The Old Bordenian Association

The Minutes of an Annual General  Meeting held at the School on Friday 2nd Oct  2009

Members present: H. Vafeas in the Chair, G. Barnes, S.Caveney, C.Laming,  K.Shea, M.Pack, K.Sears, A.Snelling (acting Hon. Sec),  P. Lusted, A.J.Akehurst, R. Harris, D. Jarrett, B. Gilbert, D. Palmer.

Apologies for absence: J. Macrae, P. Taylor, N. Hancock, B. Short, S. Rouse.

Minutes and Matters Arising: The minutes of the meeting held on 3rd Oct-08 were agreed and signed as a correct record.  There were no matters arising.

Correspondence:  None other than those apologising for absence. B. Short has resigned from the Committee after 41 years, including 30 as President. A formal tribute will be arranged.

Treasurer’s Report: (to be added to site later).
Matters arising – the outstanding advertising monies £150 will soon come in; H. Vafeas to advise new projects in due course; H. Vafeas to report back on long-serving Staff Board updating.The accounts were proposed by G. Barnes and seconded by K. Shea.

Membership Secretary’s report:  (to be added to site later). Numbers were 10-20 down on previous years but this was normal. It was reported that the expected loss of membership due to loss of the Maroon had not happened. This was the last report from R. Harris and the President thanked him for his work and this was wholeheartedly endorsed by the Committee.

Football Report: – see report below. The Team’s efforts to remain in 6th place were duly noted and thanks were given to K. Shea for his role as manager, and also to D. Palmer who is now  goalkeeper for the team.

Hockey Report: – see report below.

Editor of the Maroon: as we all know this was the year of the last Maroon and G. Barnes reported that the final edition of The Maroon was published in March 2009 and has been well received. An article about past editors and a series of father-and-son reminiscences meant that we were able to produce a bumper issue of 72 pages plus covers, and nearly all of our regular advertisers supported us right to the end. It is pleasing that, although the annual edition of the Magazine was one of the more tangible benefits which OBA Members enjoyed from their annual subscriptions, the Association’s subscription income has held up quite well ; pleasing, too, that the Website is manifestly growing in popularity and that the transition from one medium of communication to another seems to be going as smoothly as we had all hoped. So far, approximately 20 (mainly older) Members without access to a computer have requested the annual digest of Website items which it is proposed should be printed each Spring. There are probably more who have yet to respond, but the total will presumably shrink as time goes on. I should like to take this opportunity, if I may, to record my own thanks to all those who have helped me in my three years of editorship : to Keith Shea for dealing with the advertising, to all those who have sent in articles and other material, to John Macrae for his proof-reading, to Denis Jarrett for his advice and encouragement, and many, many more who have made the job much more rewarding and pleasurable than I had anticipated.
The President and the whole Committee warmly thanked Graham for his efforts and indeed for producing an excellent final Maroon.

Dinner Secretariat: The full report is already on the website but to summarise the salient points:-

1. The move to a May date seems to generally find favour whilst making no real changes to attendance numbers.
2. It is difficult to really analyse but advertising in the local press seemed to make no difference to numbers.
3. The feeling of the Committee is that the quality of the meal should be upgraded.
4. The bar seems to have resolved the service levels at “pressure” times.
5. Roger Usher was an excellent choice as our speaker.
6. The idea of putting the speaker’s contemporaries on the top table seems to have been successful.
7. Financially the event is still viable on current prices.
8. It is disappointing that the Hockey Club have no representation and that there is a continuing void for a couple of decades.
The 2010 dinner will be on Saturday 15 May and the main speaker has yet to be decided.

Website Report:
Website sub-committee comprising Ryan Jarrett, Peter Lusted, John Macrae, David Palmer and Alan Snelling met a number of times during the year to ensure continued development of the site, particularly as it has now become the main communication vehicle for the Association.
Daily visitors to the site have increased steadily during the year.  In my report produced last September, I noted that the highest number of visits to the site in any one day was 46, with the next highest being 29.  In the last 2 months, 5 days have attracted over 100 visitors to the site, with a high of 130 unique visitors on 7 September.
Access to the home page and first few lines of a story are still open to all visitors, but during the year, we introduced a registration process for any visitor wanting access to the full article.  This is in anticipation of requiring visitors to the whole site to be members.
Visitors are able to register for email alerts to be sent to them when a new story/article has been added to the site.  Originally, these email alerts included the whole article.  We have now restricted this to the first few lines of the article, with the full piece only available on the site (and generally requiring the visitor to be registered).  It is my view that it is this change that has boosted considerably the number of visitors over the past few months.
A number of minor enhancements have been made to the site during the year and will continue to be made following discussion at the sub-committee.
The website committee have identified a number of sources of material to ensure a regular supply of material for the site, although we are always on the lookout for articles of interest from all old boys; this occurred in the days of the Maroon, but we are not constrained by publishing timescales.
We now aim to publish at least one ‘post’ every 2 weeks.

The President and Committee thanked D. Palmer for his work in managing the transformation of the website; thanks also were noted for Ryan Jarrett who is responsible for all the essential behind-the-scenes technical work on the website.

Election of Officers and Committee:  the following appointments were agreed:

President: Harold Vafeas. D. Palmer took the Chair for this  and H. Vafeas was unanimously proposed and seconded.

Vice-President: following  retirement of G. Barnes, C. Laming was proposed by G. Barnes and seconded by A. Snelling.
The President and Committee thanked G. Barnes for his dedication and long service to the Association.

Treasurer. Neil Hancock. Proposed by B. Gilbert, seconded by K. Sears.
Assistant Treasurer. K. Sears, proposed by S. Caveney, seconded by C. Laming.

Hon. Secretary. J, Macrae. Proposed by D. Palmer, seconded by K. Shea.
Assistant secretary: C. Laming. Proposed by R. Harris, seconded by M. Pack.

Membership secretary: K. Shea, proposed by A. Snelling, seconded by P. Lusted.

Dinner Secretariat: P. Lusted and A. Snelling proposed jointly by C. Laming, and seconded by K. Shea.

Editor of the Maroon Digest: G. Barnes; proposed by H. Vafeas and seconded by P. Lusted.

Website Advertising Representative: K. Shea, proposed by A. Snelling and seconded by G. Barnes.
Website Representative: D. Palmer, proposed by C. Laming and seconded by G. Barnes.

OBA Governor: A.Snelling was re-elected for a 4-year term. Proposed by B. Gilbert and seconded by K. Shea.

The following were re-elected: P. Taylor, S. Rouse, S. Caveney, B. Gilbert, M. Pack.
The following were co-opted: D. Jarrett, A.J. Akehurst.

Football Representative: K. Shea.
Hockey Representative: N. Hancock.

Accounts Examiner: M. Pack (provisional).

The Constitution – no matters arising.

Any other business: the AGM was preceded by a talk from D. Jarrett about the War Memorial service and the request that the OBA embrace this Service. C. Laming and N. Hancock will discuss this further for presentation at next Meeting. This was agreed as was the appointment of a Remembrance Coordinator.

There was some general concern expressed that the OB Hockey Club is drifting away from the Association.

1). The Committee Meeting dates for the coming year were agreed as follows:
                           Friday 27 November 2009
                           Friday 05 March 2010
                           Friday 18 June 2010
                           Friday 01 October 2010 – includes the AGM at 7pm

2). The Annual Dinner will take place at the School on Saturday 15 May 2010  at 5.30pm for 7pm.
3). The next [2010] Sheppey Dinner date to be advised.

There being no further business, this AGM was closed at 9pm.

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Football Report for the OBA AGM on 2nd October 2009.

The new 5 a side season began for us on 17th September 2009 with a defeat and a victory. This season promises to be tougher than ever because the league now comprises just one division of 10 teams rather than the two divisions of 6 teams we have been used to. We generally occupy the bottom half of the last two places in division 2 so this year we’re up against it.
However, all is not lost; we have a new and enthusiastic ‘keeper in Dave Palmer; so enthusiastic in fact that he has even bought his own goalkeeping gloves. The last time he played for the OB he broke a rib. To make matters worse, it was one of his own and he wasn’t even playing in goal! We have also signed a couple of players who are still in their early 20s and, unlike most of the rest of the squad they can run and jump and everything. As long as we can hide the older members of the squad from them, there’s a chance they may stay for the whole season.
Unfortunately, we have lost the services of Simon Thompson to a nasty knee injury and we wish him a swift recovery.
Turning to last season; for a while we flirted with 3rd place in division 2 but, and this will come as no surprise to the many avid readers of past football reports, we finished 6th, or to the more unfeeling might put it, last.
We did enjoy a little more success in a couple of the cup competitions where we managed to progress beyond the first round but in both competitions we were then unlucky to be drawn in the second round against the team that went on to win the 1st Division for the third year running, and most of the cup competitions. Even then we went down fighting and in one game we were beating them at half time.
But despite our final league position we were not too downhearted. We picked up points against all but the top team in the 2nd division and we also performed well against teams from the 1st division in the cups, so we are capable of playing well and if we can become more consistent then we (to borrow a phrase used in most of my school reports) can do better. Part of our lack of consistency last season was due to an inability to field the same goalkeeper from one week to the next, but hopefully, we have solved that problem now and that will settle the defence for the new season.
The Sittingbourne 5-a-side league is now being run by a larger and more enthusiastic committee and our progress can be followed in the local press from next season when it prints results and tables and at www.soccerweekend.com/league/index.asp?LeagueID=3867 . Results and the table after the first night are attached to this report.
As for the OB Veterans 11-a- side team we are planning two games for the coming season.  

Keith Shea.
Hockey Report for the OBA AGM on 2nd October 2009.
 
Now the season is over the final League positions for 2008/9 are:

             P    W    D     L        F        A      PTS    final position  
1st     22    8     3    11      60     72       25     9 OUT OF 12
2nd   22    8     1    13      55     64       25        9/12
3rd   22   11     6      5      69     38       39        4/12
4th   18   12     3      3    105     36       39        3/10
5th   18     9     1      8       51     50       28         5/10
4A    18     9     3      6      53     38       30         6/10
4B    18     6     0     12     29     55       18          8/10
6th  16     6     1       9      43     52       19          5/9          

We all enjoy our hockey, but the results overall were slightly disappointing. The Ist XI were not consistent  with their results and will feature in a League reorganisation next season.
Socially we are a fantastic Club where everyone mixes so well. We look forward to next season with high hopes.
Neil Hancock