EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES

DEVON MEN VETERAN GOLFERS ASSOCIATION

Held at Fingle Glen Golf Club:  Monday 13th December 2021)

(The meeting began at 0930hrs)

Present: Adrian Granville-Smith (Captain); Tim Douglas-Riley; David Bromage; Les Hartley; Chris Henderson; Malcolm Tester; Geoff Jewell.

1.    Apologies: Bob Small; David Grieve; Peter Rogers.
   
   
2.    Minutes of Previous Meeting.
   
      a.   Agreed
   
      b.   Matters Arising – Para 7. E-C Rules: omit ‘standardising the format’, insert ‘guidance on arranging matches and playing qualifying comps after 60’. 8. Rules of the Association: add in 12c ‘enter comps only from home club. Already passed at AGM.
   
   
3.     Co-option of Bob Graham (Honiton) as Clothing Administrator. 
       Unfortunately, due to other commitments, Bob Graham will be unable to take on the   role of clothing Administrator. He will arrange for the stock to be passed on to LH who will carry out an audit (AGS to send current clothing spreadsheet to LH). DB will continue to order new stock as and when required. The clothing page on the website will need to be updated (photo’s etc).
   
   
4.    Recent Reps Meeting: Matters Arising.
      a.   Equitable distribution of available playing slots for competitions - It was agreed that the Reps are responsible for ensuring that as many of their members as possible should be given the opportunity to play in competitions. It would be unfair to allow the same members to be picked on a regular basis (unless there was a lack of players applying).   The Competitions Administrator will keep an eye on entrants to monitor equitability.
   
      b.   Membership Form to be put on the Website? After discussion it was agreed that it was better to keep to the current system whereby the Reps used their own membership form.
   
      c.   Agenda for Committee meetings to be sent to Reps? After discussion this was considered to be unnecessary.
   
      d.   eVouchers. A question was asked as to whether ‘Foremost Golf’ could be added to the list of outlets on an evoucher. (MT agreed to investigate).
   
   
5.     Emerton-Court.
     

   a.   Handicap Index Limit.  No change to current practice.

   b.   Order of Play. Top match to play last if possible. Not agreed – keep to the current practice.
   
   c.   Use of Buggies. Removal of ‘genuine need’ suggested. This has been agreed and actioned.
   
   
6.    Sponsorship/Charities/Discounts from suppliers.
   
      a.   Sponsorship – This was considered to be too difficult and time consuming.
   
      b.   Supporting Charities – After discussion, it was agreed that we would support a local Devon charity each year. This would be done by placing a charity box on the registration table at each competition. The charity would be picked by the captain each year. (GJ has kindly agreed to supply a suitable handmade box).
   
      c.   Discount from Suppliers. After discussion, CH agreed to investigate the possibilities and report back.
   
   
7.    Competition Qualifiers.
   
   There was some discussion as to whether 3-man teams playing in competition should play separately or together. It was agreed that the players should continue to play together as a 3-man team.
   
   
8.      Executive Committee Minutes to be put on the website?
   
   It was agreed by all that in the spirit of “openness” there should be no reason against posting the minutes on the website. This will be done forthwith.
   
   
9.   
   
   AGS confirmed that PR, MT, LH and he currently have access to the website. CH said that he would need access to enable him to control the membership database – this was agreed. CH and MT to liaise with AGS about the practicalities.
   
   
10.   Competitions Working Party.
    
       a.   Were the current formats still relevant? It was agreed they were.
    
       b.   How to increase the number of different players competing in competitions? This remains the Reps responsibility and they should be encouraged to spread the allocation of players amongst the various competitions as much as possible.
    
        c.  Different competitions for different age groups? After discussion, it was agreed that the Millennium Trophy would become a competition for the over 75’s. There would be no pre-qualifying required. This would be implemented for the 2022 season.
    
      d.   Some team competitions to continue with players from the same club playing together?  Agreed that this would continue (see para 4. Above).
    
       e.   Changes to the current winter series?  It was agreed that the format will be changed to 4 players from each club playing a 4ball better ball format. We should continue to keep venues as easily accessible as possible. The cost of entry to the winter series will rise to £25 per head in line with other competitions. There will be prizes for the winners of each of the 4 winter series competitions. The team winning the overall competition will receive the trophy, but no additional prizes will be awarded.
    
       f.   Should we trial a shotgun start for the Captain’s Invite? TDR agreed to investigate whether or not this would be possible for Yelverton in 2022.
      
11.    Job Description for Committee Members.
    
       We are missing job descriptions for the Asst Treasurer, Asst I.T. Officer and Asst Competitions Administrator. DB, AGS and MT agreed to produce concise job specs for these positions.
    
    
    
12.    Competition/Match Formats.
    
    The updating process was ongoing. MT and LH would produce further revisions in the light of discussions during this meeting. Updates to be sent to all for consideration/agreement.
    
    
13.    List of Life Members.
    
    

    As far as we are aware, the current life Members of the Association are Bob Keating. Stuart MacKerrell, Bob Small and David Bromage. (BS to confirm whether there are any others).

14.    Rep’s Allowance.
    
       There was some discussion about the relevance of the £20 Reps deduction from Club’s annual subscription payments which had traditionally been given to cover incidental expenses. It was decided to continue with the current arrangements for2022 but raise the issue of dispensing with the deduction at the next AGM in October 2022. This could potentially save the DMVGA £780 annually.
    
    
15.    DG’s Members Form on Website.
    
    See para 4 above.
    
    
16.    Emerton-Court Draw.
    
       The draw for the 2022 Emerton-Court competition was completed. A copy of the draw will be sent to all Representatives.
    
    

17.    AOB

a.   Date of Succession for post holders. The current date of succession is the 1st of January each year. It would be more sensible to allow postholders to take office at the AGM in October rather than leaving it until January. This would be agreed and put on the agenda for the next AGM in 2022.

b.   Some competition dates needed to be changed on the website – now actioned.

c.   Next meeting will be either Friday 11th or Friday the 18th of February 2022 (tbc).

  (The meeting closed at 1230)