CROQUET FEDERATION OF BELGIUM
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, 10 MARCH 2001
Present: Bob Appels (BA), Koen Heidbuchel (KH), Tony Falcon-Uff (TFU), Charles-Eric Vilain XIIII (CE), Jonathan Lamb (JL), Gabor Weiner (GW), John Swabey (JS), Bruno Eeman (BE).
Apologies were received from: Guy Monseu, Dick Leonard, Michele Perbal, Sylva van Hille.
AGENDA
1. The meeting began at around 6.30 pm. The agenda circulated previously by e-mail was agreed, except for elections which CE pointed out only needed to take place every three years.
LAST MEETING RECORD
2. The record of the 2000 AGM was agreed nem con.
REVIEW OF 2000
3. The President (CE) reminded the meeting of some of the principal developments in 2000, from the Indoor Open at the Pyramides to the Belgian Championships at the end of the season, and covering international fixtures such as the new Coupe Espagne-Belgique and the Coupe des Lacs. He said it had been a most successful year, thanks to the generosity of people like John Martin (the new Golf Open cup) and Bob Appels (the Anne Appels Memorial Salver). There had been no additions to the Federation, but a golf club at Hulincourt near Nivelles had expressed interest. One problem had been the Dreamit website, whose administrator had failed to respond to pleas for updates. Here TFU offered to host the site: CE agreed to e-mail him details of the administrator so that he could take it over. Action: CE. On funds, BE informed the meeting that the CFB had had an income of 230,000 BEF and an outflow of around 200,000 BEF over the period, leaving a surplus of 28,000 BEF. This was not dissimilar to the pattern in 1999. BE said he was most grateful for the Treasurer duties performed by KH, and hoped to be able to devote more time to the function after June 2001. The meeting thanked him for keeping the books and for warning when funds were low.
PROGRAMME FOR 2001
4. CE described the main CFB events planned for 2001, which had started well with the first ever Indoor Open in the Chateau du Lac. There was general agreement that this had been a great success, despite last minute drop-outs, and was worth the cost. CE said that the sponsorship search done by Patrick Brohee on a commercial basis had failed to turn up any sponsors for 2001 except for Radio Nostalgie, so he was not inclined to continue with it. Champagne Ruinart had seemed enthusiastic over a lunch but had failed to respond to phone calls since. It was agreed that JL would speak to Gerard Catherine of the lakeside Scoobi-Doo club to propose an event for his members, hopefully including the local BMW manager. Action: JL. The meeting agreed that the CFB should spend around 5000 BEF on a professional announcement to be read out on Radio Nostalgie in advance of the Golf Open. Action: CE. There was discussion of how to spread the load of the three Open Championships: JL said it had proved impractical to divide up the task of informing the croquet world about the fixtures and keeping the list of entrants, which he was happy to go on doing, but it would be helpful for someone to take on the organizing and managing of each event, eg delegating the meeting and greeting and arranging accommodation. JS agreed to take on these aspects of the Golf Open, KH the association Open and JL the Indoor Open. CE offered to liaise with the hotel in each case. Action (in due course): JL, JS, KH, CE.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
5. Facilities: There was discussion of how to increase the number of lawns in Belgium. The Committee undertook to press again for a meeting with John Martin (Action: CE); JS and CE undertook to approach ministries for funds or support (Action: JS, CE); and CE undertook to ask the Château de la Hulpe if there was any scope of using the remains of a croquet court which BE said was there. Action: CE.
6. Belgian Championships: The meeting decided that the Championships should be held in an all-play-all format on full-size lawns over two consecutive weekends, 22-23 September and 29-30 September.
CONCLUSION
7. There being no other business, the President closed the meeting at around 7.45 pm.
J C Lamb
Secretary
Croquet Federation of Belgium