OPENMEETING6 June 2010,1100 NOTESof DISCUSSION Secretary John Brown opened the meeting in the absenceof the President, Stephen Hinds. He apologised for there being no curling as part of the day’s programme as well as stating that he had tried to secure a game against some top Kurling exponents but there was insufficient set-up time. Jeremy Hartley who was leading on the curling in Solihull was also welcomed.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS SOLIHULL •
Jeremy Hartley gave the first update – born in Canada and has been in the UK for 7 years and has always been really interested in Curling. He wanted to find some curling facilities in Birmingham / West Midlands area so called the appropriate ice rinks. Solihull said yes so they had their first meeting and then organised a Come& Try event on 23 May. 100people were booked in advance with it being a first time for the majority. The feedback was phenomenal with 100%of attendeeswanting to try curling again in whatever format available. More Come& Try events are also planned with the University of Warwick wanting to establish a Men’s’ Club. 80%of people would commit to a team with the same amount of attendeesthinking that the facilities were good and that the coacheswere excellent.
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John Brown added that all the Solihull ice rink staff were involved too and that the ECAwere committed to providing support for Solihull.
DURHAM •
Contact was established with Durham just over a year ago with the opportunity of short curling (outside) between mid February and April on Monday mornings. An excellent relationship with local schools has been established. An Open Day was held with support from Glendale and Borders development and 5 teams entered. There was TV coverage and the overall publicity was good. Still working closely with the rink to ensure curling is established in Durham. A big thank you to all those who were involved.
SHEFFIELD • Sheffield continue with their Monday sessions with half weight stones. They have held a schools event and hopefully they will be persuaded to go on to full weight stones. Although Lynn Robertson (RCCC)is on holiday at the moment, a day’s coaching session will be organised with people from Solihull to be involved as well.
KENT •
Kent are running their own leaguesas opposed to the SECC.The Juniors are making good progress particularly the girls under the coaching of Iain Baxter. Ernest Fenton has also been looking at sessions for U-12sand has held a couple of Come& Try events at the end of March. Hopefully there will be a Junior Men’s team next season. There are also discussions about holding a Novice league on a Monday next season.
FINANCIAL SITUATION OF THE ECA • A small deficit of £343.01exists which means that the Association is running “very closeto the wire”. The • • •
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subscription level has increased despite losing some members. Regalia is costly but this season we have only had to buy pennants. Next season pins and gold pins will have to be purchased. The Secretary asked those present what they would like to spend DAP funding on in the forthcoming season. He then went through what DAPfunding had been spent on this season Adam Bermange (AB) asked about the video equipment which the clubs had been asked to pay for. John Brown (JMLB) explained that the WCFdoesnot contribute to hardware which is why the Clubs were asked to contribute. This hardware is available for any club to borrow and we are currently looking at sourcing appropriate software Andrew Reed(AR) asked if DAPfunding could be used for coaches’ expenses– YES AB asked if it could be used for team training – YES Steve Scanlan(SS)asked if there could be further development for coachesat Fuessen– YES JMLBraised the point that someoneis needed to drive forward coaching across the country as currently we have no certificates and no records. JMLBwill talk to Lynn Robertson some more but in the meantime Debbie Hutcheon stepped forward to co-ordinate all coaching activity and the ECAwill secure DAP funding to help with this JamesHustler (JH) requested that a Draw Shot Measure be purchased
CONSTITUT I O NAL CHANGE •
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AB ran through his proposal (the de-coupling of the ECAfee from Associate members) and the background issuesassociated with it. He outlined the benefits. JamesDixon (JD) stated that he understood the position of the SECCbut that the proposal was giving clubs the opportunity of opting out of the ECAall together – eg: the majority of Glendale members could becomeAssociate members if it were offered. JMLBstated that he was not in favour of the change at all as the rule doesnot make sense. SSstated that it was a clash of situations – a rule change as well as the drive for membership AR stated that the proposal did not make financial sense John Sharp (JS) said that he was not in favour either as the rink’s work would be being done to the detriment of the ECA. JH said that it was up to each club to offer a discount so that the ECAdoesnot lose out financially in the first year. Having heard all the discussion, the proposal will be voted on at the AGM.
WCF ELIGIB IL I TY RULE •
JMLBstated that this rule was passed unanimously in Cortina. He outlined the old rule. He also stated that the ECAneeded to be wary of the new rule going forward as there is no clue currently as to how stringent the WCFwill be in its application.
COMPETI T I O NS • JMLBexplained that Phil Barton could not be present today so he would be delivering the report on •
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his behalf. The Inter Club has been very difficult to organise in recent years due to the timing being at the end of October and then having to arrange a team to represent the ECAin the Province Champs. He raised the question as to whether or not it was effective to send a club team and, given that there was no mini-tour next season, should a national team not be our representative? The proposal was made not to scrap the Inter Club but to increaseflexibility of players by holding the competition at a different time of year and not to have it linked to the Provincial Championships. The proposal was also to nominate one club for this year and then rotate between clubs. The proposal to go to the main AGM was that the SECCwould represent the ECAthis year.
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The timing of the Mixed and Senior Championships was discussed and JMLBoutlined the key issues. He ran through a possible timetable which pushed a lot of the competitions to the end of the season. JMLBalso outlined the advantagesand disadvantages with the decision to he made at the Council meeting. AB asked if the Inter-Club next season could coincide with the AGM. The possibility of this would be costed. JMLBsaid that the 4 Nations would run from the Friday evening with 9 sessions and 27 gamesin total – 2 sessions Friday; 4 Saturday and 3 on the Sunday.
AOB • Michael Sutherland (DMS) asked about Stephen Hinds. • JSasked for a vote of thanks to go to SSfor his work on both the website and the newsletter. The website is receiving more than 500legitimate hits per week with the newsletter becoming even more important given that the Scottish Curler no longer exists The Open Meeting closed at 12.55