Present:

            President, Chairman, Secretary/Treasurer, Fixture Secretary, Dylan Thompson, Eagles A, Albert, Ex Service A & B, CTFC A, Ship & Castle A, Anglesey

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the first Caernarfon Town Darts League meeting of the year.

 
Harry Matthews was welcomed back to the Committee as the new Fixture Secretary

1. There are now two ladies darts teams at the Caernarfon Town Football Supporters Club. This makes it impossible to hold our meetings there on a Tuesday night, as one team will always be playing home. It was therefore passed that we hold the meetings on a Thursday night, following consultation with the Caernarfon Town Football Supporters Club. Should this be acceptable to them we will forward a list of suitable dates for this years meetings to all teams. Secretary to action this matter.
2. Presentation evening 2009. A letter has been forwarded to the CTFC asking for the room availability for July 03^rd 2009. This date has now been booked
3.  Fixture Sheets. All teams will by now have a fixture sheet. These have cost us £43 to print, plus the cost of laminating but have generated an income of £475, quite a healthy profit.
4.  There are still outstanding monies from last year but at present our balance is £3765. We are still owed money from last year but we should have over £7,200 by the end of the season. If the Presentation evening costs us £3,200 all in we should have £4,000 left at the end of the year. This is fantastic news as our balance keeps building and we should have a fantastic Presentation evening during the 2010/2011 season, our 10^th year. The only problem is, if we build too large a balance we could become victims of our own success. If we keep building our balance by over £500 each year (£1000 if we don’t have a darts celebrity) then we will end up with over £10,00 in the bank in another ten years time. We are aiming for a balance of £5,000 in the bank with all monies generated from then on spent on the Presentation evening. At present that means we would have to spend at least another £500 on the presentation evening, £1,000 if we have a good year; this could be in the form of better entertainment, better trophies, etc. We are lucky that we generate an income of well over £2,500 without our main sponsors. This in itself could pay for our Presentation evening without dipping into the money in the bank if we tightened our belts – we could have trophies and entertainment but lose the celebrity if we lost our three main sponsors, so the League is in a strong position financially, don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t. We are no longer considered a Mickey Mouse league that’s going to fold after six months.
5. Presentation evening celebrity and entertainment. At present John Lowe has replied as being available for the 03^rd July for a cost of £500 plus accommodation. We cannot have a PDC player as it clashes with the Las Vegas Classic so it will have to be a BDO or Masters player. The date of the Presentation is something we’ll have to amend next year so it doesn’t clash with the Las Vegas Classic. Passed that we confirm the attendance of John Lowe at this years Presentation. Secretary to contact him and confirm.
6. Sponsorship. There are still some trophies available to sponsor if anyone is interested or knows someone that may be interested. Please don’t just give us a name of someone you know; approach them yourselves first and if they are interested then let us know. If you know them then you will be the best person to ask them for sponsorship.
7. Stan James World Matchplay 2009. We are looking to have a trip going next year again and hope that Silver Star will arrange it. This year was disappointing; with only 11 booking tickets for the event but those that went had a great time. We will again be staying at the Hilton (fantastic) with breakfast thrown in. As such we are going to start a savings club for members. If you save £5 per week from the start of the season you will pay for the trip and have approximately £100 left to spend. Every time you give us cash to save we will record it in a book and both you and a Committee member will sign against the entry to ensure everything is done correctly. There are handouts to be given to each team so please take the time to have a look when you receive them, as it really is a good day out.
8. Singles and Doubles. This was raised during the AGM and a decision made to keep the games on a Monday, with only four from each team being allowed to play, thereby starting with 64 every time. Unfortunately this means that the remaining 8 players cannot participate and we feel there will be a lot of controversy regarding this decision. The other option provided was to play on Sunday, starting at 1 P.M. with everyone being allowed to take part. We cannot have everyone taking part on a Monday as there are now 16 teams in the League and we could have over 120 players turning up. This was discussed at length and a decision made to keep it as it is and monitor the situation for next year. For all who are interested, should a team fail to provide four players for the evening and should no reserve player be available from that team then we can allow a player from another team to fill that vacancy. All interested players present on the evening will have their name placed in a hat and the first drawn will fill the first vacancy, and so on.
9. Entertainment for the Presentation evening. I have been in contact with Walter from the CTFC and he suggests we book via Ian Birrell; this is who we normally use. Decision made to book Bobby Gold or a similar comedy/vocalist act for the Presentation. Secretary to action this matter.
10. Numerous members have expressed their disappointment at the poor coverage of the Presentation evening in the Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald. The Chairman has addressed this matter with the Editor and we are quite hopeful it will not happen again.
11. Secretary raised the matter that there are some who feel he shouldn’t be holding the responsibility of both Treasurer and Secretary. He has no problem with sharing his responsibilities and if someone wants to take over as Secretary he will concentrate on his duties as Treasurer. If someone else wants to take over as Treasurer then it was passed we carry out standard vetting, through the Police, of everyone residing at the venue where our money is going to be held. This will cost £20 per head but because of the amount of money involved will be well worth it. The Secretary/Treasurer was more than happy for both him and his family to be vetted by the Police and set precedence but this was voted against and it was agreed that any prospective new Treasurer and their immediate family should be vetted.
12. Dylan Thompson voted in as Assistant Secretary for the League, to assist the present Secretary with his workload.
13. We are now going to sponsor darts in all youth clubs in and around Caernarfon, and arrange a tournament at each venue. The winner at each venue will receive a trophy and will enter another tournament, to be played in Caernarfon to find the Grand Champion who will receive another trophy from the Darts Celebrity who attends the League Presentation evening. There are problems associated with some youth clubs, as they will not allow darts to be played on health and safety grounds. We hope to overcome this by supplying them with soft tip darts and dartboards. Assistant Secretary to action this matter and contact the Council and youth clubs.
14. The present Vice Chairman has not been able to attend any of the last year’s meetings so a decision has been made to contact him with a view to voting in a new Vice Chairman. Once we receive confirmation that he is happy for us to continue with this matter we will contact every team for their recommendation.
15. The matter of minimum age of players allowed to play in our darts league has been raised and it isn’t something we can answer. Therefore a decision has been made to contact each venue and ask them what is the minimum age of player they are happy to have at their establishment. Secretary to action this matter.