12/06/2023 Committee Meeting (Draft Minutes)

Present: SB, SS, JH, MH, RH, apologies SH

Matters arising:

Documents to JH for child protect from RH and CR. CR not a full member yet, so holding things up. RH to remind CR to get his subs in.

Communication:

Rates bill from the council £200

Accounts:

£65 passed to Treasurer from competition entry.

Items:

1. Stripe: Committee and Treasurer will investigate how we sign up to Stripe to take online payments,

2. Competitions: All competition entry fees are £5 except Opens which are £10. Men's matchplay events to continue as knockout events this year and members to be asked before 2024 whether they prefer the knockout or a pool system (having now experiuenced both). Scottish Golf does not currently provide for a pool system in the VMS. Raffles will be £5 entry, using scorecard number for draw. Midnight golf a free fun event. Visitors pay just the entry fee for all competitions that are open. RBS team event to be dropped from the fixture list.

3. An adult beginner coaching course to be offerred by JH to include 5 one hour lessons and a coached round of nine holes. This course will be free to members and £40 for non-members.

Westray Golf Club.
Draft Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held 28 February 2023
1900 J Hill welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Present: J Hill, J Harcus, R Hutchison, F Thomson, S Baird, S Stout, M Hutchison, S Parry, G
Thomson, K Strang, B Drever, S Hutchison, S Rendall, C Drever.
Apologies: A Baird, S Stevenson, W Stevenson, W Turnbull, C Turnbull A McVicar, J Hutchison, C
Rendall.
1. Approval of the minutes of the 2022 AGM was proposed by J Hill and seconded by J Harcus.
2. Reports
Treasurer’s Report
S Stout presented the Accounts and her annual report:
INCOME
The accounts are looking very good this year. We still had to get the money from the council
cutting at the school from 2022 but this was paid in the bank on 11.01.2023, £3190.00.
Memberships were much as the previous year. There were a couple of new members but also a
few who didn’t re-join. 30 full members, 3 adult first years, 1 Youth, 17 juniors and 4 social.
All competitions were played this summer except for the BOS cup. It was suggested to find
another sponsor for this cup.
Honesty box is much the same as last year. With a lot of visitor playing in the summer months.
We received the payment for 2020 + 2021 school grass cutting from OIC and then the 2022’s
paid in January.
It was good to see the fundraising up this year, with a couple of functions. Mary’s wedding and
the Harvest Home both took in a good amount of profit. The Bargain Box is continuing to take in
a nice amount of money. The Beach clean also took in £150.
We received a Grant from Inspiring Scotland for £3000 in August and £35 from SGC.
Storage took in a good bit of money this year, with 13 members paying for the 6 yrs storage and
4 for one year.
We transferred money to the juniors account when it opened in April, so they had money to
pay their first invoice. This was for sets of clubs. They got a grant from WCC for these, which
was paid to WGC, money back which was borrowed.
EXPENDITURE
The wages, HMRC and VAO are similar to last year’s amount.
We’ve been having meetings indoors again so a little cost to room hire.There were some repairs to course

machinery again, a little bit more cost than the last year.
Course groundwork is up £400, we bought less but the cost was up so much more.
We advertised in Bunkered magazine and the Orcadian Advertiser again for 2022.
We have fundraising expenses again which is great to see!
The water charge was down a bit this year.
James and Christopher were away on a Scottish PGA Assistant Coaching course. WDT gave a
grant to cover half the cost. We are to get half of the remainder back yet from OIJGP.
WGC loaned WGCJP money to get started, which has all been paid back.
Insurance is similar to previous year, up £20.
The annual fees are for Scottish Golf Ltd and Scottish Golf North, which we have to pay.
We have the cost of materials in for the club house so far. The grant mentioned above from
Inspire Scotland was towards this.
Income of £27,673.96 minus expenditure of £30,883.46 for 2022 leaves -£3209.50 (had the
£3109 for 2022 OIC cutting been in the bank in December it would just been -£19.50 which is not
bad!)
J Hill thanked the Treasurer for the report and stated that the fundraising was an impressive
effort. It was agreed that M Makin would continue to audit the accounts for both the Senior and
Junior Sections.
Approval of the Accounts was proposed by J Hill and seconded by R Hutchison.
Captain’s Report
VMS system and integration with WHS.
Course rating: Even though the course hasn't been officially rated, our provisional rating is
allowing us to play it using handicaps. We're still waiting for an official rating visit, but there are
still some jobs for us to do in that respect anyway.
Most members now have WHS handicaps. Our first year using the VMS for organising
competitions was very successful. Unfortunately, Scottish Golf decided to change the database
provider at the end of 2022 and now we have to get to know an entirely new system. Luckily, it
looks fairly straightforward, they have not accepted the most recent yardages on the new
system, l'll try to find out what's happening there in the next few months.
We have a new website which is in need of some of my attention in the next couple of months.
l'll be coming to people for info about history, past winners, past committee members etc in the
near future. But the main point of the website is marketing and information for visitors. lt will
link into Scottish Golf hopefully seamlessly, but I haven't been sent the include code yet.
Competitions
I attempted to get more competitions going in the 2022 season. This had mixed results. We'll try
to keep the medals going, even though the participation was quite low. These now appear on
the fixture list. Also, the Winter Matchplay Handicap was enjoyed by everyone, so we'll have an18 hole summer handicap. This is a much more competitive event than the club championship
since handicaps give everyone a chance to win.
Coaches
We now have two Scottish PGA trained coaches (Christopher Rendall and me). This improves our
Junior coaching and this year I’m hoping to get an adult beginner course going.
Challenges
We're still overly reliant on fundraising events to keep the club going. lt is great we have people
who want to organise these at the moment and volunteers who help at them. Thanks to Robbie
especially for working with the Sailing club to get them up and running.
We are fairly sure that a considerable number of green fees aren't being paid. Can I ask all
members to ensure that any non-member playing the course in their company pays the green
fee. There are currently no exceptions to this. ldeally, we'd want to encourage everyone local
who wants to play golf to join the club. I’d like to thank all those who used the honesty box for
being honest!
Sponsorship
I’m hoping to increase the sponsorship income for the club in 2023.lf there is anyone, new
committee member or otherwise, who would like to focus on sponsorship and help us out with
this please let me know as soon as possible.
Finally I’d like to thank the outgoing Lady Captain and Vice-Captain for all their hard work. I’d
also like to thank Robbie and Christopher for their work with the Juniors and the rest of the
committee for putting in a lot of hours to keep us going for another year. I’d like to thank the
greenkeepers, Bill and Bertie for all their hard work at keeping the course in good nick.
Ladies’ Captain’s Report
J Harcus presented her report:
Overall, a successful year with visits to South Ronaldsay Golf Club and a very successful Ladies
Open. The competition at SRGC resulted in a home victory. JH welcomed S Hutchison as a new
member.
JH passed on the Ladies’ thanks to Bill and Bertie for their hard work keeping the course in good
condition.
This was JH’s last report as she is stepping down as Ladies’ Captain. M Hutchison and S
Hutchison take over as Ladies Captain and Vice Captain respectively.
Junior Representative Report
R Hutchison presented the Junior Section Report.
It has been a good year for the Junior Section. The Section is in a position of good standing with
accounts as presented.
Golf 6’s competition and Skills Challenges were held over the season.Future Golf 6’s competitions will be held on Saturdays to enable WGCJC to attend (ferries).The
Skills Challenges include driving, putting and chipping. Results are entered into the SG site so as
players can compare progress with others.
Junior Section AGM held on 27 February. It is planned to hold an open day for all juniors
including peedie hitters between the ages of 5 – 8 years old. Junior season starts on 01 April
and the Section now has 2 qualified coaches. The Roving Pro is planned for 2 visits this year in
May and June.
Greenkeepers
B Drever presented the Greenkeeper’s report.
There has been evidence of a trolley being taken onto a green. Pitch marks are not being
repaired as divots are also not being replaced. Members are to be reminded to repair as they
go. Reminders to also be placed as notices on the course and on the scorecards.
The greens will be dressed in May and as such sand needs to be collected.
3. Items for approval
3.1 Approval to amend the Constitution to reflect the following change: Section 5.
Composition and Responsibilities of the General Committee of Management Para 5.1.5 –
Remove.
Approved. - Proposed by J Hill and seconded by S Rendall.
3.2 Approval to amend the Constitution to reflect the following change: Section 5.
Composition and Responsibilities of the General Committee of Management Para 5.2.1 – Insert
new Paragraph. “If at the end of their eligible term, the holder of any position may be re-
appointed in their existing role in the event that no member is nominated to replace them. This
reappointment has a term of one year. If a member nominates for the role, the holder of the
position must stand aside at the AGM if their term has expired according to paragraph 5.2.”
Approved. - Proposed by J Hill and seconded by J Harcus
Election of Officers.
As such the Club Officers are as follows:
Captain: J Hill
Vice-captain: R Hutchison
Women’s Captain: M Hutchison
Women’s Vice-captain: S Hutchison
Treasurer: S Stout
Secretary: S Baird
3.3 To approve Annual Membership Fees for all categories:Membership fees were agreed as follows. No objections were raised by those present.
Proposed for acceptance by J Hill and seconded by M Hutchison.
Adult Full Membership £165
Senior (65 and over) £120
Get Into Golf – 1st Year Adult £85
Youth (18 and under) £50
Junior (16 and under) £20
Social £10
Daily Fees (Adult) all day £25
9 Holes £20
Daily Fees (Junior) all day £5
Weekly Fee (Monday to Friday only) £50
Putting Green £1
Membership fees due by end of March 2023
4. Items for discussion
4.1 Update on legal status of the Club
Work is ongoing between J Hill and S Baird to establish the best option for the change of the
legal status of the Club. In parallel, a new draft constitution is being drafted. Both will be
presented to members at an EGM.
4.2 Volunteers
A call was put out for members to volunteer for various work parties required for the upkeep of
the course. Calls will go out on email so members are requested to keep an eye out for those.
Work is ongoing to reduce the risk of damage to the course from rabbits. As such work will be
required to be carried out on the perimeter fencing this year and a perimeter walk is required
to record the state of the fencing.
In discussion it became apparent that there is a need to obtain a copy of the Club’s lease
agreement from WDT. S Rendall offered to contact WDT to action.
4.2 Fund-raising
No fundraising events are currently planned.Suggestions were made for fundraising activities including match weekends with other clubs
including a dance, frisbee golf, fun golf tournaments and other uses of the course for
fundraising are welcomed.
The issue of sponsorship for competitions, holes and tees was discussed. As in the Captain’s
report, a call for a volunteer to look into sponsorship was made.
R Hutchison suggested that we contact the Community Council to see if they were willing to
contribute to the purchase of some adult half sets for rental to increase visitor income.
5. Any other business
5.1 A discussion was held about the set up of the course. It was agreed to have a
meeting of the Grounds Committee and invite any members along to discuss the set up of the
Course for the summer in March.
5.2 A question was raised regarding the use of the SG app for recording general play. J
Hill provided a response and will look into it further with the new app.
There being no other business the meeting was closed at 2010.