Minutes of AGM 2025, held at Saltwell Social Club, Thursday 12th June 2025

 

Roll Call of Teams represented.

The Secretary welcomed attendees to the 2025 AGM and called the roll of teams present. Teams represented were Albert Hill, Darlington Snooker Club, The Bene, East End Nomads, Saltwell SC & Key Club. The Committee was represented by the Chairman (Kevin Turner), the Secretary (David Westerby), and members Steve Westerby & John Swan. The Treasurer (Leo Ford) was unable to attend as was member John Doyle.

 

2024 AGM Minutes.

The Secretary asked if everyone had seen the minutes of the 2024 and agreed they were a true record. This was proposed by East End Nomads and seconded by The Bene.

 

Secretary’s Report

The Secretary said that this had been a season of polar opposites. All matches had been played and everything had gone smoothly in terms of competition, but at the close of the season three teams - Philadelphia CC, St Teresa’s & Washington CC had withdrawn from the League reducing the number of competing teams to six. He thanked his fellow Committee members for their support and thanked Paul Finch who had set most of the quizzes for the season. He also thanked David Lowther who had run the KO Cup and set and run the second Table Top Quiz.

 

Chairman's Remarks

The Chairman echoed the Secretary’s remarks and thanked him and the other Committee members for their work during the year. He thanked all the people who had participated in the quizzes throughout the season, players, questions setters and quizmasters. He remarked upon how long the league had been in existence, and that with the Woking Sports Quiz League, was the only sports quiz league still going. He asked that the current members of the league keep it going for as long as they could.

 

Treasurer's Report

The Secretary presented the balance sheet which had been prepared by the Treasurer and showed a bank balance of £501.30. He stated that there were outstanding expenses which had been incurred since the Treasurer had created the balance sheet: these being quiz setting expenses (£90) printing expenses (£25), the cost of the buffet for the 2025 AGM (£55) and wine for the raffle (£25). These amounted to £195 which would be shown on the 2025-26 balance sheet. This meant that the true balance was £306.30, and remarked that this would mean that the league could continue for at least another season without re-introducing subscription fees but that should the league continue into 2026-27, subscription fees would need to be reintroduced. He then asked for a proposer and seconder for the balance sheet. At this point Martin Robinson spoke and said that it was not possible for the balance sheet to be accepted as over a third of the balance shown had already been spent. He said that a proper balance sheet should be dated and asked when it had been sent to the Secretary. The Secretary said it had been sent the weekend before the AGM and offered to have an up to date balance sheet produced which would show the true balance. He said that it was not possible to produce an exact figure at the AGM due to expenses such as buffets etc as they were not available until the last minute and that the practice of carrying forward to the next year had always been done in the past. Mike Sowerby spoke saying that producing another balance sheet was not necessary and proposed that the balance sheet produced at the meeting should be accepted with a date of 31st May 2025. This was seconded by Key Club and accepted.

 

Election of Officials

 

All officials would continue in their current roles.

 

Election of Committee

All Committee members would continue in their current roles.

 

League Structure

There were 2 proposals for the structure of next season. The Committee proposed a league of 6 teams playing each other once, with 3 table top quizzes, comprising 8 quizzes, monthly from October 2025 to May 2026. Quizzes to be set by Paul Finch, David Lowther and a member of East End Nomads who is not participating in that quiz. Geoff Johns had proposed a league of 6 teams playing each other with 6 table top quizzes, one team standing down from each table top and hosting the quiz at a venue of their choice and setting the quiz. A discussion then followed about the format of the table top quiz. Mike Sowerby asked if the reasoning behind the Committee’s proposal could be explained. The Secretary and the Treasurer explained that this number of quizzes would ensure the continued participation of Saltwell SC in the league whereas more quizzes would jeopardise this owing to the commitment of one of their players. At this point a vote was taken and the Committee’s proposal was carried unanimously.

 

Any Other Business

The format of the Table Top quizzes was again discussed. Bryan White, Adam Hilton, Dave Guttridge, Steve Westerby, John Swan, Jeff Coxon, David Wood, Martin Robinson & Mike Sowerby all spoke on the subject. It was agreed that the question setter should have more flexibility when setting the quiz, and should be able to set 2, 3 or 4 part questions if they wanted. The number of questions should not be set in stone: remaining at around 70 but these should be comprised of an Individual round of 16 which was of the ‘Specialist’ type with the normal individual round being dispensed with. There should also be a written round with 10 or more answers, with a point being awarded for each correct answer. 30 seconds should be allowed for an answer after the question is read out, but teams may change an answer if they wish during the round and two minutes would be allowed at the end of the round for ‘tidying up’. The awarding of 3, 2, and 1 league points to the teams finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd would continue as before. Dave Guttridge asked if the 2025-26 season could begin with a table top quiz and the Secretary said that he would implement this. The AGM was then declared closed and the Presentation of trophies began.