Summary of the February Committee Meeting

Umpiring Courses

Stan Bennett, the designer of the course and original tutor, is unwell. Bill Griffin will be the main tutor in his place, but cannot do the 21 Feb session at Cirencester. So the Cirencester course will start a week later than planned, on 28th Feb, and continue until March 20th.

Nomination of attendees for the Umpiring Courses

There are about 10 clubs that have failed to nominate an attendee and have not given us any reason. We will chase them hard and they are in danger of losing 10 league points - see the last newsletter.

ClubMark

As reported at the AGM, and in the Nov/Dec newsletter, ECB's ClubMark scheme is being rolled out, by mandating that clubs above a certain level in the pyramids become accredited. That level will be brought down lower year by year. So you are advised to look at the scheme and consider getting accreditation. At some stage you will have to be accredited. We are trying to find out the timetable. We think it will be mandatory for WEPL Premier One and Premier Two levels by 2009. The link to the ECB ClubMark web pages has been added to the panel on the left.

Special General Meeting and Spring Meeting

There will be a Special General Meeting on the same date as the Spring Meeting (Tuesday April 8th). We will propose a constitutional amendment that two clubs are promoted from Division 6 to 5, not one.

Handbook Layout

The pages in the handbook that show our constitution and match rules will be laid out in a better way. Since it is only a re-ordering, we are unlikely to need a vote to change anything substantive.

Grants

Until recently we have been giving grants towards the cost of Level 1 coaching courses. We want to extend the giving of grants to other similar training. But at the same time there are other grant sources and we musn't be seen to be an easy touch. So we have now agreed that clubs may apply for grants for any such training - umpiring, groundsman, coach training. The maximum grant will be £70 or 50% of the cost, whichever is the least. There will also be a limit of 4 grants per club per year, and clubs seeking grants must show that they have applied elsewhere as well, if there is another source. Ask Andy Russell for advice on this. As we build up knowledge of other grant-giving bodies and the chances of success there, we will aim our grants to where they will be most effective and needed.

Player Registration 2008

This was not a success last year, so we have made changes.

• Firstly you must ensure all those who are likely to play for you are shown in your club's 'play-cricket' database. Most of you already have this in place. By April 23rd (the date mandated in the handbook) we must receive from you your 'play-cricket' player list; you get this by downloading it from play-cricket and sending it to us - that process is quick and easy.
• Then, during the season, when a new person plays for you, you must add the name to your play-cricket player list, by the Wednesday following the game, download the whole again and send that to us.
• After each game, by the Wednesday following the game, the HOME team must fill in the complete scorecard on play-cricket. Batsmen, runs scored, bowlers and their analysis. Again many clubs are already doing this and it is very easy to do. There is nothing stoping the away team filling in the scorecards for either innings to help, but it is the HOME team's responsibility to ensure it has been done.