Winter League
Previously reported on this site about the End-of-Season Meeting has been the outcome of the proposed rule changes as have the photographs of all the team and individual award presentations so it just remains to tidy up the other matters covered.
The meeting opened with a short presentation by Phil Warbrick who is leading a new initiative supported by 11 local bowling leagues. This initiative looks to provide up to 16 new bowling coaches for the Huddersfield area. Funding has been acquired to pay for the training and qualification of these new trainers with a May date arranged for the training and qualification process to be completed. It is then anticipated that the new coaches will lead some work over the summer months to provide open days for new bowlers to attend and learn how to play the sport. Leading on from that to provide training events for new and improving bowlers so that they can enjoy the sport even more.
Hopefully, all this will help to reverse the trend of clubs struggling to raise teams that has become the norm over recent years. Mike Ralph thanked Phil for his presentation which was warmly received by the meeting along with offers of the use of some club greens to support this work even more.
Bob Haigh as the League's Treasurer updated attendees with his report on the year. This is an interim report with the full accounts to be presented at the Annual General Meeting in July. Bob stated that all the donations received for the Founders' Fund had been spent on trophies as promised and that our ongoing annual costs of running the League are currently £144. This covers things like Yorkshire CCGBA membership, insurance, trophy engraving and Bowlsnet services. This is all adequately covered by the League Fees imposed on teams at the start of the season. Taking everything into account Bob was comfortable in recommending that the League Fee for the 2022-23 season should remain at £15 per team.
The Secretary, Jeff Jacklin, looked back and forward when recalling the completion of the first full season of bowling with the reality of winter bowling surpassing all expectations in numbers and enjoyment. Looking ahead to next season, currently, there are 10 new teams expressing an interest in joining us, some applications more advanced than others. All will be confirmed one way or the other by 4 July which is the closing date for new team applications. More interest is anticipated once teams start to reassemble for the summer bowling season.
The working assumption is that there will be 40 teams for the 2022-23 season, an increase of 13 on the 27 of last season. There could be more or less but 40 is the current figure being used to start planning ahead. If that figure becomes confirmed then two more divisions will be formed taking us to 5 divisions of 8 teams. That leads to the need for two more host greens and we already have two confirmed offers from Netherton Con and Lindley Lib. This cannot be confirmed until team numbers are finalised but both offers are expected to be accepted if numbers pan out as expected.
Such has been the success of the first full season that it is now difficult to envisage a future that didn't feature a bowling league during the winter months. The model of having a host green per division means that there are no limits to the number of teams that can potentially be accommodated so further expansion seems inevitable. The role of the host clubs in making the League it has become cannot be under-estimated and the hospitality has become part of the League's culture along with the community spirit that thrives on the division per green format. Long may it continue along with the mild winter weather.
A full copy of the official record of the meeting will be posted on the website in the coming week. As with all League matters everything is transparent in everything we do so the formal meeting record is available to everyone. Past meeting records since the League started and prior to its introduction are available here.