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AGM 2003

Minutes of 2003 AGM

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The Meeting was held at 7pm on Monday April 7th 2003 in Maiden Castle bar.

Present: Peter Collins, Tony Cleaver, Rich Hopkin, Ian Whitfield, Tom Hase, Nigel Metcalfe, Paul Low
Apologies: Ted Fuller

  1. Minutes: The minutes of the 2002 meeting were accepted with one change (it was Hugh Evans who had unfortunately been taken ill at that year’s Annual Dinner).
  2. Matters Arising: Former secretary Dan Rogers, who had presented the club with an old scorebook last year, had sadly died before Christmas.

    No progress has been made on the idea of a fixture card.
  3. Chairman’s Report: The chairman thanked the Captain and Secretary for getting teams and arranging fixtures. It has been a pretty good season overall. The Annual Dinner was again a success, although there still seemed to be a lack of current players attending.
  4. Captain’s Report: Last year the season began frustratingly in that we had no fixture scheduled for the first three weeks of the Easter term when the weather was fine yet as soon as the first match was arranged it had to be cancelled because of rain!The season overall was marred by poor weather and cancelled matches: a grand total of seven matches was called off; four games were played and lost and three were played and won. 2002 must therefore count as one of our least auspicious seasons!Not to be downhearted, however, there were one or two highlights of the season. Firstly, games against the Mallards must now be counted as the most intensely competitive of outings where nothing short of gritted teeth, derring-do and spilt blood will be tolerated on the field of play. Both games were closely fought, the first lost in the last over, the rematch won along with a fine display of aggression and damaged pride from one of our more combative batsmen. Despite, or perhaps because of the Captain’s divided loyalties, these games have now become as rivalrous as local Sunderland/Newcastle derbies.Secondly the club has taken to increasing the calorie intake on such memorable feasting occasions as after the visit of the Mayor’s XI – hosted at Maiden Castle but predictably lost after the thrashing we handed out the year before – and also the annual Club dinner, now a regularly enjoyable event with old and new club members.The absence of regulars and the occasional ad hoc look of the team did not help to build consistency but, that said, newcomers were most certainly welcome. There were some sterling performances on the greensward by a couple of members present but in the coming season, more effort must go into building a solid core to ensure that team spirit and successful performances increase together.One particularly disappointing feature of the last season was the fact that we did not, for the first time in the Captain’s experience, play a single game against a JCR college eleven. Understandable though the difficulties are of arranging student league matches, it is sincerely to be hoped that the new fixtures arrangements will not prevent us from taking the field against college sides.Finally, the Captain wishes to express his thanks to the players who have turned out, win or lose, in fair weather and foul and especially to the long-suffering Secretary who arranges the fixtures against teams who have on occasion not turned up! I have to say, with regret, that pressure of work this year means that I can no longer continue with the captaincy – nonetheless I have certainly enjoyed my stint at the head of such an illustrious gathering and so I invite someone else to take over as I stand aside?
  5. Treasurer’s Report: The treasurer’s financial report can be found here, together with the equipment list. The 2001 accounts had been audited. The dinner had been subsidised at 5 pounds per head but had lost 90 pounds. It was deemed desireable to reduce this, and to aim for a cost of 20 pounds per head.Some match fees were still outstanding. Also Gradsoc owed us half the cost of the 2002 nets.It was agreed that match fees would stay at 2 pounds a game for the coming season.
  6. Secretary’s Report: There had been pressure from the undergraduates for us to form a Grad-Staff team (with repesentatives from both Staff and the Graduate Society) to compete in the college league, partly as one way of ensuring more fixtures for Staff. After some discussed it was clear there was no support for this idea, and that we wished to continue playing friendly matches, and be allowed access to pitches, as before.The undergraduates were now organising all fixtures during term. As a result we had 6 games arranged against ‘colleges’, but no actual named opposition at this stage. The first game would be May 1st. A full set of games had been arranged for exam weeks though. The Mayor’s secretary had expressed a doubt at to whether the Mayors would field a team this year, partly due uncertainty in the outcome Council elections, and partly due to the spiralling cost of insurance.A Grad-Staff team had competed in the winter indoor 6-a-side cricket competition organised by the undergraduates. Three games had been played and three lost, but apparently a good time had been had by all.Winter nets had again been held in Durham School, due to the lack of facilities at Mainden Castle.
  7. Election of Officers:
    • The Vice-Chancellor was re-elected as club President.
    • John Anstee was re-elected as Vice-President
    • Peter Collins was re-elected as Chairman.
    • Tom Hase was elected as Club Captain.
    • Ian Whitfield was elected as Vice-Captain.
    • Paul Low was re-elected as Treasurer.
    • Nigel Metcalfe was re-elected as Secretary
  8. Kit for the forthcoming season Requirements for the new season were as follows: one thigh pad, a new bat, a new kit bag, new inners and a box of 12 balls.
  9. AOB Everyone was asked to be on the lookout for new players. Tom Hase brought up some issuses regarding the University Centre of Excellence and its effect on the availability of resources to ‘friendly’ teams like the Staff.

Nigel Metcalfe – 18/03/04