Page 12 - Autumn 2014

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12 ESMBA AGM REPORT
ESMBA AGM REPORT
It was an eventful day at the E.S.M.B.A Annual General
Meeting that finally started just over half an hour late at the
Northampton Indoor Bowls Club. Barry Hedges of Essex was
elected as the new Chairman of the Association replacing
Chris Hopkins of Northants who had held the post for the last
seventeen years. Hedges attracted 32 votes while Hopkins
total of 24 saw him lose his position.
The Management Committee’s proposal for a revised
Constitution to include the Administration Officer roles was
not voted on after the Norfolk Chairman Selwyn Goldsmith
spoke at the meeting. After praising both Keith Hawkins &
Chris Hopkins for their work in carrying out administration
roles over the past season, he said that the Administration From
roles should be included in Section 5k of the Constitution as Selwyn Goldsmith
Office Bearers so that County Delegates could elect them at
each AGM.
He also pointed out contradictions in the proposed wording of the revised Constitution
that needed changing. The meeting then agreed that the Management Committee would look
again at their proposed changes and call a Special General Meeting on the President’s Week-
end in September to deal with the matter. Various minor cosmetic changes to the Constitution
proposed by the Management Committee that did not include any reference to the Adminis-
tration roles were passed at the meeting.
There was much discussion regarding the Treasurer’s Report but the report was finally
adopted with 42 voting in favour of adopting the Treasurer’s Report, 5 voting against and 12
abstaining. Roger Green of the North Yorkshire SMBA had voiced his displeasure over the
long wait for replies to queries that he had submitted regarding the Treasurer’s Reports. The
Hampshire proposal to revise the deadline for submission of proposals to the end of February
was incorrectly worded but it was ruled that the wording could be changed before a vote took
place. After some discussion the proposal was defeated.
There was no nomination for the position of Vice Chairman but a delegate asked if Chris
Hopkins would be willing to accept a nomination from the floor, this suggestion was declined
by Chris Hopkins but he did accept a nomination from the floor for the vacant post of Nationals
Organiser and was duly elected.
There had been three nominations for the post of Umpires Director but it was announced
that both Martin Davies & Steve White had withdrawn their nominations so John Hurst was
duly elected. Barbara Mills was elected as Treasurer following John Jackson’s decision to
stand down. Officers re-elected were George Clarke as President, Stephen Proctor as Vice-
President, Carol Hawkins as Minutes Secretary and Keith Hawkins as I.C.C Secretary.
Brandon Whittaker & Rachel Pedley were re-elected as Committee members while Roy
Duke was nominated from the floor and elected as a third Committee member. The positions
of Vice-Chairman, Membership Secretary & Coaching Director were left vacant.
The Rules Revision Meeting, which is held once every five years, began at 3pm with the
newly elected Barry Hedges in the chair. A raft of proposals had been submitted by the North
Yorkshire SMBA and were dealt with first. Their first proposal concerned the colour of short
mats and called for the sentence “It shall be coloured green” to be deleted from the rule A1(a).
This proposal was passed therefore allowing the use of other coloured mats such as blue to
be legally used in future. A proposal to enable young players with small hands to legitimately
use Taylor Junior Ace bowls was supported by 43 votes with 21 against and 3 abstentions but
the proposal failed narrowly as it did not receive the two thirds majority as required by the
Constitution.