SCOTTISH WHEELCHAIR CURLING ASSOCIATION

SCOTTISH WHEELCHAIR CURLING ASSOCIATION Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 21 March 2013 in Forthbank Performance Sports Centre, S...
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SCOTTISH WHEELCHAIR CURLING ASSOCIATION Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 21 March 2013 in Forthbank Performance Sports Centre, Stirling Present:

Albert Middler (Chair), Rosemary Lenton (Vice Chair), Joyce White (Treasurer) Anne Gordon (Secretary), Margaret Cathcart, Michael McCreadie, Mo Simpson, Sheila Swan, Tony Zummack, and 40 representatives of member clubs and their guests.

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WELCOME Chair Albert Middler welcomed every one present to the meeting. He invited all present to observe one minute’s silence to remember Stewart Maxwell, Stranraer WCC and Ken Dickson, Kinross WCC.

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APOLOGIES Apologies for absence were received from Borders WCC

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MINUTES OF AGM HELD ON 17 MARCH 2012 Accepted as a correct record. Proposed - David Morgan Seconded - Rosemary Lenton

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MATTERS ARISING None

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CHAIRMAN’S REPORT Albert Middler said that he had been interim Chairman for three months. He was honoured to be asked and gladly accepted the nomination. To try to avoid any future misunderstandings, volunteer Role Descriptions have been formulated for all Office Bearers and Club Representative posts. He thanked Rosemary Lenton for chairing meetings throughout the year. Albert recorded congratulations to Kate Caithness, Honorary President of SWCA on being awarded an OBE for services to curling and international disability sport. She has been a driving force behind the development of wheelchair curling, and campaigned vigorously to have the sport included within the Winter Paralympic programme, which was achieved in Turin in 2006. This has been a busy season for curlers at national squad, development programme and club level with full programmes of training and competitions. The National Squad gained 6th place at the World Championship this year and are at present competing in the Scottish Championship along with club curlers. During the year, a new club was formed, Stranraer WCC, with members participating in the Scottish Championship for the first time.

The Kinross International Competition was very successful, with seven countries taking part, and the British Open Competition held at South Lanarkshire Ice Rink became an International event with teams from Scotland, England, Wales and Russia. Albert recorded thanks to all the organisers of the various competitions, the sponsors - in particular Star Refrigeration, Tunnocks and The Green Hotel, Kinross the various ice rinks that have supported SWCA and all the volunteers, coaches and helpers who made the competitions possible. Three committee members were not standing for re-election, the Treasurer, Secretary and Competitions Convenor. Especially missed will be Margaret Cathcart who is leaving the committee having served six years. She has been a dedicated member of SWCA and supporter of wheelchair curling, and has worked tirelessly to ensure the smooth running of the Association and it’s competitions. Albert thanked Margaret and all the committee members for their work during the year. 6

FINANCIAL REPORT Copies of the Accounts were available at the meeting. The balance at 28 February 2013 was £33,749.23. Joyce drew attention to the donations of £7,045.95 mainly due to Rosemary Lenton’s hard work. These are mostly one-off donations and not guaranteed income. The majority of the balance is made up by the amazing fundraising of Judy MacKenzie and her family (£21,000). SWCA were also fortunate to have support from SDS for Squad and Spokes costs. However, SDS will no longer continue with the same level of funding. Joyce said the Committee had a duty to ensure that funds held by SWCA were used in the best possible manner and to continue fundraising efforts to keep the accounts in a healthy state. It was proposed that the annual subscription for member clubs remains at £10 for 2013/14. Thanks were recorded to Jim Taylor for his excellent work in auditing the Accounts. He has been extremely obliging over the past five years. He has advised that he wishes to step down as Auditor.

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SCOTTISH COMPETITIONS REPORT - MARGARET CATHCART The report was tabled at the meeting. SWCA competitions were organised by Margaret Cathcart along with Rosemary Lenton and Paul Webster. High ice demand is one of the biggest challenges which competitions’ organisers face. Visits to ice rinks were made to finalise dates for

competitions, and further visits were always made to make sure that all aspects of running the competition were covered. The Royal Club provided umpires for the National Pairs, Scottish Championship and Friendship Trophy, and Robin Shand and Robin Turner gave of their own time to umpire the British Open. The slow speed of play was mentioned by umpires at all the competitions. Special thanks are due to all the on-ice helpers, volunteers and to the curlers who enter the competitions and play in good sporting fashion. Star Refrigeration National Wheelchair Pairs Championship, Braehead 12-14 October 2012 Winners High Road Mo Simpson and Ian Donaldson Runners up Aileen Neilson and Kirsty Birkner Winners Low Road Runners up

Gregor Ewan and Jim Gault Jim Sellar and David Morgan

British Open, Hamilton, 11-13 November 2012 Winners Paul Webster, Gordon Rainey, Angela Higson, John Doyle Runners up Andrey Smirnov, Marat Romnov, Aleksander Shevokenko, Oxana Siesarenka Scottish Championship, The Peak 20 – 22 March 2013 This event is on-going at the time of this report. Nine teams are taking part. The Friendship Trophy, The Peak 16-17 April 2013 This season there are five entries, two North and three South clubs, and will be played as a Round Robin to produce two rinks for the final, who may be from the same area. The event will be played in April, much later than planned due to high ice demand. A Friendship dinner will be held during the event. Other Competitions Highland Wheelchair Curling Triples, Inverness, 11-12 September 2012 Winner Gregor Ewan Runner up Aileen Neilson Kinross Wheelchair Curling International, Kinross, 16-18 October 2012 The event attracted eight entries from six European countries and both National Squad Teams. Switzerland, Norway, Scotland (2) and Finland qualified for the semi-finals which produced a Scandinavian final. Winner Norway skipped by Rune Lorensten Pick and Wick, Lockerbie 19 February 2013 Twenty-three players enjoyed this one-day event organised by Isobel Cowan and Marian Murdoch. Winners Jim Sellar, Mary Bell, Stephen McGarry, Alan Hopkins

SHOTMAKER This year, 22 participants have taken part in Shotmaker, 16 of whom have completed 3 or more attempts to try for inclusion in the final. Once again , Shotmaker has attracted athletes from the whole spectrum of wheelchair curlers, from elite athletes through to curlers who have recently taken up the sport. The final results were:1st Aileen Neilson 4th Jim Gault, Jim Donaldson nd th 2 Michael McCreadie 6 Seamus McArdle rd th 3 Tom Killin 7 Reg Craig Joyce White presented Judy’s Jug to Aileen Neilson. The winner of the prize awarded to the curler who has the highest of 3 accumulated scores throughout the season was Michael McCreadie. 8

NATIONAL WHEELCHAIR CURLING COACH - TONY ZUMMACK Copies of the report were tabled at the meeting. The final preparations for the World Championship saw the National Team – Aileen Neilson, Gregor Ewan, Robert McPherson, Tom Killin and Gill Keith - play nine games against many of the Development Squad and remaining National Squad members in the final two weeks before departing for Sochi on 12 February 2013. The Team finished in 6th place at the World Championship, an improvement on last year, and have secured a place in the 2015 World Championship. Most of the National Squad members will play in the Scottish Championship and the Tunnock’s Trophy. Preparations for the Paralympic Games in 2014 will start in April with gym and classroom sessions, prior to the summer ice training programme at Stirling.

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RCC DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, ADULT AND DISABILITY - SHEILA SWAN Copies of the report were tabled at the meeting. The report was based on the SWCA Action Plan 2012-13 which is used by the Committee to record progress on the overall objectives of the Plan. This includes: Increasing the number of Wheelchair Curling Clubs  Increasing membership of Wheelchair Curling Clubs  Increasing skill level of Wheelchair Curling Club members  Identifying rising talent  Nurturing talent to become champions of the future  Train entry level wheelchair curling coaches  Train existing coaches to develop their skills and knowledge  Design an annual calendar of competitions that covers all levels and abilities  Organise a series of national competitions that covers all levels and abilities  Consult members on improvements to competitions  Support delivery of International Competitions hosted in Scotland  Support delivery of local competitions in Scotland  Scotland to achieve podium position at World Championship in Sochi 2013

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BRITISH CURLING Rosemary Lenton reported verbally. On behalf of SWCA, Joyce White attended a British Curling meeting where changes and amendments to the British Curling Strategy Plan 2014 – 2030 were discussed. Rosemary Lenton and Michael McCreadie attended the British Curling AGM in December 2012 where the British Curling Strategy Plan 2014-2030 was debated. British Curling requested input from all sections, ie Mainstream Curling, Scotland, England and Wales as well as SWCA by mid-March 2013. Dave Crosbee (British Curling) and Bruce Crawford, CEO, RCCC, attended an SWCA Committee Meeting in January 2013 to outline the Vision, Aims and Objectives of the Strategic Plan. After consultation, comments/recommendations were sent to British Curling by 11 March 2013. Before the election of Office Bearers, Rosemary Lenton thanked the members of the Committee who were not standing for re-election, and presented each of them with a gift on behalf of SWCA. These were Albert Middler - Interim Chairman, Joyce White - Treasurer, Anne Gordon - Secretary, Michael McCreadie – Players Representative. A special gift was presented to Margaret Cathcart in recognition of her six years of service to the Committee. In reply, Margaret thanked everyone, and said she has enjoyed working with the “family” of wheelchair curlers.

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ELECTION OF OFFICE BEARERS Chairman Sole nominee - David Morgan Proposed by South Lanarkshire WCC Seconded by Lockerbie WCC Competitions Convenor Sole nominee - Ian Archer Proposed by South Lanarkshire WCC Seconded by Lockerbie WCC North Clubs Representative Proposed by Highland WCC Seconded by Moray WCC

Sole nominee - Mo Simpson

South Clubs Representative Sole nominee - Paul Webster Proposed by South Lanarkshire WCC Seconded by Lockerbie WCC Treasurer A volunteer, Rosemary Miller, West Stirling Ladies CC will be co-opted at the next Committee meeting.

Secretary No nomination David Morgan then took the Chair and said he was delighted and honoured to be appointed as Chairman of SWCA. He thanked the SWCA Committee for their hard work throughout the past year.

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PROPOSAL BY SLWCC TO AMEND THE SWCA CONSTITUTION A paper outlining proposed amendments had been circulated prior to the meeting. Paul Webster was invited to speak to the proposal. He outlined the several main amendments, ie Categories of membership, payment of subscriptions by individuals, voting by individuals at General meetings, and voting by proxy at General meetings, and said that as the structure of the RCCC has been changed to one member one vote, the SWCA should amend their constitution to follow this structure. Albert Middler raised a counter argument and said that members of the SWCA are the Wheelchair Curling Clubs, with each member (Club) having one vote, and that this is democratic. The proposed amendment introduces an individual fee but does not set a cost for the fee, and it is therefore not competent for the members to approve this proposal. At present, the SWCA has charitable status and it would need to be established that any change to the Constitution did not affect this. He agreed that changes to the Constitution are required, and this should be carried out by the new Committee. After further discussion, the Chairman asked member clubs to vote on the proposal by Albert Middler that the SWCA retains the status quo (ie Member Clubs have one vote), and that the new Committee will examine the Constitution and table proposed amendments at the next AGM Results of Voting:For the Status Quo Against the Status Quo

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7 Votes 2 Votes

ANY OTHER BUSINESS i) A letter received from the Kinross Wheelchair International Committee was passed to the new Committee. ii) Mo Simpson thanked everyone who supported the Highland WCC Triples Competition held in Inverness, and said that the date for the next competition is 10/11 September 2013. Details will be sent to Clubs.

There being no other business, David Morgan thanked everyone for attending and declared the meeting closed.