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2024 AGM Summary

By on 5th April 2024 in Committee Meetings, Newsletter, Summer League Reports

For all of the member clubs who were unable to attend the January Annual General Meeting of the Summer League we thought it would only right to share with you the key points raised and the decisions taken at the meeting which was attended by around 30 people representing 18 of our member clubs (35%).

  • The Chairman (Paul Stone) gave his report on the past season and thanked all of the 52 teams who participated in the 2023 season and congratulated all of the League and Competition winners and runners up on their success. He made particular mention of everyone who played who ensured that our league stayed strong despite the many problems we faced with the closure of some venues, the loss of some pitches and the other pressures that following the covid period. Paul thanked all who helped organise their teams and the landlords and stewards of our host pubs and clubs.
  • The financial report was presented and the Treasurer said that the Association had made a small excess of income over expenditure again in 2023 despite the increased cost of trophies primarily because of the need to complete both the 2023 and 2024 engraving costs. He explained that our financial “health” was largely due to the ongoing and generous sponsorship that we received again in 2023 from Thames Cable for which we were extremely grateful. The Association had during late 2023 arranged a transfer of our Banking from Barclays Bank to the Newbury Building Society and explained that this was due to both access to a local branch and the ability to earn interest on our balance, which at the end of 2023 stood at £4860 net of outstanding payments.
  • Fees for 2024 will remain unchanged £45 per team for up to 15 players in the league and £1 for each player entered in any of the competitions. These entry fees have basically unchanged for several years.
  • Competitions will again be held on nominated Sundays (other than the 8’s) with the 5’s, 4’s and 3’s taking place on June 9th and the Pairs, Singles, Captains and Secretaries being held on August 11th.
  • Finals Night will take place on September 18th and Presentation Night will be held on October 18th
    (These dates are all provisional and will need to be confirmed before the start of the season)
  • The season will start on May 1st with the first round of the 8’s Competition with the league fixtures starting on May 8th and completing on September 11th
  • In 2024 we plan, subject to levels of interest, to introduce some additional Competition’s limited to registered players from the lower sections. Initially this will be singles, pairs and possibly a 3’s team competition and the details of the proposals will be available in a few weeks time. Entry fees for these will also be £1 per player.
  • The existing Committee was re-elected en-bloc for 2024 , but they expressed the hope that each section could have a nominated representative (or two) so that all sections can have an input via the Committee to any ideas, suggested changes or problems encountered that their team or other teams within their section experience. These roles would not be Committee positions so no real commitment other than being the “voice and the conscience” of teams in their section.
  • A couple of minor rule changes were proposed and agreed.
    • Firstly with regard to league positions to avoid any play offs at the end of the season any teams level of points gained will have their final, position determined by actual dolls scored.
    • Secondly in Summer Competitions the need for a 3 stick, 1 stick throw off currently for each leg will be changed and will only be required in the event of a tied position at the completion of the 3rd leg.
  • The Committee said that for 2024 we would like to increase the number of teams in the league ideally to 60 which would mean that we could run 6 sections with a full complement of 10 teams ensuring that all steams have the opportunity of 18 games. The problem with the number of byes in the lower sections in 2023 was raised as a concern and everyone agreed that if possible that should be avoided. The Committee asked all present for their help in trying to attract more teams and more players to the league in 2024. Website development was identified as an area for focus and possibly expenditure in 2024 as the site is now several years old and in need of some skilled input and probable improvement.
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2024 League Formation and Competitions

By on 5th April 2024 in Committee Meetings, Competition News, Newsletter, Summer League Reports

Your Association Committee met on Tuesday to decide the makeup of the league sections and to introduce the new Knockout Competitions for the B-F sections as requested by our sponsor, Thames Cable, to encourage the lower sections to take part.

COMPETITIONS

The Competition forms are now available on the home page for both Premier/A and the B-F Sections. These now have an extended deadline to Sunday 19th MAY so get your entries in! 

The 8s Handicap Knockout continues and is a handicap of 2 dolls per section difference – again allowing lower section teams a great chance to win.

Competitions put you under more pressure than a league match so it’s worth taking part to get used to that buzz. 

LEAGUE GROWTH AND FIXTURES

Although we have 55 teams paid we are chasing a couple of teams for their registration forms – the committee will be chasing you this week. You may be aware a couple of venues have closed but the good news is those teams have transferred to other venues – such is the enthusiasm for our wonderful and local game. This is a great uptick from last year’s 52 and it means that the number of byes will be reduced in the sections and, fingers crossed no team drops out like last year.

The fixture list will be finalised and going to the printers at the end of the week so we’ll publish as soon as we can. 

It’s worth reminding all teams that positioning in sections is, as it has been for several years, based on the aggregate score of the top 8 players from the previous season assuming they have registered again for the year. In a few cases some teams and some players did not play in the last season, so where appropriate averages from their last full season has been taken into account. This process means that some teams may find themselves in a higher or lower section this year than last and this is simply because either their average determines that or because their registered players have changed. The handicap system used for the Premier and A Section is based on exactly the same principles and aims to create an achievable win for those teams playing their best.

VENUES MAP -All the new venues have been added to our VENUES MAP.  if yours is missing email support @ abingdonauntsally.com

KEEP IN TOUCH

If you haven’t subscribed to this website please email support@ AbingdonAuntSally.com and we’ll set you up – we no longer support self registration due to the many rogue registration requests we received as a WordPress site target. This is why we encourage you to have strong passwords on your account – just get your browser to save the password and it’s easy to login.

IF YOU HAVE A LOGIN – please check your profile and make sure you have a valid email address registered.

Why not also follow our facebook and X (twitter) pages to make sure you don’t miss out on updates.

NEW Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/OfficialAbingdonAuntSally

@AuntSallyLeague

and don’t forget Aunt Sally TV

 

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Update on 2023 Season Section formation etc

By on 14th April 2023 in Committee Meetings, Competition News, Newsletter, Summer League Reports

Since Registration Night there has been a few additional teams registered bringing the total number of teams registered to 52 an increase of 4 from 2022. Whilst this is great because our prime objective is always to grow both the number of teams and individuals playing our game as possible. 52 represents a not insignificant growth in numbers when you consider the challenges that pubs and clubs and their customers (us!) face in these difficult economic times.

The increase in numbers has, though,   presented us with a dilemma, but in keeping with our desire to have as many teams as possible playing we have decided to add an extra section this season. This means that there will be 10 teams in the Premier/A section and in the B section with 8 teams in Sections C,D,E, and F. This means that instead of 18 matches in these sections there will be only 14 with 4 byes in each.

It’s worth reminding all teams that positioning in sections is, as it has been for several years, based on the aggregate score of the top 8 players from the previous season assuming they have registered again for 2023. In a few cases some teams and some players did not play in 2022, so where appropriate averages from their last full season (2019) has been taken into account. This process means that some teams may find themselves in a higher or lower section this year than last and this is simply because either their average determines that or because their registered players have changed. The handicap system used for the Premier and A section is based on exactly the same principles. 

On the positive side, for those sections with less teams  we have been able to arrange  the sections so that they free up 2 teams from each section each week which will give the opportunity to either arrange friendlies or even an informal “supplementary league” with teams from across 4 sections having the opportunity to play each other. We will have to sort out how best that is organised a bit later, it will probably need to be sorted by the teams affected, but it does give the opportunity for all teams to play 18 games and every week over the season if they want to..

As a result of these considerations the production of the fixtures etc has been slightly delayed, but all of the details will be with you by the end of April. The  league season proper starts on May 10th with the 1st round of the team 8’s knockout handicap competition scheduled for the week earlier May 3rd and the draw for those games will be published on the website and to the respective teams in the next few days.

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Changes and vacancies on the League Committee

By on 16th March 2023 in Committee Meetings, Newsletter

Earlier this week our Chairman, Reg Couch decided to stand down after 4 years in the role. Reg took over as Chairman back in 2019 and before that had held the role of Vice Chairman.

We thank Reg for his past service to the Association in his various capacities. Reg has also  been one of our longest serving players, playing most recently for The Fox at Denchworth in what has been very much a family affair with his wife and son playing alongside him, together with their good friends, Vic and Pauline Pratt.

Unfortunately it looks like Fox B are not going to have sufficient players to form a side this coming season so Reg may be available for “transfer”, at this stage I don’t know whether a fee will be required! No doubt sides based around Grove and Wantage looking for more players could be interested!

Reg’s resignation leaves a gap on the Committee so if anyone is interested and is willing to be co-opted please make contact with any of the Committee formally or informally. It’s not too onerous a job half a dozen or so  Committee meetings over 12 months, support for the Competition days (2), and being present on Finals night and  the Annual Presentation Awards Night at the end of the season.

No money is involved, all Committee roles are entirely voluntary and all decisions made by the Committee are intended to be non controversial and in the best interests of all members of the league and all of  the people who play our game.

As a result of Reg’s resignation Paul Stone has been asked, by the Committee,  to take the Chair for 2023. Paul has accepted that role and we are confident that having Paul back on the Committee and now taking on the role of Chairman will be a real plus for the League going forward.

Once again on behalf of the League our  thanks and best wishes to Reg and a warm welcome to the Chair Paul!

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2023 AGM Update summary

By on 8th February 2023 in Committee Meetings, Newsletter

For those who couldn’t make the recent 2023 Annual general Meeting here is a summary of all of the key points discussed and agreed at the very well attended meeting held at the Croft bar on Monday 23rd January.

  • League entrance fees will increase for 2023 from £40 to £45 per team with up to 15 players registered per team. ( This effectively represents the same cost as pre Covid years when the team registration was £30 plus £1 per registered player)
  • The existing Committee were re-elected with the very welcome additions of  Paul Stone and Anton Wooloff both agreeing to return to the Committee. They are very welcome!!
  • A new (re-instated) position of Honorary President was proposed and agreed of and a suitable incumbent will be nominated and appointed by the Committee
  • The discussion over start times for matches was interesting but the proposal to compromise on our long established start time of 8.30 and the 2022 amended  start time of 8 pm led to an agreement that the 2023 preferred start time will be 8.15 pm 
  • Competitions other than the 8’s will again be held on Sundays as in 2022, but with the 3’s, 4’s and 5’s to be held on one day and the Pairs, Singles, Captains and Secretaries being held on a later date. full details and dates to follow.
  • The season will kick off on Wednesday 3rd of May with the first round of the 8’s and the league proper will start on the following Wednesday, the 10th.
  • The online registration of match cards which worked very well in 2022 will be retained.
  • The option (in the lower section/s) of playing with a minimum of 6 players per side will be retained as an option for 2023 season
  • Registration Night will take place on Monday March 20th at Abingdon Conservative Club for both the league and the Team 8’s Competition. Details will be on the website with registration forms soon 
  • The entry date and for the remaining Competition’s will be agreed and confirmed later.
  •  An effort will be made to recruit and attract more teams and players of all ages and gender for 2023 to enable us to increase our numbers above the 48 teams entered in 2022. We need  to  focus on both former and new pubs and clubs throughout the area and the benefits of having 16+ people spending money in  their bar every Wednesday or every other Wednesday for 18 weeks of the Summer.
  • Thames Cables have kindly agreed to continue as League sponsors for 2023 and have asked that their sponsorship should include some increased  focus (and benefits) on the lower sections.
  • It was proposed that we seek to build on the history of our Association first documented by our founder the late Basil Collins who documented the first 30 years of the Association. So we are seeking a volunteer(s) 

I think that’s about it. It was a very well attended (19 teams represented) meeting with good discussion on a range of topics that impact our game and all of  the teams and people who play it. 

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2023 Annual General Meeting Date correction and change of venue

By on 11th January 2023 in Committee Meetings, Newsletter

The 2023 AGM will be held on MONDAY JANUARY 23rd not as I mistakenly previously posted JANUARY 29th which is, in fact, a Sunday not a Monday as previously stated! I was obviously suffering with the excesses of Christmas and New Year when posting the date last week!

 

There is however a change of venue as Abingdon United can’t host us on a Monday as they have both Darts and Boxing every week utilising both bars at United.

The meeting will now take place at The Croft Bar in Peachcroft commencing at 8pm. There’s plenty of car parking adjacent to the Croft.

 

Any items to be raised at the AGM either for discussion or to  propose changes to the rules will be discussed at the meeting and every club/team registered for the 2022 season is entitled to 1 vote each in the event of any voting necessary on the day.

 

I would remind everyone that through 2022 we had only 4 serving Committee members and that’s just not enough resources  to maintain the league to the standard needed. So any volunteers will be welcomed with open arms, but will be subject to both a nomination and election process on the night.

Full details of the Agenda will be sent to Secretaries and Captains early next week and we really want all 48 teams entered last year to have the opportunity of making their contribution to the way the league is organised and administered going forward.

 

 

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