In attendance
Tim Lane (TL), John Gordon (JG), Dave Branch (DB), Neil Merrick (NM), Lee Merrick (LM), Harry Rainford (HR), Les Wade (LW), Tom Anderson (TA), Darren Hart (DH), Steve Oliver (SO), Will Anderson (WA)

Apologies
Stuart Russell and Ian Brown

Key issues

* Election of officers
With the majority of the club officials already in place from the AGM in September 2016, the only outstanding issue was the secretary position. DB had indicated at the AGM that he would be stepping down at the spring AGM. After a brief rundown of his duties, WA agreed to take over in an interim capacity. Having setup and run the club website last year, clubs and officials were beginning to access WA as a point of contact for the club already so it was deemed a natural transition. A more permanent appointment would be made after the season at the AGM.

* Fixture report
In the absence of Adam Oliver, the members in attendance observed the upcoming fixtures for the 2017 and were impressed with the work Adam had done. With a reduced league calendar Adam has successfully managed to fill most of the gaps with various friendlies throughout the season. The Ivor Bettiss inter club match had a provisional date of Friday April 28th. With a friendly against North Molton arranged for Sunday 30th April it was decided by all in attendance that the Ivor Bettiss match should be moved to one of the reserve dates that Adam has set aside for this eventuality. TL brought up the issue of the pub league side reforming and rejoining the league. TA and LM have already agreed to play for another side and the remaining members felt that the interest and commitment wasn't sufficient enough to warrant the reformation. A view to change this, would again be taken at the AGM, but for now the club will not be reforming the pub league team.

* Treasurers report
The key issue raised by JG in regards to the treasurers report was centred on the Xmas draw. The profit seen was significantly down on previous years at approximately £290. JG stated that he puts in a great deal of effort to arrange the draw, including generating the prizes, having the tickets printed and selling £100 worth of tickets. He feels that this level of effort is not currently being back up by the playing members of the club. A sentiment echoed by DB, who had worked out that approximately 60% of the money raised was from non playing members and ex members. Without this source of income the club runs the risk of not being able to sustain its financial position.

* Fund raising ideas/ Xmas draw
As a direct result of the Xmas draw other fund raising ideas were suggest. The unanimous idea was the bonus ball draw. This was previously being resurrected by Paul Slade, but lack of support scuppered the idea. As we had 33 numbers sold and being so close to making it a success it was decided to try and launch the idea once more. DH agreed to take over the role and will liaise with Paul as to the names and details he already has in place.

* Membership and match day fees
Match fees will remain unchanged at £5 a game. Membership will be £30 for players and £10 for non players. A footnote to these fees are, if a suitable fund raising source wasn't found within the next 12 months we would have no option but to raise the membership in order to cover costs.

* Match day duties list
DB and WA introduced a new match day duties list for the new season. The list includes all the basic jobs that need to be done every home game in order for that game to run smoothly. DB will decide on who will be doing what job before each match and it will be the individuals responsibility to ensure it is done. The duties list will be displayed in the clubhouse before each match so everyone can see what their job for the day is. DB commented that several members need to become more proactive with the club as we are a self maintaining club who relies on its players to run the club and doesn't have a board to do these jobs.

* Council meeting
DB had a meeting with the council regarding the proposed sports hub and redevelopment of the old cattle market site. The plans shown indicated that the outside rugby pitches would infringe on to the cricket pitch even further and would cover the square. A skate park would be built where we currently park our cars on match days and a new 3G pitch would be built on the cattle market site. These facilities would be fed by a sports hub based at the bottom end of our pitch closet to the Springfield Centre. These plans would effectively remove any cricket facilities currently at the park. DB was advised that if it came to it the council would assist in the relocation of the club. TL described the plans as pie in the sky and would be extremely surprised if they happened. LW and JG commented that they had attended a similar meeting 12 months ago and the plans have not progressed since then. It was mentioned that if the council do proceed with these plans we would be able to do little to stop them and if they were to offer us a relocation then we would have to accept and try to come to a result that suits all parties.