Tranent and Preston Village Cricket Club - 1

AGM OF THE TRANENT & PRESTON VILLAGE CRICKET CLUB

 

MEETING MINUTES

10.00 am at Meadowmill Sport Centre, Sunday 14th January 2018

 

Present:

Scott Russell

Dougie Russell

Gary Findlay

James Griffiths

Paul Dance

Aiden Hoenigmann

Graeme Donaldson

James Nicolson

Graeme Barrie

Sam Booker

David King

Steve Lee

Pete Barrie

George Turnbull

Paul MacGregor

Richard Knight

Kuntal Mukherjee

 

 

 

Apologies:

Scott Beveridge

Neil Craigmile

David Punton

Amjad Shaikh

Dave Picken

Kenny Black

John Barratt

Massimo Fabbreschi

Michael Costello

Mike Brunton

Gregor Brunton

Douglas Brunton

                                               

ITEM

PROCEEDING

ACTION

1

Introduction & Apologies

  1. DR welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies accepted as detailed.

 

 

 

 

 

2

Previous Minutes

  1. Noted this is the first AGM of TPVCC.

 

 

 

3

President Report

  1. Welcome to 1st AGM of T & PV CC.
  2. Extraordinary year for the club.
  3. Amalgamation of Tranent & Preston Village
    1. Hopefully with the combination of our extended catchment area and facilities at both Polwarth and Meadowmill will result in a strong, sustainable club going forward.
    2. Like to Thank the Previous Committees of both T & PV, especially those who are standing down. I’m sure everyone appreciates and thanks them for their efforts
    3. 2017 was a year of consolidation for the club that has subsequently resulted in promotions for the 1’s to Div2. 2nds will play again in Div5 and the 3rds in Div6. The 4ths will continue to play Sunday fixtures so hopefully we have a level of cricket available to suit all players
    4. Not going to discuss the teams seasons specifically- will leave that to the Captains Reports.
  4. Facilities: -
    1. Our intention is to utilise the grass wickets at Polwarth as our main square this season. I’m sure there will be a lot of work necessary to get the wicket back up to standard, but with plenty of volunteers and a bit of help from ELC I’m sure it will be worth it. For those of you that don’t know Polwarth has changing and kitchen facilities. So hopefully the days of no toilets, changing and sheltering under the trees, and running after cups and plastic bags etc will be a thing of the past. Cups of tea even...bliss.
    2. We’ve asked ELC to mark out a boundary based on the artificial wicket at Meadowmill as our second pitch. We will continue to work on the square with a view to getting cricket played on the grass – the wicket does need a bit of work. Hopefully with a bit of attention and more loam we can produce a good track.
    3. Nets - 2017 saw artificial nets laid at Meadowmill, so we now have two sets of nets. Discussions have yet to take place as to which nets will be utilised during the season.
    4. In addition, we now have a bowling machine. From personal experience I can assure this is a tremendous resource for batters - I hope everyone will try to get use of this
    5. Containers – The container at Meadowmill has now been re-roofed and no longer leaks like a sieve, giving us secure storage facilities at both Polwarth and Meadowmill.
    6. Our roller is currently at Meadowmill. It is our intention to transport this to Polwarth (with a bit of help from ELC). Hopefully this will help us quickly get the Polwarth wicket back up to speed.
    7. ELC also have a ride on mower for our use. Nearer the start of the season we can store this in the Meadowmill container. This will hopefully enable us to control the grass on the outfields a little better.
    8. We have approached ELC is regard to renewing agreements for the use of the facilities at Polwarth. Hopefully they will be on the same basis as years gone by – we await confirmation of this.
  5. Financial – Treasurers report will follow.
    1. Scott has been in discussion with Hutchisons Network with a view to the renewing of their sponsorship deal. We are also looking to produce a new club logo, combining the badges of the clubs. I believe we will be looking to organise a supplier of kit with the new branding.
    2. Marshalling – again we have carried out marshalling duties at various events during the year. This a good source of revenue for the club and I would encourage everyone to participate if they can.
  6. Advertising – We have for the first time organised a letter drop of leaflets advertising the combined club. Thanks to everyone involved in the printing and distribution of the leaflets. Hopefully from the 2500 leaflets we’ll get a few new faces from Tranent and Prestonpans. Further letter drops are intended for Port Seton, Longniddry and Macmerry. All help appreciated.
  7. Finally thank everyone for their efforts during the year. It has undoubtedly been challenging but ultimately, I hope rewarding. Hope we can look forward to a bright future at the club.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4

Captains Reports

  1. Gary Findlay reported on the 1st XI. 2017 had a difficult start with 80% of the first team leaving the club for numerous reasons, also the uncertainty of who was going to be captain. I was asked to be captain by the club, however I was reluctant to take the roll on believing Dougie Russell to be the perfect candidate and role model for future generations, however I made the decision to accept after speaking to Dougie and other senior players still at the club. After making the decision to accept the captaincy in March there was very little time to get the team prepared or to even implement my beliefs in to the first team and club as a whole. I decided with James Nicholson, Scott and Dougie Russell that 2017 should be a time of rebuilding the first team and second team to then go again for promotion in 2018 so therefore we set the first team a target of winning 5 games which should give us a realistic chance of avoiding relegation back to division 4. My philosophy was to stick with the players who had been at the club for the last few years so that’s what we did promoting players from the 2nd and 3rd team to the first team squad, after winning the first two games we sat top of the table we then had a period of losing games or having games called off for rain. So things were difficult for the team and me personally as I struggled to look after the team and still get the best out of myself. We got knocked out of the cup by bass rock and I contemplated resigning for a few days after as I struggled to merit a place in the team however I decided to carry on, which then became a turning point as I decided to change the batting order and tinker a few other things. We then played boroughmuir away and the batting finally clicked mainly down to Kuntal now opening the batting and Dougie seeing us home now batting at 6. We then made it towards the end of the season having many games interrupted by rain, finally being able to complete the last 2 games of season of which we won convincingly leading us to finish in 4th Place, this was good enough for us to be promoted carrying on the tradition of Tranent cricket club being promoted every year. I look forward to carrying on in 2018 and embracing the new found culture that the club has, that everyone player is equal and if your performing well you will be considered for first team selection.
  2. Graeme Barrie reported the seconds had a hard start to the season and left ourselves with a mountain to climb after conceding two games. After the merger it took a few games for the boys to find their feet in division 5 but a strong finish with 5 wins out of 6 got us to safety. Graeme thanked everyone who made a contribution to the second team in what was a very challenging season.
  3. James Griffiths reported A tough year for the Third XI, who due to circumstances that have been discussed at great length already, found themselves playing at a standard two divisions higher than most players were used to. As a result we were never going to challenge many of the teams in a particularly strong ESCA Division 6, and although we did manage to take plenty of bowling points our lack of batting experience meant that we were rarely competitive. That said, there were encouraging performances from many players in the side. Sam and Richard finished the season with healthy batting averages, and Andrew Punton and Shine both looked constant threats with ball in hand. More importantly, it was pleasing that even after losing five or more players to the Second XI each week we still managed to field a team of at least 8 people to fulfil all but two of our league fixtures. With that in mind I would like to thank every person that turned out for games in the 3’s this season, it wasn’t always particularly fun but we definitely had some memorable moments, and hopefully playing against a high level of opposition will have had a positive effect on all of our ability. As you will all know I have decided to stand down as captain. I’m sure the Third XI will find life much more enjoyable against slightly lower opposition in the new Division 6. However, my advice to the selection committee going forward would be to make a concerted effort to balance the 2’s and 3’s in terms of the number of batsmen and bowlers, even if that means the best 11 players aren’t always in the Second team. Too many times last season the Thirds were turning out with a team containing almost no batsmen and at a level where the main emphasis should be on playing to have fun, another season like the last is only going to put people off playing, as was the case towards the end of the year.
  4. Sam Booker reported on the Sunday XI. The inaugural year for the Sunday Development league and TPVCC 4th 11 aimed to provide a friendly environment for established and new cricket players to consolidate and develop skills in the game. To this end the team was successful, with all players reporting having got a chance to improve on skills they were hoping to, while everyone enjoyed the matches. Despite not perhaps performing best in terms of team reviews, this was likely due to being positive and talkative in the field. In the end we won more than we lost, with notable contributions from DK, Scott R, Graeme D, Bevo and many others. I cannot continue in 2018, due to not being able to commit to playing both Saturday and Sunday, but look forward to playing th odd game for the 4ths in the coming season.

 

 

 

 

 

5

Treasurers Report

  1. James Nicolson reported the club made a slight profit on the year the surplus being mainly due to the efforts of the volunteers at the running events.
  2. Subscriptions were down but match fees were up and we had a one off payment of £420 for the container at TCG.
  3. Graeme Barrie reported the PV accounts stand at £730 however £550 remains outstanding for the hire of Polwarth.
  4. Graeme noted the hire of Polwarth includes the use of the ground from mid April to mid September.
  5. James and Graeme noted a system for the amalgamation of the club accounts.

 

 

6

Subscriptions

  1. It was proposed and accepted by the club to set fees at the following levels for 2018. (Adult Memberships).
  2. All in fee £100, annual £50 with £5 match fee.

 

 

 

 

 

7

Election of Office Bearers

  1. President – Dougie Russell
  2. Treasurer – Graeme Barrie
  3. Secretary – Scott Russell
  4. Groundsman – Neil Craigmile
  5. 1st Captain – Gary Findlay
  6. 2nd Captain – Scott Russell
  7. 3rd Captain – Sam Booker
  8. 4th Captain – Rotational
  9. Head Coach – Neil Craigmile
  10. Junior Head Coach – Vacant
  11. Ground Assistants – Scott Beveridge, Gary Findlay
  12. Social Convenor – Pete Barrie, John Barratt
  13. Facilities Manager – Paul Dance
  14. Sponsorship Manager – Vacant
  15. Media Manager – James Griffiths
  16. SNT – George Turnbull

 

 

 

 

 

8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9

 

 

 

 

 

Motions

  1. The meeting agreed unanimously to reject any requests for playing league games on Sundays.
  2. The meeting agreed unanimously to adopt the TCC constitution. And retitle TPV constitution.
  3. The meeting agreed unanimously not to continue with SCIO charitable status at this time.

 

 

AOB

  1. Noted the club will participate in 2 midweek cup competitions and a new midweek league.
  2. Club agreed to promote the Jersey Notes at the Prestonpans Labour Club on Friday 13th April. Tickets to be made available at £10. Pete Barrie and Graeme Barrie to lead on event promotions.
  3. Pete Barrie noted that the Labour Club would continue to sponsor if teams made an effort to return after a home game for a drink or 2. All teams to encourage players to go for a drink.
  4. Dougie Russell suggested the purchase of new shirts prior to the season which would be offered to players at a discounted rate. Club kit would then be available via the usual website store. Committee to look into this.