Longhope, Huntley, in the league, the same clubs have not entered the Winter Knockout.
17.
The Committee debated how it wished to proceed with the Summer League elimination finals (paras 13 – 14 above), following the objections from participants to the venue and timings proposed by the League Secretary, which had caused them to be delayed. Mike Edginton (Westbury) commented that since all the league games had been played in the evening, it was to be expected that the choice of a Sunday afternoon at GL1 would cause problems for teams. The League Secretary countered that the elimination stage required 4 mats: only Kingsway and GL1 were viable and he considered it unfair to use Kingsway, where their teams would have an advantage. GL1 was not available for an evening, and he noted that clubs do play on Sundays in the Winter League, nor was it contrary to the League conditions of play (as amended in 2025).
18.
The Committee finally resolved to abandon the Summer League without a conclusion, given the time
that had elapsed since the end of the summer season and the absence of agreement on a suitable venue. It
would be made clear on entry forms for future years that play-off games may have to be arranged for other
times than in the evening.
County Team Captain
19.
The county team moved to our new venue at GL1 Leisure Centre in Gloucester in August, ready for
the new ICC, 2 Shires Trophy and Brunel Cup season. There is sufficient storage for all our mats and
equipment, with mats currently being stored singly on the floor and fenders and scoreboards nearby. The
blocks, jacks, delivery mats and all other smaller items are stored in a locked, wheeled box. We have a
trolley for moving the mats to the end of the rink to minimise lifting and handling issues. I would hope that
in the future we could source 2 double bowls mats storage units to aid the rolling up and movement of the
mats to their storage space. Replacement mats and associated equipment was sourced for Kingsway
SMBC.The lighting at the GL1 centre was an issue initially as it was set up as motion sensor operation. I
asked for this to be altered and this was changed to light switches to allow us to have the lights permanently
on during our booked hours.
20.
All players who put their name forward for the county team were invited to attend the GL1 centre on
13 September and this was well attended. Our first ICC match was on 27 September v Herefordshire. It was
a tight match with the bonus points deciding the result, a win for Herefordshire. There were issues with the
venue on the day. It was too hot in the bowls room and the café did not open until midday. I reported the
issue of the heat/air conditioning for the bowls room and the engineer at GL1 rectified this by the time we
attended for the first of the county championships days. The café also opened at 9.30. I also have bookings
for several Tuesday evening practise sessions for the rest of the season. These will be open to all those who
have put their name forward for the county team. Our next ICC match is away at Oxfordshire on 1st
November.
21.
Sadly, Worcestershire has withdrawn its team form the ICC season and all friendly matches. At some
point I will contact WSMBA in the hope that we can set up the 2 Shires Trophy in some format.
22.
Peter Taylor (Yorkley) asked why the County had moved to GL1: Monica explained that most
counties and other ESMBA competitions were now played at indoor bowls clubs, thus mat on mat, which
placed us at a disadvantage at away venues.
23.
Monica regretted that Warner’s had turned down our bid for sponsorship for new shirts, but whe now
had an offer of £1000 from a Cheltenham insurance company and would now begin looking at a new shirt
design.
Safeguarding Officer
24.
The ESMBA Safeguarding Officer has been in touch with all counties regarding their new initiative.
Each SMBC is invited to sign up for a roll into better health scheme. Details are available at
www.esmba.co.uk/roll-into-better-health and I would encourage all clubs to have a look at the information
and sign up.
25.
Once again, also a reminder that there is a modular Safeguarding in sport training system online
which is free and issues a certificate on completion. High Speed Training at
support@highspeedtraining.co.uk. It is a straightforward course which anyone can do in 15 minute sessions
to suit.
AOB
26.
Saul Featherstone (Sharpness) had some young players joining his club and asked whether the
County would be prepared to pay the affiliation fees for then to encourage those in this age group to start
playing short mat bowls. The proposal to pay fees for players under 18 was carried unanimously.
27.
Monica Carter asked that anyone interested in playing in the County double rink competition
should let her know. The closing date is 01 February 2027, so we still have plenty of time to enter a team.
28.
Ian Broderick (Kingsway) complained that the mats provided by GSMBA to replace the County mats
moved to GL1 were not of sufficient quality. In particular, the 2 Drakes Pride mats still had significant
creasing, possibly caused by incorrect storage, which had not levelled out as hoped. Though somewhat
heavy the other two mats were playable, so he was asking GSMBA for 2 replacement mats to restore
Kingsway SMBC to its original state.
29.
Monica Carter explained that these 2 mats, sourced from Basingstoke, had been taken on trust that
they had been stored properly and no others were immediately available. Sharpness had a spare mat that they
could offer temporarily and there were other suggestions for where other mats might be obtained
(Maisemore and Bromsberrow). Mike Edginton believed that all involved in finding replacements had done
their best in the circumstances, nevertheless Kingsway SMBC had been put at a disadvantage, and it was up
to GSMBA to find a solution. He proposed that GSMBA should purchase 2 new mats for Kingsway, since,
as we had heard earlier from the Treasurer, we had enough money in the bank and savings accounts.
30.
It was then suggested that a better solution would be to purchase 4 new mats for County use and
return the existing County mats to Kingsway: this would still leave a reasonable reserve in the current and
savings accounts. Mike Edginton made a proposal to this effect, seconded by Saul Featherstone. Chris Evans
suggested that we should look first at the other options referred to above (para 27), however the consensus
appeared to be in favour of the purchase option, though no vote was taken. Mike Sparrow said he would
ascertain prices for new mats and report back.
31.
If finance is a problem, Saul Featherstone said that we could put on an Open tournament, as several
other counties did, to raise funds and he was prepared to organize such an event.
Date of Next Meeting
32.
The next meeting of the Committee will take place at 7.00pm on 25 January 2027 at Kingsway
Community Centre.
LIST OF ATTENDEES
Chris Evans (Chair, Kingsway), Andy Todd (Secretary, Cheltenham Whaddon), Mike Sparrow (League
Secretary, Defford), Barbara Bubb (Membership Secretary, Forest of Dean), Monica Carter (County Captain,
Ripple), David Bubb (Forest of Dean), Mike Edginton (Westbury-on-Severn), Saul Featherstone
(Sharpness), Ian Broderick (Kingsway), Phil Jennings (Kingsway), Peter Taylor (Yorkley), David Yendole
(Defford)
Minutes prepared by:
Andy Todd
Secretary, GSMBA
Signed as a true record:
Chris Evans, Chair, GSMBA
