Area 6 AGM Minutes 2015
Posted on Wednesday, April 22, 2015 at 4:06pm
ROYAL CALEDONIAN CURLING CLUB – AREA 6
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Held at Forthbank on Tuesday 21st April 2015
Present –31 members attended representing all four Provinces.
Apologies – Val Savile, Doune; Fiona Glass, Strathendrick; Malcolm Duncan, Grangemouth; Maggie Mauchline, Stirling Young Curlers; Jim Glassey, Laurieston and Zetland; Jim McAughtrie, Keir; John Wilson, West Lothian
Chairman –Joe Barry, Senior Area 6 representative chaired the meeting.
Minutes of AGM 2014 – The minutes were approved by Les Goodfellow of Kilsyth and Bill Strang of Scottish Central and are filed on the Area website. There were no matters arising.
Chairman’s Report –
Area 6 Competitions – The Knockout was cut short before the first round was complete by the closure of the ice rink in October. There were dire warnings about the length of the closure, and the mad scramble for ice that would ensue when it was re-opened. It was decided, therefore, to abandon the knockout competition for the season.
The Bonspiel on 22nd January was very successful, and after a no-show by one of the clubs last year, I was glad to see that all fixtures were fulfilled. It was a closely contested competition but some fine play by the teams from Forth and Endrick Province saw them through to victory.
The inaugural Area 6 Champions cup, between the top teams from each Province was contested in March. They were Buccaneers, Keir, Kilsyth and Uphall. In the final Buccaneers beat Kilsyth and will collect the Kildean Cup later. The cup has been resurrected after gathering dust in the Trophy cabinet since the transfer from Williamfield.
Tour – The Swiss Tour paid a brief visit to the Peak on the morning of Saturday 15th November. A team from each Province played against four of the Swiss teams. As the Stirling Young Curlers had given up their Saturday morning start, it was decided that they should enter a team to represent Stirlingshire Province. Despite fears that the youngsters might not be strong enough to compete against the tourists, they ended up being the only Area 6 team to win their match! At lunch afterwards we were treated to some rousing entertainment by the Swiss musicians and singer.
Other Competitions – Teams from the Area performed well in Royal Club competitions away from the Peak. The Province Championships were played at Greenacres in November. Scottish Central Province were narrowly defeated in the high road final, while the low road final was won by Stirlingshire Province.
Keir represented the Peak at the Rink Championship at Forfar before losing 3-6 in the final to the Dewar Centre.
Lee and Judith McLeary were in action again in the Scottish Mixed Doubles at Braehead. They regained the title they held three years ago and are currently representing Scotland at the World Championship in Socchi. Their game against Korea is being webcast on World Curling TV on Wednesday.
Scottish Central Province, the oldest of Scotland’s Provinces, celebrated their 150th anniversary in style on and off the ice in the autumn. A successful bonspiel was followed by a formal dinner at Stirling University attended by the Royal Club President, David Henderson.
Other updates – As the Area 6 representative on the Area Standing Committee, I have been able to listen to the various issues affecting curlers across Scotland. No doubt you avidly scan the minutes of the ASC on the Royal Club website but I will give you a few highlights:
- The Lees painting has been the subject of a large fund raising scheme by the Royal Club. It has been restored to its former glory and is on display at the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.
- The World Curling Federation were stunned by a bid by the Royal Club to host four World Championships over the next five years, Never before had a national curling body offered to host more than one. The WCF accepted the bid and Scotland will host:
The European Championships at Braehead in 2016
The World Junior Championships at Aberdeen in 2018
The World Wheelchair Championships at Stirling in 2019
The World Mens Championships at the Hydro centre in Glasgow in 2020.
- UK Sport have supported the bid with a grant of £640,000 while Event Scotland has chipped in with another £600,000. The Money will partly fund a full-time event manager who will oversee all four competitions.
- A blueprint for organising incoming tours has been produced. This will allow future organisers the opportunity to learn the lessons and gain from the experiences of previous tours.
- The Royal Club Chaplain Rev Bill Holland is retiring at this year’s AGM. There was some debate whether a chaplain was required in this more secular age, but the tradition is to be maintained. If you have any men or women of the cloth in your clubs please encourage them to apply to the Royal Club for the position.
- Finally the Indoor Grand Match will be held on the 24th October this year. No doubt many of you will be taking part. The Area 6 management committee have already started to make the arrangements for the games taking place at the Peak.
Area 6 Competitions 14/15
The bonspiel was won by Forth and Endrick .The trophy was presented on the night to Douglas Telfer of Loch Ard.
The Knockout was not played, as covered in the Chairman’s remarks.
The Inaugural Area Champions Trophy was won by Buccaneers of Forth and Endrick Province.
Area 6 Council and Representatives – Disappointment was again noted at the lack of volunteers to fulfil the role of Area 6 junior representative, and replacement for Joe Barry, senior representative who although due to complete his term of office this year has agreed to remain in post for one more year.
This led to a wider discussion on the tabled topic and questions from the RCCC Area Standing Committee Review on ‘Areas’ structure.
This discussion was led by a paper produced by Gifford Rickard of Denny and the outcome will be a consolidated report on the views expressed at the meeting, and also at the Stirlingshire Province meeting held immediately before the Area meeting. This paper will be prepared by the Secretary and forwarded to the RCCC in due course, and will in addition take account of views expressed at Scottish Central and West Lothian Province AGMs due week commencing 27 April 2015.
This paper will be cascaded and also posted to the Area website.
Financial Statement –The Treasurer Ritchie Stewart of West Lothian Province presented the accounts. Cash in Bank reduced from £784.87 to £682.87 due to increased engraving costs for the new Champions trophy, and costs associated with the Swiss tour .The accounts were approved by G Rickard of Denny and seconded by G Russell of Keir.
Area 6 Subscription – no change recommended and agreed.
Election of Secretary and Treasurer– Alan Wilson remained as Secretary and Ritchie Stewart as Treasurer
Election of Auditor – It was agreed to approach Jim Marven, auditor of Stirlingshire Province accounts to audit the Area 6 accounts.
Ladies’ AGM –12 May at Northwest Castle Hotel, Stranraer.
RCCC 177th AGM – Saturday 13 June at Murrayfield Curling, Edinburgh.
A.O.C.B. – No additional business was identified and the meeting concluded at 20:45 with the presentation of prizes. The photographs of the winners are on the Area website.