16th AGM minutes - held on 20th April 2013 in Fitzwilliam LTC

Minutes of the IC of Ireland 16th Annual General Meeting

Venue: Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club

Date: April 20^th 2013

In Attendance:

Peter Ledbetter, Brian Lawlor, Victor Drummy, Declan Heavey, Richard Blake, Margaret Ann Broderick, Tom Shelly, John Sheridan, Conor McCullough, Catherine Houlihan, Martin Daly, Roddy Feely, Dearbhla Kelly, Pat Guiry, John O’Rourke, Niall Murphy, Noel Lennon, Niall O’Riordan, Gerry McGrath, Eimear Sloan, Patricia Darcy, Aidan Deery, June-Anne Byrne, Aoife O’Neill, John Goggin

Apologies:

Bernadette Griffith, Robin Gibney, Garbhan O’Nuallain, William Guiry, Clare McKenna, Des Shaw, Patricia Lord, Tony Davison, Jane Conan, Bryan Smyth, Peter Lowther, Michelle Bennett, Conor Smith, Jimmy McDonagh, William Noteman, Johnny Cunningham,  John Boylan, Siobhan Nicolson, Bryan Smyth, Liam O'Brien, Bernard McCormack,  Eamon Brennan, Anthea O'Donoghue, Tom Barry, Dave Miley, Maureen Ryan, Ronan Fearon, Clare McKenna, Michael Doran, Gary Kilduff, Sandra Drum, Elena Moore, Stephen Woodley, Geraldine Wynne.

 Agenda:

 1.       President’s Opening Comments

-          John O’Rourke welcomed Club Members to the 16^th Annual General Meeting. Apologies were read. One minute silence was held in respect for Harry Barniville and Helen Lennon who passed away during the year.

-          John showed the members the Tommy Burke Memorial Trophy which was purchased by the Committee in memory of Tommy. The trophy will be used for the annual IC Ireland versus IC of Belgium match. All agreed the Trophy was of a great standard and thanks were given to Gerry McGrath who organised its purchase and inscription.

 2.       Approval of the Minutes of the 15^th AGM April 16th 2011

-          The 15^th AGM minutes were read and agreed. No matters arising.

 3.       Honorary Secretary’s Report

-          Dearbhla Kelly read the Honorary Secretary’s Report. The members were advised of three new Club members: Conor Niland, Barry King (both former Davis Cup players) and Rachel Dillon (former Fed Cup player)

-          Dearbhla reported on the 2012 IC Council AGM outlining their intent for each IC Club to set ‘business objectives’ for 2013 including increasing:

o        Ladies Participation in IC Activities

o        Junior Participation (both Junior members and the 20-40 age bracket) in IC Activities

o        Philanthropy

o        Marketing and Sponsorship Strategies

-          John O’Rourke will attend the IC AGM in June 2013 at Roehampton on behalf of the IC of Ireland. Dearbhla Kelly will also attend in her capacity as a new member of the IC Council’s Philanthropy Committee.

 4.       Honorary Treasurer’s Report

-          John Sheridan read the Income and Expenditure Report. Peter Ledbetter inquired about the Tennis Ireland Affiliation fees that the IC Club must pay to the National Federation each year. John explained that the Club would pay a double fee in 2013 to cover the 2012 subscription.

 5.       Captain’s Report

-          Conor McCullough detailed the fixtures played in 2012. Four fixtures were played:

o        Potter Cup 31st May – 3rd June

o        IC GB Away - July 13th – July 14th 

o        IC of Ireland Internal Round Robin and BBQ - August 11th

o        IC Belgium Away August 24th – August 26^th.

-          Conor read extracts from Team Captain’s reports of 2012 fixtures, including Brian Lawlor who captained the IC GB Away match and Gerry McGrath who captained the IC Belgium fixture. Both reported on a fantastic event with great hospitality

-          Conor also reported on the IC of Ireland 2012 Summer Round Robin Tennis and BBQ event which was held in July 2012. 25 members played tennis on the day with many more attending the evening event. A BBQ will be held this year on the evening of the IC GB versus IC Ireland home fixture which will take place on July 13^th at Donnybrook Tennis Club. More details of the BBQ event will be issued by the Committee in the coming weeks.

-          Conor detailed the upcoming 2013 fixtures including:

o        IC Belgium

o        IC Luxembourg

o        IC GB

o        IC Monaco

o        The Potter Cup

o        The IC European Junior Compass Challenge. Tennis Ireland will send two Juniors to this event and the Club will provide a contribution of €500 towards costs

o        IC Ireland versus Tennis Ireland Juniors.

-          The teams for 2013 fixtures have been selected. However, Conor encouraged all members to contact him directly if they wish to get involved in future fixtures.

 6.       Election of Club Officers & Committee Members

-          Dearbhla Kelly retired as Honorary Secretary. Jane Conan was proposed by John O’Rourke and seconded by Dearbhla Kelly to take over this role for the next Committee term

-          Gerry McGrath retired as an Ordinary Committee Member. Colm Og Molloy was proposed by Conor McCullough and seconded by Gerry McGrath to take over this role for the next Committee term.

 7.       IC Website Presentation

-          Niall Murphy provided a demonstration of the IC of Ireland website

-          Dearbhla informed the floor, that she has been helping the IC Council redesign the main IC Council website. The refresh should be developed and visible to members in the coming weeks. 

 8.       Member’s Open Forum

-      Brian Lawlor suggested the Committee consider designing and purchasing an IC of Ireland Flag that could be flown at IC home matches. In this way, non-members playing at the Club that day may be inclined to inquire what fixture is being played. This was considered a great idea to raise further awareness of the IC movement. The Committee agreed to discuss this as part of the 2013 Giftware budget. The Committee will also be looking to purchase additional giftware items to bring to Away games. Previous gifts included key rings. John O’Rourke requested that if anyone had good ideas for appropriate giftware to contact the Committee directly.

-       Aidan Deery suggested that the Club consider organising more matches for members in the older age bracket. Specifically, if a fixture was being played at home, Aidan suggested that the Team Captain inform the visiting team that other members were willing and available to participate in a non-fixture friendly game. In this way the visiting IC Club may wish to invite additional members to travel.  June-Anne Byrne and Roddy Feely backed up this suggestion. The Committee will consider how best to approach this at their next Committee meeting.

 9.       Wimbledon Draw

-       As last year’s Wimbledon tickets raffle winner, Richard Blake was selected to draw the raffle ticket to attend this year’s Wimbledon Championship. Dearbhla Kelly had the winning raffle ticket. Dearbhla won two tickets and will attend on the day with Patricia Darcy (nee Callan) – another IC Club member.