17 members attended the A.G.M. at the Hare & Hounds (where else?) on the last day of January 2001. As usual, there was a fair bit to be discussed so the Committee Report for 2000 was distributed to all for reading. After this came the Treasurer's Report, presented by Howard Turner who'd audited the accounts for the year ending in December. Profits, howeve small were realised in most departmnts. The notable exceptions were the Tour to the Isle of Wight (which as always going to be more expensive than our usual destination) and the purchase of a batch of embroidered club badges which from here on should realise profit.

  Next came the election of Officers. As stated elsewhere, Tim Lamb stood down after three years as Captain, to be replaced by Matt Balkwill. Howard Turner in turn replaced him as Vice-Captain while Alan Hull was elected unopposed as our new club Chairman. Mike Hills came in to take over from Kev Cheeseman as Treasurer and Adie Barrett continus in both Secretary and Fixture Secretary roles. Jason Stephens came onto the Committee in the new position of Fundraising Secretary. Diane Lamb will continue in the non-executive Social Secretary role.

  Howard Turner presented a proposal for a change to the club rules. The task of collecting memberships, subs and net fees can be problematic and general shortfall in income must be addressed. Bearing in mind the increase in revenue that will be required in future two courses of action were proposed:

1) Increase of membership & subs, and

2) A monthly Direct Debit to include membership, nets & subs.

The first course still presents the problem of actually colleting the amount, so the idea of the Direct Debit-based proposal was discussed. Bearing in mind the increase in revenue that will be required in future the second proposal allows for obtaining (in as fair a manner as possible) all required fees by certain calendar dates, ensuring that continued smooth day-to-day running will not affect other areas of the club's development programme. Much discussion followed and some more ideas were introduced, either way a DD was not to everyone's satisfaction. Nets came in and out of the equation and finally left in, especially as this year's two nets at Dummer for ten weeks will cost £400 alone. Finally one more suggestion came from the floor, to take the all-encompassing sum total, to be paid in two halves at appropriate times of the season. This was discused and voted in by the majority, although it requires fine-tuning by the Treasurer.

  Confirmed dates for the diary are as follows:

Other dates to be discussed and published afther the first Committee Meeting in February. To wind up we had the perennial favourite, Any Other Business. In order, they were:

The new Vice-Captain will evaluate the kit and report to the Committee. A "coffin" may be a good idea for carting club kit around to games. Adie Lamberth, Craig Weston & Ben Pudney put themselves forward as "press officers" who would be responsible for reporting WECC's results to the local press, made easier these days due to the widespread use of email. Possible changes in the cricket laws need looking into. In the light of a new pitch, groundsmanship courses are a good idea, especially now as the ECB refunds costs to clubs. Umpire training would benefit all playing members in the club, and the date of the first Committee Meeting of the year was set - Tuesday, 27th February at the Hare & Hounds to start at 8.00pm.

The entire meeting with a reasonable drinks break thrown in had taken a mere one hour and forty minutes despite the amount we had to plough through. The pieces of the jigsaw are once again in place, now it's time to look forward to what promises to be an interesting year.

©WECC, 2001