MINUTES OF A COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON THURSDAY 29th OCTOBER 2008 AT 7.45 P.M. AT THE BILL WICKHAM PAVILION, BUXTED PARK SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUB

Present: D.E. Barnard (Chairman), Rev. K.C. Jeffery (Hon. Secretary), P. Patrick (President), C. Bates, A. Hughes, V. Prior, D. Procter (Hon. Fixture Secretary), J. Saunders and S. Vidler.

85/08 Lewes Priory C.C. - After considering the points that had been raised on behalf of Lewes Priory C.C. by Michael Murray and James Beattie at an earlier meeting it was nevertheless agreed unanimously to uphold the committee's original decision.
86/08 Apologies for absence were received from M. Smallwood (Hon. Treasurer) and M. Bonsor. J. Young was also not present.
87/08 Minutes of the previous meeting held on 11th September 2008 were approved and, after slight adjustments to the entry under "Over 40s", signed by the chairman.
88/08 Matters arising:
Annual Dinner - it was reported that the dinner had been a great success. Mike Lovesay was thanked for his supervision of the gathering-in of the trophies, and Vic Prior and Dave Procter for their part in raising £495 in the raffle, for which Steve Vidler had earlier accumulated the excellent prizes.
Cricket Balls - the Hon. Secretary had raised with John Newsome the matter of variation of colour which had been reported on some individual balls. He had subsequently undertaken to ensure that our allocation of balls for 2009 would be as free of this blemish as possible.
AGM arrangements: The Chairman had received the resignation of Mike Bonsor from the committee because of the difficulty he had encountered in attending meetings. Mervyn Jones would not be available to inspect the league accounts in 2009 and so a new appointment would be required. The Chairman had not yet been successful in finding a replacement but would approach another potential candidate.
The accounts, which had been inspected by Mervyn Jones, were approved by the committee, and signed by the Chairman, for presentation to the A.G.M. in November.
It was reported that Dicker 2nd XI would be withdrawing from the league in 2009.
With Hadlow Down & Moulsecoomb Wanderers C.C. (1 team), Forest Row C.C. (2 teams), and Waldron C.C. (1 team) as possible future members of the League, and additional XIs from Blackboys CC, Bells Yew Green CC and Heathfield Park CC and Uckfield Anderida, there was every possibility that the league would have 121 teams playing in 2009, compared to 114 teams in 2008.
Results secretary: The Chairman would speak to Nick Clarke before the A.G.M.
89/08 InterSport of Lewes Trophy & Plate 2008-9: Both of the finals had been most enjoyable events, won by Rottingdean CC and Ringmer CC respectively.
It was agreed to add Alfriston C.C., Iden C.C. and Laughton C.C. to the competition in 2009. Assuming that all of the eligible participants in the 2008 wished to continue that would means that the following clubs would take part in 2009: Alfriston C.C., Bells Yew Green C.C., Crowhurst Park C.C., Ditchling C.C., East Dean & Friston C.C., Firle C.C., Fletching C.C., Heathfield Park C.C., Herstmonceux C.C., Iden C.C., Laughton C.C., Lewes St Michael's C.C., Ringmer C.C., Rottingdean C.C., Rye C.C., and St Peter's C.C.
It was agreed that next year, in addition to the eleven shields awarded to the winning team, there would be one shield for the runners-up to hang in their clubhouse.
It was also agreed that the league would meet the cost of teas for both finals in 2009.
90/08 Finance: the Hon. Treasurer reported the following: C/A and Savings Account combined £9,710.17 credit. The treasurer was not recommending any change to the league affiliation fee for 2009.
91/08 Disciplinary Issues: the Hon. Secretary was asked to write to the club concerned in response to a letter earlier received regarding the over-bowling of a young player.
92/08 Trophies: a report from Mike Lovesay on the state of the league's cups, trophies and shields for division winners was discussed. It was clear that there were some missing entries which would need to be engraved to ensure continuity of dates. In order to facilitate this process Chris Bates offered to receive the cups, trophies and shields back from the clubs at the beginning of August 2009 and to undertake the necessary engraving. The Hon. Secretary would email each winning club to ask them not to add their names for the 2008 season and to return their trophy by 1st August 2009 to Chris Bates.
93/08 Fixtures: Dave Procter reported that he had already received some requests from clubs with regard to 2009 when the club would prefer a specific home or away fixture. Whilst endeavouring to do his best to accommodate reasonable requests, he would not be able to guarantee supplying the desired preference. The open league structure we were operating under made this extremely difficult and sometimes quite impossible.
Rottingdean C.C. were confident that their 3rd XI would be strong enough in 2009 to honour their fixtures. He had not heard from Tunbridge Wells Borderers C.C. about their 3rd XI and assumed that they, too, were confident that their 3rd XI would be strong enough in 2009 to honour even their early season fixtures.
94/08 Representative Cricket & Over 40s: Dave Procter reported that the Over 40s had lost against Linden Park C.C. and Tenterden C.C.
95/08 Umpires' Panel: Phil Patrick reported on a recent meeting of Eastbourne Umpires. They had expressed concern about the length of time taken to bowl overs in the ESCL; time wasted in field placements; and spare ball availability. These matters would be raised at the AGM.
Jim Saunders reported that the Eastbourne local association had had no prospective candidates for a recent umpires' training course. They would be having another go in February.
It was agreed that in the 2009 season club umpires would not be permitted to stand in any league fixtures in the top two divisions.
96/08 Correspondence: there was none which had not already been dealt with.
97/08 The meeting closed at 9.45 p.m.
98/08 The next meeting was scheduled for Thursday 11th December 2008.