Secretary’s Notes

I last wrote a newsletter in January and a lot has happened as we got back to normal after covid. We had to cancel the inaugural Winter Meeting at Harleyford due to really bad weather which meant we had to defer the AGM until the Spring Meeting. We decided to abandon having a Winter Meeting as it takes a lot of organising and has only a 50/50 chance of happening in January or February.

Our season started at West Herts but only 39 played. This was disappointing but there was still a problem with covid then which reduced numbers. It was won by Colin Sawyer with whom I played and he certainly played well. We had our deferred AGM afterwards and John was duly elected Captain with Tony becoming Vice Captain. An interesting discussion was held about the problems of recruiting members and any issues with the running of our Association. From that David Forrest volunteered to run a survey of members and that has now happened and the results will be discussed at the next committee meeting and published on the website.

That does not however address the issue of attracting new members, We had 6 new members last year and only 4 this year so far. A few clubs are very proactive but most are not. The ambassador system is in place but with little effect. We will be looking on how to get to current and past captains from the results of the survey and then contacting clubs to promote active recruitment.

Bob Jones has been seconded to take over from Colin as Match Secretary and I would like to thank Colin for his work over the past year which I know takes up quite a lot of your time during the playing season. Bob will be sending out the Subs/Match form at the end of the year and again I ask you complete and return quickly. 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 will be having our AGM at the Spring Meeting at Aldwickbury and the papers will be sent out in good time. We have decided to do this in future rather than at the Autumn Meeting. This enables Doug to completer the accounts for the year in time for the AGM and also gives John a full year as Captain.

We have continued the Committee meetings this year and my thanks to the members 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. During 2023 whilst Tony is Vice Captain Steve James will be assisting him with sales so again contact Steve if you need to replace any of your existing clothing or just need new ones. They make ideal Christmas presents if your family don’t know what to get you.

Arranging fixtures for 2023 has been much more difficult as prices have increased and many clubs are not so keen on societies as they are full up with members. Other county secretaries have found the same and some have lost the courtesy they used to get. Doug and I are keeping an eye on the costs and at present are reluctant to increase the match fee. It may come to that in a few years time but the position may change when golf settles down after the effects of covid and clubs again need society income.

I must mention the Autumn Meeting at Denham . The course was a mess but the food was good as usual. The weather was appalling with some greens flooding for a while. Despite all this I managed to win with 35pts which is the first time I have got any prize in all the years I have been playing with the Association.

 

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.
1) The matches will show who has been selected and once active who is playing.
2) Click on the Postcode for a club to see the location and the directions to it.
3) The tabs at the top of the home page will take you to this and past newsletters as well as clothing details.
4) 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.

Lastly please let me know of anything that you would like discussed or anything you consider would improve our organisation, matches and meetings.

Peter (Hon Secretary)