MINUTES 9th JANUARY 2026

ABC COMMITTEE MEETING Friday 9th January 2026

Present: Gary Baker (Chair), Trevor Dyson, Simon Biddolph, Karen Dyson, Peter Lord, Len Adams, Haydn Preece, and Vera McGee.

 

1.        APOLOGIES: Lynn Roberti and Brian Kneale.

 

2.        MINUTES: The minutes of previous meeting 28th November 2025 were approved and signed by the Chair.

 

3.        MATTERS ARISING and ONGOING ACTION POINTS

·      from the previous committee meeting: KD pointed out her surname was spelt incorrectly on website minutes: this has been amended.

·      25.11.28-3          Defibrillator & CPR training: Declan Barry will host a session for £50; VM & SB to liaise with organiser and arrange date, venue, and publicity for the session.

·      25.11.28-7          GB to arrange appointment of a head Coach

 

4.        SECRETARY’S REPORT (SB)

·      Mixed Team Captains had their meeting in early December and squads were determined for the 2026 season.

·      Communications were received concerning Wednesday evening mixed bowling in the Aughton Bowling League and the Formby League. After discussion, it was agreed by the committee to not pursue this for the 2026 season for either league, but to create a team in the Formby League for the 2027 season.

·      Subscriptions for the 2026 season were confirmed as remaining at £90 for playing members and £20 for social/non-playing members.

 

5.        TREASURER’S REPORT (TD) A quiet month.

·      Ladies’ Xmas Social raised £107 for Queenscourt Hospice on behalf of Jean Johnson.

 

6.        GREEN MANAGER’S REPORT: (HP)

·      Winter mowing is absolutely essential but our current specialised mower for spring/summer/autumn will quickly become degraded if used on moist and detritus-laden winter greens; TD and HP to look at future purchase of a specific winter mower.

·      Mike Bond has been mowing in the close season to date and the committee expressed their gratitude to him.

·      Andrew Church will be applying feed and HP will seed any patches if his health permits him to do so going forward; if not, the Wednesday morning maintenance team will be asked to assist HP.

·      There will be no bowling until the green opens in March; this may change for the 2026/2027 winter season.

·      Weather permitting, the green will open 1pm Saturday 21st March

 

7.        SAFEGUARDING & COACHING

 

Safeguarding: no items for discussion.

 

Coaching:

·      GB has approached John Clark with a view to JC arranging an Improvers’ session(s) for current members: this must be done in presence of GB or HP as the coaches with the necessary insurance cover.

·      GB to establish a coaching team going forward:

John Clark – Skills development

Sanny McCarter – Head Coach Advisor

Gary Baker/Haydn Preece/Bob Fairhurst – Level 1 coaches

Trish Biddolph – Coaching assistant and Level 1 trainee

Vera McGee – Coaching administration

·      Flyers and advertising for the March/April coaching sessions for the public will be distributed in February

 

8.        COMPETITIONS (SB/GB)

 

Champion of Champions April 25th 2026

·      Ann Lowe and Bill Makin to be asked to be the internal nominations as Ladies and Men’s Club champions.

·      SB to scope the purchase of a BBQ for this and subsequent internal & external

·      On the day organisers: PL & SB (BBQ), Raffle (HP), Drinks (TBC), Tea & Coffee/Cakes/Sandwiches (KD)

Internal Competitions 2026

·      SB and KD brought a provisional calendar of competitions which was approved by the committee.  LA added Sunday 2nd August as the ‘President’s Day’ event.

·      The committee approved the re-naming of the prestigious Merit Trophy as the ‘Eddie Tennant Merit Trophy’ in honour of his long service to the club (this will be a 31up no handicap merit competition for men to mirror the Ladies Tennant Trophy 21up no handicap merit). The trophy will be re-engraved to mirror the changes.

 

 

9.        GENERAL BUSINESS

 

Club Calendar

·      approved by committee for 2026 and details to be distributed in website and in club diary etc by SB

Insurance

·      Paid in December 2025 for January 1st to 31st December 2026

·      As from January 1st, there are no lower or upper age limits, so every member is now covered.

Premises sale of alcohol

·      In the light of information received to date, options of Temporary Event Notices or a Club Premises Certificate were discussed, as well as implications for current arrangements etc..  GB will discuss the situation with Andy Barlow in the main club and report back at the next committee meeting.

Project Comfort

·      In the light of comments made by members and visitors alike concerning the current state of the toilet block, a grant application was submitted in September 2025 to Sports England: recent notification informs us that a we have been awarded a conditional £3750 towards the final £7000 cost  if we can raise £3750 via crowdfunder.co.uk, as we did with the floodlight fund.  TD will explore options for proceeding.

Britain in Bloom

·      HP to approach John Quinn about a ‘Tea composter’ for our grass cuttings etc..

 

10.  AOB – none

 

 

DATE of NEXT MEETING:  Skittles Lounge 345pm Friday 6th February 2026

 

Signed as a true & correct record ………………………………………………….  Chair    Date………………….