Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the meeting held on 7th September 2009 at 1.00pm at Dunstable Downs Golf Club can be found below.
Next Meeting Dates:
| AGM | NEXT BLCGA MEETING | NEXT BLCGA JUNIOR MEETING |
| Monday 2nd November at 2:00pm at Leighton Buzzard |
Monday 11th January 2010 at 1:00pm at Aspley Guise meeting postponed due to weather |
Monday 30th September 2009 at 7:00pm at Leighton Buzzard |
Minutes from Previous Meetings:
| 2008 AGM | Previous Meetings | Junior Meetings |
| 3rd November 2008 at Bedfordshire Golf Club |
Monday 13th July 2009 at The Millbrook |
30th September 2009 at Leighton Buzzard |
| Monday 9th March 2009 at The Millbrook |
12th August 2009 at Bedfordshire |
|
| Monday 1st December 2008 at John O'Gaunt |
17th June 2009 at Leighton Buzzard |
|
| Monday 8th September 2008 at South Beds |
14th January 2009 at Bedfordshire |
|
| Monday 30th June 2008 at Leighton Buzzard |
8th September 2008 at Leighton Buzzard |
|
| Monday 10th March 2008 at Beds & County |
12th March 2008 at Newmarket Links (Regional Juniors) |
BEDFORDSHIRE LADIES COUNTY GOLF ASSOCIATION
MINUTES OF THE COMMITTEE MEETING
held at
DUNSTABLE DOWNS GOLF CLUB
on
Monday 7th September at 1.00pm
The County Captain welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked Dunstable Downs Golf Club and Barbara Sheldon, the Lady Captain, for hosting the meeting.
THOSE PRESENT
L May (Captain), A Shuter (President), M Watchorn (Vice President), K Harris (Secretary), G Smith (Past Captains' Captain), C Goldsmith (County Junior Organiser), E James (Course Assessor Officer), S Cleaver (Competitions Secretary), E Bruce (Vice Captain), M. Seabrook (East Region Representative), C Holden (Beds Golf Partnership), S Turnbull (Seniors Captain), J Barton (Tils), A Cameron (BM), C Clarke (SB), J Garratt (AG&WS), N Jackson (M), J Levinson (Cadd), E Mackirdy (Mow), L McCartney (BM), H Nolan (B&Co), B Sheldon (DD), A Shirville (LB), G Walpole (PP), and A Whitehouse (DD).
1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies received from J Faris (Past Captain), A Taylor (Treasurer), H Molloy (Handicap Adviser), L Pearce (W), N Shane (Ca), B McMillan (SP), C McDonald(Beds), A Stroomer (MP), C King (Chal), L Simons (TheB), B Lee (AV) and S Cormack (Ass Handicap Advisor).
2. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING (13th July 2009)
These were agreed as a true record of the meeting and were signed by the County Captain.
3. MATTERS ARISING
a. Cicely had an apologetic reply from EWGA's Jim Robinson concerning Linda Carruthers and also a similar one from Linda Carruthers but she still was unable to attend a Junior function in Bedfordshire this year. The CJO will keep her informed of next year's events.
b. The reports from ladies who have taken part in the improver's sessions were positive but another venue, more central, was commented on. This may be a problem as the Pro taking them is attached to a specific club. It was noted that many clubs do not have ladies eligible to attend these sessions.
4. CORRESPONDENCE
There was no correspondence but Kathy reminded County Delegates to take their Subscription Form from the plastic folders. She also reported that the current County Minutes Book had gone missing and asked everyone to check her club to make sure it was not there. If it does not surface all minutes will be re-printed and re-signed.
5. GOLF PARTNERSHIP REPORT (Cecilia Holden)
Since our last report in July, we have made further progress in a number of areas, most notably in the Development Plan. Posters and fliers advertising our existence are now prominently displayed in a number of clubs. However, the number of clubs registered with the Partnership continues to be just 15 out of 23, the missing ones being Aspley Guise, Aylesbury Vale, Beadlow Manor, Cromwell, Henlow, Mount Pleasant, Pavenham Park and The Bedford. Two of these clubs do not have a ladies section, but as we approach the implementation phase of our plan, clubs who have not registered will miss out on development opportunities. If your club has not registered, please encourage your committee to do so.
PGA Professional registration has proved disappointing with only 10 professionals from 6 clubs registering through our website.
GOLFMARK.
There has been one further accreditation this quarter - John O'Gaunt, which has been awarded High Achiever status - the first in the County to receive this. This means that since January Bedfordshire has progressed from one to four accredited clubs with a further four recorded as working towards it. The targets within our Development Plan are to have 6 clubs accredited by next April, 8 by April 2011 and at least 12 by April 2013
As a first step to add impetus to this initiative, we will shortly be issuing a Newsletter to all clubs, which focuses solely on GolfMark, its benefits and the accreditation process.
RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION TOOLKIT.
To assist clubs with their marketing and membership drives, BCGP has purchased a supply of the EGU Adult Recruitment & Retention Toolkit. We have personally delivered a copy of this to all 15 clubs registered with us and will be following this up (if it has not yet happened) with a call and/or visit from Steven Peet the EGU/EWGA Regional Development Officer.
CHILD SAFETY WORKSHOP
A Safeguarding and Protecting Children Workshop was run by the EGU/EWGA at John O'Gaunt Golf Club on 1st September. Unfortunately only 14 of the 20 delegates turned up with representatives from just 4 of the County's clubs - Stockwood Park, John O'Gaunt, South Beds and Mowsbury. For those working through the GolfMark process, attendance at one of these workshops is almost mandatory and further workshops can/will be arranged if the demand is there.
POINT OF CONTACT WITH BCGP
As those clubs that have registered are aware, we have asked for each club to nominate a Point of Contact we can communicate with and who will act as a liaison point between the Partnership and his/her golf club.
The names we have been given vary from Secretary to Captain to volunteer and in an attempt to obtain consistency of approach and understanding we shall shortly be distributing a short document, which outlines this role. This will give each club, should they choose, the opportunity to review their appointment and to decide if they wish to change their nominated individual.
DEVELOPMENT PLAN.
Last, but by no means least, the Development Plan.
Our Development Plan, and therefore our funding grant has taken rather longer than expected due to changes being put in place at National Level which prevented final decisions being made on part of the content of the plan as well as the structure and level of grants.
However, we are delighted to announce that we have recently been advised by England Golf that we have been awarded a total of £81,000 spread over the next four years to help with Development of golf in Bedfordshire. This is actually £58,000 more than we had originally expected, and when we take into account grants for the "Club & Coach" initiative and the funding available to GolfMark accredited clubs, this means that if we meet all aspects of our development plan, the Partnership will be bringing in over £140,000 in the next four years to help with the development of golf in Bedfordshire.
We are not yet geared up for Club & Coach as we are such a new partnership, but we are scheduled to start this planning in November. Meanwhile, Cicely has had her Birdies funding directly from EWGA, and so our juniors have not missed out.
Also included within the funding are monies for the recruitment of a paid County Development Officer working on a part time basis. We are currently preparing a job specification and application process for this role so if you may be interested - watch this space.
We are still working on the final figures for our budget streams and the allocation of monies but it is already clear that there will be a shortfall against what we require, and that we will have to try and secure additional funding from sources away from England Golf. We have yet to address the issue of how we might do this but planning will start in the very near future. We are looking at maybe introducing a Finance and Fund Raising sub-committee (possibly chaired by our treasurer, Pippa Willis). Hertfordshire raised their funds by making the uptake of the County Card mandatory rather than optional, with a percentage of the income going into the Partnership; Suffolk supplemented their award by obtaining money from local businesses. We do not yet know what we will do, but we will need to start planning this soon.
Next steps are to convert the development plan into a detailed delivery plan. The County Golf Partnership Award Agreement requires us to have a number of documents in place, and methods for continually monitoring progress. We are required to file reports every 6 months in order to secure the next tranche of funding. The development plan contains a number of targets based on Sport England initiatives and golf's "Whole Sport Plan", and we must track our progress against these targets.
The key documents are: The Development Plan, The Budget, The Workforce Plan, together with a number of other documents such as an equity policy, welfare policy, formal terms of agreement between us and team BEDS & LUTON. We will be working through this paperwork in our September Meeting.
The Workforce plan will include many sub committees and a lot of people, far more than just the current six. Again we will be working through this in September and will be looking to BLCGA members for help on these committees.
We have a busy few months ahead of us, putting all the pieces in place in order to be able to move to implementation. It may seem like we have been a long time in the planning phase, but there is a substantial amount of money involved, and a lot of things to put into place - not always easy during the playing season, when golfers naturally have other priorities. We hope to report further significant progress on the workforce plan and budget at the December meeting.
Lesley thanked Cecilia and Pippa Willis for all their work in getting this ‘off the ground'.
6. EAST REGION DELEGATE'S REPORT (Margaret Seabrook)
Laura Collin was congratulated by the East Chairperson on being a semi-finalist at the British Open and on being named as 4th reserve for the Vagliano Trophy Team.
Public Liability Insurance
The EWGA has changed insurers and discussion has taken place with reference to providing public liability insurance for all 35 counties. The premium for this would be £100 per county as long as all counties participated. Separate trophy insurance would be necessary for each county. We have been asked to ascertain the value of our county trophies.
Disability Transportation Policy
Anyone wanting to use a buggy in a National or Regional Competition must apply to EWGA. Counties should have a policy for County competitions.
The Regional Final of the Australian Spoons was held at Dunstable Downs golf club on 21st July. Thank you very much to Dunstable Downs for the use of their course and for the fantastic support from the Ladies Captain and volunteers. Thank you also to the ladies from this committee that gave up a day to help make the regional final run so smoothly. Teams travelled from all over Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Herts, Cambs and Hunts and of course Bedfordshire, many with caddies in tow. This made for a special relaxed atmosphere, which made the day a pleasure to organise. Lindy Clemmow and Julia Gray from Bourn Golf club won on count back from Jo Wright and Carol Rudland from Chigwell Golf Club all with 40 points. Linda Sheppard and Helen Gammage from the Norfolk Golf and Country club were third with 38 points.
Margaret Watchorn is drafting a Transportation Policy document for Bedfordshire.
With reference to Public Liability, Margaret Seabrook explained that since the change of EWGA to a ‘limited company' EWGA are encouraging all County Associations to consider becoming the same. There would be a great deal of work involved with this change.
Cicely explained that completed junior event questionnaires are sent to Lynn Walker at EWGA. Margaret will follow this up at the next EWGA Regional meeting, to understand how the information is used.
7. TREASURER'S REPORT (Ann Taylor)
Ann has now received the Subs from Pavenham Park GC so has paid the Junior Section a cheque for £1121.00. A total of 8 Clubs have taken advantage of the £50.00 training grant. The current account now stands at £2200.14 and the deposit account stands at £10483.44 as a very small payment of £2.00 interest has been added.
As Ann will have completed her 3 years as Treasurer in November she is looking for somebody to take over the job. Could the representatives of the Clubs please ask if any of their members would like to take on this position? You do not need any accounting experience; simple book keeping is all that is required. It is a very interesting and worthwhile job.
8. COUNTY CAPTAIN'S REPORT (Lesley May)
Always at this time of the year I think that the golfing season is almost over. But, no, it is even busier than ever with eleven county events taking place during September and October, not to mention the Knockout Foursomes Final. This will take place on 7th October at South Beds Golf Club 1 p.m. The final is between Mary Haseman and Gill Geary from The Bedford and Paula Foot and Angie Tatum Hume from Beds and County Golf Club. Everyone is welcome to come and support the players and we wish them every success.
Another success is Laura Collin from John O'Gaunt Golf Club who is playing off +1 and is currently 5th in the EWGA Order of Merit. Sally Shayler from the Bedfordshire Golf Club has a scratch handicap and continues to play well. Sally is 77 out of approximately 400 in the Order of Merit.
Sophie Hillier, aged 15, has also played exceptionally well this summer and is one to watch in the future. I will let Cicely give all details in her report.
We have waved goodbye to Megan Birdsey who has left these shores to join Lizi Sweetnam and Heather Mutton in America. Katie Burman is off very shortly to Birmingham University and we wish them all well and look forward to welcoming them back - playing even better golf.
The Mixed Foursomes is taking place on the 20th September at Caddington Golf Club with 20 couples participating. Also, on the 8th October at John O'Gaunt Golf Club the FunDay is taking place. There are two separate competitions for teams of 4. The morning one is shot gun start at 8.45a.m. and the afternoon at 1.30p.m. An excellent buffet, dessert and coffee will be provided and all proceeds will go towards the junior and county team training to help with this increasingly expensive part of running the teams. The morning competition still has 3 vacant holes but the afternoon has 23 teams participating - so if you know of anyone who would like to change to morning please let me know. Or, there is still time to put in a team of 4 for the morning round. It would be great to have a team from Aylesbury Vale and Wyboston who I think are the only two clubs that haven't entered yet. Also raffle prizes will be gratefully accepted.
Looking forward to a great day then and the next couple of month's golf.
9. VICE CAPTAIN'S REPORT (Elaine Bruce)
The 2nd team had a 5 : 4 victory against Suffolk in July. In August the match against Norfolk at the Royal Norwich Golf Club was lost 6 1/2 : 2 ½. The Jamboree was held at Aldeburgh Golf Club and Bedfordshire played Essex losing 8 : 1. Essex was the overall winner. Stephanie Duffy (AG & WS), Debbie Pollard-Baines (LB) and Sue Bellingham (AV) are new players for the team.
The 2nd team thanked the Executive Committee and the County for assistance in funding the away matches.
10. COMPETITION SECRETARY'S REPORT (Shirley Cleaver)
The final of the County Knock Out will take place at South Beds Golf Club on the 7th October 2009 at 1pm between Mary Haseman and Gill Geary from The Bedford Golf Club and Paula Foot and Angie Tatham-Hume from Beds & County Golf Club. Margaret Watchorn will be the rules official. Supporters will be welcomed to see the climax of this event that started way back in March.
The Autumn Meetings will take place on Wednesday 9th September and participants were reminded to ensure they were playing in the correct division if their handicap has significantly changed through the playing season. Shirley will need to alter start sheets if this is the case.
11. HANDICAP ADVISER'S REPORT (Heddwen Molloy)
Margaret gave the report in Heddwen's absence. The EWGA are going to start running Courses for Rules Officials. A Questionnaire is currently of the EWGA Website for completion by anyone who is interested. We are desperately in need of Rules Officials in Bedfordshire. Could delegates please let Heddwen know if anyone has completed the Questionnaire so that she can monitor the level of interest within Bedfordshire.
Heddwen's e-mail had not been working properly during August - so if anyone has tried to contact her and not received a reply, could they please resend their e-mail as the problem has now been resolved.
Shelagh Cormack attended a Handicap Advisors Meeting at Edgbaston on September 3rd regarding the introduction of a Central Handicap Database (CHD) via CONGU.
The main points are as follows:
At your club you must have the facility to use the internet in order to down/up load of data (qualifying scores)
Each club will have to register individually with the CHD
Once activated you will need to input each of the players at your club (this is probably going to be the worst part)
Each player will be issued with a Unique ID Number (10 digits)
The CHD will hold 2 years of data (the current year and previous year)
The club will be issued with a USER ID and a password (your choice).
I think the one question that needs to be asked is if any one club does not have access to the internet. If not they possibly could download the information on to a memory stick or dongle and if they have access at home they could log on to the Web site, user name and password and then they could down/up load information.
The positives of this system are:
On competition days (county events for example) they could download the information to the CHD and when the clubs goes on line it will advise them that there is information for them to do they wish to download. This will save the Competition Secretary all the hassle of issuing all the sheets to go back to each club. It would be the same for any qualifying competition.
If a player does not have a handicap certificate you can go on to the system and as long as you have the players name and club you could log on and get confirmation of the handicap. (It will advise you of the correct handicap, lapsed, suspended etc).
It could long term do away with handicap certificates altogether.
Obviously there will be restrictions on what you can actually see of the persons' information. All you require is their name and club and year of birth (that is not compulsory) but it is useful if they are looking at what the state of golf is with England.
Club Will be able to view all the players' handicap information registered at their club - but only playing handicap from another club.
County: It is suggested that the only people that would require access is the Handicap Advisor and for example Competition Secretary. They would have access to all the players' handicap records registered within the County. The Handicap Advisor would then be able to audit all Category 1 players without have to get the information from each individual club.
National: They would have access to all players. I would think they would only be looking at the elite and Category 1 players.
Currently there are 300 clubs (men) system registered to the system and is working well and James Crampton who manages the system believes it is the way forward and long term will save Handicap Secretaries at lot of time and it also ensures that all qualifying competitions scores are returned to each of the club.
They have to make some adjustments to the system (for the ladies handicap categories - 36) but hopefully it will be ready for the new golfing season.
Workshops will be held for Handicap Secretaries when the system is ready to be launched on our County.
12. JUNIOR ORGANISER'S REPORT (Cicely Goldsmith)
On 27th July Sophie Hillier played in the final of the Abraham Trophy at The Wiltshire GC. She played well, finishing in the top 20. During the following 3 days, Megan Birdsey played in the English Girls Championship and Sophie and Katherine Carragher played in the Under 15s. The weather was really bad and one day had to be abandoned. All girls said that they had played well on one of the days.
On 6th August the Inter County Challenge Shield was held at Swaffham GC. This was the first time that we had tried this team event. Each of the 6 Counties had a team of 6 players ,
1 x 0 - 9 handicap, 2 x10 - 15 handicap, 2 x 16 - 25 handicap and 1 x 26 - 36. 4 of the 6 scores counted. Of our 6 players, Vanessa Jay and Elena Tizzard of Leighton Buzzard each scored 34 points, Sophie Hillier (JOG) and Fiona Cooper (B&C) scored 27 points each but this was not enough to beat a fantastic score by Essex. It was very difficult picking the team as the handicaps at this time of the year fluctuate so much. It was decided that this format would not be played next year.
Sophie Hillier won the Ladies Championship at John O'Gaunt on Sunday 23rd August, bringing her handicap down to 8.
On 25th August the East Region Girls Championship was held at Newmarket. 5 of our girls entered, but Katie Burman had to withdraw - she has been ill on and off throughout the summer with glandular fever. On the day, Katherine Carragher also withdrew due to her wrist injury. However, Sophie Hillier finished 6th best gross (78 and 75= 153), and won the best nett score with 70 + 67, bringing her handicap down again. Fiona Cooper won the 3rd best nett with scores of 69 and 71 also reducing her handicap.
Yesterday we travelled all the way to Great Yarmouth for the Junior Jamboree. All 6 Counties were there. We each played 2 matches together. Each Bedfordshire girl played against an Essex player and at the same time a Suffolk player. This was a new format and it will be reviewed for next year. We had lost all our other matches during the year so we didn't stand much chance. Our girls managed 2 halved matches against Suffolk but lost all to Essex. The winners were Hertfordshire. The girls were obviously disappointed but remained positive.
4 of our 1st team players are 18 this year so will not be classed as Juniors next year. We wish them well for the future. Megan Birdsey left for Kansas, America in August.
Next weekend, on 13th September the Midland Champion of Champions competition will be held at Cotgrove Place, Notts. Katie Burman has had to withdraw again, still with the glandular fever, but Sophie Hillier will be taking part in the Handicap competition.
As the County Golf Partnership is not yet fully operational, EWGA has promised to provide financial support for our County Birdie squad for the training year October 2009 - September 2010 in the sum of £2000. This will help enormously.
Phil Corke, of JOG GC, who is Bedfordshire Men's Vice Captain is planning some Elite Junior Training and has invited us to propose some girls to take part.
I have enjoyed my role as County Junior Organiser over the last 2 years, but will not continue after the AGM. Without the Committee, I would not have considered it. The Juniors Committee has been fantastic and most have said that they will continue, including Dave Sweetnam and Mike Birdsey, whose daughters are no longer juniors. Maureen Dawson, who is on our Committee, has agreed to be nominated as County Junior Organiser at the AGM. As an ex-teacher and Past Captain of Bedfordshire Golf Club, I think that she will fill the role admirably.
Junior/Adult Foursomes October 4th at Beadlow Manor - Sue Paterson now has quite a few entries but will not make the draw until next week-end so there is still time to enter. Entry forms are in the Yellow book.
13. SENIORS' CAPTAIN'S REPORT (Sam Turnbull)
The Seniors Section has been quite busy since the last meeting.
- On 14th July we played against Suffolk at Haverhill. We all had very challenging games and sad to say the result was a 3 games to 1 loss.
- On 24th August we held the Seniors Championship at Bedford & County. We had 62 entrants, which was fantastic and the Seniors Champion, winner of the Squires Cup for the best gross score, was Past County Captain Jos Faris. I was not able to play or attend on the day so I must thank Elaine James for standing in for me and everyone who did so much in my absence. The winner of the Bond Trophy for the best nett score in either division for over 65s was Jean Brown from Bedfordshire who was playing in the Championship for the first time. The other main winners were Jan Garnham (B&C) in division 1 and Linda Darbon (PP) in division 2. The winners of the Lannaway putter, on countback from Pavenham Park Golf Club, were the Beds & County Golf Club's team of Elaine Eayrs, Pauline Pittman, Dilys Maggs and Margaret Watchorn. Well done to everyone who played.
- On 6th August the Seniors played against Northants at Colmworth and North Beds and once again this year the match was plagued by rain. Unfortunately this year there was a huge storm and the match was abandoned at various stages of play. It was decided that scores would count as they stood and we lost the match 5 - 3.
- During the season the Senior 2000 knockout has been going on and we now have our 2 finalists - Dawn Marshall from John O'Gaunt Golf Club and Jean Ross from Pavenham Park Golf Club. They are going to be fighting out the final on Tuesday September 22nd at Bedford and County Golf Club at 11am.
Still to come for this season is the Autumn Jolly 4BBB at Caddington on September 14th. I have only had 14 pairs enter which is quite disappointing. I have done the draw and sent it to the appropriate clubs but if anyone else would like to enter I know I can fit you in!! The last event for the Seniors this year is a match against Bucks at Weston Turville on the 24th September.
14. PAST CAPTAINS' CAPTAIN'S REPORT (Gill Smith)
We have had just one match since our last meeting. We played Buckinghamshire at Oakland Park, and it was a bit of a struggle to get our team out to the first tee. The Ladies Clothes section in their Pro. Shop is second to none, and with so many items of clothing being tried on, some nearly didn't get to play golf. We did eventually play, and come away with a 4/3 win. Well done ladies. Oakland Park presented an excellent course, slightly damp, and one clap of thunder to start with, but then that was it! We had a very nice meal afterwards, followed by more fashion shows!
We have our Annual Meeting coming up on the 21st Sept. when we play for the Past Captain's Championship, and also the Carol Rose Trophy. We have 47 entries. This is being played at John O'Gaunt this year, and we are all looking forward to playing with old friends from other clubs within the county.
15. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Elaine James explained that if substantial course changes have taken place at your club, which affects the Standard Scratch then it must be reported to Heddwen or the Bedfordshire Men's committee. In addition if the use of ‘preferred lies' for qualifying competitions is required outside the period of 1st October to 30th April consent must be first obtained from either Heddwen or the Bedfordshire Men's committee. Please refer to the CONGU handbook pages 26 & 27 sections 13 & 15.
Cecilia asked on behalf of Carolyn Waters (JOG) for more feedback on handicap allowances in County Shield matches. Jackie Levinson (Cadd) explained that her club has very few Ladies who are able to play in Shield Matches and she would never purposely field a high handicap team. This was re-iterated by the County Delegates from Beadlow, Tilsworth and Pavenham Park. Eleanor Mackirdy (Mow) explained that high handicap player's handicaps often do not change because of Reduction Only status in qualifying competitions and this again was re-iterated by Millbrook. The current CONGU rules must be adhered too but it was agreed that a letter should be written from Bedfordshire to CONGU with respect to small fields competitions and full handicap allowances. Margaret Watchorn will assist Kathy with this letter.
Dunstable Downs asked if the ‘slope rating' used in Europe could be introduced in the UK? Elaine explained that this would not happen until ALL courses have been re-rated.
Audrey congratulated Elaine James for winning the EWGA North Regional Seniors Tournament Division B title. She also thanked Lesley for chairing the meetings in her term of office, this is her final County meeting.
Lesley thanked Dunstable Downs for their hospitality and closed the meeting at 2.25 p.m.
16. DATE & VENUE OF NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING
The next meeting is the Annual General Meeting on Monday 2nd to be held at Leighton Buzzard Golf Club with a 2.00pm start.
The next County Meeting is on Monday 11th January 2010 at Aspley Guise Golf Club with a 1.00pm start.
Signed ___________________ Date _________________