Shopshire Squash Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2023 – Minutes

MINUTES OF SHROPSHIRE SQUASH & RACKETBALL A.G.M.
Held 14th September 2023 at Shrewsbury Squash & Racketball Club, Shrewsbury.
Attendees:
Committee:-
Ian Dinwiddy (Chairman), Barry Talbot (Treasurer), Ben Schur (CC & Dev), Max Ball, Lee Picken
Clubs:-
Jon Ellis (CCSRC), Laura Rivella (CCSRC), Russ Norman (RAF), Mark Wilson (RAF), Keith Hansell (LLS),
Becky Wright (SSC), Steve Nankivell (SSC), Cyril Nolan (SSRC), Gary Nolan (SSRC), Alex Nolan (SSRC)

1. Apologies:
   Graham Burnett (BCSRC), Elaine Radcliffe, John Brownlie. Don Wallington (LS), Ian Tanner (CS)
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting
   The previous minutes were unanimously accepted as a true copy.
3. Matters Arising
   Ian opened the meeting. He reminded everyone that the previous Minutes, Chairman’s Report, Accounts and
   Calling Notice had been placed for ease of access on the website, including a request for any Agenda Items
   or AoB and the voting sheet for new committee members. Limited paper copies were available if required.
   Additional agenda items, other than the Chairman’s additions nothing had been received. Summary of the
   actions are noted below.
    Section 5 – Auditors – Last years accounts were audited, signed copies are available upon
   request.
    Section 9 League Update – ESRM was arranged and well attended 30th May. Minutes are
   available on the website.
    Section 11 – AoB – Website Refresh – Covered later in the meeting but is underway.
4. Annual Report
    Chairman’s Report (ID)
   Ian presented the chairman’s report. Copies will be available on the website. Ian invited any questions /
   comments from the floor, but none were forthcoming. There were a few corrections noted which will be updated
   prior to the upload.
5. Appointment of Auditors
   Ian advised us that Mark Jones from Cannock had verified last year’s accounts and proposed that Mark would
   continue to audit this 2022.23 year.
   There were no objections received.
6. Treasurers Report – Ian Dinwiddy
   The accounts (copies available), covering the Financial Year from 01.06.22 to 31.05.23, will be independently
   audited in the coming weeks and will be placed on the website. The previous year’s accounts have been
   independently verified and audited and are available on the website. Barry provided an overview of expenditure
   income, which included league fees, ES Rebate, Development Support & Donations, County Closed
   Competitions, Trophy updates and maintenance and overall provided a surplus of £20 over the year. The
   overall status of the accounts was that we had maintained the status quo over the last season. Both Barry and
   Ian noted that whilst this is good news, we are keen to invest this money to support clubs and development
   across the county so don’t hesitate to get in touch with any needs or suggestions.
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   There were no questions raised.
7. Election of Management Committee
   The Election of the Management Committee details were sent with the Calling Notice.
   No new nominations had been received from the floor.
   Ian mentioned that the Committee welcomed anyone who wanted to come along to join the committee and
   support Shropshire Squash.
   Ian proposed the remaining committee members, Barry Talbot (Treasurer), Don Wallington (Leagues), Max
   Ball (Cup), Lee Picken, Ian Tanner (Competitions), Ben Schur (County Coach and Development) Elaine
   Radcliffe and himself be re-elected.
   The floor approved this unanimously.
   It was asked if committee meetings were open to anyone to attend and if so could we release a programme
   of dates and make them ‘Hybrid? Ian advised that yes this was the case and the committee would agree and
   publish dates and access requirements if dialing in.
8. League & Cup Update – DW / MB
   8.1 Leagues –
   The league secretary provided a general update on the new leagues. We will again run three leagues. The
   leagues are already live on SportyHQ.
   Fees – As noted last year a small increase will be applied to the league fees this year. Therefore, the proposal
   for Squash League fees this year is £84, Squash, £42 Racketball (Squash 57).
   8.2 Cup –
   MB provided an overview of the refreshed Cup, which was now being run as a separate competition to the
   leagues to provide more opportunities to clubs and players to play different people. The C Cup will also be
   used as a development cup to allow clubs to give non team players a taster of team squash. Allowing clubs to
   enter who are not in the leagues also provides a platform for growth to potential league team entries in the
   future.
   Fees – Cup Entry (Teams not in leagues) – £15. Free entry for clubs with league teams.
   8.3 General –
   Clubs were reminded that the Committee would apply the rules / penalties for late payment.
   There were no other thoughts or comments from the floor, ideally fees would either be paid electronically, or
   cheques sent to Barry as previous years. Please contact Barry for payment details.
   Ian advised that all clubs need to be affiliated to ES to take part in the county leagues and Cup. Failure to
   complete this will mean removal from the leagues.
9. ES Update
   9.1 ES Membership –
   The chairman provided a brief update from ES on the proposed new membership and affiliation requirements.
   ES have advised this will come into effect in Spring 24, but no other details had been released. Jon Ellis asked
   would this impact the leagues and payments straight away. Ian advised there would be a period of adjustment
   and that the current leagues would not be affected. Ian also advised that once we have all the details, if
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   necessary, we will arrange an open meeting to review the implications and what actions we, as a county, want
   to take. Any major changes will need a vote at the next AGM.
   9.2 ES Governance
   Ian provided a summary of the requirements. – ES advised at the Council meeting in Nov 21 that the updated
   Code for Sports Governance was being adopted for all counties, this has set out 12 minimum governance
   documents that we, as your committee, must get into place. The deadline for this is August 2024, we have
   been working hard to get these in place. There are a couple of areas I just wanted to highlight this year –
10. Committee Structure – There are mandatory positions noted in the documents. The one main
    position that we do not have at present is County Secretary, so in the next 12mnths we need to
    make sure this position is filled. Please let me know if you would be interested / willing to take u
    the post.
11. Committee Term Duration – The maximum term a committee member can serve is 9yrs, so if we
    start this process from the receipt of the documentation, we need to ensure we have a full rotation
    by 2031. This will need some succession planning and thought by all over the coming years.
    These standards are an important step in ensuring that England Squash can continue to support and to provide
    funding to county associations in the future, so it is vital we get ourselves in a good position.
    These will also help us to protect ourselves, members, players and volunteers.
    9.3 Funding / ESRF – The chairman noted the regional forum had been disbanded as funding was now
    directly with via ES. ES advised they are currently reviewing last years funding success before advising what
    would be available this season.
12. AOB
    Website Refresh – The chairman advised that the committee are reviewing a good opportunity to refresh the
    website using SportyHQ, the current league management software, and that more details would be provided
    when available but hoped this would be in place this year.
    Competitions organization – It was again noted that organizing the county competitions is a big task and at
    present the committee have limited resources and would appreciate any assistance. Jon Ellis asked if it could
    be possible to set up a volunteer pool / group where people could add their names and be called upon to assist
    with county events. Ian advised that this seemed a good idea, but with GDPR requirements may present some
    challenges but would take it away to discuss with the committee see what could be done.
    WSD – World squash day is 14th October, please let us know of any events your clubs are considering so we
    can assist and promote.
    Ian opened the floor for further questions.
    Development Nights – Jon Ellis stated that they had found these were a good idea and well attended at there
    club and was there a possibility of something more formal. Ian advised that it seemed a good initiative and if
    there was enough interest from other clubs, he was sure we could get something set up, a monthly event was
    suggested. Lee and Max to liaise with Jon to progress.
    League / cup structure communications – Jon Ellis noted that they felt that it was insufficient time given to
    understand the new cup requirements due to the lateness of the release of information, and confirmation of
    the league structure following the discussions at the ESRM where a development league was muted etc. The
    committee advised that they try and provide suitable time for clubs to book courts and sort their team squads,
    but that lot of this needs the clubs to provide the required information, such as team entry numbers / division
    and no of cup teams and that until this is received the fixtures and structure cannot be fixed. Ian advised the
    committee would provide any support needed to get teams sorted for the first fixtures and we would also review
    how and when we communicate fixtures etc. better in the future.
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    Div 3 – Jon Ellis noted that CCSRC had entered 2 teams in Div 3, with one being a development team, due to
    their reduced squad just wanted to ensure all were happy that there may be a couple of occasions where the
    play up rule may need to be relaxed to ensure we have full team compliments. Ian advised that as long as this
    is communicated to the league secretary and opposing captains there should be no issues.
    Committee Structure – Gary N asked about whether we are actively looking to fill vacant positions like Ladies
    Development. Ian advised that, yes we are looking to fill as many vacant positions as possible including but
    not limited to County Secretary, Ladies Development, Squash 57 (Racketball) Development. Ian also noted
    that Don had advised he would be stepping down as League Secretary at the end of the season. Ian asked
    everyone to pass this on and help drum up interest to fill these as soon as possible.
    County Closed Finals – Gary N reminded everyone that the finals are taking place 30th September at
    Shrewsbury SRC starting at 1.30pm, and that there would be entertainment following the finals at 7.30pm.
    Academy – Ben S advised that there were Development Squads on Sunday mornings and Girls squads on
    Wednesdays evenings, and that if any clubs have any players who want to take part to send them along.
    Contact Ben for full details. Ben also asked all clubs if they could set up a racket donation bucket for old /
    unused rackets that could be put in the schools programme kit bag. The kit bag is given to the schools PE
    teacher to help them add ‘Squash Origins’ to their PE curriculum, this could expose thousands of children to
    our sport and is a great opportunity, so any help is appreciated.
    There being no further business Ian, thanked all for attending and then drew the meeting to a close. He thanked
    the Committee for their continued support and everyone for attending and wished everyone a good season.