Bath Saracens RFC AGM 2015
Held at The Ram in Widcombe 12th June 2015
Present: Navarrete, Bell, Lawrence, Reilly, Hiscox, Sawyer, Swabey, Pyles
1. Apologies
Jim Biss, Jack Biss, Bradley, Blankley
2. Previous Minutes
Accepted.
3. Secretary’s Report
General comments
– There were 9 full meetings of the committee. Average number attending each meeting was 7.
– All in all business has operated fairly smoothly.
– We competed this season in D&W Division II (North) achieving, finishing ninth (just) in a position of safety after a season of many ups and downs.
– No re-structure has taken place in the D&W leagues and we will compete again in D&W II next year
– Geometry PR have generously sponsored a new playing strip that should be available for the start of next season.
– Although playing in D&W we continue to be affiliated to the Somerset and Civil Service RFU’s .
– The team manager’s post has not been formally filled again this year.
-Thanks are due to Les Garton for taking on the head coaches duties this year.
-Hugh continues to maintain an excellent club web-site.
-We owe Ed Bell thanks for his hard work over the season as Club Captain and to our chairman Dave Pyles for another year’s service at the administrative helm.
Of special note is the retirement of Paul Kavanagh as Club President after seventeen seasons and his election as a life Vice President. Congratulations to him and our new President Hugh Sawyer.
Ground and post-match hospitality
-We hope to receive sponsorship from the CSSA (Bath) for the costs of playing and training at the Sulis Club over the last year.
Post-match entertainment has once-again been hosted by Graham and team at the Hadley Arms, who continue to provide both a warm welcome and tremendous value food.
International Tickets
Mike York has continued to manage our (small) International Ticket allocation over the last year to satisfy the members’ requirements.
Social Activitie s
Alex has organised a number of successful social events this year, culminating in a successful club dinner. Well Done! Best wishes to him for a full and speedy recovery from injury.
Like all clubs and societies Bath Saracens can only continue to exist with a life-blood of new players joining the team. We have seen a number of new faces on the pitch towards the end of the season and I hope that we can build on this next year and as a club give the full weight of our support to next year’s membership secretary.
Awards
Players player – Alex Reilly
Captains Award – Jim Biss
Clubman of the year – Alex Reilly
Most improved player – Liam Emmett
4. Captains Report
We finished the year 9th in Dorset and Wilts North 2 having won 5 of the 21 games played. Alex Reilly finished as our top try scorer with 22 and also led the points scoring charts with 201. Jack Goodfriend and Steve Hiscox finished joint top of the appearances list with 19 apiece.
Highlights during the year were the effort shown in both games against the eventually league winners Wootton Bassett 2nds as we played the away game with only 13 players but played hard to the very end. In the return fixture they came to us looking for the win to wrap up the title and found a resolute Sarries team which ran them close with them only taking the lead in the final 10 minutes following a furious battle.
Training on the Astroturf at the university was a great success which I hope we will continue to utilise again this season.
This season was a difficult one follow a number of players leaving at the end of the previous year but as the season went on our numbers for both games and training increased with some new core players added as the season went along thanks to Jack Biss among others.
Although player numbers will continued to be an issue for the start of this season the recruitment effort during 2014/15 will mean that it is not the same issues which it was at the start of last season.
Thank you to the committee for all their hard work, Tudor & Les for coaching and all the players for their commitment and effort throughout the year.
5. Treasurers Report
Steve submitted the annual accounts. These were approved at the meeting. Members may request a copy from the treasurer. The meeting passed a vote of thanks to the treasurer for his hard work.
6. Changes to the Constitution and Rules
There were no changes to the constitution or rules.
7. Annual Subscriptions
A number of proposals were made including maintaining the status quo, and giving something tangible such as a polo shirt to new members. After some debate and a series of votes it was agreed that waged members would pay £25.00; unwaged £5.00.
8. Election of Officers
Chairman – Dave Pyles
General Secretary – Jim Biss
Honorary Treasurer – Steve Hiscox
Fixture Secretary – Robbie Lawrence
Social Secretary – Alex Reilly
Membership Secretary – Owen Swabey
Captain –Ed Bell
Team Manager – Ed to approach Jack Goodfriend and Jack Biss
General Committee
Jon Bradley
Hugh Sawyer
Mike York
Paul Blankley – DRP to contact
Jack Goodfriend
There remains the option to co-opt additional members as necessary.
DRP to talk to Les re. coaching.
9. Any Other Business
Audit of Accounts
Under the provisions of RFU Rule 5.1.5(c) the Club agreed to opt out of a formal audit or examination, by a qualified accountant, of the Club’s 2014-15 Annual Financial Statement. The resolution was passed unanimously.
Lottery Returns
To comply with the latest council regulation the officers certifying the club lottery returns need to be agreed by the Membership. For this year the Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary were proposed and agreed.
Training.
To commence on 7th July.