Somerset Golf Captains Executive Committee
DRAFT Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday, the 24th May
2022 at the Admirals Table, Bridgwater
Present: Roy Parmiter (Vice President & Chair), Bob Acland (President), John
Beer, David Andow, Iain Robertson, Paul Chesney, David Bate, Rob Ford
- Apologies; None
- Minutes of the meeting held 7th April 2022 were approved as a true and
accurate record
- Matters Arising (& not appearing elsewhere on the agenda)
- a) Secretary confirmed that Roy Parmiter would now attend the Hampshire dinner and John Beer would attend the Sussex dinner
- b) Secretary reported that the banners are still missing. Committee agreed that we may need to replace the banners how we met you to re-design them. Action: Bob Acland to check whether they were left at the rugby club following the dinner in 2019. Bob would also confirm who did the original designs in case we need to replace them.
- Report from Presidents Committee (10th May 2022) – (Bob Acland)
Bob Acland reported that the Presidents Committee had considered the policy of booking matches beyond 2023. The Presidents Committee were happy to endorse the approach taken by the fixture secretary with regard to negotiated prices of clubs. However, the Presidents Committee considered that clubs which were kind enough to give us courtesy should not lose out financially. The Presidents Committee would therefore like the Executive to prepare a budget which includes the payments to every club which agrees to host a fixture on behalf of Somerset Golf Captains. This fee would either include an element to pay for golf, or a donation to the club subject to the negotiations undertaken by the fixture secretary. Bob Acland also outlined discussions with regards to prospective Vice-Captain and Captains of Captains in 2023 and beyond. Action: Committee members to email the President with two or three names are possible Captains of Captains from 2023 and beyond and Bob Acland to report back at a future meeting. The secretary also referred to other matters which had been discussed at the presidents committee as follows. We discussed whether it will be necessary to amalgamate fixtures at some stage in the future but we decided to keep this under review for the time being. We also discussed possible steps we could take to reduce costs (e.g. removing wine from the dinners) and again this was decided to be reviewed at a later date.
- Captains Report – (Rob Ford)
Rob Ford described a very exciting start to the season and some very mediocre results since then! A win at Oxfordshire was followed by defeats in Sussex and Surrey and then a half against Hampshire. The course at West Hove was very tiring but the course in West Surrey was beautiful. We were treated very well on both occasions and indeed Mendip Golf Club looked after us very well when we played Hampshire. The new holes were open. In the discussion which followed, comments were made about the timing of the Surrey match whichdid not tee off until 2 pm, which meant the dinner was very late and a very long day resulted in late arrival back home. We agreed that we should try to tee off no later than 1 o’clock for these away matches on tour which involve a long journey back. The committee generally were confident that the new BACS payment system is working well. Treasurer again drew attention to the fact that he doesn’t always know who is playing in a particular team. Action: Secretary to remind match managers to make sure the players know that that the is £40 with the appropriate sort code and account numbers. It is also their responsibility to confirm teams two weeks before the event; and to notify both the Secretary and Treasurer of any subsequent changes in the team. Action: David Bate offered to devise a standard pro-forma for match managers to use prior to confirmation of the team.
- Reports from Sub Groups (& not appearing elsewhere on the agenda)a) Dinner Planning (David Bate)
David Bate confirmed that he spoken to Taunton Rugby Club who had confirmed that they were holding a £300 deposit and he has subsequently spoken to James‘s assistant Claire. With regards to the dates, both rooms are available on either Friday the 3rd of March or Friday the 10th of March. David has asked for a copy of a pricelist for the wine, and the Vice President asked him to confirm the price for port. Committee agreed to proceed on the basis of Friday, the 3rd of March. The committee then went on to discuss possible speakers. Vice President has spoken to previous dinner organiser during the Sussex match who asked how much was available. President suggested that we could do some research e.g. ask the rugby club, or check with other counties..
Finance Group (David Andow)
Treasurer confirmed the current bank balance but that included match fees for upcoming matches. Treasurer confirmed that the new system for collating match fees is working well. And it should be easier to discuss the way forward at the end of the year. Treasurer pointed out that there may be more home matches in away matches next year which could make it more expensive. Money collected this year should affect next year. President asked about the new scheme which would allocate income to each match but treasurer pointed out that this has not been pursued.
Administration Support Group (John Beer)
- Update on new Captains. Secretary confirmed that Enmore Park now settled the invoice with regards to the incoming captain who is now a life member. Secretary also confirmed that the Minehead Club Captain had resigned and his Vice- Captain would act as club captain in 2022.
- Fixtures Update 2023: Fixtures secretary circulated a provisional list of fixtures for 2023. Some difficulty in getting confirmation from Shropshire. Reported on the basis of conversations with the golf clubs: Fixture secretary is working on the basis of a given fee for each day, including golf and catering. Vice President indicated there was a set budget of for each fixture which we should not exceed. President stressed that those clubs who do not charge for golf should receive a donation. Fixture secretary suggested that we do need to have a conversation with regards to how many players in each team President asked for clarification of the payments to be made to Mendip Spring. Cricket St Thomas has assured the fixture secretary of the course will be in good condition for the match against Devon. Oake Manor have not yet confirmed the dates for Captains Day 2023..
- Arrangements for Captains Day – 21st June 2022 Secretary distributed copies of the start sheet and invited committee members to confirm their preferred tee-times. Committees had a lengthy discussion about prizes and eventually agreed that the tankards donated by former Presidnet would go to the Somerset Golf Captains members in the winning fourball, and the other prizes would be golf balls purchased from Oake Manor golf club i.e. six boxes of balls with three tubes each to the four members of the winning team; two tubes each to the four members of the team finishing second, and one tube each to the members of the team finishing third. President, Vice President, Captain, Secretary to provide a bottle of wine for spot prizes to be awarded as follows: “nearest the pin” and “nearest the pin in two” on two holes on the front nine and two holes on the back nine. Secretary asked people to confirm the roles they would like to accept on the day and several members of the committee stated they would be down there early and do what they needed to do. Captain confirmed that he would meet and greet and socialise before playing golf. Committee agreed that it will be useful to have livery available for sale on the date
- Any Other Urgent Business
- a) Update on match managers. Bob Acland would now be match manager for the Devon fixture at Cricket St Thomas, and Roy Parmiter would be the match manager of the match against Dorset at Weymouth
- b) On the draft start sheet, CS (Stover) should read CS (Stover).
- c) Treasurer confirmed that one Captain who was entitled to a refund for the Spring Meeting and asked it to go to the Captains charity! Committee agreed that Rob Ford could decide where this money went.
- d) Secretary confirmed he like to send out a newsletter after the meeting and invited the committee to suggest matters for inclusion. Committee suggested the newsletter is used to remind Captains that they should liaise with the match manager and not the secretary. Captains could also be reminded of the match fee is now £40. Could also confirm the date of next year’s annual dinner i.e. the 3rd of March (subject to confirmation by the rugby club). Newsletter to go out during the week beginning the 6th of June when Vice-Captain returns from holiday.
- Date of next meeting Monday, the 11th of July