Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the West of Fife Curling Province on 28 April 2011 in the Lounge, Fife Ice Arena at 7.30 p.m.

Transcription

1 Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the West of Fife Curling Province on 28 April 2011 in the Lounge, Fife Ice Arena at 7.30 p.m. Present : Bob Smith, Colin Campbell, Inverkeithing; Robin Park, Boreland/Dunfermline; Donald Whyte, Dunfermline; Brian Duncan, Bob Anderson, Inverkeithing; Harry Mitchell, Raith & Abbotshall/Aberdour; Iain Brown, Raith & Abbotshall; Bill Creevy, Kirkcaldy Curling School; Willie Nicoll, Wendy Smith, Elinor Ritchie, Bank of Scotland; Mike Hudspeth, Stuart Carnegie, Karen McDonald, Dalgety Bay; Aileen Preistley, Susan Cupar, Joy Bowie, Dunfermline Ladies; Bob Tait, Inverkeithing/Boreland; Alice Mairs, George Swan, Ronnie Herd, Kirkcaldy Ice Rink; David Jones, Area Development Officer Kinross; Bill Arnot, Area 7 President (24) President Bob welcomed the representatives of the Clubs in attendance and called for any apologies for absence to be intimated. Apologies: Ross Muir, Broomhall CC; Ian Borland, Dunfermline CC; Lynne Stevenson, Liz Smith, Dunfermline Ladies Minutes of last AGM The President asked if the Minute of the previous year s AGM could be taken as read, asking for it to be approved and seconded. Adoption proposed by Mike Hudspeth and seconded by Willie Nicoll. The minutes were duly approved. Thereafter the President and Secretary signed the Minute. Matters Arising Bill Arnott apologised for no apologies last year. He understood these would be passed on!! President's Remarks Bob again welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked the clubs for attending League consisted of 10 teams out of 12 in Province (Tulliallan and Dunf Ladies missing) That was disappointing as Kirkcaldy ice is generally accepted as being better than recent years and we need support to keep it going. THE SLIPPINESS IS APPARENTLY CAUSED BY LACK OF THE IONISED WATER V EXPENSIVE- BUT THERE ARE PLANS CONFIRMED TO UPGRADE THE PLANT AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO NEXT SEASON.ROBIN PARK WILL SUMMARISE RONNIE HIRD S REPORT ON THE RINK LATER. The ice rink must be kept going for curling as there is little alternative. Cupar is on hold, awaiting finance which is apparently dependant on Kinross. More later. Annual competitions will be detailed shortly but we have to note that we lost the Zermatt heavily to East Fife but won the Waldie Griffiths against West Lothian by only one shot so not good enough! Clubs and members playing in prestigious competitions have done well. Particular congratulations are conveyed to Jim Stevenson from Dunfermline CC who skipped his team, including Albert Rae,(with George Lindsay and RCCC president Robbie Scott) to winning the Scottish Masters/David Young, Donald Whyte, Alan Hempseed and Willie

2 Scott won the low road final in the GRAND MASTERS/ DUNFERMLINE LADIES CC have been particularly impressive with members Elizabeth Miller, Trish Petrie, Jane Wright and Helen Gordon winning the Kirkcaldy Ladies Open and several Ladies did exceptionally well at Kinross competitions. Hazel Swankie and Fiona De Vries were both included in the Scottish Seniors team for the worlds and we had further international recognition with Lyne Stevenson going on the winning USA tour. A Canadian ladies team also visited Scotland and played well against the Province. It has been a good enough season with improved level of ability and friendly rivalry in the competitions. It was good to see Kirkcaldy Virtual club enthusiastically joining in our closing Bonspiel and we hope to meet them more regularly. We think the Province continues to provide a competitive opportunity for all club curlers to expand their capabilities and meet new curlers. I must express my thanks over the last 2 years to my predecessor, Trish Petrie, for her quiet support, to the committee members for assistance and to Secretary/treasurer Robin Park for his diligent work. I am sure the Province will go to further strengths and heights. Thank you. Remember RCCC Agm on 18 th June Kirkcaldy Curling School Bill Creevy reported the following: THANK YOU PRESIDENT BOB, BROTHER AND SISTER CURLERS. FIRSTLY I WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE COLIN HOWDEN AND ALLAN MARSHALL FOR THEIR ACHEIVEMENTS THIS YEAR, IT ONLY SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY THEY CAME ALONG TO THE ICE RINK WITH WAID ACADEMY. THIS SEASON WE HAVE HAD QUITE A VARIED PROGRAMME 2 COME AND TRY SESSIONS 39 OVER 2 SESSIONS, DOWN ON LAST YEAR BUT HIGHER % ATTENDING COACHING COURSE AND COACHING. CURLING S COOL PROGRAMME ATTENDED, WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE BUT THE WEATHER PREVENTED 2 SCHOOLS ATTENDING. THE REGULAR WEDNESDAY EVENING COACHING SESSIONS ALSO ATTRACTED A FAIRLY REGULAR GROUP OF IMPROVERS AS WELL AS SOME NEW CURLERS. WE RAN AN AFTER SCHOOLS CLUB UNTIL CHRISTMAS POORLY ATTENDED MAX 4. THE VIRTUAL CLUB CONTINUES TO FLOURISH CURRENTLY 27 MEMBERS AND MORE PEOPLE KEEN TO SIGN UP FOR NEXT SEASON. WE WILL BE LOSING 10 PEOPLE FROM THE VIRTUAL CLUB MEMBERSHIP IS LIMITED TO 2 YEARS, BUT THEY HAVE ALL JOINED OTHER CLUBS, WHICH IS THE MAIN AIM OF THE CLUB. ALSO 4 OTHERS FROM COACHING HAVE JOINED CLUBS. THIS YEAR TEAMS FROM THE VIRTUAL CLUB HAVE PLAYED IN THE INDOOR GRAND MATCH, THE WEST FIFE CLOSING BONSPEIL, A COMPETITION AT BRAEHEAD AND THE NATIONAL VIRTUAL CLUB BONSPEIL AT LOCKERBIE. WE RAN 2 CORPORATE EVENINGS FOR SCOTTISH WATER AND SOME OF THEM ARE KEEN TO CURL AND JOIN THE VIRTUAL CLUB. WE RAN COME AND TRY SESSIONS FOR 2 GROUPS OF SCOUTS 50 OVER THE 2 EVENINGS. REGULAR WHEELCHAIR SESSIONS ON THURSDAY MORNINGS.

3 WINTER SPORTS WEEK IN SCHOOL HOLIDAYS- CURLING, SKATING, ICE HOCKEY 40 JUNIORS SOME CAME BACK TO COACHING SESSIONS. SCHOOL SPORTS WEEK- SUMMER NOT A GREAT SUCCESS NEXT SEASON WE PLAN TO RUN THE SAME PROGRAMME PLUS ANOTHER COUPLE OF INITIATIVES. THE SCOUTS ARE LOOKING TO ADOPT CURLING AS A SPORT IN THEIR JUNIOR LEADER AWARD, BASICALLY THEY WOULD COMPLETE A LEVEL 1 COACHING QUALIFICATION. SECONDARY SCHOOLS ARE CURRENTLY GOING TO IMPLEMENT A CURRICULIM FOR EXCELLENCE SCHEME, THEY CHOOSE A SPORT OR AN INTEREST AND IT IS BUILT INTO THEIR WEEKLY TIMETABLE. I STILL HAVE TO SPEAK TO THE 4 KIRKCALDY SCHOOLS, BUT I AM HOPEFULL THERE MAY BE SOME POSITIVE FEEDBACK. JUNIOR CURLING IN FIFE NEEDS TO BE ENCOURAGED AND ONE OF OUR AIMS NEXT SEASON IS TO GET MORE TEENAGERS ON THE ICE. BY WORKING CLOSELY WITH THE ACTIVE SCHOOLS CO-ORDINATORS I BELEIVE WE CAN MAKE THIS HAPPEN. AT THIS POINT ON BEHALF OF K.C.S. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL THE COACHES AND HELPERS FOR THEIR TIRELESS WORK THROUGHOUT THE SEASON. AT THE MOMENT WE HAVE 18 VOLUNTEER COACHES AND HELPERS AND AT TIMES OUR RESOUCES ARE STRETCHED TO COVER ALL OUR PROGRAMMES. SO IF ANYONE HAS SOME FREE TIME AND WOULD BE ABLE TO ASSIST US OCCASIONALLY TO HELP US INTRODUCE CURLING TO THE MASSES AND GET YOU SOME NEW MEMBERS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. FINALLY I WOULD LIKE TO REMIND EVERYONE THAT THE COACHING SCHOOL IS NOT THER JUST FOR THE BEGINNERS. WE ARE ALSO THERE TO ASSIST ANY CURLER WHATEVER THEIR LEVEL. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME BILL ASKED FOR ANY QUESTION -!!!! Kinross Curling School David Jones the new Curling Development Officer reported Season has been a very successful year for curling at Kinross. Almost 100% of the Curling Development Action Plan targets were achieved or partially achieved during the season. Junior s not attending the Royal Club s Skills Award Challenge Trophy in October was the only target not to be at all achieved. The success of meeting these targets would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of Kinross Curling School and its committee members and volunteer coaches who have given their own time during the season. Thanks go to everyone involved especially to Diane Bell, Lorna Rennie and Maureen Aitken who have worked very hard during a year of change for the school with the departure of Ena Stevenson as Development Officer. As always the school are continually looking out for new coaches at Kinross so we would invite you all to join us next season and put something back into our great sport. For those who this might interest, Dundee Ice Arena is hosting an

4 Assistant coaches course on 17 th May and it is hoped that Kinross will have the same course on the 14 th September. Please have a look at the Royal Club s website for details. Here are a pick of some of the facts and figures from the action plan to give you an idea on progress. A full Kinross Curling Development Action Plan will be ed out for attachment to the minutes and is always available by request. Two Try Curling events were held during the season with 47 people attending in September and a further 29 in January. Come back rates have been excellent and a high proportion of these people went on to attend the Beginners Course and become members of the Virtual and other clubs. The schools Curling s Cool programme attracted 253 pupils from 14 Primary schools compared to the 187 pupils from 9 schools last year. This is an increase of 35%. It is hoped that this will increase 10% in season Kinross Junior Club and the Primary and Secondary After School Clubs welcomed good number of children during the season. Kinross Juniors had 36 members this season which is a great increase from 25 last year. Thanks to the Junior Club committee which includes Elaine Spain as Secretary and Jim Steel as a popular lead coach. The Monday Primary After School club was also notably very busy with an average of 32 children each week causing the doors to be closed to new curlers during the middle of the season! New enquiries were invited to attend the Thursday After School Club instead. Kinross Virtual Club started off the season with 13 members and had increased membership to 38 by January thanks to the beginner s courses. The Virtual Club now fully operates by its own committee and took part in many competitions last year including playing in The Green Hotel league 3. Kinross Virtual Club also became the Royal Club s National Virtual Club champions in Lockerbie in March. It is expected that the membership will top 50 by the end of and the club will be playing in an interclub league. The Virtual Club are competing in more competitions next season including more province fixtures and are hosting the 2012 National Virtual Club Bonspiel in March. Other new additions to Kinross came this season with the release of a Kinross Curling Rinks Facebook page in October and a new website in February. Thanks go to ice tech Andy McPherson for setting the two sites up in his spare time. The new website is still very much work in progress but offers lots of valuable information on everything at Kinross Curling Rink. There are sections for news, find a club, Kinross Curling School, Virtual Club and much more. Have a look at the website and I would be pleased to hear your feedback on its contents and presentation. It is hoped the website will have much more content next year and for example it will show updated competition league tables at Kinross. I would like to take this opportunity to say thanks to for inviting me to join you at your AGM tonight and I would like to welcome any questions that anyone may have. Season s Results and Presentation of Trophies The Secretary gave the results of the various competitions the Province had organised or taken part in throughout the season. Dunfermline, representing the Province at the National Province Championships failed to enter a team.

5 North v South Fife Bonspiel: The North had 123 shots to the South s 112, meaning the North have won by 11 shots. Winning teams are Highest up club on winning side is Thornton with plus 13 shots over 2 games. Highest up rink is also Thornton with plus 13 shots. Second highest up club is Ceres with plus 12 shots Highest up rink on the losing side is Dalgety Bay with plus 12 shots. Fife & Kinross v Perth Bonspiel. Fife & Kinross won by 20 shots with Dunfermline being the highest up rink on the winning side + 18shots. Rink was Derek Mayne, Alex Bowie, Robin Park and Jim Low Inter-Province Bonspiel. This competition was cancelled owing to the severe weather conditions. Inter-Province League This competition was won by East Fife. West Fife was runners up! In the Zermatt competition Vs East Fife Province on 6 January East Fife triumphed this year by a massive margin of 21 shots!! Highest up rink for West Fife was Bank of Scotland + 5 shots. Better luck next season!! George Sinclair : As with last season this competition was tied at + 9 shots between Kennoway and Markinch, Kennoway winning on ends. In the Waldie Griffiths fixture against West Lothian Province, West Fife won by only 1 shot averaging +.25 and nowhere close to winning this competition. Thanks go to the clubs of Dunfermline, Dunfermline Ladies, Raith & Abbotshall and R & A Ladies who participated. The committee will continue to select according to those balloted out in previous season being given priority in following season. The Arena League formerly Central & West Fife League This competition had insufficient entries and was not run!! Moving on to the domestic scene, the Secretary reported that: Bank of Scotland returned to the top of the pile in the Province League with 15 points. Inverkeithing finished runners up on 12 points. It was a tie in third place with Dunfermline and Raith & Abbotshall each having 10 points. It was again a very closely contested competition. The trophy was presented to Willie Nicoll. The Mixed Knock-out final was contested between Dunfermline & Boreland 1. The Dunfermline rink of Jamie Stevenson, Hector Ramsay, Jim Barr and Stuart Rennie won by the tightest of margins 1 shot 9 shots to 8 shots. The trophy and glasses were taken by Robin Park.

6 The Ladies Knock-out competition was competed for again this season albeit we could do with additional teams entering. The result was that Dunfermline Ladies beat Aberdour by 9 shots to 3. The winning rink was A Priestley(S), M Porter, S Coupar and K Low. The trophy was presented to Aileen Preistley. Clubs were reminded up to three rinks per club can be entered into this competition. A good turn out was in evidence for the Province Bonspiel with the undisputed winning club being Dalgety Bay which won both games ending 11 shots up!! The Province Medal was presented to Mike Hudspeth. Last but not least, the Province Pairs competition final was contested between Kirkcaldy Ice Rink and Dalgety Bay. Bill Creevy and George Swan of Kirkcaldy Ice Rink emerged victorious in a very tight game, 9 shots to 8. The Trophy and glasses were duly presented to the winners. It was mentioned that much greater care is required in completing score cards rink member names would be a good start!!!! Secretary/Treasurer s Report It was again highlighted that much useful information on fixtures/results and other noteworthy items, throughout the season, is published on the Province web site. This season there were again 10 clubs involved in the league? The clubs members this season numbered 612 (608) a continuing increase!! It was good to see our newest club, Kirkcaldy Virtual Club compete in the Province Bonspiel. (With the great success of the curling schools at Kirkcaldy and Kinross there is now a ready market for keen new curlers and the clubs are encouraged to recruit from these sources). Everyone was reminded that the RCCC AGM takes place Saturday 18 June 2011 at Dewars Centre, Perth at 2pm. The annual Accounts for the period from 3 April 2010 to 15 April 2011 were presented. The Accounts showed a deficit of on the Ordinary account. This compared with a deficit of from the previous year. Province funds have accordingly decreased from to The current value of badges in stock is 135. Again there will be Engraving/prizes/ice costs being carried forward into next financial year. The accounts were self explanatory and the financial report was duly adopted. Proposed by George Swan and seconded by Joy Bowie. Annual Subscriptions In light of the increasing deficit the Treasurer and committee proposal was that the 2 year moratorium on member subscriptions cease. It is proposed therefore that the previous fees of 40p per member be resurrected with no cost' continuing for K.O. competition entries. This was unanimously agreed. The Area 7 Tour Levy will of course continue. In addition the committee proposed a levy on the existing clubs of 10 to assist in covering the costs of purchasing new Province badges. Two quotes had been received - previous supplier IDExpress 4.16 ex. Vat for 200 and Image Printers Edinburgh 1.68

7 ex. Vat for 250. The latter supplier was recommended by the committee which the meeting approved albeit Bob Anderson suggested speaking with Ian Baker about a company in Leith which provided badges for Boreland. The meeting also agreed to continue selling badges at 5 but for club members involved in playing in outgoing or incoming tour games the badges should no longer be provided free with the players paying 2 obtaining cost recovery. Election of Office Bearers Proposed by: Seconded by: Patron: Earl of Elgin Committee Unanimous President: Robin Park Committee Unanimous At this point Bob vacated the Chair which was taken over by Robin. Robin thanked the members for the honour and privilege of being their President, a privilege he was more aware of after looking at the list of the very well respected previous incumbents. He thanked Bob Smith on behalf of the members, for the effort he had put into Province business in his time in office, particularly as President. Bob, of course, will now replace Trish Petrie as Past President with Trish coming off Committee duties. Trish was thanked for her much appreciated involvement in Province matters and indeed curling in general over the past few years. Robin looked forward to his time as President and would carry out his duties to the best of his ability and hopefully in the same efficient way as his distinguished predecessors. Robin then proposed Mike Hudspeth as his Vice President. There were no other nominations from the floor. Proposed by: Seconded by: Vice President Mike Hudspeth Robin Park Unanimous Secretary/Treasurer Colin Campbell Committee Unanimous Robin again thanked Trish Petrie for her considerable contribution to the Province during her terms of office. On the elevation of Mike to Vice President it leaves a vacancy on committee and Raith & Abbotshall CC proposed Iain Brown, a club member. This nomination was wholly supported by the committee There being no nominations from the floor this committee proposal was unanimously supported by the meeting. Iain was therefore welcomed on board by Robin.

8 As Alan Mitchell had agreed to continue as independent examiner he too was unanimously re-appointed. RCCC/Area 7 Representative s Report. Area 7 President, Bill Arnot reported The new website that started last year seems to be running well at the moment and all of what I say and much more is on the website. Bruce Crawford is the new CEO, He is reviewing committees and their remits and looking at how the Royal Club is run. In major competitions, The University girls team won gold at the Europeans, the boys came 4th. The Scottish wheelchair curling team got silver at the world championships. Aileen Neilson won the award for the best sportsmanship over the competition. It was to be a very successful world junior event held at Perth recently. Eve Muirhead won gold for the 4th time at the women s juniors and the men s team came 5th, which was pretty good considering there were very few games when illness did not hamper at least one of their players. It was commented on how well both teams represented Scotland on home ground, both on and off the ice. Unfortunately the wheels came of the wagon with the women s team but the men s team is still doing pretty well this week in Regina. A new booklet is out to let all members see what the benefits are of being a member of the Royal club. On the website just now and will be sent out to all members at the beginning of the new season The nominations for curling awards to be presented at the Gala dinner closed on the 14th of April. The dinner is in the Inchyra Grange hotel on Saturday the 21st of May. With Alison Walker as compere and Sheriff Lindsay Wood the after Dinner speaker. American touring team will be in Scotland next year, curling against Area 7 clubs on the Friday the 10th and Saturday the 11th. February. 38 games of curling in 3 weeks. It is up to the area to decide what to do with the touring team, functions, accommodation, hosting etc The Scots will go to Canada touring in 2013 and it has been suggested to split into 3 groups instead of 2 as it would involve a lot less travelling. Lees painting, will not be sold as was earlier suggested, there has been a fund raising committee set up to try to raise the money needed to restore the painting, approx 50,000 but like all restoration the final figure wont be know till work starts. A leaflet was left at the top table for the assembled company. It is in storage at Sotheby s at the moment. If it had gone to auction it was suggested to put a reserve of 300k to 500k. I got more s/phone calls about this one topic than I have about all the rest put together. A group is being set up to list all the curling artifacts that the Royal Club possesses, it could be a lengthy process but it will be good to have a full list. AGM: Pat Eddington for President, Bill Duncan from Perth for V President and there were 2 places open for members to join the board, Willie Nicol was the only one that put himself up for election so the board will co-opt someone after the AGM. 18th June. If any club has any resolutions to put forward for the AGM, they need to be in by the 7th of May An indoor grand match was held last October and most ice rinks in Scotland took part. I can only talk about the Kirkcaldy side of things and in my opinion it went very well. Thanks to Pat, Ian and Kevin for all the work they put in, organising and getting

9 sponsors etc, it was much appreciated. The Royal Club would like to get feedback on how often they should be held, 5 yrs as at present, more often or maybe every 10 yrs. It has also been suggested that for the indoor grand match we play east against west, that way the travelling would be cut down as that seemed to be the most common reason for teams calling off last year. Unfortunately the grand match did not take place yet again, if it had not been for the fact that the best ice was over the New Year period then I think there might have been one. Kinross ice rink: Both parties have come to an agreement. Area 7 North v South. Winners were the north by 11 shots, winning club and winning rink were Thornton 13 shots up and in second place were Ceres who were 12 shots up, winning team on the losing side were Dalgety Bay also 12 shots up. Fife and Kinross against Perth: Fife and Kinross won by 20 shots, Dunfermline was up by 18 shots and Glenrothes were up by 11 shots. Last years AGM was the first one when one member one vote took place, my only comment is that the annual will not be appearing in the same format as before as it was decided on a vote, not to send out copies to each club, which they had to pay for and made it worthwhile to print, for any others who wanted a copy. The Royal Club would like to get as many members address as possible, it makes it much easier and much cheaper to communicate with members that way, so if anyone does not get the newsletter from Headquarters or knows of members who want to get them then let Ingliston know the addresses. Subscriptions will possibly go up by 1 in October so all clubs that pay before then will pay 18, after that it will be 19. Last year by doing it this way, only one club was late in paying which makes the cash flow much better. Area 7 Items Covered above Fife Curling Trust In light of the ongoing developments regarding the Curling Academy in Kinross the ice rink proposed for Cupar is very much on the back burner with nothing fresh to report. National Curling Academy Kinross Curling Trust While the main focus was on the National Curling Academy, Bob Tait noted that as part of its wider remit to develop curling in Kinross the Trust was sharing the Area Curling Development Officer costs with Montgomery Hotels and RCCC. The Trust was pleased with the significant progress made by David Jones last season. Bob thanked the 7 clubs in the Province for their fund raising efforts, noting that in total local fundraising was 126k, around half of the target. He said the land issue referred to at the 2010 AGM had undermined fund raising and confidence in the project. Since being advised of its resolution only some 3 weeks ago the Trustees had been working to revive the project with key partners and had attended numerous AGMs. Much remained to be done and this is being tackled by an expanded Board- Alistair McCabe and Malcolm Strang-Steel having been co-opted as Trustees. Other changes see Blair Melville (Kinross CC) replacing Jamie Montgomery and Anne Malcolm (RCCC) replacing Colin Grahamslaw.

10 Membership of the Trust due for renewal in June 2011 will be extended for 12months at no cost to members and new fund raising ideas, including a 50/50 club and a loan scheme are being investigated. Bob said the Trust would welcome new ideas for fund raising. The timing for completion would become clearer when major funding partners committed their support and the Trustees were actively pursuing this. Motions Arising None RCCC in memoriam : Deaths intimated were: Ernie Archibald, Inverkeithing CC ; Bill Kidd, Boreland CC; Jeanette Smith and Jean Rutherford, Raith & Abbotshall Ladies CC; Marjory Carnegie Dalgety Bay CC A 30 second standing silence was observed. Any other Competent Business West Fife Representative Clubs for next season: Scottish Championships Dunfermline CC as winners of the Province Mixed Knock Out competition Boreland C.C. as an additional rink if required. The 3 entries to the Area 7 Bonspiel will be 1) Runners up in the Mixed Knockout Boreland C.C. 2) Ladies Knock Out winners Dunfermline Ladies and 3) League winners Bank of Scotland. Clubs were reminded to return the competition entries and the insurance papers to the secretary no later than 17 May The gist of a report conveyed by Ronnie Herd, Kirkcaldy Ice Rink Manager follows:- Ice rink opens 19 September until 13 October with a weeks break thereafter. Reopens for curling 9 January until 22 March. The George Sinclair competition will take place on Sunday 8 January Ice allocations will be sent out next week to be returned by end June. Allocations will be made mid July with alterations being accepted until end August. The cost of ice will remain the same but there will be no free coffee. A vending machine will be provided for coffee at a cost of 1. Alice Mairs retires from the ice rink catering job and she was thanked for her past efforts and wished all the best for the future. Clubs could avail themselves of free during the day ice, if available, for the purpose of matches against other clubs or introducing new curlers. There was a suggestion made that a grant could be made available from Sportscotland to assist with new ice plant and the Directors may progress this!! Willie Nicoll, wearing his Chair of the RCCC Board hat, encouraged all present to exercise their votes at the forthcoming RCCC AGM and to encourage their club member colleagues to do likewise. A vote of thanks to the Chair was expressed by Donald Whyte There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.40 pm. RLP Secretary/Treasurer April 2011