A reminder to all members that the 2026 Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday 23rd February in the clubhouse with a 7:15pm start time.
The meeting agenda will be :
1. Apologies and Minutes Silence for passed members
2. Consideration of minutes from the 2025 AGM Meeting
3. Chairman's Report
4. Consideration of Annual Accounts for 2024/2025
5. Election of Officers (Board Members) and BHCC Committee Members*
6. Election of Cricket Club Captains, and Vice-Captains*
7. Any other business
* Rule 12 Reminder - Full members with voting rights are Life Members, President, Vice Presidents and Playing Members (Cricket and Squash). Associate Members without voting rights are Patrons, and members partners. No member shall be eligible to vote until he/she has attained the age of 18,
Benwell Hill 2025 Annual General Meeting on 20th February - Meeting Minutes
Attendees:
H Dyson (stand in chair on the night), S Williamson (acting secretary), W Dawson (Treasurer), P Bell, A Dawson, M Hynd, C Pounder, S Frisken, M Reeves, M Williamson, M Maclauchlan, A Chakraborty, T Matthews, B Angus, R Gibson, T McVinnie, A Chapman, L Pearson, T Williamson, M Avery, P Haves, D Archbold
1. Apologies received from:
S Lunn, WJ Smalley, B Pearson, G Haxon, P Nicholson, D McKay, P Jones, J Walder, A Heather, L Crozier, M Wright, P Brown.
Meeting commenced at 7pm with a moment of silence and reflection was held for members and friends of Benwell Hill who had sadly passed away in the previous year.
2. Consideration of 2024 AGM Minutes:
2024 AGM (28/2/2024) – the minutes from 2024 AGM were agreed as accurate reflection of what took place in the February 2024 meeting.
3. Chairman's Report:
Attendees were reminded that the Chairman’s 2024 report was available via the Club Website here and that it was also shared with General Committee members ahead of the meeting.
4. Consideration of Annual Accounts for 2023/2024:
Club Treasurer Larry Dawson provided a precis of the Club Accounts for 2023/24.
The Treasurer explained the financial position between the Limited company and the CIC, in terms of the Limited Co. gives a donation to the CIC equal to the profits it has made in the year.
In 2023/24, the Limited Co made a profit of £69,886, an increase of £2,393 (3.5%) on the previous year.
Overall, the CIC accrued a deficit of £5,916 in 2023/24 as against a surplus of £20,644 in the previous year. This was largely due to the timing of the expenditure on the new roof, with the expenditure being incurred in 2023/24, whilst the ‘Just Giving’ income having been accounted for in the previous financial year.
The Treasurer also gave an update on the accounts as of February 2024, including recent areas of expense (including £9k on new cricket clothing) and upcoming major areas of expense (including £14k on new furniture for the downstairs lounge, new carpet for upstairs lounge and building/repair/ improvement work on stairs leading to cricket ground and the seeding of the old tennis court area.
5. Election of Officers, General Committee Members, Cricket Captains and Vice-Captains:
- President: Tom Williamson re-elected (Proposer - M Avery; Seconder – A Dawson).
- Cricket Secretary: Scott Williamson will succeed the late Keith Shaw (Proposer – L Dawson; Seconder – P Haves).
- Membership Secretary: Gordon Haxon re-elected (Proposer – A Dawson; Seconder – L Dawson).
- Ground Secretary: Position unfilled, as was in 2024 the position remains unfilled, and will be taken to next General Committee meeting for further discussion.
- Fixture Secretary: Andrew Dawson re-elected (Proposer – P Haves; Seconder – C Pounder).
- House and Social Secretary: Phil Haves re-elected (Proposer – S Williamson; Seconder – P Bell).
- Treasurer: Larry Dawson re-elected (Proposer – S Williamson; Seconder – H Dyson).
- Assistant Treasurer: Position unfilled, as Larry reported that Bill Smalley had indicated he wanted to stand down as treasurer for coming year, as there were no nominations it was agreed to discuss the filling of this important role at the next General Committee meeting.
- Squash Secretary: Martin Avery re-elected (Proposer – A Dawson; Seconder – M Hynd).
- 1st XI Captain: Phill Bell will succeed Pete Halliday as Club Captain, following his appointment by the Cricket Committee at the end of 2024.
- 1st XI Vice Captain: Max Williamson re-elected (Proposer – P Bell; Seconder – A Dawson).
- 2nd XI Captain: Pete Jones will succeed Matty Hynd as 2nd XI Captain (Proposer – A Dawson; Seconder – C Pounder).
- 2nd XI Vice Captain: Jake Robson will succeed Pete Jones as 2nd XI Vice Captain (Proposer – A Dawson; Seconder – M Hynd).
- Note – the Saturday 3rd XI have joined the Northumberland and Tyneside Cricket League (NTCL) for the 2025 season following the absorption of the West Tyne League into that pyramid structure, we will start in Division 5 West.
- NTCL 3rd XI Captain: Chris Pounder re-elected (Proposer – A Dawson; Seconder – P Bell).
- NTCL 3rd XI Vice Captain: Michael Maclauchlan will succeed David Ladd as 3rd XI Vice Captain (Proposer – C Pounder; Seconder – P Haves).
- NEPL 3rd XI Captain: Matty Hynd (Proposer – A Dawson; Seconder – C Pounder).
- NEPL 3rd XI Vice Captain: Position unfilled, it was agreed to discuss the filling of this important role at the next General Committee meeting.
- Ladies Captain: Laura Pearson (Proposer – A Chapman, Seconder – A Dawson).
- Ladies Vice Captain: Amy Chapman (Proposer – L Pearson, Seconder – P Haves).
All Officer positions above, as well as the Head of Senior Cricker (Phil Nicholson) and Life Members qualify for membership to the General Committee.
In addition, the following people were elected to General Committee:
- General Committee (re-elected): S Lunn, T McVinnie, Haxon, D Archbold, H Dyson, B Angus, B Pearson (Child Welfare Officer), S Frisken, M Reeves, M Wright, P Brown
- General Committee (new members): P Halliday (not present at the meeting), A Heather (not present), L Crozier (not present), R Gibson were all proposed and seconded.
The following sub committees were also agreed:
- Cricket Selection Committee: P Haves, D McKay, A Dawson, re-elected, they will make up the selection committee alongside P Nicholson and the Captains and Vice Captains of each team.
- Squash Committee: Martin Avery, Pete Brown re-elected (Proposer – P Haves, Seconder – S Williamson).
6. Election of Benwell Hill CIC and Limited Company Board Members:
- CIC - Existing board members: S Lunn, L Dawson, H Dyson unanimously re-elected.
- CIC - New board members: S Williamson, M Avery elected to the CIC Board (Proposer - L Dawson; Seconder - H Dyson). S Williamson will replace the late Keith Shaw as Company Secretary.
- Limited Company – Existing board members: S Lunn, P Haves, W Dawson unanimously re-elected.
- Limited Company – New board members: D Archbold was elected to the board, (Proposer - L Dawson; Seconder - P Haves).
7. Proposed Amendments to Club Rules
Phil Haves summarised the rule changes in the proposal above, which were to bring them up to date with current processes and bar hours. It was unanimously agreed to accept rule changes into the Benwell Hill constitution.
8. Any other business:
A reminder was given that we are still looking for Match Ball Sponsors for the coming season, Tom McVinnie and Tom Williamson kindly agreed to take up some of the remaining spaces.
Larry Dawson raised suggestion to engage Club Members on ideas for future conversion of the Tennis Court area.
Meeting closed at approximately 8:10PM by Hugh Dyson.
