Minutes of the TIGS AGM held at Wellingborough Golf Club
on Thursday 25th October 2007 at 5.45pm

Apologies were received from S.Tilling, D.Shaw, J.Larraz, I.Tinling, S.Leary, P.Butcher, S.Harrison, R.Choroszewski, D.Youens, J.Povall. The Secretary also relayed a message from Peter Cowle expressing his regret at not having attended TIGS in 2007, but hoped to return in 2008.

The minutes of the 2006 AGM, previously circulated, were accepted. (Proposed by Peter Austin, seconded by Geoff Snape.)

Matters arising – At the 2006 AGM, it was proposed that the Committee nominated a President. The Secretary read out a statement from the Committee which justified their belief that the Society still does not require a President. A counter-proposal was put to the 2007 AGM by Geoff Snape and seconded by Fred Gregg to this effect. There were no objections. Therefore, TIGS shall continue for the time being, without a President.

There were no further matters arising.

The Secretary’s report for 2006

“Today’s fixture was our 101st meeting, and the eighth and last of our 19th season. We have had 6 Regular meetings, plus our annual triangular challenge match which we played at Royal Porthcawl again, plus the Harvey Chew invitational meeting at Little Aston, plus the Centenary meeting at Ganton. We also had the Away Days trip to Poole to squeeze into the season. All in all, it has been the busiest TIGS season ever!

At the 6 “regular” meetings we have had a total members attendance of 135 (which is 12 down from last year’s 147), and a total guests’ attendance of 31 (32 last year), giving an overall attendance average of 28. This is still disappointing compared to last year’s average of 30, 2006’s 32 and 2005’s 37, but is believed to be a reflection of the ongoing difficult trading conditions which the industry appears to be experiencing. We did, positively, have a good turnout at Ganton with 34 members and 6 guests. Membership is down to about 50.

4 members are still not on e-mail which is our preferred method of communication. I urge those not yet connected to do so – it is quicker, more convenient and helps to save society costs which enables us to maintain our offer of good golf at reasonable rates.

The TIGS website continues to be updated, and holds all the facts, news and event information and we are indebted to Richard Choroszewski at Neptune Shipping Agency for supplying this service to us free of charge. Thanks to his staff, especially Paul Birch, for their assistance.

Many thanks to our Captain, Gary Hardy, for his leadership throughout his term of office. Gary’s term of office ends today and I hope you will all join me in thanking Gary for his efforts.

I hope you will also join me in welcoming our incoming Captain, Tony Rogers.

Many thanks to all the other members of The Committee - Geoff Snape for organising a splendid array of prizes for the competitions and raffles, to Greg Hammond for his custody of the Society handicaps, to Dave Nelson for looking after the finances, and to Simon Leary for his assistance during the year. Simon has run the Royal Mosa KO competition and taken charge of the Away Days trip this year. Many thanks as well to Fred Gregg, our Past Captain, for his work on Committee. Fred steps down today, and Gary shall be stepping into his shoes as Past Captain.

Geoff has been closely involved with the running of TIGS since its inauguration, and is retiring from Committee. As well as adopting the role of Past Captain, Gary will be taking over the position of Prizes. As a special gesture of the Society’s appreciation of all the hard work which Geoff has done, I would like to invite The Captain to present Geoff with a momento of our Centenary meeting.

(The Captain presented Geoff with a framed, limited edition picture of Ganton golf course.)

We have confirmed dates for the 2008 TIGS meetings, these are: MARCH – Wednesday 19th (The H&R Johnson Trophy) at Walton Heath, Surrey APRIL – Thursday 3rd (Society challenge) at St.George’s Hill, Surrey MAY – Friday 9th (The Lionel Ramus Trophy) at Beau Desert, Staffordshire JUNE – Thursday 5th (The Michael Heath Trophy) at Whittington Heath, Staffordshire JULY – Friday 4th (The Barrie Ashton Memorial Trophy) at Garforth, West Yorkshire AUGUST – Thursday 7th (The Harvey Chew Trophy - invitational) at Harbourne, B’ham SEPTEMBER – Friday 12th (The Cecrisa Trophy) at Manor of Groves, Herts. OCTOBER – Friday 17th (The Staloton Trophy and AGM) at Lindrick, Notts.

I would like to thank all of you who have supported TIGS throughout the year, especially those who travel long distances to and from the events. I hope that the fixtures we organise make your efforts worthwhile, that you continue to come, and encourage new players to attend. If there are any new ideas which you have with regards to the fixtures, please do feel free to approach The Committee.

Today is my last event as TIGS Secretary. I would like to thank all of you for coming to the events over the last three years, especially those who have supported me in my position as Secretary. I would ask you to help Simon, who shall be taking over as Secretary, by sending your forms back to him, completed, along with your cheques for payment in advance of the events; it does make life much, much simpler for the Secretary and reduces the workload for both the Secretary and Treasurer. There is a great deal of administration involved with the efficient running of the Society and if you can please respond completely, and quickly, to our requests for information (especially at the time of Subscription renewal) it would be hugely appreciated.”

Matters arising from the Secretary’s report – Michael Heath expressed his dissatisfaction with the infrequent updates on the TIGS website. After a short discussion, it was agreed that the website should feature only the annual fixtures, with a link to the Secretary’s e-mail which visitors to the site could use if they wanted further information.
There were no further matters arising from the Secretary’s report.

The Treasurer reported a healthy cash balance of approximately £9400 and a profit of £500 on the year. Several thousand pounds are necessary to pay substantial amounts for meeting deposits and accounts have to be settled at the clubs before members cheques are presented. Subscription income was £1740. We have enjoyed two generous donations throughout the year – Bostik donated £1000 to subsidise the Centenary meeting, and Folex donated £1000 to subsidise the Away Days trip to Poole. TIGS are very grateful to the two companies for their support.

The Society is still, in a healthy financial position.

There were no matters arising from the Treasurers report. A full copy of the Accounts are available from The Treasurer, upon written request.

The Captain expressed his thanks to all the Committee, and members, that had supported him throughout his term of office. The Captain presented Ashley Heath (retiring Secretary) with a gift from TIGS as thanks for his service for the past three years. The Captain said he would like to see a higher number of Members and therefore encouraged existing members to introduce new ones. He also encouraged members of the Society to contact the Committee if they were interested in taking an active part in the running of the Society.

There were no matters arising from the Captain’s report.

Officers for 2007-2009: Captain 2007-2009 – Tony Rogers (formerly Vice-Captain)

Secretary – Simon Leary (formerly Assistant Secretary), Assistant Secretary – vacant, Treasurer – Dave Nelson, Handicap Secretary – Greg Hammond, Prizes and Past Captain – Gary Hardy (formerly Captain), Vice Captain – vacant

Subscriptions – The Committee recommended that subscriptions be maintained at £30 per year. This was proposed by Ashley Heath and seconded by Dave Nelson.

AOB – There was a proposal from Fred Gregg that “Any member of the Tile Industry Golf Society wishing to propose a change to the rules, addition to the rules or anything relating to the running of the Society must put forward in writing their proposals to the Hon Secretary a minimum of 28 days prior to the Annual General Meeting.” This was seconded by Geoff Snape.