Chief Exec's Report 2007
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE W.C.G.B.A. Chief Executive for Saturday 10th Feb 2007
It is both an
honour and a pleasure to give, to the 81st Annual General Meeting of the WCGBA,
my report as Chief Executive of the Association.
Before I report on the season’s
activities I wish to report on our Development during the 1990’s and after the
millennium.
The Welsh Crown
Green Bowling Association (WCGBA) have made significant progress during
the 1990’s and early Years of 2000 in all aspects of the sport’s development.
In the early 1990's we recognised the need for a sound financial base and a need
to use new technology as an aid to administration. As
a result an Individual Player Registration Scheme was introduced which helped to fund Administration and Development Projects.
New technology has been used to establish databases, and as a means of effective
communication between the Officers of the Association – Officers of the
Association now regularly communicate via e-mail. A Youth Development Policy
was introduced that established the Welsh Crown Green Junior Team as the most
successful Junior Squad in the 1990’s.
A Referees
Society was successfully formed and became established as one of the
leading Referee’s Society throughout Great Britain. A Coaching Society
was also formed, originally working closely with the British Crown Green
Bowling Association. The Coaching Society has developed throughout the late
1990’s and is now fully established, working autonomously Coaching and Training
people in Crown Green Bowls within the Welsh Crown Green Bowling Association
and providing Coaches and Administrators for the British Crown Green Bowling
Association. The Welsh Crown Green Bowling Association has actively encouraged
the Ladies within our Society. A Ladies Section was formed in late 1998
and has proved a resounding success – International Matches have been played
and the Ladies successfully began playing in the British Ladies Championship in
2000. Last year they achieved the pinnacle of their success by defeating
England in the International Championship. Although the Referees, Coaching and
Ladies have their own Management Structure they report, via a delegate, back to
the Welsh Crown Green Bowling Association’s Management Committee.
New Officer Posts have been introduced
throughout the 1990’s including a Registration Officer, Medical Officer, Tournaments
Officer and Development Officer. The role of Development Officer was
introduced in 1996. As a result our development strategy has been
updated with an underlying philosophy that values, supports, encourages,
educates, recognises and motivates our volunteers. Without
volunteers in our sport we fail, but by making best use of our volunteers talents and supporting their needs, we will
suceed.
Throughout the 1990’s and the early
years of the 21st Century we have worked closely with both the
Sports Council for Wales and the British Crown Green Bowling Association. We
have established good working relationships, the
administration model used by the W.C.G.B.A. has proved to be extremely
successful and has been copied throughout other Associations with Crown Green
Bowls, including the British Crown Green Bowling Association.
Our individual Membership has been
maintained throughout the past few years, but we continually work to try to
increase this.
We are a minority sport
and as such one of our priorities must be to encourage more people to
play bowls. We have initially decided to concentrate on providing
the facilities and coaching to encourage youngsters to take up crown green
bowls. We had a degree of success in the pilot scheme in as
much that over a third of the bowling clubs showed an active interest
in working with local schools to encourage youngsters to bowl. However to
make progress we need to focus a team of volunteers to work in the Area's
to support, encourage and motivate both the schools and the bowling clubs.
In our endeavours to encourage
young bowlers to improve their performance and develop team spirit we
introduced a WCGBA Junior Inter-area League in 1998. This has proved was
extremely successful, well supported by the youngsters along with friends,
relatives and parents.
Another of our
flagships successes has been to establish and support, at Mold, a Visually
Impaired Bowling Club. In the past the team has represented Wales at the
British Visually Impaired Championship at Stockport, the team also took part in
the televised Waterloo Autumn Championship in 2005.
The Welsh Crown Green Bowling
Association continues to work closely with third party bodies, such as Local
Authorities, improving links and creating Partnerships with the Local Sports
Councils.
One of our major
aims is to raise the standard of bowling greens. In 2006, in partnership with
the Institute of Groundsmen, the W.C.G.B.A. hosted a Green Keeper’s Course in
Llandudno attended by 45 delegates. The Course was officially recognised by the
Institute of Groundsmen and certificates were presented to all attendees. We
intend to continue with these Courses working throughout North Wales.
During 2006 we set
up a project with Institute of Groundsmen Officials to evaluate greens in North
Wales. Six clubs took part in the project, their greens were diagnosed,
evaluated and a Project Report including a 5 year Development plan was
generated and forwarded to the clubs. We intend to continue with this service
to try to raise the standard of our greens.
The year 2006 has been a very
successful year both on the administrative and playing side of our sport.
I would like to
thank Mr John Lloyd our President, for the manner in which he has carried out
his Presidential duties during 2006. He chose an excellent venue in Llay Miners
Welfare for the final of the Senior Merit. He was ably assisted by his Deputy
President, Mr David Hughes, who I wish success in his year as President.
As you can see
from the agenda and reports attached, it is not just myself
who will be giving a full and extensive report on all the activities of last
season. As I have stated in previous years, the W.C.G.B.A. is not a one man band,
it has excellent officers who are fully committed to our Association. Our
Officials will be reporting on the different sections within our Association.
It would be remiss of me, at the
start, not to thank our retiring officers. Mr Barry Phillips our Financial
Officer, Mr Barry Phillips, who took on the job at a difficult time has worked tirelessly to ensure that our finances are
in order. Mr Dave Walker has been our Tournament Officer and has ensured that
our Tournaments are run successfully. Ken Hardman, our retiring Sponsorship
Officer has worked diligently to coerce finances from our sponsors. All three
will be sadly missed for their time, commitment and effort given to the Welsh
Crown Green Bowling Association. I do not intend reporting on the matches
played by the Senior’s, Veteran’s, Ladies and Junior sides, that are be covered
by the reports, but I would like to thank all the clubs that hosted all matches
and to congratulate the Ladies Team in winning the British Ladies County
Championship and on an individual note congratulate Betty Phillips in winning
the British Ladies Individual Merit.
Geraint Jones, our
successful Senior Team Manager will report on our Senior Team activities.
July Bray and Dave Owens will be
reporting on the Ladies Section. Dave has done a tremendous job as Ladies
Secretary. May I thank the Ladies Committee for their support
and again congratulate the Ladies Section on their successes.
In June, the Welsh
Senior Merit was played in the President's Area at Llay Miners Welfare Bowling
Club. We had an excellent day, many thanks to the Llay Miners Club officials
and the facilities. The competitors came up with some fine bowling. Geraint
Williams from Rhos bowled outstandingly on the day became the 2006 Welsh Merit
Champion.
For the final of
the Welsh Junior Merit , the Deputy President, Mr
David Hughes, chose Penrhyn New Hall Bowling Club for the final. Many thanks to
the officials of Penrhyn New Hall for providing us with excellent facilities
and refreshments, and to Dave Walker, out Tournament Secretary and our other
officials for organising the competition on the day.
There was some
excellent bowling on the day with Michael Pritchard from Llanrwst successful on
the day becoming the 2006 Welsh Junior Champion.
July saw the running of the
Welsh Veterans Merit at Rhos-on-Sea. May I congratulate Mr Doug Biddle of
Broughton + Bretton in winning the title and becoming the 2006 Welsh Veterans
Merit Champion. May I thank the officials from
Rhos-on-Sea and all the people, both administrators and competitors that took
part to ensure a very successful competition.
This season we
again ran the Welsh County/Area Championship at Eirais Park. We again had a
great day out with the teams, thanks to the sponsors Threeways of Abergele
immaculately dressed with the jubilant Gwynedd team winning the impressive
Championship Shield.
Llay Miners Welfare were successful in the final of the Welsh Club Championship
defeating Bailey Hill. The games were played at Greenfield Bowling Club, an
excellent venue with excellent facilities and hospitality. Llay will represent
Wales in the British Club Championship to held at
Warrington. Llay and Bailey Hill qualify for the British Team Championships at
Irlam.
Referees have been
used for all our competitions throughout year 2006. May I take opportunity to
thank the Referees Society, especially Ken Hardman, for providing referees
throughout the year. Ken stood in as Placements
Secretary – many thanks Ken for your help and commitment. The Referees have
successfully implemented their Development Plan but are still looking for new
candidates to become Referees – please contact Ken Hardman (01745 823623) if
anyone from your club is interested in becoming a Referee or is interested in
the position of Placement Secretary.
Whilst the playing
side of our game finishes in early October, the administrative duties are a
twelve months affair. Our Management Committee are continually striving for
creative and innovative ideas to progress our game. May I thank them for their
cooperation, assistance and guidance during a most difficult year.
Mr Tom Middlehurst, our new
Chairman has been a power of strength as our Chairman and I thank him for his
help and guidance.
Mr Ivor Williams,
our new Child Protection Officer is working hard to generate a WCGBA Child
Protection Policy. At the moment we have adopted the BCGBA Policy.
Mr David Jones has offered to
take on the position of Press Officer. Many thanks to David for taking on this
onerous position,
Keith Sale is our
Coaching Representative and a report on the activities of our Coaching Society
will be prepared by Pauline Lindley the Coaching Secretary. They are currently
working closely with Mr Ivor Williams our Child Protection Officer. May I thank
the Coaching Society for their hard work and commitment,
I look forward to working closely with them in the future. They too have a
Development Plan that is supported by the W.C.G.B.A.
We have strived throughout the
year to find a new Development Officer. Mr Brian Chamberlain has taken on the
post. May I thank him and congratulate him on the work that his has already
undertaken. His report is enclosed.
Our Senior
Team Manager, Mr Geraint Jones, has worked relentlessly to improve our Senior
Team performances, but a very difficult draw made the job even harder.
May I also congratulate our
Junior Team Committee They have worked extremely hard
to maintain the very high standard of Junior Bowling that has existed in Wales.
Our Veteran’s Team Manager, John Percy with the men, has done an excellent job.
The cooperation of
the Area/County Secretaries has been first class and I would like to take this
opportunity to thank them (Mr Dave Walker, Mr David Jones, Mr Alan Luckock and
Mr David Evans) for all the efforts during the past season.
A Secretary's job
is a hard and demanding task, to all Club, League and Area Secretaries I thank
you for your patience and support.
I also thank all members of the
Executive Committee for their support during these difficult but exciting
times.
I have been very
lucky to have excellent Administrators helping me throughout the years.
2006 has been a difficult year,
but we have been in a position to develop and support new projects,
With generous
sponsorship from North Wales Crown Green Construction, (Geraint Jones), we were
able to subsidise Junior Bowling throughout North Wales. Our Welsh Junior
Bowling Administrator, Mr Martin Richardson, has been very active to ensure
that our Junior League ran successfully.
Mr Ken Hardman has worked
tirelessly and successfully in the year 2006 to obtain sponsorship. May I
thank Ken for the work and commitment he has undertaken as our Sponsorship
Officer and wish him well in retirement.
As stated earlier
Barry Phillips has again taken on the very difficult role as Financial Officer
and has done a splendid job. Congratulations Barry – may you also enjoy your retirement.
Mr George Wallett has again done
a splendid job as our Registrar. George is working from his new home in
Staffordshire, but has showed his commitment to Welsh Bowling and is willing to
carry out the duties of Registrar from his new abode.
Mr Dave Walker has
done a splendid job as Tournament Secretary. Although retiring from this
position, he will hopefully be taking on the position of Deputy President, an
honour he most definitely deserves.
May I also thank Mr David Evans
for his work as Welsh Liaison Officer.
WHAT OF THE FUTURE
- WHERE ARE WE HEADING ?
The Welsh Crown
Green Bowling Association (WCGBA) continues to make progress in developing the
sport our priorities for the season are:
·
To concentrate on improving
communications, increasing the number of people playing bowls and working with
other agencies to promote and develop the sport.
·
To encourage people at all age to play
bowls, with particular emphasis on primary schools, for example, school/club
links.
·
To
develop a marketing policy to promote the game making best use of volunteers
with skills in PR practices and to provide communication aids based on shared
beliefs that will assist volunteers working on development objectives and
actions.
·
To further develop the game within our
Ladies Section and especially amongst the Junior Female members
·
To raise the standard of Bowling Greens.
These actions are fundamental to our
development strategy and ensure we stay on course in the process of developing
our sport in Wales.
Our work on these priorities has been
successful.
Communications
:-
We have issued Development Newsletters , which
included information on the development successes of individual clubs, advice
on funding projects and requests for help and information.
We will continue to issue Development Newsletters on the basis that a clubs
success will encourage other clubs to take on the matter of development. We
also believe that this action helps to improve our communication links with the
volunteers working at club level, which is one of the prime objectives in the WCGBA
development policy.
Administration
:-
Our organisation structure is effective and its officers are active in
developing Crown Green Bowls in Wales. The promotion and development of Crown
Green Bowling in Wales is actively encouraged at many levels through our
administration process.
Marketing
:-
In 2006 we produced a POSTER, which was used by clubs to advertise their
facilities. The poster designed to focus on people of all ages, but especially
those who have retired or are near to retirement. The poster reflected the
benefits of the gentle exercise used to play bowls along with the social
advantage of joining a like minded group, who share common interests. We intend
to follow up this scheme and encourage clubs to actively engage in encouraging
new members.
Web-site :-
A
new web-site has been commissioned and will be introduced in 2007.
Performance :-
We will continue to support our Junior
Inter-area League which has been very successful over the past twelve months,
the number of young people wishing to play crown green bowls is clearly on the
increase. The 2006 season again culminated in a Presentation Day junior pairs event where boys and girls turned out with their
supporters. This league is providing the opportunity for young bowlers to
improve their bowling and tactical skills. The League includes all four bowling
Areas in North Wales. The youngsters play six matches during the season,
each team consisting of ten players, travelling
reserves also get a game. The matches are well supported by volunteers,
family and friends.
The W.C.G.B.A. have been
looking at ways to improve performance at Senior Male level. We actively
support the introduction of ant Leaugue that will raise the overall standard at
Senior level.
Reports are being given from our
Coaching Society, Referees Society and Ladies Section. We will continue to
support these bodies in the future,
We continue to made good progress. The
Management Committee along with the Coaching Society and Referees Society is
working together and in partnership with local bodies to promote and enhance
the sport. It is also pleasing to note that a number of clubs are responding to
the information the WCGBA sends out as a matter of routine. This we believe
will introduce more young people to bowls and will help to ensure the future of
our sport. We also, in 2007, intend to work closely with the Institute of
Groundsmen to improve the standard of our greens and are willing to work in
partnership with any Bodies to promote bowls as a healthy activity.
Speedy and regular communications between Officers,
Management Members, Leagues and Clubs is essential. By utilising New
Technology, we will build on our communications network (e-mail). At the
current time the Chief Executive, Finance Officer, Junior Development Secretary,
Registrar, Coaching Officer, Development Officer, Child Protection Officer and
Area Secretaries together with numerous leagues and clubs have the ability to
communicate via e-mail to ensure an effective and efficient communications
network.
This coming season we will continue to
work on the above priorities with particular emphasis on regular television
coverage at a national level.
As you can see a
lot has been achieved, a lot has yet to be achieved, but it will not be
achieved without dedication, enthusiasm and a willing to change. Our great
Sport of Crown green Bowls is changing - the growth areas have been within the
Ladies, Juniors and Veteran’s - there is more
participation today that there ever has been – but there are areas such as
Television Coverage, National Competitions, Elite Coaching, Partnerships that
need to be addressed and will be addressed given the will, enthusiasm and
dedication of our Officers and members.
We have had a few upsets in the past, and I am sure
that we will have upsets in the future. But remember, the Welsh Crown Green
Bowling Association is a force to be reckoned with. It is regarded in high
esteem within the bowling fraternity. As we will prove today, we are not a
one-man band, and no one man is bigger than the WCGBA. We have an experienced,
creative and highly motivated Management Committee that work in a democratic
matter to further our game. Our game is in good hands with these people and
with them we will continue to flourish.
To the members who
have worked hard and helped the WCGBA, I salute you and thank you.
We must protect our Association
and ensure that the game of bowls is played in the spirit of true friendship
and sportsmanship of the highest order.
Can I wish you,
your Club, League and Association every success in 2007 and look forward to
seeing you around the greens during the season.