Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on 5th September 2022
Apologies were received from John Clarke, Paul Bizzell, Andrejs Olehnovics, John Golding
Chair: Mark McLeod
Minutes of last meeting
These were read and accepted without amendments
Chair’s comments
Mark McLeod highlighted the contrast between the immediate post-pandemic period where the club struggled competitively (see Team Captains’ reports) and the more recent months where visitors and membership numbers have risen significantly. The future for the club looks very positive, and a 3rd team will be proposed for the 2022-23 season.
Treasurers Report & Membership Fees for 2022-23
Andy Robins provided the Treasurer’s report for the meeting
The club made a cash surplus of £214 in the year
Membership income was £730 and Marlborough Club fees were £516
End of year bank balance was £301.44
It was proposed and agreed that subscriptions for the 2022/23 season will be £30 for adults, £10 for juniors, £20 for students, pensioners & unwaged and £60 for family memberships
Marlborough Club membership fees are included in club membership fee.
Fees are to be paid to Andy Robins who will pay the MC fees by January 2023
It was agreed that appropriate funds be allocated to the purchase of boards, sets, clocks and scoresheets as needed to cater for a 3rd team.
Didcot I Team Report – Gary Reynolds
Gary reported that the 1st team performed very well against consistently stronger opposition, having remained in Division 1 due only to league restructuring!
However, despite winning 2 matches and drawing 1, the team finished 7th of 7 teams and will (probably) be relegated. Top scorers were new member Joe Conlon 3.5/6 on board 1, Nick Gough 6/11 and Florian Deconick 4/8.
Didcot II Team Report – from Mark McLeod
Many thanks to all 12 players who represented Didcot 2 in the 2021/22 season.
The 2021/22 season was a particularly challenging one for the Didcot 2nd team. Despite a number of hard fought and close matches we sadly finished bottom of division 2 with just 2 draws and 2 points from our 10 matches.
It should be noted that in the vast majority of our matches, the players were heavily out-graded and the team were perhaps a victim of being placed in too high division as a result of the re-distribution of teams following the global pandemic.
Despite the finishing positions, there were some notable performances from:
Michael Fitzgerald – scoring 6.5 points from 9 matches
Sanmi Rotimi – scoring 3 points from 5 matches
Victor Csajka scoring 3 points from 7 matches
Keith Forman scoring 2.5 pints from 7 matches
Average grading of all 12 players = 1580
Thanks again and I look forward to seeing everybody at the Monday club nights
Thanks, Mark McLeod
2nd Team Captain
Club Tournaments
John Richards Cup – not held but Gary will organise for 2022-23
Martin Sheridan Shield – not held but Mark will organise for 2022-23
Christmas Blitz 2021 – congratulations to winner Joe Conlon
Club Nights & number of teams.
Gary estimated that we now have 32 players available (to varying degrees). Hence it was proposed & agreed to enter 3 teams in the ODCL for 2022-23. It would be requested of the ODCL organiser that Didcot 1&2 would have Monday as “home match night” and Didcot 3 Wednesday, and that clashes of 2 home matches on the same Monday should be avoided in the fixture list. [This was agreed by the ODCL]
[Following the OCA AGM, it was confirmed that Didcot 1&2 will be in Div 2 and Didcot 3 will be in Div 3]. At the time of writing, league fixtures have not been finalised
Election of Officers
After reorganisation from 2 to 3 teams, the following positions were returned unopposed.
Chair Mark McLeod
Treasurer Andy Robins
Secretary John Harvey
First Team Captain Gary Reynolds
First Team Vice Captain Andy Robins
Second Team Captain Keith Foreman
Second Team Vice Captain Vacant – please talk to Keith if interested
Third Team Captain Mark McLeod
Third Team Vice Captain Paul Bizzell
Any Other Business
- Oxfordshire County team in Chiltern League. Team captain Nigel Moyse has appealed for more players. Gary to email all Didcot members encouraging participation and asking that those interested should contact Nigel.
- Club Website. Paul Bizzell will be asked to update the club website
- Club Junior players. A discussion took place around the potential to attract more junior players to the club. It was recognised that the 7.30pm club start time is not suitable for many juniors/parents (but that this time is not flexible given the opening time of the Marlborough Club). We are also short of qualified coaches. In the short term it was agreed that Gary would circulate club members to gauge interest in becoming junior coaches
There being no further business, the Chair closed the meeting.
Meeting Closed 8:30 pm. John Harvey, Secretary.
