WIGAN & DISTRICT TABLE TENNIS LEAGUE

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

THURSDAY 18^th JULY 2024 AT LEIGH MINERS CLUB

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PRESENT

The Chairman opened the meeting at 7.30 pm and welcomed everyone to this season’s AGM.

With a total of 24 members in attendance, including prospective new team Allied Pharmacies TTC, 20 out of 29 teams were represented. Apologies were received from Secretary Sandra Moss and Treasurer Paul Siney.

MINUTES OF AGM 2023.

The minutes of the AGM held on Tuesday 18 July 2023 were read out by the Chairman, these subsequently being proposed and seconded by Valdas Semiotas and Chris Garfin. It was confirmed that the new bank account was now up and running.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Season 2023/24 commenced with three divisions, 2 of 9 teams and 1 of 10, playing each other three times. 24 matches were played in divisions 1 & 3 and 27 matches in division 2, a total of 27 weeks, not including weeks for Christmas and Easter.

Div 1 winners were Wigan Wanderers with runners up being Standish A. Div 2 winners were Rainford Spin with runners up being LSG Dragons. Div 3 winners were Wigan Phoenix with runners up being LSG Knights. The latter was a closely fought campaign with the winners only being declared in the last week of the season.

Considering the full calendar of match fixtures between mid-September and April, it was decided not to run a league handicap competition as there were not enough spare weeks during the season. 

The Wigan Closed Championships were held at PBCC during the first week in March. My appreciation and thanks to Sandra, Allan, Richard and Chris for their full cooperation and help administrating these events.

Finals Night was on Friday 17^th May at Leigh Miners Welfare. Annie Macdonald defeated Valdas Semiotas in a closely fought final of the Div 1 singles, James Bartolo having to withdraw due to illness. Ray Elliott defeated Nathan Collins for the 2^nd Division crown and Joseph Ilia defeated Nathan Collins in the 3^rd Division final. In the Vets, Stuart Horn defeated John Walsh who stood in for James Bartolo again absent through illness. The night was very well supported, with the results being circulated by the Secretary the following week.

The 13^th Champion’s challenge was held on Friday 31^st May at LSG with a better turnout from last year to support our annual event in aid of the local Wigan and Leigh Hospice. We had just over 80 supporters including players, with £1,000 donated to the Hospice including sponsorship, which, when gift aided just totalled £1,200. Pawel Orzechowski beat Joe Killoran in a thrilling 7 set final 4-3 to take the championship. My thanks to all who assisted in the event especially Chris Garfin and the club for their sponsorship, catering arrangements and venue preparation. The league sponsored refreshments and the trophies.

My thanks to all those in the league who have helped make the season a success. I hope we can continue the improvement in season 2024/25.

Finally, I am sad to announce that the famous Heinz team will not be taking part in the league next season. With Sandra and Jimmy Brookes unavailable through health grounds and the association with the Company coming under scrutiny it was always likely to come to an end in the future.

(NB: After more than half a century there will be no Heinz team next season. Consequently, (and with fond memories of Martin Machin), the Heinz Baked Beans pool, it being long considered to have been responsible for the longevity of the Heinz players is now redundant and has been emptied and sanitized and is therefore no longer available for a pre-match energising dip.)

After many years of sterling support in the running of the league, Sandra has tendered her resignation from the Secretarial role on the committee. She will be missed for her diligence and effort by all of us.

SECRETARY’S REPORT

No report available.

TREASURER’S REPORT

In the absence of the Treasurer, the accounts were presented by Richard Jones.

Wigan and District Table Tennis League

Income and Expenditure Account 2023 – 2024

The accounts showed that the previous healthy financial position had been maintained with slight increases in income from League Fees, KO Entry Fees and Final Night tickets, with expenditure on trophies being significantly reduced and 3 x £200 being donated to one team from each division, decided by ballot. The accounts were unanimously approved.    

RESULTS SECRETARY’S REPORT

All cards had been received during the season on time and no penalties had needed to be imposed. All postponements had been dealt with correctly and rearranged as per rule. He reminded members once again exactly what the postponement Rule 35 meant.

His previous request to captains to ensure photos of scorecards were not taken on coloured backgrounds did not apply as much as he has a new system which does not necessitate the printing off of cards (apart from those from Tim Holland for some unknown reason!).

TT365 was now considered to be running as efficiently as it used to and reminded all present the Wigan League TT365 website is the definitive site for all Wigan TT matters, not the TTE site which is for results only.

RULE CHANGES

Two amendments to Rule 26 were proposed.

Proposed by Matthew Kennedy.  Standish TTC.

Teams may call on reserves from the same or lower divisions and can be up to two reserves per match. There is no limit to the number of times a player may play for a team other than their own registered team. However, if a Division One team wishes to call up a reserve player from Division One, the player(s) must be from THEIR OWN CLUB. A player may not play for more than one team on the same night, whether the other team is in the Wigan League or not.

All players must be registered with Wigan & District Table Tennis League.

Proposed by Chris Garfin. LSG TTC.

Teams may call on reserves from the same or lower division on any number of occasions and can be up to two reserves per match. There is no limit on the number of times a player may play for a team other than their own registered team. However, a player may not play for more than one team on the same night whether the other team is in the Wigan League or not.

All players must be registered with Wigan & District Table Tennis League.

The Chairman summarised both proposals and compared them to the existing rule. After much discussion and debate, both proposals were put to a vote. A show of hands indicated that both proposals were defeated, and that Rule 26 would remain as per last season.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

The Chairman confirmed that both Sandra Moss and Paul Siney had indicated their intention to stand down from the respective positions of Secretary and Treasurer. Sandra had been secretary for 9 years and Paul treasurer for 11 years. The Chairman thanked them for their services. Volunteers from those interested in taking up these two positions were invited. The response was a deathly silence with no interest forthcoming. The Chairman reiterated that the filling of both positions, particularly that of the Secretary, was vital to ensure an efficient operation of league affairs.

After the meeting Richard Jones agreed to take over the role of League Treasurer.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

With the aim of boosting attendance at finals night, and as a means of donating money back to our members, the practice of distributing prize money to one team from each division was discussed. Finals night attendance did show an increase from the previous season. Other means of distributing money back to our clubs, teams and members, such as donations to clubs, junior development and equipment purchases were discussed. It was agreed that all these options would be considered by the committee in due course.

The continued use of TT365 and TTE Sport 80 systems to input fixture results etc was discussed. With the agreement of David Mawdesley and Thomas Cuthbert both systems would continue to be used next season and team captains would once again be required to e-mail scorecards to both.

Team KO Competitions were discussed – should we have more individual competitions, when should these competitions be scheduled (some thought that last season there was too much of a gap between the date of these competitions and finals night), should we perhaps introduce a pre-season (hard bat) competition to stimulate interest. All proposals will be considered by the committee.

Members were reminded that any outstanding team application forms for next season should be forwarded to Sandra by the 31^st July.

There being no further business, the Chairman thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting at 21.00 hours.

Proposer …………………………… Seconder …………………………… Date………….

Minutes by Allan Pickford.