Secretary’s Notes
Another year has gone by so quickly despite the problems with rearranging fixtures and booking 2022 ones. Only 3 fixtures were cancelled in the end: Winter Meeting, Ladies and Hertfordshire. These are all booked for the same venue in 2022. A big thank you to David for continuing the Match Secretary role whilst being Captain and then to Colin for helping out particularly in the later stages.
Colin has sent out the Subs/Match form and if you have not yet returned it please do so without delay. It is a frustrating task to send out reminders and we need to know members availability for matches by the end of February to make the selection process easier. We had 45 0f our members not playing last year for various reasons which only leaves us about 80 to pick for our 15 matches. Without the availability of some members who will always come even at the last minute we would struggle sometimes to get a team. Another big thank you to those of you helping to make the Match Managers job easier.
I hope that you can come to our AGM at the Winter Meeting at Harleyford on February 22. Even if the weather is unkind and we have to cancel the golf we will still have the meal and AGM (covid permitting). This will be the first Winter meeting as the previous two have been cancelled. We put it in the fixture list as there is a big gap from October to April. The AGM agenda and minutes of the 2021 one are in this newsletter so please read them as my statistics show that less than half the membership actually read the newsletter.
We have continued the Committee meetings this year and my thanks to David, Doug John, Tony and Colin for their help and input. We routinely discuss membership, fixtures, and finances to ensure the Association ticks along nicely. Clothing is also mentioned, and Tony has ordered more shirts and hats and has a few used (but cleaned) jackets for sale. If you have any requirements, please contact Tony and he will get them to you. Also I asked in the last newsletter if you are interested in the Match Secretary role as Colin will be Captain in 2024 and may not wish to carry out both roles. I did not get a response but please give it some thought particularly if you are looking for something to do if you have just, or are about to, retire.
Whilst on the subject of Captain of the Association we are looking forward and considering who to ask. We look for someone who has contributed by playing in the matches, being a match manager and has been a member for a few years. A bit like the criteria for being a club captain. We also try to select from different clubs to ensure all clubs get a representation for this prestigious role. There is about a five year timescale from being asked to actually becoming captain. For the first couple of years you serve on the committee and will get a role such as clothing. Then you become Vice captain a role we have all done. Then as Captain you play in all the matches you can, represent the Association at about 6 county dinners, organise your tour in June and your Captains Day in July. It’s a very rewarding role and just ask any of us previous Captains if you need to know more.
In view of the delays caused by Covid I looked at the constitution and found it needed amendments in case these issues arise again. I have put this in the AGM papers as any change to the constitution needs approval from the members. None of the changes are controversial, so I hope they are approved.
We had 6 new members this year but as many captains continued from 2020 it is not unexpected. However, with only about 80 of our members playing it is important to keep up recruitment. So if you know of potential current and previous captains who are not members please see if you can get them to join. This message is in particularly to our club ambassadors some of whom have already done so this year.
I still get requests for various information, most of which is available on the website. The website is always up to date and here is a reminder of some of the attributes.
- The matches will show who has been selected and once active who is playing.
- Click on the Postcode for a club to see the location and the directions to it.
- The tabs at the top of the home page will take you to this and past newsletters as well as clothing details.
- You can get the email and phone numbers for everyone by adding /memberdownloads to the home page logon. I do it this way to protect the information.
In the last Newsletter I put that sometime in the next few years I will need to hand over my secretary role. I can easily carry it out now even though I am now living a long way from Bucks. However, I am aware that a lot of what I do is down to my experience over the years and that it is important that someone else should know. what I do. If any of you would be interested in taking on the role sometime in the future, then please let me know and I will explain what is required.
Lastly please let me know of anything that you would like discussed or anything you consider would improve our organisation, matches and meetings.
Peter Short