Date: Monday 18th May 2009 at 7.45 pm Venue: Seedfield Methodist Church Hall

Apologies

Apologies for absence were received from Keith Butler and Phil Herd.

Clubs Represented

British Aerospace, Claybank, ELPM, Elton Vale, Holmar, Little Lever CC, Milnrow, Prestwich, Radcliffe CC, Ramsbottom Town, St Philip's, St Sebastian's, Seedfield Methodist, Shawfield, Wardle Conservative.

Clubs Not Represented

Adelphi, Burning Desire, BGSOB, Carlton, Hilton Bury, Hilton YMCA, Maccabi, Stand CC.

Chair

In the absence of a League Chairman the Vice-Chairman, Rodney Hall, took the Chair.

Minutes

The minutes of the 2008 AGM were read and approved.

The Story So Far

“The story so far”. KW advised that he had tested the waters by way of emails to several people with regard to whether it was economically feasible to print an updated version of “The story so far”. The responses were poor and as such it has been determined that it would not be economical and, instead, KW advised he would put the update on the website in due course.

Reports From Officers

Secretary

In his absence the following report was read.
I must apologise to the meeting for my absence. It is for the same reason that I have been absent for much of the season; I am abroad on business. I hope that I will be back to stay by the end of May.
There have been few Committee meetings this year. Thanks to the rest of the Committee, particularly Keith Warrington, for doing what's necessary in my absence.
A number of things haven't happened this season.
The website is effectively the same as it was 12 months ago. I promised improvements and they haven't been done. Hopefully the coming year will bring progress. The present host of the site is closing so some changes will have to be made - but there should be no effect on users. Until now the site has cost the League nothing but this is unlikely to continue because of the change of host. We will ensure that costs are minimised.
The Cup handicapping system remains unchanged - I will comment later on that agenda item.
We still have no Chairman - but we hope to rectify that problem during this AGM.
As you probably all know, our President since 1998, George Lomax, died late last summer. We will be proposing a successor at this meeting.
Three members of the Committee are not standing for re-election. Phil Herd has been Treasurer for the last two seasons - thanks to Phil for managing our accounts. David Ternent, Tournament Secretary and previously Vice-Chairman, has been doing those jobs for 11 years and we will miss him in the coming season. At the time of writing we haven't got a replacement so the League Tournament is an uncertain event at present. Frank Sheldon is also retiring after 8 years on the Committee - thanks to him for his work and enthusiasm.
Despite the current absence of a Tournament Secretary it looks as though we will have a more complete Committee than we have had for some time and I look forward to the next year with the anticipation that we can make a difference for the League.
Finally, my usual thanks to Ben Armstrong and Burning Desire for their welcome sponsorship of the League.

Match Secretary

KW reported:
Next to recording the score cards the majority of my time this season was spent dealing with rearranged matches. Because I only kept details of these match until it was replayed I didn't have an accurate total but it was easily double the 25 or 30 I reported last season.
There were 4 awarded matches last season but 2 were because Our Lady's in division 5 did not turn up for their matches before they ultimately withdrew from the League. You could say then that the relaxing the rearranged match rule helped to reduce the number of awarded matches which was the aim of the rule. I will have more to say about this when we discuss the proposed rule change.
There were briefly 24 clubs in the League this season until Our Lady's, a new club in Division 5, only turned up for their first match of the season and subsequently withdrew from the League. This made 23 clubs, the same as last season. There were 57 teams, 1 more than last season.
There were 596 League matches this season and a lot of the boxes were continued to be filled in for which I thank every for doing so and please continue next season.
The 'Wimbledon style' draw for the Cup matches continued this season and, with the help of Keith Butler we hope to be able to put all of the draws on the website very soon. My thanks go to Graham Jeffries for doing the electronic random draw at the beginning of the season.
The website was again unchanged this year. Our plans to get a lot more information on the website had to be put on hold because Keith Butler was out of the country a lot of the time on business. It's Keith's techy knowledge of the website that is needed for us to transfer to a bigger website and, again, we hope to do that very soon.
Everyone is very complimentary about the website and 27 teams regularly emailed me the scores which ensured that the results were shown on the site very quickly. This is 6 more teams than the previous season and I would again encourage everyone who can to email me the results.
There were 13 late score cards last season which was up on the 7 of the previous season but still a significant drop from the 33 of the season before. I'm sure that being able to email scores has reduced the number of late score card fines.
The Bury Times were quite helpful this season and I did actually get a request from them for photos of any important matches. However despite having a standard template with the League's name and sponsor on they regularly left off 'sponsored by Burning Desire Fireplaces'. An email was sent to the Group Sports Editor and they replied saying they would include the name in future only to see it disappearing and returning again in subsequent weeks.

Inter League Secretary

GJ advised the first team finished fifth, which was disappointing having won the league last year, and that the second team had been relegated. GJ commented that getting players had been difficult but that for the second weekend, he had selected several new players who were really keen to play and despite the weaker results, felt this was a step in the right direction.

Tournament Secretary

DT advised the tournament had been played at Hilton with the finals at Ramsbottom Cricket Club. Attendance had been good, and an MC had been used at moderate cost, which had been well received. The prizes were given by Council representatives, which was a positive step brought about by links through the Ramsbottom Academy.

Treasurer

Due to Phil Herd's absence, the accounts were presented by RH. He advised that they showed a healthy surplus but that they were only draft as a final bank statement was outstanding and no request had been made from the LCTTL for inter-league fees. A question was raised about why the LTTA fees had gone up so much; without PH this could not be answered and was a point to carry forward

Proposed Rule Amendments & Changes (See Below)

The Committee was proposing no changes to the subscriptions and fees.

Rule 8(f)

A proposal was put forward to effectively reverse the previous year's amendment with regard to when matches could be postponed. The following rule was approved by a vote of fifteen to nil:

8(f)

All matches should be played on the date stated in the handbook.
Matches may only be postponed if:
(i) the home team's room is unavailable or
(ii) a player of either team is required for a Bury League representative match or
(iii) there are exceptional circumstances approved by the Emergency Committee

Every effort must be made to re-arrange the match. The options are:
(i) both club secretaries agree on a new date; this date to be no later than the last week of scheduled League matches or the scheduled date of the return fixture, whichever is earlier.
(ii) amalgamate the match with the return fixture in the second half of the season and play for double points and double wins. This will apply to any first-half match that has not been played by the scheduled date of the return fixture.

The Match Secretary must be informed of the postponement as soon as possible and also be informed of the new date for the match as soon as it has been agreed
If the match is still not played then the Committee may award the points and wins to either or neither team and impose a fine of £15 on either or both teams.

Rule 8(n)

A proposal was put forward to reverse the rule change brought in last year (which in reality became non-viable by subsequent ETTA rulings) with regard to equipment use. During the discussion, Ken Crimes asked if the ETTA could be asked if a list of rubbers that were allowed could be provided. This point needs to be followed up. The following rule was approved unanimously:

8(n)

The current laws of table tennis as adopted by the E.T.T.A. shall apply to all matches in the League.

Election Of Officers

President

Following the death of George Lomax, the President from 1998 until this season, Bob Goodman had been asked if he would accept this role. Bob had responded that he would be honoured to do so. With no objections, the appointment was approved.

Chairman

Ken Crimes was proposed as the new Chairman and this was agreed without objection.

Vice Chairman

Rodney Hall was re-elected without objection.

Secretary

Keith Butler was re-elected without objection.

Treasurer

Phil Herd was standing down. Graham Wardle was proposed as the new Treasurer. He was appointed without objection.

Match Secretary

Keith Warrington was re-elected without objection.

Tournament Secretary

David Ternent was standing down. Simon King asked to be considered and he was elected without objection.

Inter League Secretary

Graham Jeffries was re-elected without objection.

Coaching Officer

Mandy Winskill was proposed as the new Coaching Officer. She was appointed without objection.

Committee

Ian McKenzie and Andrew Webster agreed to continue and were joined by Edward Freeman and Steve Hathaway without objection.

Ramsbottom Academy

This was set up last year as a junior coaching session, independent of the league. Attendances have exceeded expectations (30+), and to go to the next level further premises will be required. There was an expectation that a team from the Academy would be put into the League next season

Handicapping System

A lively discussion was held regarding the handicapping system used for both cup competitions and for the end of season competition. The consensus was that a handicap should in an ideal world be based on individual performance not team performance and Simon King was going to look further into this.

Sam Hilton Bequest

There was a little money left from the bequest and it was suggested that this be used to put wording on the barriers to the effect that the barriers were provided in memory of Sam. This was thought to be a good idea. Costings were to be sought from Steve Hathaway and then the wording would be agreed.

Timetable For The New Season

This was to be sent out electronically to all clubs. All clubs in attendance at the meeting were given a paper copy.

Any Other Business

Nancy Lomax wanted to have something named after George. The committee were to discuss at a later date what could be used as most cups were already named. There was a suggestion that something to do with the Ramsbottom Academy be sponsored in this way as George was such a devoted coach for younger players in particular.

Other Matters

Wardle issued a request for further players.

The meeting closed at approximately 9.30 pm.