Minutes of Management Meeting on Monday 31 March 2008

Published Friday 18 April 2008

The Management Committee of the National Stoolball Association met at 53 Kings Road, Horsham at 7.45pm on Monday 31 March 2008. Topics discussed included suggestions for future stoolball conventions, publicity, Sport England recognition, insurance, equipment availability and quality, and an appeal for volunteers to act as a Press Officer for stoolball.

1. Present

  • Shirley Reed (President)
  • John Price (Chairman)
  • Kevin Hilliard (Vice-Chairman)
  • Kay Price (Secretary)
  • Peter Cheesman (Treasurer)
  • Michael Ledwich
  • John and Barbara Fitzpatrick

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2. Apologies

  • Rick Mason (Website Administrator)

3. Minutes of the last Officers' meeting

The minutes were signed and approved as a true record.

4. Matters arising from the last meeting:

  • BingoLotto: An update was received from CCPR regarding the progress of the initiative
  • Extraordinary Annual General Meeting: Updated Constitution was approved at the EGM prior to the March Convention
  • CCPR Conference on 7 May in London: It was agreed that although the NSA were keen to send delegate(s) to the Conference, the stumbling block was not only financial. Because we are all volunteers, Management Officers who were in full-time employment were unable to take the time off and retired members also had too many other commitments at the beginning of May
  • CCPR Risk Seminar: Michael Ledwich did try to attend this seminar but in the end a prior commitment had to take priority
  • Sussex County Sports Partnership – International Day of Sport at Preston Park, Brighton: The NSA were hoping to send representatives, but we would hope to get involved in this initiative next year.

5. Treasurer's Report

Peter Cheesman reported that activity had picked up since the last meeting and there was a surplus for the period of £762.00. We had good stocks of equipment for the coming season and our balances were very healthy.

6. Convention on 9th March at Wivelsfield Village Hall

Views – disappointing attendance although it was circulated to over 250 clubs and individuals.

Kevin Hilliard spoke about a need to revise the format and make the convention more attractive and Shirley Reed suggested that including a rules review would perhaps attract more delegates. Barbara Fitzpatrick had several suggestions – target players during the summer months; adopt the "road show" style of initiative and take it to different areas; produce an A4 handout which would outline the activities of the NSA and emphasise how we can help them. Finally, Michael Ledwich questioned why we should continue running a Convention.

7. Insurance

Following questions raised at the last meeting, there was a discussion on the two insurances (Public Liability and Personal Accident). Michael Ledwich reported that Richard Emsley had passed over his records from the previous year and although time was short before the renewals had to be sent out for this season, he was confident that he had everything in hand.

8. Sport England

  • Press release on 31 March: It was also announced that the letter from Lisa O'Keefe, Sport England, confirming the recognition of stoolball had been received on Saturday 29 March.
  • Application to recognise the NSA as the governing body of stoolball: Applications forms were received on 14 March and the completed application consisting of 4 files of documents was sent to Sport England on 28 March. An acknowledgement was received on 31 March.
  • Stoolball photos: Some excellent stoolball photos taken by Brett Butler accompanied the press release and the agreement of those players in the pictures had been obtained.

9. Marketing/Publicity/Website

  • Bi-fold leaflet: A meeting is to be arranged shortly between Barbara Fitzpatrick, Kevin Hilliard and Rick Mason to finalise this document.
  • Suitable music is required for the video clips and the clips themselves need to be longer
  • There is an urgent need for a Press Officer and we need to identify someone to fill this vacancy quickly

10. Equipment

Crack packs: It was reported earlier in the year that several clubs had experienced difficulty in purchasing crack packs to include in their First Aid bags. The NSA has now added these packs to the list of equipment items. They will cost £1 each and are available from the Honorary Secretary.

Wickets: As part of the NSA research into wicket manufacturers, a set of wickets was purchased from Maudesport.

Stoolball bats: It was reported that Newbery bats will be available at the beginning of April. (These have subsequently been collected and are now available).

11. Any other business

  • Suitable candidates are being followed up to fill the Treasurer's position when Peter Cheesman retires at the AGM in November.
  • The Club Accreditation pack has been added to the NSA website.
  • CCPR SCOTY (Sports club of the year) Angmering Stoolball Club have submitted an application on behalf of stoolball.
  • Newsletter – Shirley Reed has volunteered to produce the spring edition. All winter indoor results are needed and any other articles of interest.
  • It was reported that Simon Inglis from Malavan Media had contacted the NSA to send us some old stoolball photos which he had obtained from the London Metropolitan Archives. A letter of thanks was sent to Simon.
  • Barbara Fitzpatrick, Shirley Reed and Kevin Hilliard were all asked if they could try out a stoolball for the NSA and test its durability and report back. ACTION: Barbara, Shirley and Kevin.
  • Membership forms – copies can be taken from the NSA website.
  • Barbara Fitzpatrick felt that more pictures are need on the NSA website. It was suggested that we ask Brett Butler if he would like to see some of his photos on the NSA website. ACTION: Barbara

12. Date of next meeting

Thursday 1 May 2008 at 7.30pm. It was agreed to hold Management meetings on a Thursday to see if this day of the week proves more suitable during the summer months.

The meeting closed at 10.15pm.

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