HAYFIELD CC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: THURSDAY 25th FEBRUARY 2010 

Apologies: Gareth Davies, Hugh Davis, Sam Hudson, Tom Hudson, Tom Jarvis, David Platt, Glenn Reynolds, Jack Worthington, Lorna Young. 

MINUTES OF 2009 AGM

Approved. 

MATTERS ARISING

None. 

TREASURER'S REPORT

Ian Webster reported on a financially successful season, over which the club's overdraft was approximately halved, despite the loss of income from the cancelled Summer Ball and the Ladies Pub 6-a-side competition. Income from sponsorship and the Membership Plus scheme declined, the reduction attributed to the wider financial climate. The 150th Anniversary celebration was a great success, and (although not intended as a fund-raising event) returned a healthy profit. Ian hoped for a successful season to come and a continued reduction in the club's level of debt. 

Ian noted that the income and expenditure figures presented included the outcomes of the Bonfire and Sportsmen's Dinner for the two previous years. 

The amount listed for Senior subscriptions was queried, as it indicated only 12 players had paid their subs. Ian Webster to investigate. 

Paul Coverley asked about the value of remaining Commemorative clothing; Bill Higginbottom responded that around £450 worth of stock remains, plus around £300 of unsold drink that will be sold or used at future events. 

The committee was asked whether they felt that spending on Junior coaching was achieving value for money. Bill responded that it was largely self-funding. 

CHAIRMAN'S REPORT

Bill Higginbottom confirmed that he intended to retire as Chairman. 

He noted that the 150th Anniversary celebrations had been a great success, and commended the organisation of the Family Day and the quality of the Commemorative Booklet. On the playing side, he felt that the 1st XI had lost their way during the second half of the season but commended Christian South's captaincy of the 2nd XI. He noted a number of promising players among the older Juniors. 

Bill thanked outgoing President and Honorary Life Member Jack Worthington, noting that he had introduced the Sportsman's Dinner (and generously funded speakers and raffle prizes). 

Bill asked the committee to support Chairman-Elect Ed Yardley, suggesting that Ed will "bring the Club into the 21st century". He announced his intention to reduce his day-to-day contribution to the running of the club, and asked for others to help shoulder the added responsibility for ground maintenance and general club organisation, but he will remain a member of the Management Committee. 

1ST XI

In Tom Jarvis's absence, his 1st XI report was presented by Russell Evans: 

"The 2009 season was, as far as the first team was concerned, very much a season of two halves. It began in disappointing circumstances when we were thoroughly outplayed in the opening fixture away to Compstall, the previous season's champions. However, following this defeat, we embarked on a superb run of 11 consecutive league victories, culminating with a memorable victory at home to Compstall to place us 40 points clear at the top of the first division at the halfway point. 

Disappointing defeats at home to Tintwistle and away to Dinting allowed Compstall to gain ground; however, events down the road in Birch Vale allowed the league's premier division to degenerate into a total shambles! On 1st August our fixture away to Newton was washed out without a ball being bowled. Our main rivals, Birch Vale and Compstall, played at Birch Vale, a club with no covers. This was the only game of cricket completed throughout the four divisions. Not only that, it was the only game of adult cricket played throughout either Derbyshire or Cheshire! The ground was adjudged fit by two of the more senior umpires in the league. As the players walked out to start the game in heavy rain at just after 4pm, the league, in my view, degenerated into total farce. For a league trying to attract new clubs this was possibly the worst advert for the DCCL imaginable. 

That said, and to be fair to Compstall, their victory in the Birch Vale swamp kick-started their season and they won all their remaining league fixtures to pip us to the title by four points. 

Form throughout the cup run mirrored that of the league, starting, at times, brilliantly but ultimately falling just short. However, it was the performances of the more junior members of the side in the cup run that highlighted their importance to the club. In the first round against Buxton, Gareth Davies's match-winning 86 not out oozed class. A well-crafted half-century from Sam Hudson against Compstall in the next round gave us a defendable target and with seven wickets between them Gareth Davies and David Platt got us over the line in another thrilling victory over the champions. A memorable 139 not out from Sam Hudson ensured an easy passage to the final where we sadly ran into a Rick-Johnson-inspired Birch Vale. Only a classy half-century from Gareth Davies gave the score an air of respectability. 

The performances of all the younger element was a particularly pleasing aspect of the season and certainly gives me great hope for the coming season. 

Overall league averages reflect well for the bowlers and batsmen alike and had it not been for a pedantic league statistician, Sam Hudson would have capped a fine season by winning the league wicket-keeping award. 

Other notable performances of the season included a belligerent 115 not out from Russell Evans against Hadfield, 7-40 from Chris Unsworth against Hawk Green and a fine 42 not out from Ben Higginbottom in a high-pressure situation in the home fixture with Compstall. But perhaps the moment of the season I will look back on most fondly was tossing the ball to Dave Aldridge at Hollingworth. Having run out of bowling options and staring down the barrel of another defeat to lowly opposition, Dave's crafty tweakers saw him return figures of 8-39. It's a shame he hadn't made reference to his bowling prowess in the five years he'd been at the club. He will certainly be given the opportunity to impress again in the coming season." 

2ND XI

Christian South reported:  

"The season started well for the 2nds with six straight wins with David Platt being instrumental taking 17 wickets in these games. As with most seasons the holiday period cost us several key players and with Platty's promotion to the 1st team our season slipped culminating in us losing to Dinting at home which ended our title challenge. The cup run was another story: it is a competition that in previous years we have not done well in but this year we won it over at Charlesworth against Dove Holes. This was a great achievement by all the lads.

Simon Waddington had a great start to the season scoring a century in his 1st innings since rejoining the club and followed this up with 90 not out in his next knock, but unfortunately he could not keep these high standards up all season; still he ended up as the top run scorer for the 2nds. After years of pestering him to play, Dan Thomas was a massive success with the bat at the end of the season scoring nearly 400 runs in the second half of the season and hopefully he can carry that on this season. Two young lads, Sam Shaw and Owen Kirton, bowled well in spells and a lot will be expected of them in the coming season; one spell by Sam in the cup final was excellent and was probably the best spell of bowling by anyone in the 2nd team all season. Finally our stand-out player of the season was George Wood, who was always reliable with the bat and took some important wickets in the cup run. This coming season should see Woody pushing to cement his place in the 1st team." 

WOMEN’S SECTION

On behalf of Lorna Young, Anne Fraser presented the following report: 

"The Ladies Section maintained a good training presence with Sally Greene – Derbyshire U15 County Coach - continuing to coach throughout the season. A consistent number of keen players ensured a full team turn-out at each game. 

Three of our younger members are all playing to county standard: Emily Jennison, Lydia Slack and Katy Davis. Emily was given a special award for ‘Best Newcomer’ by Derbyshire Cricket Club in January and last season Lydia qualified to play for a number of the Derbyshire ladies county games. 

Derbyshire women’s league last year only had four teams in it and we played 4 out of the possible 8 games. All games were very close with one match against Lullington won by 115 to 112. Lydia Slack made top batsman with 59 runs including 2 sixes. 

This year's county matches look more promising with a couple of other teams joining the league and Derbyshire doing a big push on girls' cricket in schools hopefully helping to raise the profile. 

We will be looking to set up a number of friendly matches with some of the Cheshire league teams to compensate for the shortfall in Derbyshire league matches. 

Unfortunately due to pitch commitments and dreadful weather conditions we were unable to host the Women's Pub cricket this year, but don’t worry: the event is already being planned for early in the Season this year. 

Special Awards this year go to Lydia Slack for ‘Best Player’ and Bibi Campos for ‘Most Improved Player’. Unfortunately neither can be with us tonight and the awards will be handed out at our next meeting." 

AWARDS

The Sportsman of the Year Award was awarded to 2nd XI Captain Christian South. 

The Ian Woods Trophy for the Best Individual Performance of the Year went to Sam Hudson for his innings of 78 against Compstall, which turned the game with the team in a difficult position. 

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

President: Geoff Hudson was elected unopposed to replace retiring President Jack Worthington. Proposed: Bill Higginbottom; Seconded: Dave Higginbottom. 

Chairman: Ed Yardley was elected unopposed to replace retiring Chairman Bill Higginbottom. Proposed: Tony Richardson; Seconded: Paul Coverley and Simon Waddington. Ed took the Chair and responded by thanking Bill for passing on a Club well managed, well supported and well regarded. 

Treasurer: Ian Webster agreed to continue as Treasurer. Proposed: Andrew Chadwick; Seconded: Geoff Hudson 

Secretary: Dave Dunford indicated his willingness to continue as Secretary. Proposed: Phil Hopwood; Seconded: Tony Richardson. 

Women's Representative: Lorna Young was re-elected unopposed. Proposed: Anne Fraser; Seconded: Tom Miller. 

Management Committee

Will consist of the above Officers plus Bill Higginbottom, Paul Coverley, Phil Hopwood, Tom Miller, Steve Farmer and Glenn Renolds. Chris Heard's resignation was noted, and he was thanked for his contribution. The new Management Committee was approved en bloc. 

Auditors: the reappointment of the existing auditors was approved. 

1st XI: Tom Jarvis was reappointed unopposed as 1st XI Captain. Josh Unsworth was proposed and appointed unopposed as Vice-Captain, replacing Chris Unsworth. 

2nd XI: Christian South was reappointed unopposed as 2nd XI Captain. Shane Furness was proposed and appointed unopposed as Vice-Captain, replacing Steve Farmer. 

Junior captains

U9: Richard Noakes was nominated and appointed unopposed.

U11: This appointment was referred to the Junior Subcommittee.

U13: Bill Higginbottom appointed, to be assisted by Tim Kirton.

U16: Paul Coverley was nominated and appointed unopposed. 

RULE CHANGES

Playing fees

Steve Farmer proposed the abolition of the Senior players' signing-on fee (currently £60), to be replaced by an increased match fee of £10 per match (£5 for unemployed and under-17 players), superseding the current match fee of £7. Assuming 20 games in the season, this would return a similar amount to the previous fee, but would be fairer for players who play only a few games. For cancelled games the match fee would be 50% of the full match fee. The proposal was approved unanimously and accepted. 

A decision on fees for the Women's Section was deferred for further discussion. 

Selection Committee

Christian South suggested that attendance of selectors at 2nd XI games was problematic. He proposed a larger Selection Panel with at least one representative expected to attend all 1st and 2nd XI matches. The proposed members of the Panel were to be Hugh Davis, Steve Farmer, Geoff Hudson, Dave Wood and Ed Yardley. Ed accepted Christian's comments and stressed that selection should be primarily led by the Captains with advice and input from the Selectors. There was some discussion as to whether a larger Panel could work efficiently, and whether the Panel should retain voting rights. Ed responded that selectors would act as "eyes and ears" for the Captain and help guard against selection decisions being made on grounds other than players' performances. The final proposal was that the Panel of 5 should be appointed, retaining voting rights. The motion was carried. Proposed: Bill Higginbottom; Seconded: Andrew Chadwick. 

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Paul Coverley requested additional assistance with fundraising activities. Tony Richardson, Steve Farmer, Dave Dunford and Phil Hopwood volunteered to help Paul and Bill. 

MEETING CLOSED 9.10pm.