Cramlington Bowling Club Spring Meeting

Venue The Cramlington Masonic Building

11th March 2026 (18.30 Hrs)

1.0 Introduction
The Meeting was opened at 6.30pm, with the necessary Quorum, (29 members present) by the Chairman welcoming everyone and thanking them for their attendance.
 
2.0 Apologies
There were apologies received from; N.Reeve, I. Nolan

3.0 Bereavements.

During the period under review unfortunately several members had passed away and the thoughts of everyone were directed to the families of Phil Ging, Bill Swan, Colin Bell and Joe Rogerson.

4.0 Minutes of the Previous Meeting.

The Minutes having been previously available to the membership were    formally approved and accepted.

5.0   Matters Arising. 

Several issues arising from the previous minutes were still outstanding   Including; The recording of Travel Expenses, Internal Competitions including the Australian Pairs and the Handicap system all of which are ongoing and to be concluded under the relevant sections of the meeting.  

 6.0 Treasurers Briefing.

 6.1 The Treasurer started his Briefing by stating that the Membership Fees remain unchanged at £50 with the over 80’s still at £25 and Lockers where available £1 from K.Miles.

6.2 He continued by expressing concern as to the present system of collecting and recording of travel monies for away games and the eventual payment of such at the end of season AGM. He proposed and explained for clarity a more efficient method of documentation for recording and deposit of monies collected including the responsibility for such activities. He asked the members for support in the implementation of his proposal for which guidelines shall be issued and placed on the Club Notice Board.  

7.0 Green Opening and Order of Play.

7.1 The Green shall be Opened on the 4^th April (since the meeting this has been agreed with the Council Representatives and joint monthly meetings, where necessary, are to be held with the council in conjunction with reps of Alexandra Park Bowling Club)   

7.2 Direction of play shall be in accordance with previous years, that is North/South (evenings) and East/West (day)

8.0 Team Selection

8.1 Team selection having always been an issue with several members the Committee agreed to further clarify the situation once and for all by explaining that rotation shall always occur for the Monday/Friday fixtures but the evening and Thursday league needs to be more competitive to maintain the Club Standing within these competitions thereby team selection with respect to rotation shall be less.  

9.0 Membership Drive and Beginners Sessions.

9.1 Due to recent resignations and bereavements the Club membership is declining such that it may be difficult in future to maintain our fixture commitments therefore as a Club we need to seek out new members from the community.

9.2 A discussion with the membership present resulted in several proposals to try to achieve our objective of increasing membership through a recruitment drive using Posters, on Social Media and Advertising ourselves on notice boards in local Shops, Clubs and Pubs (with their permission).

10.0 Jumbles and Friendlies.

The afternoon activity of Jumbles is to continue weekly on Tuesday and Wednesday organised by Dave Melling and Trevor Hindmarsh. Hopefully there shall be sufficient involvement to continue, with numbers monitored.

11.0 Internal Competitions.
11.1 The Chairman informed the members that, as they may already know, interest in Internal competitions has declined over the past few years for various reasons. As a result, some competitions might be removed from the curriculum. To prevent this occurring and to generate more interest the format of several of these have been reviewed with David Smith drafting a more fair and equal opportunity to win in the handicap and pairs formats.

11.2 The membership were given an example for discussion with regards to the Club Handicap which generated a lot of interest after which they were encouraged to participate to achieve a healthier and more social competition.

11.3   The new formats for each event are available from David Smith.

12.0 A.O.B.

 12.1 John Harrison raised the issue of post-match events mainly refreshments which of late seemed to be left at times to certain individuals including ‘wash-up’. He reiterated that it should be the responsibility of the first Rink finishing any league game to prepare the refreshments, especially for visiting teams, before clearing their rink.  

12.2 K.Miles raised a point regarding Life and Honorary membership, there was no appetite for change expressed by the members.

13.0 Chairmans Closing Remarks.

 There being no further business the Meeting was closed by the Chairman at 7.45pm after thanking everyone for their attendance and involvement.   

The date of the next meeting which shall be the AGM shall be confirmed later in the year.

Signed :     N. Reeve   Date    24th March 2026

         (Secretary)

Close meeting.12.2