31/03/2009 - Meeting of the Malaga Provincial Committee

Tuesday 31^st March 2009 @ 10.30am

Santa Maria Bowls Club

Tony Winterton opened the Meeting at 10.35am Present were;-

Murray Johns (MJ) Competition Secretary

Diane Chambers (DC) Secretary

Jackie Wright (JW) Treasurer

Tony Frowd (TF) representative NEC

Charles Ottaway (CO) Belplaya

Ken Mcbride (KM) Benavista

Ken Talbot (KT) Lauro

Clive Thomas (CT) Mijas

Jimmy Chalmers (JC) Santa Maria

Dave Jones (DJ) Superbowl

Geoff Wright (GW) Los Amigos

Also in attendance were Clive Montaut (CM) and Derek Shemmings (DS).

1) The minutes of the Meeting 27^th January had been read and were approved

2) Cutting off our nose to spite our face

TW distributed copies of a letter to the Committee that he had received from Tony Farmer on behalf of the Owner’s Committee following their last meeting. It outlined their reasons against a Joint Committee/ newly formed Committee and DS said bowling and been run successfully by the Owners Committee for many years and did not see any reason for change and CM echoed his agreement.

3) The Way forward

TW explained that alternatives to the Federation were being considered and an explanatory letter would be sent out in due course.

4) Review of the Andalucian Championship

TF, MJ and TW once again re-stated their efforts to persuade Almeria to hold Provincial qualifiers. This would have kept money locally, negated the need for hotel accommodation, travel and subsistence with only the finalists traveling to the final matches. Their reluctance to do do, along with local and economic factors, had seriously affected the numbers prepared to travel.

DS distributed a letter that contained figures outlining the reasons that the ‘February Miraflores Open’ that coincided with the Andalucian dates, had not affected the attendance by Federated members in Malaga.

TW apologized to DS but said Miraflores had never been singled out as the sole reason but, ‘it was one grain of sand too much'.

TW and MJ stated that the future of the Andalucian Championship was to be discussed with Almeria and the suggestion that, the February ‘slot’ allocated should be used for the Qualifying Provincial Championships, would be put to them and the Finals could return to its traditional time in May.

5) Activities for 2009

a)     Provincial Championship @ Santa Maria

MJ confirmed that the draw had been made at Superbowl on 26^th March as circularized. The formatting and rink allocation had been done prior to the draw and all documentation had been witnessed and signed by Pat Fisher. Draw sheets were handed out to Committee members who had bowlers participating.

b)     Tri-Provincial, Mojacar 4/6^th September

MJ stated that the NEC had decided to suspend this for 2009 due to the current economic situation which had resulted in people being reluctant to incur unnecessary expenditure.

c)      National Championships 2009 Sep 8/19^th

MJ restated the venues and confirmed that discussions re: sponsorship were now in the latter stages.

TW stated that, contrary to rumour, Almeria were holding qualifying rounds to determine finalists  but not where numbers were less than four per discipline.

d)     National Kings Cup play off

This was also suspended for 2009 this for the same reasons as in item b) above. 

e)     National Champion of Champion, Singles/Pairs

MJ stated that these competitions would go ahead as planned with the pairs being played first in June. DC raised a question by the Los Amigos ladies pairs about lack of information on accommodation available.

MJ replied that the cut off date for this Competition had been the 23^rd March and he expected to receive all the information required imminently.

f)        Summer League 2009

MJ distributed a leaflet to Committee members outlining the possible teams and preferences of clubs. There were 5 teams indicating a wish to participate in the Monday Triples League and 4 in the King’s Cup. The majority preferred morning games and these would be concluded by the end of July and he hoped to start either 18^th or 25^th May 2009. Of course, with the cancellation of the National King’s club play off, the Federation could once again accept ‘hybrid teams’ made up of Federated members from different clubs. He asked representatives to convey this news back to their members and give him a response by 15^th April. 

g)     Isla Canela (Ayamonte) v Malaga and Almeria Province

MJ stated that there would be 3 games over 2 days and a practice session before the game and this would involve a 2 night stay. The games would take place 27^th/29^th October 2009 and 6 teams of triples would be required. He was asked to circularize a notice to clubs to forward names of Federated members for selection to make up these teams.  

h) Provincial Tournament for December

MJ asked Committee members for suggestions for a replacement for the Malaga Cup. He thought a ‘2 wood’ tournament might be interesting and asked for feedback to be discussed at the next meeting.

6) Coaching

MJ  had received a communication from Ruth Compton, the National coach of the Bowling scheme, who would be available to coach ‘instructors’ in the Malaga district from 28/30^th May inclusive and she would prefer a class of ten people maximum. MJ asked clubs to forward names of people interested in participating and asked for a club that would be prepared to offer the 2 rinks needed for the course.

TF stated that Belplaya would host and GW gave MJ the name of Los Amigos member, Susan Walker, who had expressed an interest. DC, Secretary to the Committee, also stated that she would like to participate.

7) Umpires and Markers Association

MJ stated that he had received Minutes from the World Bowls meeting with a section relating to a 2010 review of the laws being of specific interest. He confirmed the Chairman and Vice chairman of Provincial Umpires Association had been notified and it was intended to direct any proposals the region may have, through the NEC. Other Provinces would be taking a similar course of action.

TW informed the Committee that an enquiry was being held on narrow biased bowls.

8) Duties of Club reps

a) Collect license fees for 2009

b) Control entry sheets for competitions, collect entry fees and advise Committee of entries prior to draw date

c) Check that entrants are Federated members

9) Sponsorship

DC informed the Committee that a company in Fuengirola was prepared to sponsor a Federated tournament.

10) AOB

TW distributed the accounts for the year 2008 to the Committee.

CT asked for clarification of the conditions of the Federation Insurance and MJ suggested that it might be a good idea if all clubs displayed the address and telephone number of the nearest hospital used by the Federation Insurance and closest ‘emergency call out’ service on their notice boards.

JC informed the Committee that this would be his last meeting as the representative for Santa Maria as he was returning to Scotland permanently and TW proposed a vote of thanks to him for his many years promoting bowls on the coast.

TW apologized for the rapidness with which all issues had been dealt but the Committee meeting had to be finished promptly due to Santa Maria’s AGM.  After setting the date of the next meeting for Wednesday 27^th May @ 10.30am, he closed the meeting at 12.30pm and thanked everyone for attending.