Octopus Cricket Club

Affiliated to C.C.C Founded 1947 Colours Green & Black Ground St Aloysius’ Sports Ground, N6 5TX

Octopus Cricket Club AGM 15/10/2010

At The Brill, Kings Cross

The meeting opened at 19:44 – after been waiting for the stragglers.

1. Present

A James (AJ - Chairman); S Satterly (SS – Treasurer); H Joshi (HJ – Captain); S Ogilvie (SO – Fixtures Secretary); I Hill (IH – Secretary); P Hayward (PH – Press & Records); S Ingram (SI – PR & Coms); S Reid (SR); W Hodge (WH); M Hindle (MH); A Winter (AW); G Marsh (GM); Gopi Ketineni (GK); Joe Smith (JS)

Apologies

H Molson, S Molson (Joint-Presidents);S Knowles; M Lamplough (travel cock-up[?!]);

R Bisht

2. The minutes of the previous meeting.

These had been circulated previously via OctyMessage™ to save time, effort and the tedium of listening to the Secretary’s voice

They were agreed, and in the time honoured tradition signed as such by the chairman

3. Matters arising.

Thanks for The Idiot’s Guide To Teas on the website.

4. Secretary’s Report

…was as brief and well received as in the previous few years.

Did include the addition of the Secretary’s resignation (his final official act to be to create these minutes)

The outgoing secretary was enjoined to attend a home game this year; Tex Avery’s Hoopers fixture was recommended.

5. Captain’s Report

(The captain resorted to hand-written notes. If he used electronic ones they could be imported directly to this document to save the new secretary some typing)

Welcome to everyone (esp. Gopi)
It was a privilege to lead a team, now really a squad of increasing strength (note – 37 players used throughout the season)
Thanks to SO, AW, PH and MH for the people they brought into the squad
It was a year of progression in :-

Number of games played
Number of games won…
…especially tight games (fewer collapses/more belief)
[A note nicked from the trophies section; the fielding was good this year – an improvement on last year’s]

It was a year of all round contributions:-

AW & PH getting good runs
GK more games and runs (and a steadying influence)
MH’s prolific contribution for a newcomer
WH for his progress as a bowler (when he had been considered a batsman)
Welcome back to JS from the limbo of HOB

The only regret was the Menorca tour

Not the tour, just the results of the cricket
It doesn’t matter what the result is, but we should have given a better account of ourselves
This is an opportunity for us to drink as much as we can [girls and drugs got mentioned here as well, but it’s possibly best to draw a veil over that] but we still need to show more on the pitch

A discussion of subs took place. Subs summary appears under the Treasurer’s report

6. Treasurers Report

The bottom line is that the club is carrying approx £965 into next year
The cash statement circulated showed that we still hadn’t been invoiced for the pitch (there may be circumstances which will allow us to negotiate a reduction in this), and the CCC and trophy costs are estimated
This is about £200 down on last year; partly this is due to the cost of caps, partly because of the collection of Subs (which, where missing, have been treated as a 100% loss which may not be the final position)
<In the first aside of the Treasurer’s report PH vouchsafes that he loves the circulated Treasurer’s report>
As this is the 21^st Century can we pay subs by bank transfer where possible
Lloyds online banking is proving aggravating; the Treasurer was given approval to investigate moving the account
He will also look into the possibility of a better deal on the insurance
The proposal is to leave subs at the current rates:-

Annual subs £40
Match subs £8

The question of what to do about subs was discussed

What to do with people who hit the requisite number of games to play annual subs?
It was suggested that for new players a “welcome to Octopus” flyer was given/mailed to them stating what we’re all about
AW suggested (and it was agreed as a good idea) that we award an Octopus cap after 5 games after which point people become liable for annual subs
The collection of match subs
SS would like whoever collects subs to send him an e-mail (on the Monday afterwards) of who played/paid and he would chase up as necessary
PH claimed to really enjoy “the anal admin stuff” and volunteered to collect subs when present
Nets
For last season, these will be charged retrospectively
Going forward, £1 per person per session. Collection and attendance to be reported to SS by e-mail as per match subs

PH proposed a vote of thanks. Then money came flying in (hopefully lots of it)
AW proposed that the Treasurer’s Report be accepted and AJ signed it (in accordance with the time honoured tradition)

7. Fixtures Secretary Report

“Lots of games played”
“Only a few last minute pick-ups” (Generally a good standard)
There was a debate over who to play, which ended with a general desire to replicate the fixture list as closely as possible with maybe a couple of exceptions
As last year, SO said “One more year”. WH volunteered to be Fixture Secretary assistant (this was not the word used)
20:20 games were discussed, and it was felt that these were best for evenngs, not for Sunday game replacements
A “Last man standing” competition was also discussed
Tour proposals:-

To meet HOBs halfway (say at Oxford – the possibility of the Dragon Scholl pitch was raised [WH])
To go to Menorca again (late May bank holiday) and to give them a proper game this time. There was interest from 11 around the table; it was felt that taing a squad rather than a team would be god. PH will chase early flight bookings for the best price for early adopters.

8a. Press & Record Officer’s Report

PH thanked to GM & MH in particular for their scoring efforts, especially for (as requested last year) getting balls faced into the scorebook
As a comment, it was noted how the team has gone from playing 9 games in 2006 to 22 in 2010. The secretary suspects that PH’s joy in this is down to the extra quantity of stats coming PH’s way
There was more of that applause stuff and copious thanks for the magnificent four-colour, multi-faceted, “even more than all you ever wanted to know” style stats sheets

8b. PR & Communications Officer Report

SI said if the website was good it was down to the weekly torrent of stats he gets (The secretary thinks that ignores the excellent pictures on there)
Official Octopus supporter t-shirts were produced for those team members with new supporters (ie children)
It was noted that the site might have a malware problem
It was suggested that a player profile page might be good (AW offered assistance), but only if there were sufficient profiles, they were reasonably up-to-date and not too full of character assassination
Likewise, it would be good to have all-time club records on the site
Again a vote of thanks was taken for the website; it was noted that the site got lots of favourable comment (and some fixtures) from Octopus members and opposition alike

9. Election of Officers

A fairly quiet election session:-

· Joint Presidents: Steve Molson and Helen Molson

· Chairman: AJ

· Secretary: IH stepped down to be replaced by PH

· Treasurer: SS

· Fixtures Secretary: SO – last season (again); this is to be trainee year for WH

· Captain: HJ

· Vice Captain: AW and SO

· Press & Records Officer: PH

· PR & Communications Officer: SI

10. Playing Awards

Batting

Proposed HJ, PH, AW, (Special mention Joe Reid, GK)
Winner HJ

Bowling.

Proposed WH, SR, MH
Winner WH

Fielding.

Proposed AW,MH,SO (and a special mention for HJ’s two direct hit run outs)
Winner AW

Players Player of the Year (Secret ballot)

Many were proposed.
Winner GK (to rapturous applause)

The Jack Younie trophy (Clubman of the Year).

Proposed (unopposed) jointly to WH, PH,SR
Winner As above

Duck Trophy (Stats)

SR “champions lead from the front” - won for the first two innings of the season. Peter Hilton equalised with a GD on the last ball of the season, but was denied the joint-trophyness due to lack of subs paying.

The Captains Cup (For New or Emerging Talent)

HJ was pleased to announce that for his dedication and bowling accuracy it was to be MH

Presentations a of the trophies will be done after they are engraved at another Octopus evening get-together

11. Any Other Business (Advised pre meeting)

Vice Captain

Captain of the team will be HJ, then one of the VCs, then the senior member of the team. SS suggests that others who show willing should be given the opportunity
HJ said on the tour he would captain the first game and would appoint a captain for the second
AW commented that new captains needed as much assistance as possible and was grateful for that assistance he had received.

Outgoing Secretary

IH was awarded his club cap
…and made an honorary life Vice president (which is nice)

Club Kit

Tops etc; leave it to HJ. If the logo is forthcoming (with a slight change on the date) he can also see about getting more caps mase up.
SS said Gopi, Joe and Matt Dempsey were due their cap for the first game of the season
Regarding the lost wicket keeping gear, HJ will look into the this (and match balls). WH offered to donate wicky gloves and pads (and I seem to think that SS [or someone] mentioned inners as well)

The meeting was closed at 22:10 with an injunction that we meet pre-Christmas (at the Brill, hopefully) for the awarding of trophies. And possibly some drinking

A vote of thanks was made to HJ for the excellent venue.