CANBERRA NORTH BOWLING CLUB

MINUTES OF THE NINTH ANNUAL MEETING OF BOWLING MEMBERS

HELD ON SUNDAY 6 AUGUST 2023

PRESENT

Margaret Bellchambers, Paul Bellchambers, Steve Barnard, Noel Barnsley, Leslie Barnsley, Ron Cannings, Mark Carter, James Carter, Lyndell Dobbs, Brian Dobbs, Ken Dowrick, Mick Fogarty, Roger Grylls, Sheila Pembshaw, Peter Hughes, Bryan Hurrell, Hilary McClure, Deb McGown, Hilary Merritt, John Merritt, Nathan Savino,  Denise Seaton, Murray Sutherland, Darren Wilson, Daniel Watkin-Blaser, Geoff Brewis, Steve Vince, Cal Walters, Ian McDermid, Paddy Flynn, Wes Keys, Tom Kovac, Chris Carcary, Amanda Urbanc, Rob Patterson, Graeme Marks, Anne Davis, Terry Doyle, Joseph Doyle, Ian Hueston, Sue Bell, Terry Bell, Mick Fogarty, Terry Munro, Graham Staniforth, Lynn Grigg.

APOLOGIES.

Tracey Hughes, Richard Hughes, Rob Rawson, Sharon Blandy, Jeremy Huyton, Shane Woodburn, Lorraine Richards, Rob Horner, Kate Schipp, Mort Schipp, Bruce Pink, Shane Moy, Peter Routcliffe.

Confirmation of the Minutes of the Eight Annual Meeting of Bowling Members held on 31 July 2022.

Murray Sutherland moved that the minutes be confirmed, seconded by Hilary Merritt.

Carried

Business arising from the minutes

Nil

Presentation of the Annual Report for 2022-23

President Mark Carter submitted the Annual Report to the meeting and noted that this report had been distributed to members electronically approximately a week prior to the meeting. Hard copies were also handed out to those present.

Mark asked if there were any questions in relation to the report, but none were raised.

Notice of Bowls Management Committee (BMC) Office Bearers for 2023-24

Three General Committee member positions became vacant at 30 June and these positions were filled by Lyndell Dobbs (second two year term), Tracey Hughes and Rob Rawson. There being no other nominations for these positions they were declared elected unopposed.

The position of Bowls Coordinator also became vacant at 30 June following the retirement of Margaret Bellchambers who has now completed two terms in that position.

As there were no nominations received for this position, the BMC will look to fill it from within in the first instance.

The current BMC are:

President – Mark Carter

Vice-President – Hilary McClure

Secretary – Steve Vince

Bowls Coordinator – TBA

Championship Director – Mick Fogarty

General Committee – Lyndell Dobbs

General Committee – Tracey Hughes

General Committee – Rob Rawson

Notice of selectors for 2023-24

Four nominations were received for the selector positions (following the withdrawal of a fifth nominee) and were elected unopposed.

 Daniel Watkin-Blaser (Chair)

Hilary Merritt

Nathan Savino

Margaret Bellchambers

Association report

The Treasurer of the Association, Andrew Sykes, gave a quick rundown on how the licenced club is performing and noted that income is currently slightly above pre- Covid levels.

Andrew spoke on the pleasing results following completion of the major renovations to the club and addressed a number of questions from the floor regarding the natural grass versus synthetic greens options going forward.

Andrew noted that it was the view of the Board of the Association that the current priority is to bring the three existing grass greens and surrounds up to the best standard possible.

A number of members expressed reservations regarding staying with three grass greens as this could lead to a lack of experience for CNBC members of playing on synthetic surfaces given that a number of other clubs in the region seem to be embracing the synthetic option.

Jeremy Wilcox advised that a report had been produced for the Association on this subject and will provide a copy to the BMC.

Notice of motion

A notice of motion was received from Cal Walters 14 days prior to the meeting and circulated to members by the Secretary via email one week prior to the meeting.

The motion is:

“I move a motion that the members of Canberra North Bowling Club vote on the allocated times for bowls during summer and winter.

My suggestion is 10am start during daylight savings and 12pm start during winter months. This suggestion does not include Wednesday and Friday”

Cal was invited to speak to his motion and he considered that in his opinion the current poor attendance for the days in question and Thursdays in particular was due in part to the earlier 10.30am start as against historical winter start times being around midday.

Graeme Marks sought leave to make a comment and requested that the wording of the motion be amended to add “and Saturday” as the final words after “Friday”. This was requested as the club house becomes very busy during the winter on Saturday afternoons and a later start (and subsequent finish) on that day of the week would not be desired.

Cal Walters agreed to the change.

The amended motion was put by Cal Walters and Seconded by John Merritt.

A vote by show of hands was called with the motion being lost 26-16

Other Business

Murray Sutherland asked Daniel Watkin-Blaser, the incoming Chair of Selectors, if following what Murray considered the poor performance in the Open Pennants this year, would the selectors be changing their method of selecting players.

Daniel responded that as the new panel has yet to meet, he was not in a position to answer this question. However this will be looked at as well as encouraging members to participate in sufficient numbers next season to hopefully allow for four sides to be nominated.

Close of meeting

The meeting closed at 10.50am.