The meeting was held at 1.00pm on Tuesday 15^th February 2000 at PRL, in room F209.

Rob Davies, Paul Fulton, Jon Gowers, Bernie Hunt, Geoff Khan, Martin Mee, Andy Yule, David Yule.

Malcolm Christmas, Paul Gough, David Parker, David Walker.

The minutes of the 1999 AGM, as published on the web, were accepted.

Andy Yule cited maintenance of the pitch and the question of new sightscreens. He proposed to deal with these matters under AOB. This was accepted.

Andy Yule reported that 1999 had been a successful season with a particular highlight being a victory over Horley. A check through records revealed that this had been the first for nine years! Andy cited Bernie Hunt’s demon bowling as being instrumental in securing the win.

Choosing his words carefully, he noted that, elsewhere, performances had been well up to the usual standard. Topping the batting was Carl Glasse with 136 runs at an average of 34, (followed by Andy Yule with 114 at 22.8), while David Parker led the bowling with 13 wickets at an average of 14.3 (followed by David Yule with 10 at 18.2). Andy paid tribute to Shirley Yule, whose distinguished tenure as scorer was, alas, likely to cease owing to the demands of motherhood. In conclusion, Andy declared that he had enjoyed his stint as captain and took particular pride in achieving greater success than his predecessor.

Rob Davies presented a report in which he noted that 13 out of a possible 19 matches had been played. Though five matches had been rained off, only one had been lost owing to a lack of opposition. An experiment of arranging a second match in a week demonstrated the possibility of shoehorning in extra deciding fixtures or rearranging cancelled matches.

Indoor nets at Oakwood school had been organised successfully and were currently taking place. The fixture card for 2000 was also taking shape and should be ready soon.

There was a suggestion that fixture cards be sent out to teams we have fixtures with; this would have the benefits of providing useful confirmation and keeping our profile high for subsequent seasons.

In his absence, David Parker's report was presented by Rob Davies. A slight loss was noted for the year, which the meeting considered could be attributed to the purchase of a large amount of kit. A pedant noted that 136 match fees were accounted for instead of the anticipated 143 (13 matches @ 11 players) though this was put down to new players receiving their first match for free and the occasional match played with only ten men.

Nets at Oakwood had cost £240, of which £200 had currently been recouped. With six weeks remaining, a slight overall loss was anticipated.

The accounts were accepted.

The kit bag made up for the nets at Oakwood showed a fairly healthy selection of equipment though purchase of items like wicket keeping gloves and left-handed batting gloves were likely.

Geoff Khan reported that he had been choosing teams from a squad of 25 though three regular players had been out of action for the season. He had found it difficult to field a full side on several occasions and considered that recruiting more players would be extremely helpful to his successor.

Andy Yule proposed:

President: Bernie Wright

Captain: David Yule

Vice Captain: Rob Davies

Team Secretary: Martin Mee

Fixtures Secretary: David Fish

Treasurer: Andy Yule

Rob Davies seconded all but the nomination for Vice Captain. David Yule seconded the nomination for Vice Captain. All positions were elected unopposed.

Of the issues raised under AOB in 1999, the one of indoor nets had been resolved.

Maintenance of the pitch: Last year’s agreement that ‘something ought to be done’ was upgraded to ‘something really ought to be done’. Andy Yule revealed that he had not got far with his investigations but opined that the surface was still playable so perhaps maintenance would suffice rather than complete replacement. He noted that there was wear particularly characteristic of left-arm over-arm bowlers. He will contact the manufacturers for advice.

The outfield was in need of a roll. The meeting was grateful for the positive response of the gardening service to the club’s request to mow the grass at times more sympathetic to home matches, thus avoiding problems of playing in long grass or grass cuttings. Rob Davies will contact Steve Crowe about the possibilities of having the field rolled in April.

Considering that previous sight screens had rarely been used correctly by players and had frequently been used very incorrectly by some of the local vandals, Andy Yule was not enthusiastic about the idea of obtaining new ones. The experiment of using white balls in poor light was suggested again. As it happens, the club already possesses some white balls but the matches in August, when fading light does become a problem, had been rained off instead.

The possibility of arranging throwing coaching was raised. This could possibly be dealt with as part of the Monday evening sessions.

David Yule and Jon Gowers will represent the club at the Sports & Social AGM.

The meeting closed at 1.55pm.

Secretary

15^th February 2000