MINUTES OF A COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON THURSDAY 17th May 2012 AT 7.30 P.M. AT THE BILL WICKHAM PAVILION, BUXTED PARK SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUB

Present: D.E. Barnard (Chairman), Rev. K.C. Jeffery (Hon. Secretary), D. Procter (Hon. Fixture Secretary), C. Bates, V. Prior, J. Saunders, R. Ticehurst and D. White.

29/12 Apologies had been received from A. Hughes, D. Page and M. Smallwood.
30/12 Minutes of the previous meeting held on 1st March 2012 were approved and signed by the chairman.
31/12 Matters arising:
a. Annual Dinner 2012 - Friday 12th October 2012, 7.30-8.00 p.m. at Langney Sports Club. The venue had been booked and a change of menu was proposed.
b. Wet weather arrangements: so far this season there had been very little cricket played because of extremely wet conditions.
The Chairman and Secretary had received a number of requests to permit changes of fixture venue. Such changes, due to weather conditions, were not permitted.
The committee unanimously approved the decision of the ad hoc committee to rule that the Rottingdean v Polegate fixture was cancelled and that the 20/20 game which ensued at another ground was a "friendly" one.
c. Newhaven v TWBCC - an apology had been received from TWBCC for fielding an ineligible player. The committee accepted that this was in no way deliberate, but had no choice but to award the 30 point penalty together with the removal of the 30 points earned in that game.
d. Battle v Crowborough: The umpires had both turned up to this cancelled fixture. There was a clear conflict of reports from the two clubs as to the explanation for failure to inform the officials, and this would be further investigated by the Chairman who would report back.
e. Phil Patrick Memorial Match: This year's Phil Patrick game between Buxted Park and East Sussex Over 40s will be played at Buxted on Monday 4th June at 2.00 pm. Dave Page already had ten players and was working on finding number eleven. Other arrangements were in place for officials and catering.
f. Promotion to S.C.L. from E.S.C.L.: The Chairman reported that the S.C.L. were concerned about how few of our first division clubs were willing to be promoted to their league in the event of coming at the top of the table at the end of the season.
Whilst encouraging them to reach as high a level of cricket as possible, it was agreed that this was entirely a matter for individual clubs to decide and fell outside this league's remit.
32/12 Finance: The current balance was £31,846.73 including affiliation fees and ball order income. SCB subscriptions had now been paid. Roly Baldwin had submitted an invoice for website hosting from 2004.
33/12 Fixtures: Dave Procter confirmed that reporting of results had been exceptionally good so far, though only a limited number of actual games of cricket had been played.
Inter Sport of Lewes Trophy and Plate Competition: rain had affected many of the fixtures but arrangements had been made to play these during the coming weeks. Unfortunately Alfriston CC conceded their game in the first week and would therefore not remain in the competition for 2013. Several clubs had indicated a wish to join the competition and would be given consideration at the end of the season.
Representative Cricket - Round 1 - May 30th versus The Surrey Championship League at Chessington starting at 1.30pm. Visitors would be welcome.
34/12 Umpires' Panel: Jim Saunders reported that he was struggling for umpires currently. There had been instances of umpires turning up for fixtures which had been cancelled but the officials had not been informed for one reason or another. It was agreed that the clubs involved should pay the umpires' fee and this decision would be conveyed to their league contacts.
35/12 Correspondence: The Hon. Secretary had no correspondence to report. The meeting closed at 8.23 p.m. The next meeting would be held on Thursday 14th June 2012.