Bath Saracens RFC AGM 2011 – Held at “The Ram, Widcombe”
Friday 17th June 2011 at 19:30
Present: Pyles, Biss, Kavanagh, York, Garton R, Milne, Swabey, Bradley, Lawrence, Porter.
Apologies: Garton L, Hiscox, Penny, Blankley, Sawyer, Nicholl.
Secretary’s Report
General comments
– There were 10 meetings of the committee. On average attended by 7 or 8 committee members.
– From the viewpoint of the secretary’s core duties, it has been a relatively smooth season, although many of our committee members have worked wonders in dealing with emergent issues at very short notice.
– The club completed its 4th season in D&W Division II North, surpassing all expectations by finishing as runners up and securing promotion to Dorset & Wilts I (N).
– Next seasons provisional fixture list has been out for three weeks and I’m sure that Rob Lawrence will give us an update later in the meeting.
– Geometry pr have indicated that they wish to continue sponsoring the club for next season and we hope to secure a new set of home shirts with their support.
– We continue to be affiliated to the Somerset RFU and have seen some support from the Development officer.
– The team manager has proved invaluable in the effective organisation of teams throughout the season and Rimmers hard work has made a major contribution to the teams’ success this year.
Sulis Club
We were disappointed in November to hear that Bath University was no longer able to support the existence of the “social” facilities at the Sulis club in their current format. That part of the facility was closed from 01st January 2011 and will remain so until such time as funding is available to refurbish the facilities. However, we have continued to play home fixtures and train at the facilities and a move to the Hadley Arms for post match entertainment has been very successful.
Club Dinner
Many Thanks to all involved in making this years dinner at the Recreation Ground another great success.
International Tickets
Mike York has continued to manage our International Ticket allocation over the last year and has ensured that all club members wishing to attend Englands’ home games have been able to do so. A number of club members are also hoping to attend the Wales Vs England World Cup warm up match on 13th August.
Tour
Disappointingly this season’s proposed tour to Cornwall fell apart at the last moment for a variety of reasons – let’s hope that next year can be a greater success. I must pay tribute to the very hard work that our chairman put into attempting to salvage the tour at the last moment.
Recruitment
Like all clubs and societies Bath Saracens can only continue to exist with a life-blood of new players joining the team. Last year was a very successful one with numerous new “local” faces and a large number of students from Bath University joining our ranks. However, that is a trend that we will very much need to continue with our new league status and I recommend that our new committee make every effort to publicise Bath Saracens both in the city and at the university.
Awards
Players player – Sam Egglestone
Captains Award –Steve Hiscox
Clubman of the year – Jim Biss
Most improved player – Mark Penny
Captains Report
What a fantastic year, only 4 league losses all year. Two of which were to the unbeaten league winners Swindon seconds, who on both occasions displayed why they were run-away league winners and collectors of over 1000 points for the season. We had runs of back to back wins to secure second place and a well deserved promotion.
A lot of the success of the season was down to not only one or two outstanding individual contributions but also to a team spirit that I felt was missing the previous year. Being able to start games with a large percentage of the players from the previous week, in key positions, across the field allowed us to build a real team ethos that helped in the tight games when we were up against it and in the games where we were able to let loose and rack up the points.
Players Player of the year this year went to Sami Egglestone, scoring in nearly every game he played, several of which from collecting the ball in our own half, he was a constant thorn in every teams side in both offence and defence.
There were a few contenders for the award including Second Row/Back Row Chris Revell who had outstanding games again in both attack and defence, some of his kick off returns left the rest of our own pack in his wake let alone the opposition!
It was great to see some new faces go from a run out at pre and early season training to starting matches by the end of the term, these include Most Improved Player winner Mark Penny and Russell Kay.
We also saw the return of a few old faces for the occasional guest appearance, with ex-captain Andy Blackburn having a run out on the same team as his son Sam at the Swindon College away tie.
A few of our long standing students are leaving us this year, Dan McNally, Joe Salmon, Guy Nieunhaus and Martin Fisher are all returning home from their time at Bath University. I would like to wish them well in their chosen futures and thank them for their contributions of the previous two seasons.
Having gained promotion to Dorset and Wilts North 1, the club really needs to build on the success factors of last season. Training will be key to this as a lot of the teams we will be facing are likely to be training twice a week as many teams will be aiming for promotion and others containing players who have an eye on breaking into first teams of their respective clubs in much higher leagues than ours. Tough games are ahead but if we keep the spirit we had last year I believe we can compete and hold our own.
Treasurers Report
Accounts were submitted by the treasurer and approved by the meeting. A copy can be obtained by members from the treasurer Mr Hiscox.
Agreed that outstanding debtors/creditors would be written off by appropriate treasurers action.
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 2010-11 Annual Financial Statement.” The resolution was passed unanimously.
To avoid future fines from the league administrators the team manager (elect) volunteered to post results as a registered mail from now on.
The treasurer was thanked for his hard work over the last year.
Changes to the Constitution and Rules
The following changes to the rules and constitution were endorsed and presented by the outgoing committee:
** Section 1(c) –Team Manager to be added to the list of Officers. Rationale: Underpins and recognises the importance of the team managers operating role over the last two seasons.
** Section 1(b)- Reword as “Membership of the club shall comprise a President, Vice-Presidents, Officers, and Playing and Non-Playing members. Playing and Non-Playing members are those that have paid a membership fee for the current or most recent season.” Rationale: Resolves lack of clarity about who is eligible to vote at a general meeting. The reference to the most recent season is to avoid confusion during the off season.
** 4(c) – Increase in “Emergency Limit” from £60 to £100. Rationale: Recognises impact of inflation over the last ten years.
** Section 6(a) First Sentence – Replace with: “The club shall not be dissolved unless 75% of the membership attending an extraordinary general meeting agree to the dissolution of the club. Six weeks notice will be given of this extraordinary general meeting” Rationale: Ensures adequate notice is given of any EGM relating to dissolution.
Annual Subscriptions
It was unanimously agreed that subscriptions for next year would be held at £25.00 for playing (waged) members and that non-playing members (as per the rules change) or unwaged playing members would pay £1.00 per member per annum.
Election of Officers
The following officers and general committee members were elected for the forthcoming year:
Chairman-Dave Pyles
Treasurer – Steve Hiscox
Secretary – Jim Biss
Fixture Secretary – Robbie Lawrence
Membership Secretary – Owen swabey
Social Secretary – Rob Garton
Club Captain – Tony Milne
Team Manager – Simon Porter
General Committee – Les Garton, Mark Penny, Hugh Sawyer, Mike York, Jon Bradley
Any Other Business
The membership attending the AGM recorded their best wishes to the Club President for his forthcoming wedding.
The president reminded the membership that he would be less “visible” in future, due to his change of domicile. The meeting endorsed his continued presidency in view of his exceptional, long-term commitment to Bath Saracens.
The first committee meeting will be in July.
Next seasons tour weekend will be 21/22 April, the club dinner the 2nd weekend in May.
Our first fixture is scheduled to be away to Chippenham on 10th September.
It was agreed that Les Garton would be approached to ask if he would act as head coach for this season.
Geometry are keen to help fund a new set of home shirts for next season. The club wished to record its thanks for their continued support.
Pre-season training will commence on Tuesday 5th July on the recreation ground in Bath @18:30.
