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AGM 2015

Minutes of the 2015 AGM

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The 66th AGM of the Durham Colleges Staff Cricket Club was held at 7.30pm on Thursday March 18th 2015 in the SCR, Grey College

Present: Peter Collins (in the Chair); Peter Swift (Club Captain); Stephen English (Treasurer); Ian Boothroyd; Stephen Boothroyd; Alan Clarke; Nigel Metcalfe; Shan Sathar; Mavir Shama; Chris Wastell; Eckart Wrede.
Apologies for absence: Paul Langley, Jonny Moore, Ben Smith, Simon Ward

  1. Minutes: The minutes of the 2014 meeting were accepted.

  2. Matters Arising:
    Sportscards – after the issues caused in the 2013 season with us being charged for wickets for not having enough members with sportscards, the drive to get people to sign-up, which included a differential match fee has paid off and we now have around 20 people with a sportscard.
    Peter Swift reported that Maiden Castle had recently queried how many of games were against non-university based teams, in terms of the opposition having sportscards, but this seems to have been resolved.
    Online Kit – Thanks to Alan Clarke for organising this which, after a few initial teething problems with the logo, worked well. There is a link on the website to the company where people can order more kit.

  3. Chairman’s Report:
    As chair my role is very small as I have little role in running the club, but over the last couple of years the team has been making good progress and is in a healthy state, borne out by the numbers regularly attending the nets and being able to enter the student league again. It is nice to see that we won the Euan Squires Trophy for the first time in a number of years last year.
    The club has kept going thanks to the officers, particularly the captain who has been acting as secretary and special thanks should be expressed to him.
    It is pleasing to see that we are back in the student league again this year.
    Peter Collins 18th March 2015
  4. Captain’s Report:
    2014 was a good season both in terms of the number of games played and the availability and keenness of the squad. Out of 21 games played we won 9 and tied 1. Most of the losses were due to us not playing intelligent cricket, for example getting bogged down in the second half of the innings whilst batting, aiming to hit big shots every ball as opposed to working the ball around and hitting the bad one for four; being scared of the ball in the field and not backing-up.
    Most games have had 14 or more people available, but with two per week, it has meant everyone has had a good number of games and we’ve usually played with 12 players (one not batting and another not bowling). The Post-docs and Post-grads have been an asset to our team this year, and we have gained a couple of good permanent staff too.
    We won the Euan Squires trophy back from Grey by 10 wickets, though lost to them in the other two games due to the reasons outlined above!
    Most runs was again myself, but Stephen English and Chris James both scored over 200 in the season as well. Tony Joe had the best average of 39.8. There were 6 scores of over 30 retired in the twenty over games (Peter Swift *4, Stephen English *2, Ian Whitfield *1, Phil Lindsay *1, Tony Joe *3 and Chris James * 3 with two forties in the Sunday games (Chris Wastell and Paul Langley).
    The best bowling figures were Ian Boothroyd’s 4-15 and Simon Ward’s 4-21. James Wallace, Nigel Metcalfe *2, and Vishal had three wicket hauls. Stephen Boothroyd was our most economical bowler, whilst Simon Ward had the best average, but as usual Nigel was thereabouts in all departments.
    Winter nets have been going well, with more quality players signing up and coming along. The bowling machine has proved useful, and having three nets has allowed everyone to have meaningful practice.
    We have been asked to join the student league again, and many players seem keen for this, so we are in Division 1, pool A. The league will do the best to accommodate our games on Wednesday evenings, and work weekends to fit in with those of us who play league cricket, so that we can put a strong team out.
    Thanks to Peter Collins, Stephen English as Vice Captain, and to Paul Langley and Ian Whitfield for captaining in the absence of us.
    Peter Swift, 18th March 2015
  5. Secretary’s report:
    It was reported that a good number of fixtures are in the offering for the season, with final details being sorted out as Maiden Castle have only recently released wickets to us. There were one or two issues with getting any pitches past the last week of term, but this has been resolved and we now have wickets until the middle of July.
    Peter Swift, 18th March 2015
  6. Treasurer’s report:
    Last year the club made approximately £600 so our finances are in good shape. So far this season the nets have made a loss of ~ £100 (last year we made a profit of £200) due to us having three nets and a bowling machine per week. Collecting fees after games from full teams of staff players has been a really good way of keeping the balance healthy.
    The annual dinner lost a little money on the drinks.
    Match fees. Given the state of the finances and with people now paying for a sportscards, the treasurer and captain feel that we can reduce the match fee to £1 per game for those with a Sportscard, but keep it at £5 for those who don’t have one. We don’t want to be fleeceing people for playing cricket for their employer! This fee would be increased to £2 for the student league game to pay the umpire.
    A discussion took place on Public Liability Insurance as the Treasurer had been speaking with officials at his league team (they pay £500 per year). It was commented that this had been investigated by John White in the past. Following investigation of the Team Durham website it seems that home games are covered by being members of Maiden Castle (having a sportscard). Further information for away games is required [Action: Stephen English]
    The auditor reported that the accounts had been audited and found to be satisfactory.
    Accounts for 2014 season
    Stephen English, 18th March 2015
  7. Election of Officers:
    Ray Pallister had stood down and it was agreed thanks should be sent to him. It was suggested that the Chair approaches Brian Lander to become our new President.
    It was commented that the VC used to the President in the past, and it was agreed that on the forthcoming appointment, they should be asked to be a Vice President if they have an interest in cricket.
    • Chairman: Peter Collins was re-elected
    • Secretary: Ian Boothroyd agreed to take on this role, noting that his current role in the University finishes at the end of the season.
    • Captain: Peter Swift was re-elected to this role;
    • Vice-Captains: Stephen English was re-elected; Paul Langley was also elected.
    • Treasurer: Stephen English was re-elected to this role, though hoped to find a replacement for 2016.
    • Kit Man: Mike Costello and Eckart Wrede were elected to share this role between them.
    • Auditor: Nigel Metcalfe was re-elected
    • Webmaster: Nigel Metcalfe was re-elected
  8. Fixtures:
    Already partially reported in the secretary’s report. We have been allocated to Division 1, pool A of the student league and it will cost us £14 to enter plus £32 for the provision of match balls etc., and then we need to pay the umpires £10 per match. It was agreed to charge a higher sub for these games.
    We have games (home and away) against our usual opposition and have also secured a game against Sunderland Architects.
    We have been asked to join a midweek knock-out competition, to be played at King James Bishop Auckland. Again there is a small fee for joining of £25.
  9. Kit:
    A good supply of new balls was purchased last season so we don’t currently need anymore. These are of better quality than we had last year, so it is hoped will last for a couple of games.
    A new bag is required to hold the kit. Discussion took place on how much club kit we need as most of players have kit in this day and age. It was agreed that a decent quality bat was required, as recent acquisitions have been of rather poor quality. A new scorebook is also needed. [Action: Stephen English]
  10. Website:
    Nigel is currently looking after this, and requests that fixtures etc. are sent to him. Pictures for the gallery are particularly welcome.
  11. AOB:
    Peter Swift indicated he was happy to organise the end of season dinner again, at Grey in late September, but advertise it to former players earlier [Action: Peter Swift]. It was asked if the dinner could be subsidised with the current healthy bank balance and was agreed that to keep the accounting simple, the food amount should be rounded to the nearest sensible amount and club funds used to purchase the drinks.

Peter Swift – 18/03/2015