Chairman Secretary Treasurer Match/Fixtures Secretary Malcolm Richards Malcolm Richards Bob Hine Dave Barber Minutes of the VSMBFL AGM 2024 Meeting held at Wendover Bowls Club, Tuesday 14th May 2024. Meeting started at 19.00 hrs. Welcome. The Chairman formally opened the meeting with a welcome to those present and how nice it was to have all 9 member clubs being represented. Our thanks go to Wendover Bowls Club for providing the venue and ensuring everybody was welcomed and looked after. Members attending Wendover:Brian Harrison, Brenda Harrison, Michael Hobson, Belinda Horn, Chris Barksfield, Ann Smith, Eric Smith, Tony Bloomer. Bierton: Bessie Rice, David Rice, Nigel Wyre, Mike Smith, Trevina Smith Marsh Gibbon: John Everett Beacon: Peter Coker, Linda Coker Thame: Bill Heritage Winslow: Len Ward, Peter Joyner Stewkley: Sue Neale, Julia Corkett Committee: Malcolm Richards, Bob Hine, David Williams I apologise for any misspelling of names, I sure some of you must have been doctors in a previous life. 1. Apologies for absence Apologies for absence were received from John Brookes, Peter Horn, Peter Barksfield, David Barber, George Hunt, Mary Arnold, and David Catlin. 2. Minutes from last meeting 16th May 2023. The previous minutes were unanimously voted as being a true account and were duly signed off. 3. Matters arising from last minutes At the last meeting (2023) the matter of friendly matches in the off season was discussed. Efforts to arrange such games appears to be limited so far and the subject will no doubt arise again. It was mentioned that Wing (who are not in the league just yet) would be open to any friendlies should anyone wish to contact them. 4. Correspondence Wing were emailed to thank them for hosting the John Robinson final. 5. Chairman’s Report (Malcolm Richards) It has been another successful and enjoyable year for the league, I hope you’ll agree. We had 9 clubs competing in the league with a last-minute tussle between Marsh Gibbon and Beacon for second place, but a clear winner in Chinnor. Congratulations to them once again. 8 clubs competed in the John Robinson Memorial Shield in two leagues, with Chinnor winning one and Marsh Gibbon the other. They met in the final on 15th April back at Wing, the home of the originator. Chinnor had one particularly good triples win and won overall by 59 shots to 39. Congratulations to them once again and many thanks to Wing bowlers, not part of the Vale league but who set all the equipment up and provided hospitality. We hope we can continue to have the final there. April 30th saw us all at Haddenham for the presentation evening. As usual it was a big success with all clubs represented and over 50 players supporting the evening. We played the usual 4 games of 3 ends with the victors being Beacon ( on a bit of a technicality). Trophies were presented to Chinnor for the JR and League by Dave Barber. Our thanks to Haddenham for providing the venue, for their ladies and others for the excellent refreshments (once again) and to Bob Hine and team for organising the evening. Thank you also to all who attended. I’d like to thank my fellow committee members - David Williams, our secretary, Bob Hine the treasurer and, in particular, Dave Barber as fixtures secretary. He puts a lot of work into setting up the league and JR fixtures and ensuring the results are sent out quickly; he also looks after our great website with all the results and much more information on the Vale league. We do support the BSMBA who put on some very friendly and entertaining monthly competitions at Handy Cross on a Saturday or Sunday. Regrettably they are not well attended by Bucks bowlers and were it not for Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire they would have stopped by now. So please do give them a try, encourage your members to come along and lets keep them running. Finally, thanks to all our member clubs and their members for supporting and enjoying the league. They are social, improve bowling but, most importantly, as the name suggests, “friendly”. Have a good summer and we’ll see you in September for a new season of short mat bowling. 6. Secretary’s Report (David Williams) There was nothing to report. No correspondence, no phone calls, just a few emails from the chairman reminding me to get my act together as there are at least some duties that need attention. 7. Match/Fixtures Secretary’s Report (Dave Barber) From my point of view, it was another successful year. The actual fixtures worked out well and I received no complaints so the process of creating the schedule will be the tried and tested method utilising random number generation to sort the teams. Wing did a great job of hosting the JR final and the match was very good, it was close up to the triples, but then Chinnor stormed ahead. Attendance was very good, I counted 47 people there. I think Wing would be happy to host the competition again. Does anyone have comments or suggestions regarding the fixtures? Does anyone have comments or suggestions regarding the VSMBFL website? I will try to have the new fixtures lists published by the end of May. 8. Treasurer’s Report (Bob Hine) a. The balance as of May 1st 2024 stands at £614.15. b. The Treasurer recommended that in light of the healthy accounts we could forego the £5.00 club membership until such time as we need to replenish funds. It was proposed that this would be the case this year but each subsequent year would be voted on at each AGM. c. Full copies of the accounts are available from the Treasurer The acceptance of the accounts were proposed by Linda Coker and seconded by Brian Harrison. Vote unanimous 9. Fees for coming year The foregoing of the club membership fee as above was proposed by Brian Harrison and seconded by Eric Smith. Vote: unanimous in favour. 10. AGM Business a.The John Robinson format was up for discussion due mainly to the lateness of finishing times. Marsh Gibbon suggested that in a one year trial we change the format to 4 games of triples, with players roles changing After each 3 ends. Other ideas were bandied around but the consensus was that the format should stay the same. 11. Election of Officers The suggestion to vote the existing committee members back in en bloc, in the absence of any other nominations was proposed by Brenda Harrison, seconder Trevina Smith, vote unanimous. Thus the committee are: Chairman: Malcolm Richards Secretary: Dave Williams Match/Fixtures Secretary: Dave Barber Treasurer: Bob Hine 12. Any Other Business i. Thame will continue with the league but will not be participating in the John Robinson. ii. Playing games during the daytime was discussed but voted down. There are members, apparently, who are still young enough to have jobs. Who knew? It’s a distant memory for most of us. iii. The Holmer Green Masters is held in July. It’s a popular all day tournament consisting 15 teams from other teams in Bucks. It stopped during the pandemic and we have made contact with them to find out what the situation is at the moment with a view to taking part. At the time of our AGM nothing had been heard back but. 13.. Next AGM The next AGM for the VSMBFL will again be held at Wendover on Monday 12th May at 8.00pm. In addition the BSMBA AGM with also be held there on the same day but at 7.00 pm.