Notes taken during the Annual General Meeting held on 20th November 1997 in Restaurant No.1, for approval at the next Annual General Meeting in 1998. Present: D.Allen, C.Carter, V.Chohan, M.Davenport, C.Onions, B.Pattison, M.Sale, W.Salter, E.Schyns. Apologies: P.Brace, J.Evans, T.Goodyear, J.Ostler, J.Pym. The meeting was formally opened by the (Life) President at 5:42 pm and the agenda adopted as proposed. The Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of November 1996 were accepted as taken. Concerning matters arising from the Minutes, Wayne Salter wondered whether helmets had in fact been acquired or if the concrete wicket (annual topic) had materialised. NO was the answer. A motorised roller, also mention ed in the last Minutes, could not have been put to much use as the ground was t oo dry already from the beginning of the season. Colin Carter suggested having nets in the vacated magnet area. Captain's Report Results of the matches were : Won 2, Drawn 1, Tied 0, Lost 8, Abandoned 0, Postponed 0, Cancelled 7, Forfeited 0. Wayne Salter admitted he couldn't very well comment on the play as he had been injured for most part of the season. He expressed his thanks to the Vice-captain, Chris Onions, for doing most of the captaining and apologised for not being able to fulfil his appointment. Tim Goodyear managed to play in all 11 matches, but in fact there was great difficulty raising teams this season. A concentrated effort to attract new players is essential for the future of the club. Martyn Davenport mentio ned Rupert Saunders at Village Camps as a contact for sportsmen. Further discuss ion led to the possibility of advertising, contacting World Radio Geneva or recruiting lads from the International School at Chataignerie. The Cossonay Festival went OK with CERN fairing better on the second day with help from the Sri Lankans! Treasurer's Report Martyn Davenport reported a healthy financial position despite only 10 members having paid their annual subscriptions prior to the meeting. During the meeting a few more were collected! At handover to the new Treasurer in January 1997, the balance standing at 2905 Frs, has now more than doubled to 5835 Frs in November 1997, thanks mainly to a subsidy of 2700 Frs from the Staff Association. There had even been a contribution from Milan CC during their visit to us. The only equipment bought this year was cricket balls. Groundsman's Report Colin Carter requested a more prolonged rolling of the pitch, especially at the start of a season. If the wicket is hard as was the case this season, then watering is required prior to rolling. The problem would b e solved of course if a concrete wicket was laid! This prompted Chris Onions t o state that the present strip was in fact our only source of wickets so perha ps we should keep it! Martyn Davenport wondered whether, at our level, we would be able to cope with the resulting bounce from an artificial wicket. The nets were still up, long after the season had finished and should be dismantled and stowed in the hut. Kit Report Chris Onions announced the need for certain items of new kit such as helmets, gloves & netting. He suggested that some old equipment could be len t out or even donated. Two cricket bats required 6 hours each of knocking in (Martyn offered to do one). Most bats have now been repaired at some stage by Colin Carter. Colin has material for a mat-support bracket from Barry Williams. Concern was expressed for plenty of beer remaining in the hut which is liable to freeze or erupt during the winter. Election of Officers As usual, no nominations had been received for any of the posts. Wayne Salter did not wish to continue as Captain due to his back injury which prevents him from playing cricket. No volunteers came forward, although Mike Sale did say he would consider taking it on in 1999! All other Officers were re-elected, so Status Quo for the posts of Secretary, Vice-captain, Treasurer & Groundsman. The idea of having a Match Manager was raised by Nick Chohan, thus adopting the system used by Geneva and Milan cricket clubs. A Match Manager would be appointed for each match, whose responsibility would be to raise a team and to select one of those players as Captain for the day. SCA Affairs & Fixtures for 1998 The format for the Swiss League has yet to be decided, but the requirement to include two born Swiss players is likely to be dropped. If this were the case then CERN would most likely return to the Swiss League. Any interested CERN players are invited to make up a Swiss team to participate in the Golden Oldies Festival for over forties to be held in Cape Town from 8th - 15th March 1998. CERN as a team have been invited to spend a week playing several matches in and around the Durham area sometime in July or August 1998. As we are unlikely to be able to field a side on our own, a team of invited player s forming the Alpenhorn X1 will probably take to the field again as they have done on two or three occasions in the past. The next edition of the Durham Festival itself will take place in the year 2000. So, there being no other business to discuss, the meeting was brought to a close at 8:06 pm.