SHREWSBURY CLUB

Minutes of AGM: 11th November 2015 @ Clubhouse @ 7.30pm.

Present : As listed on the Attendance sheet attached

1. Apologies: Tony Bywater, Mr & Mrs Edwards (Jun), Mr & Mrs Cheadle, Morris Hedison

Ref Minutes 2 Minutes of Previous AGM Approval of 2014 AGM Minutes proposed by B. Edwards and Seconded by J Dean. Approved.

3 Chairman’s Report

I must start off this report by passing on the congratulations of all the clubs members to Rob Foster and the 1st XI for again being crowned champions of the BDPCL this being the third occasion in the last six years. This honour was achieved with a group of players that have been at the club for several years but sadly this era is coming to an end as some of the familiar faces within the 1st XI will be unable to play for Shrewsbury in 2016. The 2015 cricket report will detail the season’s achievements for all out teams and our future prospects.

The 2015 Season During this season our new artificial practice nets were well used as the opportunity was taken up by our cricketers to practice for the first time in these facilities. These nets I believe have been a huge benefit for all our clubs players as well as to those from outside the club who have utilised them.

The club was again pleased to host the Salop Leisure 20/20 knock out three Friday evenings not least because we won the final again.

At relatively short notice the club was asked if they could host a 3 day game for the County Club which we did and I would like to thank all those who made this, I believe, a success story.

At the Presidents Day this year all efforts were made to play cricket but unfortunately play succumbed to the inclement weather. This however did not dampen the spirits of those who attended as again all devoured large portions of cake prior to tucking into a hog roast. The club members present I am sure would like to show their appreciation to John & his wife Kate for again providing a memorable day by putting their hands together.

To celebrate the season’s success we again held in October an enjoyable informal dinner for 54 within the clubhouse. Thanks go to Alan and his wife Becky for their excellent catering & service during the evening. At the dinner four club awards were presented these being: • Players Player………..Steve Leach • Club Person………..…Pat Edwards • Chairman’s award…....Peter Andrews • 2015 Young Player ….Tim Dean

One low point during the summer was the passing of Vaughan Palmer a long-time supporter, friend and match official of Shrewsbury Cricket Club. His demeanour and wit will be sorely missed and I am pleased to inform you the clubs Committee has decided, in his honour, to provide a memorial bench ready for next season.

Ref Minutes

2016 and beyond The overall challenge for the club in the coming years is to ensure we provide 1st class facilities and opportunities for cricketers of all standards and development whatever their age therefore the Committee would like to hear off members what they believe the club should be providing for their benefit.

To kick start this challenge the Committee took the opportunity following the closure of the 2015 season to undertake the following work around the ground: • Major renovations to the cricket square where, thankfully, you can already see a very green mat of new grass. • Provision of two smart secure doors and surrounds to the garage. • Updating the Honours Board for the 1st time since its provision. • The large leylandii trees have again been cut back to a more suitable size thanks to a donation to the club for this purpose.

The Committee is committed to provide before next season a replacement heavy roller for the main ground and a heavy roller for the SCAT ground to ensure the playing surface there is adequate for our needs. In addition the white timber fence fronting the pavilion will be replaced and the car parking area maintained to ensure this source of income is sustained.

I am also pleased to inform you that the club is starting a new venture next summer by forming a rounder’s team. Practices have been organised during the winter and if anybody here, or if you know of anybody who may be interested, please contact Emma Anders who will be delighted for any new participants.

It must be stated here that all the improvements, maintenance work, hiring of the clubs facilities and fundraising is ultimately for the players benefit and ensures cricket can continue to be played at Shrewsbury CC with the best facilities we can manage.

Finally I would like again to take this opportunity to thank all those who through their past efforts have ensured the club continues to provide cricket in Shrewsbury to the highest standard possible as without their support this would not be achievable.

My special thanks extend: • To our numerous Sponsors especially Salop Leisure, GKN, Greenhous and Hatfields • To all our club volunteers • To Bill Davies, Les Nicholls & Kevin Morris for providing once again many excellent pitches that have again earned top marks off the BDPCL • To Alan Hughes and his team for ensuring members & visitors do not go thirsty and for Alan’s efforts in continuing to attract functions etc to the club ensuring our bank balance is adequate for providing the facilities that we require for our players & members. • To Pat Edwards who continues to provide high quality teas for the players & officials. • To Adam Shantry for his commitment as cricket coach for both the senior and junior cricketers during 2015 which I am sure has improved the standard of cricket for all ages within the club. • And finally to the clubs Committee Members, Team Captains, Junior Managers & Coaches who have strived to ensure the clubs aims are met.

4 Cricket Reports

1st XI (Rob Foster): The 2015 season turned out to be a fantastic one for the first XL, after a slow start to the season performances really picked up during the middle period and culminated in winning the Birmingham Premier for only the third time in our history, whilst also retaining the Graeme Williamson Trophy for the Sixth season in succession. Stand out performances during the season from Steve Leach with the bat with over 800 runs

Ref Minutes and with the ball Mike and Steve Barnard led the way ably supported by Sam Griffiths and Charlie Morris!! Winning the league last season was made all the more special particularly given the limited availability of both and who I think the club can feel very proud of their success with Worcestershire County Cricket Club. Particular thanks must go to Claire Green for Scoring for the season and also to Jon Anders and Ed Griggs for their constant support with weekly selection issues, at the start of last season the club took the decision to employ Adam Shantry as Club Coach and its one I feel has had a huge impact on the club and helped massively in making 2015 such a successful season for the club, it’s a relationship that I feel will only grow and develop further in the coming seasons and Adam is a great asset to the club!! The 2016 season as I am sure you are aware with some players having moved on, looks to be a challenging one, but I am confident that firstly we have some very talented younger players who will now have a chance to shine and also I am hopeful that over the next few weeks we should have some exciting new signings to announce for the club!

2nd XI (Jon Anders): We had a very mixed season, finishing in 3rd place compared with previous seasons one would feel this was a successful season. I believe however that we were the best team in this league and should have gone on and won the title. Key games against Tamworth and Halesowen at home failed to produce points from winning positions. Both of these matches we fielded strong teams UN seen in previous 2nd team outfits. We are here to provide players for the first team and moving forward we must invest in players and give them time to improve and mature. As Rob has commented on that we have lost a number of key players in the 1st and 2nd teams. I feel that this is a great opportunity for current Shrewsbury players to step up to the mark and take the opportunities that lie ahead next year. I would like to mention all players at this point but that would take forever because we used so many!!! ha ha But a special mention to Liam Brown and Tim Dean who had a great season and I look forward to seeing their exploits next season. The OX – Jehan was a steady rock in our team both and bowling and gave us control from one end. He was a real asset to the team and wishes him all the best down under. Richard Williams showed he is a class act last year and I really hope that he and Tim push for first team places next year. Toby Jones is steadily improving and I hope next year he makes the number 3 spot his own and has his first 100 under his belt before too long. Harry Bolan, Jimmy Harrop and Dillion Pennington are key members of 2nd team and again I urge you to push yourselves and go for first team opportunities. I would also like to thank Rob Jones and Dave Somerville for their continued support umpiring which is a thankless task. Training – every player has a responsibility to show the club, captains and Adam Shantry that they want to play at the highest level. But players need to show commitment on and off the field and nobody has a divine right to play in any of our teams. Take the opportunity that presents its self to you. Dig out performances and show us you want to improve and ask for support.

3rd XI (Ed Griggs): This season for the 3rd XI quickly came to be one of rebuilding, with a new captain and several senior faces missing from the squad tied together with weak availability from the more experienced teenage lads due to college & university commitments the side was one in transition. The clubs solid youth system and availability of 4th XI players allowed a weak but ultimately competitive side to be fielded most games. Debuts to Seven U15's across the season highlighting the point, those boys making 48 appearances between them showing that it wasn't just the odd game either. Added to these youngsters new signings 18 year old twins Callum & Danny Foulkes from Newtown also made 23 starts.... it was a much change XI from previous years. Worth noting that they played versus 11 adults week in week out. On the field the side relied heavily on stand out performances from key players to win games but they were few and far between, relegation looked a possibility all year. However with 4 games to go a strong burst had seen the side move into mid table comfort and in with a shout of finishing 4-6th out of 12 which looked a real credible effort but it then went wrong and only 7 points from a maximum 72 and remarkably every other side in the mix picking up wins for fun saw Salop just 2 points clear of the drop on the last day.

Ref Minutes Fortunately a crushing win on the last day away at Ellesmere saw us end up 8th and a couple places clear of the drop.

Player wise, Richard Scragg was the stand out with 37 at 13s as well as finishing 3rd highest scorer with 190 in just over half a season’s worth of games. That tells a story on its own, with runs across the year very hard to find and only four 50s scored all year, 2 by Mike Gerrard in his 5 games, he also ended the only man averaging over 20 with the bat. Notable contributions with the ball from Scragg (37), Griggs (23), D.Foulkes (17), Evans (15) & Sharpe (14) wickets a piece & with the bat really only Griggs (290) and Gerrard (230) any runs of note. Of the youngsters, Dom Stone was the standout batsman averaging 13 with 113 runs in his 9 games (in each he opened the batting) and Lewis Evans with his chinamen taking 15 wickets from 63 overs having played 11 games, a great return for 13 year old's at this standard.

SCAT made life tough as usual, Going forward the club has committed to a heavy roller to hopefully improve the surfaces and quality of cricket.

4th XI (Julie Dean): A much improved year for the team for a number of reasons, firstly, of the younger players it was their second or even third season playing for the team and their performances reflected improvement in all departments. Secondly apart from some weeks when a lot of players went up to the thirds, we also benefitted from a better ratio of adult players. The team was captained mainly by Tom Crouch, the off field management was shared around by Paul Gerrard, who also took on captaincy duties and Julie Dean, Jane Crouch took on principle scoring duties and Ian Davis was our most faithful supporter! The fourth team juniors were also good attendees of practice on a Friday night, another benefit to the team this year. The team played 17 matches, 2 were conceded by ourselves, 1 by another team, and 2 were cancelled. A total of 22 fixtures. 7 matches were won, 6 matches were lost, 3 losing draws and 1 winning draw. The latter matches were tougher with most of those losing draws and losses occurring when the team was understrength physically and numerically. They finished in 8th place out of 16.

Some highlights to mention: Tom Atkins bowling over the season he took 17 wickets, including 11 maidens, at an economy rate of 3.99 with best figures of 5/6 Sam Davies, joined half way through the season bowled very well with best figures of 4/3 and scored 45 no to help win the match v Wellington. Rob Coupar was welcome adult addition to the team scoring 59 useful runs and taking 7 wickets in his 5 appearances. James Davis was a very useful keeper and top scored 46 v Much Wenlock Alex Walker played 15 games scored 192 runs including a maiden half century with 63 v Much Wenlock Josh Anders, scored 161 runs, mainly in the 3rds but top scored with 42 for the 4ths against Ludlow. Tom Crouch also bowled economically in his 76 overs at 3.61 economy for his 14 wickets. Ted Stone showed great promise with bat and ball in his first full season, his brother Dom ended up playing more for the thirds after impressing at the start of the season, Toby Pegge took 14 wickets at an economy rate of 3.47 and again moved up to the thirds. For next season, we will look to bring in some new youngsters, attract a few more adults, such as Khurram Waris who also joined this season and was a great addition to the team. As we will no doubt lose quite a few of the above to the third team, aspiring to a mid-table finish would be realistic.

Juniors (Peter Andrews): Early year meetings established there would probably be a shortfall in junior membership to establish reliable U15 and U13 squads to participate in the East Shropshire League, albeit there were a good number of players in the U10 and U11 groups. It was, therefore decided to enter teams in both the ESCB league and the Shropshire County League as follows:

Ref Minutes U10 & U11 Combined groups competed in the Shropshire County League (SCCL) U11A Competed in the ESCB A League and County Cup U13 Competed in the SCCL and County Cup U15 Competed in the SCCL and County Cup

Benefiting from the availability of winter training and the first class coaching provided by the Club under the very successful regime that Adam Shantry put in place during the ten junior training sessions all teams performed exceptionally well.

Our U11 Storm Team missed out on the final in the SCCL as they were unlucky to be drawn in the same group as Whitchurch who won all of their games and went on to win the League. Our U11 Sharks Team competing in the ESCB League played very competitive Cricket all season and ended second in the League just a few points behind Wellington.

In the County Cup Knockout the U11 Sharks were once again runners up to Wellington but played some excellent cricket with great attitude to come through to the final.

Shrewsbury U13’s, supported by a number of our U11 players won the county cup final against Wellington in a great home victory. The limited number of U13 players enjoyed the opportunity to support the U15’s and participate in senior Saturday Cricket with our 4th X1 team, giving them some valuable experience in the longer game.

Next season we will look forward to continuing development of our junior section with the ongoing support of Adam Shantry and with the changing demographic of our age groups we should have stronger squads in both the U13 and U15 age groups for 2016.

5 Treasurers Report: Finance Spreadsheets attached 5.1 Treasurers 2014 Income & Expenditure accounts were Audited by Peter Wilkinson and deemed correct.

5.2 Year to 30th September 2105: Although the balances of cash held at 30th September (£29,438) were £26,173 higher than the £3,265 held at the start of the year, £11,280 of that improvement was due to the receipt of monies owed to us in respect of the permanent nets which had been completed in September 2014 (£7,280 for VAT and £4,000 grant). Adjusting for this leaves £14,893 of cash increase this year. However, this year we have received more car parking income than last year, some of which relates to next year. Also we have more outstanding payables at this year-end than we had last year. These items, together with a reduction in clothing and bar stock holdings and the depreciation charge, explain why the surplus reported in the Income & Expenditure Account is limited to £2,940.

INCOME for the year was £14,048 higher than 2014. Principal items showing improvements were Members Subscriptions, Bar Net Profit (which saw takings and margin go up), Room Hire and Car parking.

Items of EXPENDITURE deserving mention are: Coaching and Camps, which saw a change in our arrangements, with payments for evening sessions amounting to £4,230. This was partly offset by a profit achieved on running the spring and summer camps of £1,830. Repairs & Maintenance to Pavilion & Premises, with spending again at a high level. Major items this year were the garage doors at £1,418, car park resurfacing £2.604 and tree pruning at £1,840 (covered by a donation). Upkeep of Cricket Field, which includes major end-of-season work on the square £2,604, a £1,506 increase in mower repairs and a higher than previous depreciation charge to include the new nets. Electricity, with consumption 30% higher than 2014, reflecting more club activity.

Ref Minutes Approval of finance sheets proposed by Roger Whitfield and seconded by Rob Jones. Approved.

5.3 Comments: • Members would like to see future accounts separating Income & Expenditure for the Spring & Summer camps from the normal evening training sessions. • Subscriptions are up on last year generally due to prompt payments through the new web site (Pitchero) • Bar Income up with margin improved from 2014. • Cash in account as of today £24k approx.

6 Appointment of Auditor Attendees recommend Peter Wilkinson remains the club Auditor. (See para 8.2 below)

7 Membership Subscriptions for 2016 Andy Barnard proposed and Peter Andrews seconded the acceptance of the Committees proposal to maintain the 2015 subscriptions at the same level as 2014. Approved.

8 Proposed Constitution Amendments 8.1 It was proposed by Ed Foster and seconded by Mike Jones to accept the Committees proposals to alter the Clubs Constitution as indicated within the Draft forwarded to all members with notification of the AGM. The proposed changes are basically changes to the Committee structure and the election of the Officers/Members. Approved.

8.2 A further change was proposed by Andy Barnard and seconded by Claire Green that paragraph 7.1e of the Constitution be changed from “The Election of two Auditors” to “The Election of one suitably qualified Auditor”. Approved.

8.3 The Chairman will alter the clubs Constitution to reflect the accepted changes. The revised Constitution and Minutes of this meeting will be uploaded onto the clubs web-site by the end of November.

9 Election of Committee Officers 9.1 Following the approval of the revised Constitution those below were elected as Officers/Members within the new Committee structure:

Officers Role (Clause 4.1 of the revised Constitution) No Nominations. The Committee will 1 Secretary appoint a suitable candidate as soon as possible. 2 Treasurer Bryan Hinton

3 Cricket Manager/Dev. Officer Ed Foster

4 1st XI Cricket Captain Rob Foster

Ref Minutes

5 2nd XI Cricket Captain Jon Anders

6 3rd XI Cricket Captain Ed Griggs Peter Andrews and/or Julie Dean (TBD). 7 Junior Co-ordinator see Footnote below

“Other persons” (Clause 6.1 of the revised Constitution) 8 Dan Manders

9 Alan Hughes 10 Kevin Morris

9.2 Proposal by Andy Barnard and seconded by Jon Anders that John Foster continues as Club President. Approved.

9.3 Proposal by Mike Jones and seconded by Jon Anders that Richard Chapman continues as the Committee Chairman. Approved

10 AOB 10.1 Club Development: Call for sub-committee to be formed to ascertain short, medium and long term plans for the development of the clubs facilities. This has already been undertaken stated the Chairman with plans of the existing structures being prepared.

10.2 County Club Fixtures: The club has been offered a 1 day County game in late April but no 3 day game this summer. Proposal from the floor to not host the 1 day game due to the excessive work required early in the season to stage this fixture. The majority of those present required this fixture to be accepted.

10.3 Cricket Square Renovation: Query regarding a difference in levels at the mid-point of the square. This will be made up in spring with the top dressing stated Andy Barnard. Further long term work to the square may need to be done and will be considered as a possible future project.

10.4 Bob Jones, a neighbour of the club, gave a vote of thanks to Committee, Officers & Players for all work & effort during the year.

Meeting closed at 9:10pm

Footnotes: • Subsequent to the AGM Peter Andrews agreed to be the named Junior Co- ordinator on the Committee. • Julie Dean will take over the role of Club Welfare from Peter Andrews.

Copies of the Attendance Sheet and the Finance Report are attached below.