Cheshire Darts Organisation

AGM 2014

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

held Sunday 29 June 2014

Rudheath Social Club, 235 Middlewich Road, Rudheath,

Northwich, Cheshire.  CW9 7DN

1. 1. Roll Call & Chairman’s Report (Fred Smith)
   Welcomed everyone and thanked everyone for attending the AGM.  Fred stated that last season was a very hard season and thanked everyone for their hard work and for keeping Cheshire in the Premiership.  Fred also wanted to thank Lyn for all her hard work especially for getting the finance’s back on track; it’s been a long haul but well done Lyn.  Fred also stated that he has taken a lot of abuse from players this season in relation to team selection.  Fred congratulated Peter Boughey who come 10^th overall in the averages, Andrea Hunt who won the Ladies B Team averages and Anastasia Dobromyslova who has had an impressive season and who is still unbeaten in Cheshire & Clwyd in the BICC.  Fred announced that he will be resigning his post this season due to ill health and having an operation and wishes everyone involved good luck.
   
   
2. 2. Ladies Super League Secretary’s Report (Lyn Marsden)
   Lyn started by saying there were only 5 teams last season.  Each team played each other 3 times and it worked out well.  Winners of the league were Chester and runners up were Rudheath.  Chester will now represent Cheshire in the Champions of Champions Cup which this year is being held in Hull, 10^th August.  Congratulations to the following players on their achievements for last year, they are:-
   
   

Averages  : Andrea Hunt (Rudheath) – Won 12 games out of 12
Least Darts  :  (16) Lol Abley (Chester)

Highest Kill  :  (149) Nicola Roebuck (Armoury)

Most 180’s (2 each)  : Jill Jodrill (Chester)

Dene Render (Sprayhurst)

1. 3. Men’s Super league Secretary’s Report (Carl Ellis)
   Cheshire Men’s Super league season was co-ordinated into one league and commenced on Sunday

7 August 2013 and concluded by Sunday 8 June 2014.  There were initially 10 teams in the league but the Halfway House, Runcorn, pulled out prior to the commencement of the season.  One league has once again proved to be an advantage for the venue in income generation, travelling to venues has been easier this season with ALL teams located within the County of Cheshire.

This year’s Champions are The Barrow Club (Captain:  Dan Smithers) and the runners up were The Cosey Club (Captain:   Chris Woods).

There was one non-fulfilment of fixture this season.  On week 15 (13.04.14), Turnpike v Railway.  Chris Potts contacted the Railway at 5pm and stated they were not coming as they only had 4 players.

Rule 6 states – Non fulfilment of fixture - £25.

Score Sheets : There were quite a few sheets that didn’t arrive on time and some were illegible, please try to ensure they are readable.

Sign on Sheets : There were also delays in receiving these sheets and most were incomplete.  Can you please ensure they are completed correctly.

Congratulations to the following players on their achievements for last year, they are:-

Dynamic Averages  : Mark Jodrill (Cosey)                       39.36

Andy Cope (Pies B)                         38.46

180’s : Andy Cope (Pies B)                         7

Ian Golding (Barrow)

Mark Jodrill (Cosey)

Craig Simpson (Cosey)                  all on 6

Fred Smith (Pies B)

Charlie Burns (Pies B)

Highest Checkouts : Dave Bird (Cosey)                           164

Daniel Ayers (Cheese)                   160

Ryan Proctor (Pioneers A)           156

Least Darts : John Brammeld (Pies B)               11

Patrick Lynskey (Cheese)             11

Fred Smith (Pies B)                         12

Andrew Green (Rudheath)         12

Craig Simpson (Cosey)                  12

Most 100’s : Ian Walker (Barrow)                      118

Patrick Lynskey (Cheese)             109

Andy Cope (Pies B)                         107

Rob Arrowsmith (Pioneers A)    106

Peter Boughey (Pioneers A)        103

Simon Preston (Cosey)                 102

Chris Gibson (Cheese)                   100

Carl mentioned, that at the moment there are 12 teams in the league, would teams be interested in two leagues or prefer to keep it as one league.  The floor stated they would prefer it to stay as 1 league.

1. 4. Treasurer’s Report (Lyn Marsden)
   Lyn started by saying a massive thank you to Tommy and his team from the Rudheath Sports & Social Club for their continued support .  Lyn mentioned that it has been a steady year, with most teams contributing to the £10 per game played rule, this has helped toward funds.  Unfortunately door money has dwindled but that’s not just with Cheshire that is across the board with County matches.  When Lyn received the books she found that we owed money to the BDO which was outstanding from the previous season.  Total turnover this season was £13,232.74, total expenditure was £11,154.20 and considering the outstanding fees, we have still managed to make a profit of £2,078.54.  Our biggest costs are for the coaches to away matches, maybe look into using smaller coaches.

1. 5. Competition Secretary’s Report (Jane Downey)
   This season was difficult in trying to arrange competitions and struggled to come to amicable dates with everyone.  Congratulations to the following people who will be representing Cheshire in the Gold Cup which will be held at the Lakeside, Surrey in July.  They are :-

Mick Haynes – Men’s Singles

Sue Cusick – Ladies Singles

Peter Boughey / Fred Smith – Men’s Pairs

Sue Cusick / Sherrie Yeomans – Ladies Pairs

Winmau – Men’s – Tony Martin, Matt Hunt, Simon Preston, Mick Haynes / Ladies – Vicky Martin, Sherrie Yeomans, Sue Cusick, Lyn Marsden.

Well done to Anastasia Dobromyslova who had a fantastic year and also for winning the BDO World Darts Trophy, Scottish Open, Welsh Open, Isle of Man Classic, England Open and the Bulls German Open.

1. 6. Youth Manager’s Report (Dan Smithers / Lyn Marsden).
   Dan & Lyn both mentioned that they have had a terrible season this year.  There was only 1 fixture all year that they had a full team. Cheshire finished bottom of the League, with one fixture still not plays vs Shropshire.  Unfortunately for next season they will not be a team as not enough have been turning up.  Out of 26 that signed on, only 7 or 8 have been turning up every game.

1. 7. Hotel & Travel Secretary’s Report (Dawn Corbett)
   Dawn started off by saying a massive thank you to everyone for last season.  As this was her first season dealing with this, feedback from the hotel staff where we have stayed has been great on the whole.  There was a couple of times that we stayed at the Premier Inn and early on the rooms were at £29, everyone was informed that you would need to book your own rooms to get it at that price. 

Unfortunately on a few occasions people hadn’t booked them and off course prices started to increase and on one occasion via Yorkshire they ran out of rooms and I had to arrange for another hotel for people to stay at which wasn’t too far away. 

I am currently checking out hotels for next season and as soon as I have all the information back from the hotels, I will update the information on the website & Facebook.  Last year we had two coaches to Essex & Gwent, these coaches cost the County in total £2,300.  We have 4 away matches next season to Glamorgan, Kent, Cornwall & Cambridgeshire.  Dawn also mentioned that she would like to thank Trevor for taking and bringing us all home safe and sound.

1. 8. Ladies & Men’s Manager’s Reports (Carole Flewitt / Andy Cope)
   Andy Cope started by saying thank you very much to Fred and all players for all their hard work, he appreciates everyone who has made this season what it is and mostly for staying up in the Premiership.  Carole Flewitt also thanked all the ladies for their hard work, she knows they all go up there to win and they give everything, thanks again.
   
   
2. 9. General Secretary’s Report (Dan Smithers)
   Dan stated first of all he would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported the County this season.  It hasn’t been an easy season for any of us, especially everyone on the Committee, but still, in our first season together along with the player’s and supporters, we have kept this County in the Premier Division.  There have been some mixed emotions and debates this season which I’m sure you’ll all want to discuss, and this AGM is the moment to do so, so any issues or questions you have, please don’t hesitate and we’ll do our best to answer, but prior to that, I can answer a few topics in this report.
   
   The first issue that was brought to our attention was at the start of the Super League Season 2013-2014.  After the BDO meeting that myself and Lyn attended, we we’re spoken to by Sue Williams, BDO and Premier Division Secretary, stating that Cheshire were behind on paying their fees from the 2012-2013 season.  This was an issue we had to deal with immediately with coming into a new season.  We paid these fees up to date then had the new season to contend with.  We paid as many fees as we could for the current season (2013-2014) and with paying some of these fees in advance and in one go meant that we did save some money.  Along with fees for County, we also have Super League Fees & England Darts Organisation fees (these were put up this year too) to pay.  This doesn’t come cheap but without these we wouldn’t be able to run qualifiers for you to enter.  Due to this, we realised we weren’t bringing in enough money to afford all of this, and I know a lot of people have mentioned about “sponsorship”, this is easier said than done.  Myself, Lyn & Carl Ellis came up with the idea to collect £10 per fixture per team in the Super League to gain us the much needed funds we required.  Some individuals did react badly to this and I understand but we needed to take action to ensure the financial state for this County did not deteriorate further. 

I am also aware that this was not voted in at the AGM on 2013 as some individuals continuously remind me of however, we wasn’t aware of how bad the situation was at that point.  I would like to thank all teams that have understood why and supported it.  We have received some proposals for this AGM with ideas of raising funds so hopefully we can all put our heads together and agree something suitable.

Another issue Dan mentioned was that he would like to bring up the negative attention regarding the County that seems to be spreading over the social networking site Facebook.  Dan stated that he wasn’t going to sit here and bring names up but this has to stop.  It has been a tough year and he’s willing to let it slip this time but with the upcoming season, if you have an issue with how this County is run, regarding selection or decisions made by our Committee, please contact him directly, ideally with issues like this, you should be talking to us on County weekends or emailing him so we as a committee can respond to it in the best possible way.  County affairs should be kept within the County and not broadcasted for the world to see. Dan also stated that if anyone persists in doing so they will be suspended from County by the Executive Committee.

In terms of individual performance’s this season, he would like to congratulate Andrea Hunt on finishing 1^st in the Ladies B Averages for the Premier Division.  Dan also congratulated Peter Boughey who for 2 consecutive years has been Cheshire’s highest placed player in the Men’s A averages finishing 10^th overall.  Also Dan congratulated Anastasia Dobromyslova who finished 4^th in the Ladies A averages.  Ana only played 7 games but if she played 9 she could have nicked the top spot again.  Ana is yet to lose a BICC game for Clwyd and Cheshire which is a remarkable achievement, especially in her last game with Claire Ball.

Dan stated that at the moment he is currently working on Caps for Cheshire County but this is going to take time.  With almost 40 years of history of appearances and a lot of paperwork it is very time consuming tallying it all up with a lot of players.  We do hope to have these completed by the end of this season (2014-2015) so we can start getting appearance awards going again.

Dan mentioned with Premier League Darts secured for next season, the re-building of this County is underway.  We’ve lost a lot of world class players over the years that have moved on and it’s opened the door for new players to come in and represent Cheshire.  As a County, we do expect all our players to play Super League, with new teams coming on board and new players fighting for the right to earn a chance in County Dan hopes that everyone is looking forward to the new season.

1. 10. Any Matters Arising from 2013-2014 Season
   Gary Bayliss asked that is it still the rule that you have to play 50% of games in order to play for Cheshire.  At the moment you only have to play at least one match to play for County.  Andy Cope mentioned that players will have to play more games for the super league in order to be available for County.  There are no secure places anymore, players are picked on merit only.
   
   

1. 11. Committee Registration for 2014-2015 Season
   
   The following members were elected:-
   
   

1. 12. Proposals to be called out and voted on
   Proposals were brought up at the AGM for the following :-

Men’s B Team Captain : Jeff Fisher was proposed by Adam Griffiths (Railway) and seconded by Andy Cope (Pioneers)

Men’s A Team Captain : Bryn Suckley was proposed by Tony Martin (Barrow) and seconded by Jeff Fisher (Railway)

Ladies can play both Men’s and Ladies Super League.  Should that player wish to represent Cheshire County only their ladies super league average will be looked at.  The average’s they contain from the men’s will not be carried over. Ladies to play a minimum of 2 games to be selected for County.  Anastasia is not included in this due to being an International Player for Russia.

Competition Secretary : Tony Martin was proposed by Barrowmore Club and seconded by Bryn Suckley (Temple Bar Chester)

Ladies A Team Captain : TBC. Decision to be made by Ladies Manager, Ladies Selection and General Secretary before the first County Game of the season.

Super League Fixtures : Each player must pay £3 to sign on to a super league team.  £1 goes to the BDO and the other £2 goes to Cheshire Darts Organisation.  Super League will now establish a £1 “Oche Fee” for every player that plays.  This should tally to £9 for every man’s team and £7 for every ladies team.  Captains must ensure they contact Lyn Marsden regarding payment for this.

Home teams are now responsible for sending off BOTH super league sheets per fixture.

Dawn Corbett proposed a savings club for the away matches, people who are interested to speak to her directly at the County matches.

Stuart Kellett mentioned that the stage needed updating.  This was agreed by all at the AGM.  Dan mentioned that this was something he was looking into. Daniel Smithers, Lyn Marsden, Andy Poynton & Richard Davenport will be sorting something regarding the stage after the Cheshire Open, in time for the New County Season.

1. 13. Any Other Business
   None.  Dan thanked everyone who attended and wished all teams and players the best of luck for the 2014-2015 Season.

Meeting closed 3:30pm

Minutes prepared by Dawn Corbett

29 June 2014