AGM Minutes 2021

WEST SQUASH

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2020/21

WEDNESDAY 25^TH AUGUST 2021

ONLINE

2. APOLOGIES

None

3. APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS AGM MINUTES

Proposed by Alan Marshall, seconded by Stewart Hamilton

3. MATTERS ARISING

None

4. APPROVAL OF ANNUAL STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS – APPENDIX 1

• The accounts for 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21 were presented as there had been very little activity since squash was suspended in March 2020 due to Covid19
• The most significant expenditure in 2019/20 had been for coaching, when there had been more demand from clubs
• A grant of £600 had been made to Stirling University in 2019 to encourage coaching
• There was a healthy balance of £22,924 in the bank
• Alan Pearson proposed that clubs should not be charged dues for season 2021-22

Approval of statement proposed by Allan Mowat and seconded by Martin Woods

4. APPROVAL OF AUDITOR & ELECTION OF OFFICE BEARERS AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS

• No auditor appointed due to low turnover
• Steve Graham had resigned as President in 2021 and Martin Woods had taken over on a temporary basis. Martin thanked Steve for his work on behalf of the league.
• The following committee members and office bearers were elected:
  • President: Martin Woods (Proposed – Alan Pearson, Seconded – Allan Mowat)
  • Treasurer: Alan Pearson (Proposed – Martin Woods, Seconded – Alan Marshall)
  • Secretary: Allan Mowat (Proposed – Alan Marshall, Seconded – Alan Pearson)
  • League Convenor: Stewart Hamilton (Proposed – Alan Pearson, Seconded – Martin Woods)
  • Tournament Convenor: Sophia Grant (Proposed – Martin Woods, Seconded – Allan Mowat)
  • Scottish Squash Representative: Alan Marshall (Proposed – Martin Woods, Seconded – Stewart Hamilton)
  • Junior Convenor – Vacant
  • Ordinary Members – Gregory Dudziak (Proposed – Martin Woods, Seconded – Alan Pearson); Bill Stevely (Proposed – Allan Mowat, Seconded – Alan Marshall)

5. HONORARIA

No committee members had received honoraria

6. TEAM FEES

It was approved unanimously that no club dues would be charged for 2020-21

7. CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS

Alan Marshall reported on Scottish Squash activities:

• The organisation of Scottish Squash had been restructured in 2019-20 and the West league had taken over responsibility for the Regional Junior Squads.
• No club dues had been taken during the pandemic and Scottish Squash were currently in discussions to obtain Covid Recovery Support funding from Sport Scotland to allow no fees to be charged in 2021-22.
• Discussions were underway about restructuring the way in which club dues would be calculated. It was possible that larger clubs might be expected to pay a greater share
• The Scottish Open tournament was to be held in Inverness at the end of September and would be live-streamed
• The Scottish Squash AGM would be held on 7^th September

8. PRESIDENT’S REPORT

• Due to the change in President, there was no report

9. CONVENOR REPORTS

League Secretary                                                        Stewart Hamilton

• The 2019-20 season had been terminated due to the Covid19 lockdown with one match left to play for most clubs and the committee had decided to take the league positions as they stood at that time for the purposes of promotion and relegation
• The League winners are listed below
• Season 2021-22 would start on 29^th September
• However as squash had only returned in Scotland on 19^th July 2021, it was unclear how clubs were positioned in terms of teams and players. Therefore all existing clubs had been contacted with a request for this information to be returned by 31^st August, so that the leagues for 2021-22 could be put together.
• Stewart Hamilton and the committee would then decide on the best format for the new season. A flexible approach to league size, team numbers etc would be applied to ensure as many clubs as possible could be included

Tournaments                                                             Sophia Grant

• The last tournament had been the West Closed, held in February 2020
• No tournaments had been programmed yet for 2021-22, but would be scheduled once season had started
• A number of clubs were to hold “Bounceback” tournaments to encourage competitive squash ahead of the new season

Juniors                                                                        Martin Woods

• There were 27 juniors in three West squads at the time of lockdown in 2020, supported financially by the West league
• The West squads had the best overall results of all the regions in the season 2019-20
• There were now 19 juniors in two squads
• Inter-regional tournaments were still to be programmed for 2021-22
• Western had won the Junior League for 2019-20 and it was anticipated this would be restarted in 2021
• There was discussion of the best way of promoting junior squash and it was suggested that a Facebook group of local coaches could be an appropriate way of doing this
• Having taken over as league President, Martin was stepping down as Junior Convenor and would find a replacement
• The meeting congratulated Martin on being named as the Scottish Squash Coach of the Year in 2020

10. PRESENTATION OF TROPHIES AND AWARDS 2019-20

No trophies were presented as the meeting was being held online and this would be done on a future occasion to be scheduled:

11. AOCB

Alan Pearson informed the meeting that a sponsored challenge match between the Al-Shabagi brothers would be held at Hamilton in October, date to be announced

Meeting closed at 8.15pm

Appendix 1 – Statement of Combined Accounts 2018-21