Thirty one members met at the Alma on Friday, 25th January for the annual AGM and dinner. Due to a cock up we were housed in the main dining room on the ground floor as opposed to our usual haunt on the first floor. This made ordering drinks easier but the noise from the pub rather drowned out the meeting!
Full minutes of the AGM will be available as soon as Rory has found his typewriter. Suffice to say we have a few headwinds to negotiate. We are two fixtures short of the full week and are looking for teams to replace Grasshoppers and Free Foresters on the Wednesday and Thursday, neither of whom feel they can raise a side on those days. The search for a caterer may or may not have been solved depending on whether or not Liv gets an internship.
Kenya was mooted as the destination for our next major overseas tour. Despite the recent terror attack, the meeting was generally positive about the idea and Eds, Seren and Copy are going to look into this further. Henry also reported that this year is the 25th anniversary of the first Sarasota six-a-side. Henry is going to talk to Karin Parry in the US about this before we decide whether to try and put together a party. As usual, it will take place over Thanksgiving weekend towards the end of November if we decide to go.
The president put forward Dick Kennedy-Hawkes name for election as a Vice-President. Hawkeye first played for OCCC in 1964 and played his last game last season (much to his horror). He’s an ever present on the boundary at both Cricketer Cup games and during the week and fully deserves the recognition.
After dinner, the President made a short speech during which he paid tribute to Allen and Heather Dean who are two of our greatest supporters. Heather has scored for the club for many years and is hugely appreciated and loved. Allen has been on the boundary for longer than he probably cares to remember. They travel the length and breadth of the country to support and to score. Sadly, they were unable to be at the dinner as Allen has been unwell and we wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing them both in the season. He also thanked members of the committee for their work over the year.
Finally, the cups were awarded. Lewis Bedford ran away with the Copleston Batting Cup and Seren Waters took the Chetwode Bowling Cup.
Rory Kennedy then wrapped things up with the traditional fines, helped in no small part by the newly elected vice president!