Bowling News
Yesterday we reported on the Yorkshire CCGBA failure to present their Financial Accounts to members at the AGM for a second successive year. Today we add the rest of the decisions and debate conducted at that meeting at Cleckheaton.
Lets start with a bit more news on the YCCGBA finance front. The Benevolent Fund reported a total sum held of £15,872 which is £60 up on the previous year. It was reported that there had been three bids for support funding none of which had been passed for financial support. What is the point of this fund? Why are they still accepting donations to a pot that serves no apparent purpose?
It was reported that the intent was to transfer this funding into the YCCGBA's main account. I'm not sure that the gentleman proposing this change had heard what had gone on before when the YCCGBA had confessed to a fundamental mismanagement of its accounts. Why give them more money to mismanage?
Continuing the financial theme to the item that listed all the subscriptions due to the YCCGBA and were approved by the meeting and the list covered:
BCGBA Levy £40
BCGBA Handbook £3
YCCGBA Annual Fee £40
Yorkshire Cup/Henry Taylor per team entry £20
Hutchinson/Radley Cups per team £20
Association / Leagues £25
County Districts £30
External clubs outside the county £10
Subscriptions are due by 1st April. It was added that this list did not currently cover Winter Leagues and they would be added this year. However that didn't stop the YCCGBA charging the Huddersfield Winter League a £25 fee for each of the last 3 years. It was also pointed out that the Referees Association was not included on this list although they had paid £30 last year.
Moving on from finance. The final minute of the 2022 AGM record said
'The CEO confirmed he had approached Adam Douglas to get the YCCGBA website up and running and it was hoped this would be completed in the season'.
It wasn't and still isn't. The last posting on the YCCGBA website was in August 2021. The CEO reported again this year that he hoped the YCCGBA website would be up and running in the near future. Don't hold your breath. When communications with YCCGBA are at an all time low I would have hoped that some priority and assurances on delivery would have been given to anything that would improve on that.
The subject of the new national database of bowlers - JustGo - was covered with promises and threats. The promise being that the roll-out of club training would include Huddersfield among some other areas that have not been tackled yet. The threat being if you don't get your club membership up to date on the system then you would be liable for financial penalties when the BCGBA eventually get their £1 per member per annum levy approved in the future.
A rule change covered later on also introduced a fine for clubs not updating the JustGo system by 31 May each year. This would start at £10 and increase by £1 per week until the system has been updated. The means to update the JustGo system would be by completing a CR1 or CR2 form to be made available on the YCCGBA website if it ever sees the light of day!
The election of officers for the coming year was approved en-bloc and consists of:
President - Joyce Broadbent
Deputy President - Jack Summers
CEO - Steve Cochrane
Fixture Secretary - Mark Waite
Asst Fixture Secretary - Andrea Buckley
Treasurer - Stephen Lofthouse
Registrar - Steve Cochrane
Safeguarding - Ken Pollard
Development - Alan Scorfield
County Recorder - Stephen Haigh
Seven reports were given by officers of the Association and at least three of them included recognition of the County teams achievements in winning the Senior Mans, Senior Ladies and Juniors national titles. All clamouring to claim some responsibility by association but there was no such clamouring when it came to reporting on the YCCGBA team and Individual awards with a record numbers of low entries attracted to these once prestigious titles.
All of the reports were presented verbally, some of them read out verbatim from papers obviously prepared ready for circulation by the officer involved. It would have been better all round if such reports had been circulated prior to the meeting, as promised, so that a full appreciation of the work undertaken could be ascertained rather than relying on catching some of the presentation in a noisy room with no P.A. system in use.
Two rule changes were proposed by the Association and both were approved.
Public Liability Insurance Rule Change YCCGBA Public Liability Insurance Rule 15 of the Bye Laws of YCCGBA : Proposed by the Hon Registrar Seconded by YCCGBA Council Replace line beginning Details of this Insurance with Details of this insurance must be sent to the registrar by the 30th March each year the rest to remain as is. Rationale: The date was fixed on 30th June as the Endsleigh scheme was originally to be renewed by 31st May, this is now 1st January so as the season mainly commences in April it makes sense to ensure clubs have adequate Public Liability before the season commences.
Affiliations & Registrations Rule change Rule 13 Affiliations and Registrations of the Bye Laws of YCCGBA: Proposed by the Hon Registrar Seconded by YCCGBA Council. After : Registered players only will be eligible for league and competitive bowling. All directly affiliated clubs shall ensure their list of registered players is updated on the BCGBA membership system known as ‘Just Go’ by the 31st May each year; failure to do so making the club liable to a minimum fine of £ 10 increasing thereafter by £ 1 per week. A membership registration fee for new bowlers as set by BCGBA, currently £ 12 is to be paid by all person wishing to register to the Hon County Registrar, in addition YCCGBA will levy £ 2.50 per new registration to be used for Development of bowling for clubs in membership of YCCGBA. The rest of the rule remains unchanged: Rationale: The levy will be used to cover the expenses of the development officer within YCCGBA as the persons most likely to benefit from the services of the Development Team are newly registered players. Otherwise the annual club fee charged by YCCGBA would need to rise to cover this expense.
There were some changes to the manner in which Honoraria and Expenses payments are to be made to officers. These will now be made quarterly rather than annually to avoid the (officers) tax burden. This way any tax due would be paid by YCCGBA and not the officer.
Clubs were advised that the minimum PLI (Public Liability Insurance) that was acceptable to the BCGBA was for £5million and clubs should ensure that this level is covered in their insurance policies.
The meeting closed at 2.05pm after 65 minutes of business.
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