AGM Minutes

Garway Croquet Club

Notes / Actions from the Annual General Meeting, 20th November 2025, Garway Moon

Present:

Lesley Whistance (Hon President)                 William Braid

Jim Martin (outgoing Chairman)                     Bryan Gidley

Mark Oldale (outgoing Secretary)                  John Bothamley

Steve Morgan (outgoing Treasurer)               Alan Colman

Apologies:

            Simon Collinson                                              Andrew Bailey

            Rachel Collinson

The following notes were recorded by the Secretary (numbering consistent with Agenda items).

1.    Apologies for absence were noted and are detailed above. The Secretary thanked those present for showing their support to the Club.

2.    The Secretary (MO) welcomed those present and opened the meeting. He reminded attendees that the AGM is a formal meeting required by the Club’s constitution and that it affords an opportunity for reflection on the past season, a time to assess the status quo and the moment to ensure that the Club is best structured for the following year. It is also the opportunity for Members to provide feedback and to propose changes.

3.    The Secretary noted the actions from the previous AGM, notably:

i)          to increase awareness of the Club, membership of the Club and evening croquet sessions, particularly in the local community. MO noted that the Club can now be followed on Facebook and Instagram and that there were good followings on both, particularly from other Clubs.

ii)         further “bridge-building” with the longer-standing Club members. MO noted the engagement from longer-standing members in lawn maintenance work and their expressed gratitude for the quality of the lawn and equipment.

iii)        to evolve the golf croquet section to the adoption of CqE’s formal rules.  Bryan Gidley reported that this was happening through coaching on Friday evenings.

iv)        to have trophies for all Club competitions. MO reported that the number of trophies had been increased and was greater than the number of competitions played during the year.

v)         to introduce a new AC handicap 6 hoop competition. MO reported that this had been done and had been moderately successful.

vi)        to produce at the start of the playing season a schedule of proposed events and competitions and seek individual managers for each. MO noted that this had been done but that there had been a notable unwillingness from the membership to take on any of these responsibilities.

vii)       to reschedule the Shorney Cup to an earlier date, no later than the end of September. MO noted that the Shorney Cup one day event was not held for two reasons: no manager and the involvement of players in the final stages of a regional competition.

viii)      Team Captains to review their ability to field Club teams during 2025. MO reported that just a single team had been entered in regional competition.

ix)        to remove all equipment from the phone box until the start of the next season. MO reported that this had been done and would be done again this year.

x)         to have greater contact and engagement with the Parish Council. JM and LW reported that this was happening and that the PC was very supportive of the Club. They also noted that club member Simon Collinson had very recently been elected to the PC.

xi)        to introduce a far country membership category. MO noted that this was now in place.

 He noted the good progress on the majority of actions.

4.    The Annual Report was tabled. In presenting the report, the Secretary stated his belief that the Club had continued to develop in its third year of existence, but faced some challenges. He highlighted the following:

•     Membership stands at 36, broadly similar to the previous year. The number of AC members has, however, fallen.

•     Club roll up sessions taking place on Thursday and Friday evenings covering social croquet and golf croquet. In particular, the GC session continues to be very successful and has  attracted new members. Indeed, it is so popular that there is a concern it could become over-subscribed. (A proposal to address this was discussed later in the Agenda.) Unfortunately, attendance at the Monday evening AC coaching/playing session was poor which led to it being discontinued.

•     A number of competitions and events held during the year. The Spring one-day event was successful and attracted 6 players. Two AC competitions were run during the year, the 6 hoop competition proving to be markedly more popular that the 12 hoop competition. A number of other competitions were not run due to difficulty in finding managers to run them.

•     The Club continuing to benefit from affiliation to Croquet England.

•     The success of the Club’s team in winning the Federation Shield, a regional inter-club competition run by the South West Federation of Croquet Clubs. However, the captain has stood down and there is no one willing to volunteer to captain the team in 2026.

•     Success achieved by members in Open competitions.

•     The quality of the lawn, maintained over the course of the playing season, despite the challenges thrown at it from both the 6 month drought and from damage (intentional and accidental) from vehicles being driven on it. The standard and durability of the playing surface throughout the summer has been envied by other Clubs and was testament to the hard work of members through spring maintenance, damage repair, regular mowing and the irrigation initiative.

•     Acquisition of further quality playing equipment.

•     The continued success of the village telephone box as a practical and convenient equipment storage location.

He emphasised the challenges requiring attention:

•     Encouraging members to take on club responsibilities, including team captaincy and managing events and competitions.

•     The drop-off in AC membership and lack of support to club competitions.

•     Increasing game time on the lawn as recompense for the time and effort invested in its preparation and presentation (a repeat challenge from 2024).

•     Dealing with the over-subscription on Friday evening GC sessions.

•     Re-launching the Monday evening AC roll-up sessions.

•     Protecting the lawn from vehicle ingress and damage.

The Secretary invited comments and questions which yielded the following suggestions:

i)    Emphasising that individuals taking on club responsibilities will not be left alone to fulfil the duty but will be supported by others, perhaps even doubling up.

ii)   Consider use of a WhatsApp group and identification of a coordinator to boost a Monday evening AC session.

iii)  Consider submitting articles to the Parish magazine.

iv)  Acquire an additional set of both primary and secondary match balls for club matches.

v)   Carry out a stock take of playing equipment.

In closing, he empahasised the Committee’s special thanks to:

Bryan Gidley for his time and effort in managing the mowing of the Lawn.

Jamie Manning for the generous loan of his equipment for lawn maintenance and repair.

Simon Collinson for arranging and delivering water irrigation during the drought and for undertaking rolling of the Lawn.

Graham and Jeannie Bevan for the loan of a lawn scarifier.

Alan Colman for improvements to the Telephone box equipment storage location.

Jim Martin for his continued enthusiastic support to Friday evening Golf Croquet.

The U3 rock band for their pre-season fund-raising bash and Julie Martin for managing the associated raffle.

Brent Watkins and William Braid for making available their private lawns for Club competition play.

Simon Collinson for his captaincy of the successful Federation team.

Rachel Collinson for managing the Spring tournament.

Rachel and Simon Collinson for the provision of refreshments at Club events.

Sarah Hayes for the extremely generous donation of a set of match balls.

Jim Martin for the donation of a set of session balls.

Sarah Hayes for her guidance and advice throughout the year.

Those Members who contributed to pre-season lawn maintenance and subsequent damage repair work.

The Garway Moon for making available their “facilities” during Club home matches.

The Garway Parish Council for their continuing support to croquet on the Common.

The report was accepted by the meeting.

5.    The Treasurer presented the Financial Report.  He noted an end of year bank balance of £1329, up from £434 in 2024. Income from subs was £1025 (down from £1105 in 2024), but bolstered by £345 fund-raising from the U3 gig and an exceptional receipt of £390 as compensation from the Welsh Water contractor tanker driver incident.

Expenditure of £875 was a combination of lawn maintenance costs (sand, fertiliser, seed, mowing costs), affiliation fees and equipment purchases (balls and mallets).

Looking ahead, SM noted the desire to retain a contingency for mower breakdown, a proposal supported by WB who indicated this should be ring-fenced. Aside from lawn maintenance, the major expenditure is predicted to be a continuing spend on balls and mallets.

The report was accepted by the meeting.

6.    The three outgoing officers of the Club had indicated their individual willingness to stand for re-election. In the absence of any other individuals offering themselves for election, the proposal was made to re-elect the previous committee members en bloc.

The three previous Officers were re-elected by the meeting, nem con, prop.JB, sec. WB.

The Secretary noted that Alan Colman, Rachel Collinson and Bryan Gidley had confirmed their willingness to support the Committee as Non-Execs through the next year.

7.    Committee members had registered three proposals for discussion (none were received from the rest of the membership).  The following proposals were discussed:

•   Subscription Rates for 2026 (SM)

Presenting the proposal, the Treasurer reminded the meeting that subscription income exceeded running costs. Given the current bank balance and that there were no proposals for extraordinary equipment purchases, he stated the view that there was no driver to increase membership subscription rates for 2026. Thus, subscription rates for 2026 would be held at the current rates of £50/£20/£10. JM supported the proposal and the meeting agreed the proposal, nem con.

•   Dealing with Friday evening GC success (JM)

Presenting the proposal, JM stated that Friday evenings had become so successful, with up to 18 people attending, that some potential attendees were becoming disenchanted with both the speed of play and the congestion on the lawn. To address this he proposed carrying out a survey with members to discover their appetite for play on a second evening, an earlier start on the Fridays, the introduction of a KWIK croquet session on an alternative evening and/or marking the lawn out for two half lawns.

The meeting supported JM in developing options to alleviate the demand on Friday evenings. JM agreed to take soundings from the membership.

•   Protection of the Lawn - contributing to a bench (JM)

Presenting the proposal, JM reminded the meeting that there had been a succession of events where vehicles had either been deliberately or accidentally driven across the croquet lawn resulting in significant damage. He noted that the Parish Council had been extremely sympathetic and that after the most recent event they had actioned the placement of tree logs on the roadsides as a partial deterrent. He also noted the intended PC action to replace the diseased chestnut trees. He added that there had been discussion at the PC regarding the placement of benches on the roadsides as a further deterrent and proposed that the Club should consider the purchase of a bench. The view from the meeting was supportive but that the donation should be proportionate considering the Club’s finances. It was agreed that JM should continue dialogue with the PC with an offer to contribute.

Finally, JM noted that the PC had agreed to roping off the lawn on the Common sides, again as a deterrent, and that posts and rope had been acquired by the Club for early installation.

8.    Any Other Business

JB challenged the Club on whether they were committed to growing the Club. He criticised the up-to-dateness of the website, the absence of contact details and the lack of engagement with both members and the wider local community.

In response the Committee highlighted the increase in engagement with social media, the attraction of new members and the Club’s engagement with the Parish Council. It also noted that the main issue halting growth in the Club was not attracting further members but increasing the lawn time from existing members. To do that, it was noted, was for individual members to make more of the facilities and equipment provided. The meeting agreed that the Club should consider ways to encourage the greater use of the lawn and equipment.

The Chairman thanked Members for their attendance and engagement and closed the meeting.

Mark Oldale

Club Secretary

27th November 2025