Annual General Meeting 2010 held at Gullane

The East Vets AGM and annual prizegiving was held at Gullane Golf Club today. 56 ladies were present for the meeting followed by lunch.

Captain Elise Guy welcomed everyone present and without further ado the meeting was opened. After the apologies were announced (69), the prizegiving got underway. Happily most of the prizewinners were present which is always more satisfactory then when vouchers and trophies are placed to the side and hand-delivered later - which was the case in 2009.

The trophy winners were as follows:
Senior Salver - Elsa Todd
Wallace Williamson Aggregate Cup - Anne Brownie (Lothianburn)
Beddowes Trophy (best nett score Summer Meeting) - Katy Gillies (Glencorse)
Rosebowl (best nett score Autumn Meeting)- Ruth Brown (Lothianburn)
Ramsden Cup (Hole & Hole) Karen Ballantyne (Craigmillar Park)
Lady McInnes Shaw Trophy (Championship) - Karen Ballantyne (Craigmillar Park)

Karen (pictured above)had also brought to the meeting the Scroggie Cup (Scottish Vets Championship)which she recently won at Blairgowrie. She is pictured above with all three trophies. (apologies for the background) After the presentation, Karen read out a very nice tribute.

Captain Elise returned to the fore and delivered her captain's speech where she reiterated the list of all prizewinners but also the results of the interdivision matches which have previously been reported on the website - except for the East v Borders match at Swanston which seemed to have been omitted. This was in fact a loss to the East. She drew attention to the Elise Duncan Trophy which is played for in the annual East v West match for scratch and upwards players and which was retained this year. It is a very handsome trophy - still with no details from anyone as to the history of "Elise Duncan". Asp Robertson proclaimed her delight that the "Asp Trophy" was for once on show on the East trophy table - as opposed to decorating one from the West.

Elise asked the Vice-captain, Noreen Fenton, to say a few words on the results of East Vets participation in international events this year.

The minutes were then read out by Katherine, the timing of this deviating slightly from the norm. This is the last time that the minutes will be read out at the AGM, as it has been decided that in future, they will be put on the website prior to the event, when all East Vets can read them at their leisure. The minutes were proposed and seconded by Karen Ballantyne and Carol McLeod respectively.

Next was the turn of the Financial report but before a proposer and seconder were asked for, Katherine felt obliged to mention that the blurred signature at the bottom was in fact due to her printer and not an attempt at forgery. Clare Bowe and Catriona Shedden were kind enough to propose and second the financial report which showed a small return.

Elise announced tht the trial of using an aggregate of two scores to qualify for the championship was to be abandonned, reverting to the use of the Summer Meeting at Haddington only. This was mainly due to the most unfortunate weather conditions enjoyed by the competitors in both spring and summer meetings which reduced the number of entrants radically. Indeed a superstitious person might have deemed the whole venture cursed from the very beginning and doomed to failure. So, summer meeting only. This incidentally was received with more nods from the assembled audience than practically anything else other than the arrival of the meal.

Elise announced that Marjory Lauder would be the next Vice-captain and that Dulcie Barnes would join the committee. She then thanked her committee for their hard work and in particular Katherine, before handing over her badge of office to Noreen.

Noreen then dealt with the AOCB starting off with the Ramsden Cup. Ladies this year had found themselves in the position of being all square after eighteen holes and having to decide themselves in the field so to speak, what they would do since neither knew and had left home without their mobiles. They had at that time opted for best of three. It was agreed that for the remainder of the year this format would continue, until it could be brought up at the AGM. Thrown to the company , a show of hands decided on best of three rather than sudden death. So now all know.

The format for the matchplay stage of the championship would remain as it was this past year, first round on Saturday afternoon, semi-final and final on the Sunday. At present the actual dates for this are not yet known apart from the fact they will be one of week-ends 11/12 June, 18/19 June or 9/10 July to be finalised when the Haddington professional returns from holiday. The Summer Meeting will be on June 7th. The venue for the Autumn Meeting has alternated between Murrayfield and Liberton in the past. However since numbers at Liberton appear to be almost twice those of Murrayfield, it has been decided that Liberton will from now on be the only venue . This will be on September 5th, 2011, with the AGM and prizegiving on 24th October, also at Liberton Golf Club.

As already referred to previously, the East match against Borders was not our finest hour but we were able to admire the extreme smartness of the opposition to the point that the committee wanted to ensure that ladies representing our division in future would be attired similarly - not similar to the Borders but to each other. Although a different and prettier colour of shirt was suggested to the company, the general feeling was to wear yellow and that Katherine would ask for orders of this official East Vets shirt along with the subscriptions at the beginning of the year.

Noreen brought up the issue of using Distance Measuring Devices in East Vets competitions. Two ladies had asked if they could use them at the Autumn meeting but permission was refused at that time, although a short survey later conducted had shown a positive stance for their use. The vast majority of those present today voted for allowing the use of the device, although the general feeling of the meeting was that few would use them, but that there was no objection to those using them, who wanted to. Karen suggested that the view of the SVLGA could be sought which was agreed. In the meantime East Vets will allow their use as a local rule.

There being no further business the meeting was closed and all settled back with great patience to enjoy a really lovely meal when it arrived. The committee, being nearest the kitchen door, were served first and had to endure covetous glances from the rest of the room - but they just ignored them.