Highlights of the Croquet Association Council Meeting:
I attended the Council meeting on the afternoon of 28th March. There was a sombre start as Council reflected on the sad news from Bowdon and the immense contributions to Croquet made by Christine Irwin and John Saxby.
The meeting followed the CA Special General Meeting, where all the motions regarding the constitutional changes were passed. There will be an article in the June Gazette to keep people informed as to what is happening next.
Council set up and appointed the Membership Changes Implementation Group (MCIG) which will report to the Management Committee on a regular basis until such time as its purpose is fulfilled. It is a group of five and after a certain amount of encouragement, I became a member of it. The purpose of the group, following the constitutional changes, is firstly to serve all members at all levels in pursuing the objectives of the CA. Specific areas the MCIG will consider are establishing requirements for an on-line membership system and the ways that the distribution of the Gazette may be achieved.
In due course clubs will become responsible for passing on the details of their members to the CA so that they can be recorded as CA members. The MCIG will also consider how this may be achieved. Please contact me if your club has Juniors playing, or an existing Junior membership structure.
Other bullet points from the meeting were:
- Lawn hire will increase from £30 to £31 in 2016.
- All federations agreed to join the CA.
- The East Anglia Fed is trialling a new GC handicap system this season.
- Tournament Regulations have been changed, bring your card to tournaments!
- There is a new Lawn Care Manual being prepared for the CA website.
- A National Croquet Day to be investigated tied into other existing countries.
Lastly our patron sent her good wishes for the Womans AC Worlds taking place in Nottingham 25/7 – 1/8. It has been framed and will be available to see during the tournament.
