Present: Colin Martin (chair), Jack Bell, Billy Feeney, Helen Forbes, John Isaac, Margaret Isaac, Colin Jeffries, Paul Jess, Robert Lamont, Allan Lugget, Anne Murray, Isobel Martin, Rob Massie, Jill Roberts, Brian Taylor, George Whiteford, Anna May Watson, Jim Watson, John Walker
1. Welcome: The President opened by welcoming Duns curlers to the meeting
2. Apologies: Philip Jones, Chris Lucas, Rona MacLeod, Liz Martin, Lesley Nimmo, Dorothy Patterson, Louise Seed, Nancy Seed, Ken Taylor, Brian Sweenie, Edith White.
3. Minutes of 2000 AGM: The Minutes had been circulated before the meeting to allow prior reading. Proposer for Minutes as a true record: Colin Jeffries Seconder: George Whiteford. President signed the Minutes.
4. Matters arising:
1999 item 9: photographic record / documentation of high value trophies for insurance.It was agreed in 2000 to refer this to the committee and that a named individual should be asked to undertake this small project. No action yet, referred again to the committee.
Tweedmouth Kettle Documentation – Helen Forbes thanked for organising a beautifully finished bound volume.
Hen Poo Memorial – No action yet, referred again to the committee.
5. Correspondence: A. Lindsay asked that reports from competitions should be forwarded to the 'Berwickshire News'.
6. Presidents Report (Colin Martin)- Season 2000/2001:
I would like to apologise now for the length of my report, but I have realized while researching our bi-centenary that in 100 years time our records could be important for whoever researches the tri centenary.
The season started on a high. Our bi-centenary dinner and dance was an unqualified success. Good food, good company and good music came together to give us a night to remember. We were presented with a commemorative plaque by our guest speaker, RCCC president, Ainslie Smith. I was also honoured to receive a scroll presented to the club by the Berwickshire Sports Council at their annual awards ceremony. Both these awards are now hanging in the Border Ice Rink clubrooms.
On the ice, the club is getting stronger every year. We were able to field 6 rinks in each league and 7 in the John Martin. I think that now we need to try and consolidate what we’ve got. We have gained a lot of new faces over the last couple of years and while that increases numbers it also dilutes the strength and experience in the rinks. I feel we are short of skips and thirds just now and it will take time for the new boys and girls to graduate into these positions, but given time I can see Duns club back at the forefront of Borders curling. Maybe even winning the Border League!
On the subject of Border League, we had some cracking good games this year winning 4 out of 10 games played but 3 of the others could easily have been ours as well. We made it to the semi final of the Kettle this year but were soundly beaten by Earlston, who went on to beat Greenlaw in the final. We also had a rink in the Laidlaw thanks to a rule change which means clubs now only have to enter 1 rink. Our greatest success this year has to be winning the Dickenson Cup for the first time in 30 years! The winning rink consisted of Isobel Martin, Colin Jeffries, Edith White and myself assisted by George Whiteford who stood in at skip for a vital game.
Other successes of note: Jack Bell won the Ayton Pairs after standing in at short notice. In the Ayton Bonspiel the Duns rink of me, Robert Lamont, Billy Feeney and Peter Wright from Chirnside were deserving winners of the Big End trophy having won a 5, lost a 5, lost a 6 then won a 7 to peel our game 15 all! I was also pleased to be in the winning rink of the Glendale mixed pairs. Beaten semi finalists included Liz Martin and Jill Roberts.
The season came to a rather sticky end. Due partly to ice and snow and mainly to the foot and mouth outbreak we decided, like many other clubs to play it safe and bring the season to a premature close. This meant that we only played half the spring league and the club bonspiel was scratched. We may be able to play this at the start of next season if there is free ice.
One important innovation this year has to be our website, engineered by Paul Jess. For those of us with computers this has been really useful, allowing us not only to see scores and league standings at a glance but also to compare the selective memories of our ace reporters especially when playing against each other, and for those without computers, try and get a look at someone else’s. It’s well worth it.
Finally I would like to say what an honour it has been to be president during both our bi-centenary and the current resurgence in the club’s fortunes. My thanks go to all of you who have helped in any way: committee members, people who introduced friends and those who stand in as reserves and keep the club running smoothly. Special thanks must go to our hard working secretary, John who always keeps me right and always has new ideas up his sleeve. Thank you all
7. Treasurer's Report: Proposed - John Issac Seconded - Robert Lamont
8. Presentation of Prizes:
Autumn League 2000: Colin Martin, Jim Watson, Margaret Isaac,
Philip Jones
Spring League 2001:John Isaac, George Whiteford, Anna May Watson,
Jill Roberts, Ken Taylor
John Martin Trophy: Colin Martin, Jack Bell, Isobel Martin, Jill
Roberts
‘Pairs’ Winners 2001: Brian Taylor, Isobel Martin
‘Pairs’ Low Road Winners 2001: George Whiteford, Chris
Lucas
Special Award 2000 the 'Webmaster': Paul Jess
Points Winner 2001 :Paul Jess
9. Election of Office Bearers:
President: Billy Feeney - proposed by Colin Martin, seconded by
Brian Taylor
Vice President: Helen Forbes - proposed by Billy Feeney, seconded
by John Isaac
Secretary: John Walker - proposed by John Isaac, seconded by Colin
Jeffries
Treasurer: Paul Jess - proposed by Colin Jeffries, seconded by
John Walker
New Committee members: Margaret Isaac - proposed by John Isaac,
seconded by Colin Jeffries. Jim Watson - proposed by Brian Taylor,
seconded by Colin Martin
Ladies Representative: Chris Lucas - proposed by John Walker,
seconded by Helen Forbes
Borders Province Representatives: President and Vice President
10. Season Structure:
John Martin: The new arrangement in 2000 for the John Martin
tournament worked well and should be continued.
Spring league: The 2001 Spring League arrangement of home &
away fixtures had to be truncated to one set of fixtures because of Foot &
Mouth disease. The new format to be run in Spring 2002.
March ice and late ice: It was noted that there was a great deal
of March ice in 2000/2001 and also a lot of 9.15pm ice. The secretary to
liaise with Colin Martin and write to the Borders Ice Rink requesting a
better balance across the months for 2001/2002.
Points: Brian Taylor requested clarification on the desire to run
the Points competition. It was agreed to continue to run the Points
competition and that it should be more vigourously promoted.
Coaching - supporting new and recent new members: It was agreed
that some Saturday am coaching be strongly encouraged on dates which
overlapped the normal Ice Rink coaching. New / recently joined members to
be contacted with specific dates and a small number of experienced members
requested to attend to help with coaching. The aim is to give more
practice and skills in the context of a Duns CC social setting while
taking advantage of existing ice rink coaching arrangements with no formal
club financial obligation.
11. AOB:
Sweatshirts: John Isaac queried the availability of new sweatshirts. George Whiteford thought this should be ok. Secretary to liaise with George to advertise availability and process orders.
Foot and Mouth: Colin Jeffries requested that consideration should be given to drawing up a contingency plan should the foot and mouth problem continue to pose a problem at any time but especially early in the Autumn League. The committee to create a contingency plan at the next committee meeting.
12. Date of 2002 AGM: Wednesday 8th May 2002 at 7.30pm.
The meeting concluded by thanking everyone for their attendance and a vote of thanks to Colin Martin for chairing the meeting.