Minutes of Miller Homes Committee Meeting held at Preston Grasshoppers 28th April 2008 Present: FW Swarbrick, R Robinson, J Powell, I Cosens, J Daldry, H Hughes, A Thompson, Apologies: G King, C Hine. Matters Arising: The matter of Wigan 4ths had been concluded with a report issued by them that cleared things up. It was reported by the Chairman that all the polo tops and jerseys had been delivered and were in the process of distribution. Finance: John Powell showed a copy of the balance sheet to be presented at the AGM. This showed an increase on last season, but he explained that approximately £6000 had still to be paid out for the dinner and trophies etc. In addition the building of the new website would also have to be paid for which would see us well down on last year's figure. He explained that a Bank Statement would be provided at the AGM and at all future meetings. Halbro Finals: The Chairman reported that all seemed to be in order. The programme provided by Phil Isherwood looked good. The matter of placement for the Halbro Caravan was brought up! At the recent Junior Finals at Wigan the Caravan had been put on a pitch and with the weather being wet the ground had churned up a lot. It was suggested that the Chairman contact Phil and suggest that it be situated on some hard standing. The trophies were ready and would be delivered on Friday. The prizes for the raffle had been sorted but we were still waiting to see if a better prize could be obtained from Halbro. The polo shirts for the winners, finalists and referees were still with Halbro, they would bring them on the day. The tankards for the referees will be ready and delivered on Friday. The Chairman was confident that everything was OK. Dinner: It was confirmed that 279 places were taken. There was a possibility that Kendal would take 2 more. It was suggested and agreed on that the trophies would go along the back wall to give space to those diners who would be eating in the Wiseman room but would be coming into the main room for the presentations. A raffle for the Benevolent fund would go ahead as per last year. It was suggested that we use windowed envelopes to ensure money went in them and not beer mats. Andy Thompson volunteered to name and shame anyone trying to evade payment. All the prizes were sorted and the Chairman was informed that seven ladies would be there and all agreed that flowers would be presented to them. Howard Hughes agreed that he was still available to be MC. League Applications: Certain applications were discussed at length by the Committee because of various problems in the past. Voting took place re 3 applications and it was decide that the 3 Clubs in question would be accepted but written to by the Secretary informing them of the decision and the reasons for writing to them. It was decided that a form of "Code of Conduct" will be sent out to all Clubs during the Summer with the requests for payment. This would follow an example provided by Devon last season and would be approved by the Committee before going out. This would have to be signed by the Chairman or Secretary of the Club and returned with the League fees. Failure to sign this would mean non acceptance into the Leagues. The Committee accepted all 21 applications with the above provisos. The Secretary provided a tree of the proposed set-ups for next season. The Divisions Premier to Division 3 were quite straightforward and accepted as a whole but there then commenced quite a lot of discussion re Division 4 and 5's. After some changes the proposed Leagues were all agreed on and the format will be forwarded to Barry Allen for him to commence the fixture set-up for next season. We have ended up with an additional league giving us 13 leagues of 14 teams. The additional league will be Division 4 (South). Website: The Secretary explained to the meeting that because of the heart attack that Barry Allen had suffered, and the inability of anyone else to manage the Website had meant that the Committee had to look at a new Website that others could use. Three Website builders had been interviewed and the presentation of prices and conditions were presented to the Committee. After quite a lot of discussion it was decided to offer the build to "Double 6" upon certain conditions being met. The Secretary would inform all the builders and thank them for their efforts and let "Double 6" know of their success. It was decided that the 3 persons who would be given access to the website along with the builder would be Barry Allen, Reg Robinson and Fred Swarbrick. We would now try to operate the Website on similar lines to the Halbro Colts Website with different inputs from the 3 nominated people but all able to access the others' sections. This would be essential in order that all could do all jobs and would periodically swap jobs. AGM. (Proposals): The Secretary told the meeting that NINE proposals had been put forward for the AGM. All were discussed and recommendations will be put forward at the AGM re the voting. There was also a recommendation that there should be an amendment to one of them. This would have to be agreed on the night by the Proposer and Seconder. It was hoped that all Proposers and Seconders would be there at the AGM to explain their reasons for the Proposal. All 9 proposals were on the website for studying by anyone. A.O.B.: The Chairman put an idea forward that had been forwarded by Dan Baxter of Macclesfield. Dan suggested that playoffs be set up between NOWIRUL Premier Champions, NCA (North and South) and Candy League Merit Champions. This was discussed but it was decided that it would be impracticable as it was too late in the season to get games like that played. All the Committee were against it. There was no other business and the meeting closed at 10.40pm. The next meeting will be the AGM on Monday May 19th 2008 at Tyldesley. Committee meeting at 7.00pm followed by AGM at 8.00pm. R Robinson League Secretary