DORSET BADMINTON ASSOCIATION

Minutes of the Dorset Badminton Association Annual General Meeting held at the Marsham Court Hotel Bournemouth on Friday 6th July 2018 at 7.15pm

Present :-Brian Randall (Chairman), Roy Carder, Tim Ashford, Tom Dudley, Alison Riddle, Brian Lockie, Graham Batt, Mike Howcroft, Sarah Ellis, Susan Rose, Louise Fullbrook, Tessa Parham and Brian Dorban.

1. Apologies
Mark Lever, Dale Rhodes, Alan Breakwell, David Marsh, Julie Bliss, Andy Moore

2. Minutes of the last meeting
It was explained that there was no meeting in 2017, because of the inability to produce a set of accounts.This had now been regularised.

3. Secretary’s Report
Roy Carder said that sadly Our President Alan Breakwell, our Dorset League and Under 16 Squad Manager David Marsh, and our Coaching and Dev Officer, Dale Rhodes had all resigned for different reasons. They wer all thanked for there hard work over many years.

Roy Carder reported on matters at Leaf. Also explained how “compete” membership works. He also thanked profusely CCN who have very generously supported us for £4K this year and £2K next year.This will enable new shirts to be produced at no cost to us, and for all players, Junior,Senior and Masters to have one free.

4. Treasurer’s Report
Brian Lockie produced a profit and loss account together with charts showing where income came from and how our expenditure panned out. He and our Auditor, Alison Riddle were going to produce the final balance sheet for the next committee meeting. The accounts showed some £9000 in the bank, a turnover of over £65K and an excess of income over income of some £5k+. Full report attached

5.a. Trophies and proposals for 2018/19
Trophies will be presented at the first training date in Septembers. New proposals for 2018 season attached

5.b. Junior Match report
Tom Ashford felt it was the most successful year for a long time with the U18 and U16’s winning the SW League. Full report attached

5.c. Senior match report
Tom Dudley also had a very successful year with his 3 squads. The 1sts won promotion to Div 1, the 2nds finished 3rd and the 3rds were runners up and could also have won promotion if they had been able to field their normal team for the last weekend.

5.d. Master report
Brian Randall said he still could not find players for some of the younger age groups but Sarah Ellis had entered an Over 40’s side. To find new faces there will be a “get together tournament” for everyone over 40 on Sunday 16th September.

5.e. Coaching and Development
Dale Rhodes has resigned but might have somebody who might step in for us. Dale has had a very busy year and started badminton in 15 schools during the year. The new Community Badminton Coach hopefully will make a difference.

5.f. Badminton England Rep’s report
Russell Clarke explained that he had not been able to attend meetings due to work commitments, but hoped to do better in the future. He also mentioned about his charity which part funds defibrillators.

5.g. Senior Tournament Report
Tom Ashford had run three major Silver and Bronze events and made nearly £2K profit for DBA.

5.h. Junior Tournament Report
Tom had run all the Dorset Tournaments but the non county one was cancelled. Also the early January “odd age group” one had not done so well.

5.i. Dorset League Report
David Marsh sent a report which said the Div 1 winners were Leaf, Div2 Blandford and Div 3 Flukey Feathers. The League night was moving from Thursdays at Harewood to Wednesdays at Leaf. More courts if needed and cheaper.

6. Election of President
In the absence of an obvious candidate this was deferred.

7. Election of Members of Council

  • Chairman: Brian Randall.
  • Secretary: Roy Carder
  • Treasurer: Brian Lockie
  • Junior Secretary: Julie Bliss
  • Badminton England Rep: Russell Clarke
  • Senior Squad Manager: Tom Dudley
  • Senior and Junior Tournament Officer: Tom Ashford
  • Junior Squad Manager: Tom Ashford
  • Masters Coordinator: Brian Randall
  • U12 Manager: Andy Moore
  • U14 Manager: Louise Fullbrook
  • U16 Manager: vacant
  • U18 Manager: Tom Ashford.
  • Dorset League Manager: vacant
  • Development and Schools: vacant
  • Web and Comms: vacant
  • Rep for Affiliated Clubs: Brian Randall
  • Sponsorship Officer: vacant
  • Parent Reps: Mike Howcroft, Carole Donnelly and Louise Fullbrook
  • Child Protection: Margaeet Blinman
  • Auditor: Alison Riddle.

8. Affiliation fees
RC explained that the fees per member if paid online are £10 pp plus the Dorset levy of £5. To this has to be added £12 “compete” membership for all those playing in County Team or individual tournaments run by Badminton England. Clubs can affiliate from 1st August and should complete by end of October.

9. Any other business
Susan Rose from Sherborne enquired about any county training in her area . Basically whilst there are clubs and future community plans, it was felt the standard would not be high enough for her child. She was encouraged to continue to come to Bournemouth on Sundays when possible.

10. Meeting closed at 9.15pm

Dorset Badminton AGM 2017/2018 Tom Ashford Report

Junior Head Coach Report:

Started the season in September strong with well-structured sessions with good preparation. Inclusion of Tom Dudley on a Friday was welcomed and enjoyed working with and producing some good sessions. Good rotation at the start of the season of coaches working on Sundays.

Struggled at the end of the season with lack of support due to other coaches being unavailable with other commitments/circumstances. Some session quality was lost as had to take on other coach’s roles to maintain the running of the programme.

We will be changing a few things next season, most notably, structuring our training sessions to cater for both developing and squad players. The level of ability between the ‘Squad’ and ‘Team’ players has always caused problems with our approach towards the training sessions but we will be set up to engage with more individuals as possible to help improve each player.

Looking forward to an exciting season with a new structure of how our junior programme will look (i.e. Bronze, Silver & Gold groups) with more coaches involved from various backgrounds to bring a new dynamic and fresh feel.

Attached is a document with the most notable changes.

Age group team summary’s:

U12 – Our U12 squad this season has been very well rotated to engage as many players as possible. Those successful in selections have experienced a County Junior Match which will allow them to be more confident if selected again in coming seasons. We came 10th in the shires league but hope that all the players have had some very encouraging experiences. Many thanks to Andy Moore his hard work with the assistance of Grant Murphy nearer the end of the season.

U14 – Our U14 team this season has finished a very respectable 2nd in the South West League this season but more impressively, they have qualified for the Shires League Play-Off’s which is a fantastic achievement. Looming is a tricky match against Yorkshire in the coming weeks which we wish them the best of luck. Many thanks for Louise Fullbrook for her dedication to managing the team.

U16 – The U16 team finished a respectable 16th in the Shires League this season but with a comfortable win over Wiltshire last weekend – They are now the South West League Champions! Great achievement by the talented players involved which has been helped by our strength in depth this season. Major thanks to Dave for all his efforts as he bows out!

Dave’s nominations for Players of the year are Tom Flechon and Daisy Parsons.

U18 – The U18 team was also rotated throughout the season with every player putting a 100% into the team’s victories. We struggled in the Shires League this season but finished a strong 15th but also managed to bring home the South West League Trophy! Great team support this season which has been helped by our successful Friday training sessions. Il give myself a pat on the back.

My nominations for Players of the year are Matt Howcroft and Beth Fry.

For those players who did not collect their medals for the south west league, we will be doing another photo at the first training session where I will be handing the rest out.

Behind the scenes

A big thanks to those individuals that have worked incredibly hard this season to support our Dorset Badminton set-up.

Julie Bliss – Junior Secretary – who spends hours on end chasing payments and paperwork to keep the programme sustainable.

Roy Carder/Brian Randall- General Secretary/Chairman – who have the thankless task of setting up all the hall bookings for matches/training/tournaments this season and have dealt with the major decisions in the interest of the players this season while supporting the coaches.

Carol Donnelly/Mike Howcroft – Parent Representatives – An incredible help on the admin side this season in collecting payments and paperwork and advising and supporting the parents when found in difficult situations.

Brian Lockie – Treasurer – a new help to our Dorset Badminton Association who has done a wonderful job this year in assuring our programme runs to target and having the difficult job of confirming squad payments and match fees.

Notable Junior Performances in Tournaments

  • Jack Moore – U11 National Singles Champion, U13 National Quarter Finalist, Part of B.E Discover Performance Group.
  • Dan Fullbrook – U13 National Singles Semi Finalist, Part of B.E Discover Performance Group.
  • Antonia Fox – Suffolk U15 Bronze Singles Champion
  • Reuben Bodman – U17 Gold Redbridge Singles Semi Finalist, U17 Surrey Gold Singles Finalist. Played in Belgium, Germany and Slovenia.
  • Tom Flechon – South West Badminton Championships U16 Boys Singles Champion and Doubles finalist.
  • Matt Howcroft – Dorset Senior Bronze Mixed Champion.
  • Ben Jarvis – Devon Senior Bronze Singles Semi Finalist and undefeated in County matches this season.

Junior/Senior Tournament Report

Tournaments run by Dorset Badminton Association that were run at LEAF this season made a profit of £1825.26. This figure does not include fees, shuttles and organisation.

On top of that, Dorset Badminton receives 75 dozen AS20’s which has previously contributed towards the running of these events. However, we have only used 25 dozen to aid the running of tournaments this season. The remaining 50 dozen (totalling around £900) are either used towards other ventures or sold.

All tournaments ran well but had some minor issues (Timings, Bookings, Cleanliness of venue, Site Staff, Breaking refreshments equipment) but nothing major.

Our Senior events produced the biggest numbers in terms of profit with the juniors being well attended and having good feedback from attendees.

I believe sensible profits were made from selling refreshments and food. Thanks to the Howcroft family for supporting on most occasions.

Many thanks to Andrew Williams, Jacob Brewer, Andrew Lands, Adam Dochniak, Nicky Hollamby, Nicole Howcroft, Matt Howcroft, Mike Howcroft and Linda Murray for support on the days.

Feedback from player’s parents (from outside the county):

‘The on-site Yonex service was a good touch you don’t see at many other tournaments, the day seemed to run smoothly enough and your P.A system was good compared to some so we could hear what you were saying.’

‘The tournament was well organised and you did a great job alone :-). Very impressed.

Thanks for the opportunity for my daughter to play in the tournament.’

‘You organised an excellent day.
Form your welcoming email, to resolving on court dispute you, you managed to hit absolutely the right tone. We look forward to supporting other events which you hold in the future.’