Attended by the committee of the Association, various members of the sub-committees and 9 representatives of affiliated clubs. 22 voting members in total.
Apologies received from the following clubs: Hawthorn BC, Hit & Run, LYC BC, Racqueteers BC, Sid's, Sudbury Smashers, Storm, Victoria and X-Men. Also from Mike Goodwin, Ro Foley, David Heather, Lynn Davies, Mark McCanney, Sandria Terrelonge, Tim Renton, and Kenny Man.
1) The Chairman welcomed those present to the Meeting. He noted that our new Treasurer had now been in post for 1 year and was now getting to grips with everything. The County was now considering changing the year-end to 30th April as the playing season was getting later, and this change should reduce the year-end accounting effort. The Committee also intend to review the management and administrative structure for our junior county teams to build on the massive improvements in results over the past few years. Finally he noted that the number of clubs and players is still well down on pre-covid levels and the County must take especial care to look after the interests of smaller clubs which are the core of the leagues when making decisions.
2) The Meeting approved the minutes of the 88th Annual General Meeting (proposed John Herdman, seconded St Gabriels). These were signed by D King.
3) The meeting adopted the accounts for the year ended 31st March 2023 (Proposed Raj Madha, Olivia Blackmore). These showed a net loss of £2,680 in the year compared with £4,439 loss the previous year.
Noted: While income had increased as player numbers recovered, the county had decided to keep the subscription at £4 per adult for an extra year post-covid, to help clubs and players. Unlike most counties. This had cost the county around £2,500. Secondly the county senior team had won through to the county finals for a second successive year (and then won the tournament). This results in much higher costs for hotels and other expenses. N.B. seniors pay £7.50 per rubber as match fees - i.e. sometimes £80 pp per weekend.
4) Members of the Committee provided reports on their activities in the year in writing before the meeting for information. No further questions were raised. These reports (plus the Chair's) will be uploaded onto the MCBA website.
5) Election of Officers for the Executive Committee - Lynn Davies (Masters), David Windmill (Middx League), Sheila Collins (safeguarding) all retired by rotation but had all confirmed their willingness to stand again. There being no other nominations received they were re-confirmed by a show of hands - all in favour, none against.
6) The Meeting confirmed D.W. Heather as President for the next twelve months
7) The Meeting elected and approved the following people as members of the various sub-committees:
Robin Foxall and Karam Bhogal (Juniors)
Aayush Christie (Seniors)
Vivekananthan Sutharsan (Masters)
Janet Cole, Francis Rodrigues, Paul Kullar, Sharon Moore, Tim Renton (Dome)
These were approved by a show of hands - all in favour, none against.
8) Sheila Collins (voting) and David King (non-voting) were approved as the County's delegates to the Badminton England AGM and any other meetings which may take place.
9) The changes to the Directors of the Company were noted: David Heather, John Herdman and Ro Foley resigning, David King appointed as Chair.
10) The criteria for the change to the Company's Articles were noted and agreed:
To remove power 5.1 in the MCBA Ltd Articles with effect from the date when the transfer of the Dome lease from MCBA Ltd to a new (Dome specific company) is signed. This will enable the Dome management to be in full independent control of Dome activities.
Approved 10-0
11) A prolonged discussion took place regarding the proposed increase in the adult county fee from £4 back to its pre-covid level of £6 pp. This is a similar charge to most other counties. Noted that the majority of the costs were in relation to our successful senior county teams. The Committee committed to review all the elements of the spend and would not be making any further proposals to increase the fees until this had been thoroughly done. With this proviso, the meeting approved the change back to the pre-covid fee for adults to £6 pp while the junior fee remains at £1 (in-line with BE's strong request). Voted: 10 in favour, 2 against.
12) County awards were presented for service to badminton in Middlesex:
Bronze: Theng Goh - 5+ years to junior badminton
Gold: Stuart Surridge - 15+ years to Hounslow Badminton
Gold: Colin Agar - 15+ years to Hounslow Badminton
Gold: Rosita Hoyle - 15+ years to Actonians BC, Hammersmith League, and the Dome
13) Other items of interest:
• Tushar highlighted the county Instagram page and asked all clubs to provide items of interest for it.
• Sheila asked all clubs to nominate someone at their club to be the safeguarding officer, which could solve many problems at an early stage before they become major issues. Note this is also relevant to 'adult only' clubs, not just junior clubs.
• Apparently many junior clubs are not registered with BE which causes issues with lack of insurance, only 9 are registered with BE in Middlesex. This needs investigation.
• The County is in urgent need of a membership secretary. The purpose of this role is to ensure that the County gets all the income due to it from players participating in our leagues or belonging to our clubs. It does not necessarily need to be a 'Committee' role. Strong excel skills are the requirement plus tenaciousness.
14) Cups were presented to all county league divisional winners over the past 3 seasons, plus the 22-23 'best players'.
The meeting closed at 9pm with the arrival of sandwiches
Present:
Clubs: Acton, Airflex, Crescent, Hanwell Strings, Infinity, ISO, KMC, Paddocks, Sobell - 9 in total
Committee / sub-committee members: Olivia Blackmore, Theng Goh, Aayush Christie, Vivekananthan Sutharsan, Janet Cole, John Herdman, David King, Cynthia Law, Alison Wadmore, Sheila Collins, David Windmill, Tushar Unalkat, Jane Airey.
Apologies received from the following clubs: Hawthorn BC, Hit & Run, LYC BC, Racqueteers BC, Sid's, Sudbury Smashers, Storm, Victoria and X-Men. Also from Mike Goodwin, Ro Foley, David Heather, Lynn Davies, Mark McCanney, Sandria Terrelonge, Tim Renton, and Kenny Man.
1) The Chairman welcomed those present to the Meeting. He noted that our new Treasurer had now been in post for 1 year and was now getting to grips with everything. The County was now considering changing the year-end to 30th April as the playing season was getting later, and this change should reduce the year-end accounting effort. The Committee also intend to review the management and administrative structure for our junior county teams to build on the massive improvements in results over the past few years. Finally he noted that the number of clubs and players is still well down on pre-covid levels and the County must take especial care to look after the interests of smaller clubs which are the core of the leagues when making decisions.
2) The Meeting approved the minutes of the 88th Annual General Meeting (proposed John Herdman, seconded St Gabriels). These were signed by D King.
3) The meeting adopted the accounts for the year ended 31st March 2023 (Proposed Raj Madha, Olivia Blackmore). These showed a net loss of £2,680 in the year compared with £4,439 loss the previous year.
Noted: While income had increased as player numbers recovered, the county had decided to keep the subscription at £4 per adult for an extra year post-covid, to help clubs and players. Unlike most counties. This had cost the county around £2,500. Secondly the county senior team had won through to the county finals for a second successive year (and then won the tournament). This results in much higher costs for hotels and other expenses. N.B. seniors pay £7.50 per rubber as match fees - i.e. sometimes £80 pp per weekend.
4) Members of the Committee provided reports on their activities in the year in writing before the meeting for information. No further questions were raised. These reports (plus the Chair's) will be uploaded onto the MCBA website.
5) Election of Officers for the Executive Committee - Lynn Davies (Masters), David Windmill (Middx League), Sheila Collins (safeguarding) all retired by rotation but had all confirmed their willingness to stand again. There being no other nominations received they were re-confirmed by a show of hands - all in favour, none against.
6) The Meeting confirmed D.W. Heather as President for the next twelve months
7) The Meeting elected and approved the following people as members of the various sub-committees:
Robin Foxall and Karam Bhogal (Juniors)
Aayush Christie (Seniors)
Vivekananthan Sutharsan (Masters)
Janet Cole, Francis Rodrigues, Paul Kullar, Sharon Moore, Tim Renton (Dome)
These were approved by a show of hands - all in favour, none against.
8) Sheila Collins (voting) and David King (non-voting) were approved as the County's delegates to the Badminton England AGM and any other meetings which may take place.
9) The changes to the Directors of the Company were noted: David Heather, John Herdman and Ro Foley resigning, David King appointed as Chair.
10) The criteria for the change to the Company's Articles were noted and agreed:
To remove power 5.1 in the MCBA Ltd Articles with effect from the date when the transfer of the Dome lease from MCBA Ltd to a new (Dome specific company) is signed. This will enable the Dome management to be in full independent control of Dome activities.
Approved 10-0
11) A prolonged discussion took place regarding the proposed increase in the adult county fee from £4 back to its pre-covid level of £6 pp. This is a similar charge to most other counties. Noted that the majority of the costs were in relation to our successful senior county teams. The Committee committed to review all the elements of the spend and would not be making any further proposals to increase the fees until this had been thoroughly done. With this proviso, the meeting approved the change back to the pre-covid fee for adults to £6 pp while the junior fee remains at £1 (in-line with BE's strong request). Voted: 10 in favour, 2 against.
12) County awards were presented for service to badminton in Middlesex:
Bronze: Theng Goh - 5+ years to junior badminton
Gold: Stuart Surridge - 15+ years to Hounslow Badminton
Gold: Colin Agar - 15+ years to Hounslow Badminton
Gold: Rosita Hoyle - 15+ years to Actonians BC, Hammersmith League, and the Dome
13) Other items of interest:
• Tushar highlighted the county Instagram page and asked all clubs to provide items of interest for it.
• Sheila asked all clubs to nominate someone at their club to be the safeguarding officer, which could solve many problems at an early stage before they become major issues. Note this is also relevant to 'adult only' clubs, not just junior clubs.
• Apparently many junior clubs are not registered with BE which causes issues with lack of insurance, only 9 are registered with BE in Middlesex. This needs investigation.
• The County is in urgent need of a membership secretary. The purpose of this role is to ensure that the County gets all the income due to it from players participating in our leagues or belonging to our clubs. It does not necessarily need to be a 'Committee' role. Strong excel skills are the requirement plus tenaciousness.
14) Cups were presented to all county league divisional winners over the past 3 seasons, plus the 22-23 'best players'.
The meeting closed at 9pm with the arrival of sandwiches
Present:
Clubs: Acton, Airflex, Crescent, Hanwell Strings, Infinity, ISO, KMC, Paddocks, Sobell - 9 in total
Committee / sub-committee members: Olivia Blackmore, Theng Goh, Aayush Christie, Vivekananthan Sutharsan, Janet Cole, John Herdman, David King, Cynthia Law, Alison Wadmore, Sheila Collins, David Windmill, Tushar Unalkat, Jane Airey.