East Down Combine News

with Clifford Browne

 

East Down Combine AGM prepares for 2018

 

 

The East Down Combine held it’s AGM on Saturday January 13th January 2018 in the War Memorial Hall in Crossgar . The weather that day was very wet and this was reflected in the low turnout of members plus there were no major items on the agenda .

The chairman Len McCavery got the proceedings underway just after 2pm and after welcoming all members present requested a minutes silence for those who had passed away since the previous year’s meeting .

Apologies were then received and recorded and the Financial Secretary Sam Duke was then requested to read the minutes of the previous AGM which were passed as a true record of that meeting .

The meeting then moved on to the first item on the Agenda which was the Chairman’s Report from Len McCavery and in a very comprehensive report all the Officials ,Centre Officials and General Committee were thanked for all their hard work and support throughout the season. Colin Smyth (vice chairman) was thanked for his help and Len had a special word of thanks for Sam Duke who had put in a tremendous amount of work as Financial Secretary , and for Dorothy Smyth for all her tireless work and for her organisation of this year’s breeder/buyer and her work for the 50th Anniversary Dinner . The Outgoing President John Albert was thanked for his contribution to the Combine throughout his year in office . Len then thanked the PRO’s for all their work throughout the season keeping the Combine to the forefront in many areas , he also thanked the Transport Committee ,Race Controllers & Drivers & Auditors.

The weather Committee were thanked for all the work they had put into making decisions regarding basketing days etc which although not always popular were made in the best interests of the membership based on the information available to them at the time and congratulated Doley Croskery who had done so well yet again as Race Controller. Len went on to thank Marshall Feeds for once again supplying the On Board feeding throughout the season .

In Conclusion Len extended congratulations to all the 2017prize winners . The Chairman’s report was well received by those present .

The next two items were the Secretary and Treasurer’s reports and as Sam Duke combines both roles as Financial Secretary he combined his reports . Starting with the Secretary’s report Sam reiterated all of what Len had said by way of thanking all those who worked so hard for the Combine and he had a special word of thanks for Len McCavery for his role as chairman of the Combine in 2017and John Albert for his year as President . He also had a special word of thanks for Dorothy Smyth for the outstanding amount of work she had put in over the year especially with the Organisation of the Breeder/Buyer , and the Annual Dinner .He also thanked all the club Secretaries and Treasurers for their assistance throughout the past season and extended his congratulations to all the prize winners of 2017

Moving on to look at the accounts and the 2017 and Sam pointed out that the membership had ,after a number of years of remaining constant , reduced by 30 in the past season but despite this the Combine was still sound financially although showing a deficit for the year of just over £1500 the main reason for this was the cost of repairs to one of the lorries amounting to £3,700 Sam then went through the rest of the Income & Expenditure account and Balance sheet in detail and then invited questions or comments from the floor but as his explanations had been very detailed the Accounts were passed with no questions from the floor .

Brendan McLoughlin then spoke on behalf of the Combine Auditors and endorsed what Sam had explained to everyone. Stating that the Combine were very fortunate to have an excellent Treasurer with the books being prepared and kept in a very professional manner . Under 2017 correspondence there were a couple of items ,one of which was from the Newcastle club informing the Combine that they were disbanding owing to lack of members although it is understood that existing members have been accommodated in nearby clubs but still it is sad when a club has to put up the shutters . The meeting was also informed that the E.D.C. Committee to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Combine have presented the Combine with a New Trophy which will be for the best average in all Derby and Classic races . The meeting also received a letter from Ronnie Johnston on behalf of Himself and his wife thanking the organisation for their invitation to the Dinner and saying how much they had enjoyed the evening .

Having completed the 2017 correspondence the meeting moved on to the election of office bearers for 2018 and Len McCavery invited Colin Watson to conduct this part of the meeting . Colin Congratulated the 2017 prize winners and conducted the election of the office bearers for 2018

The principal Office Bearers elected for the 2018 season are as follows ;

 PRESIDENT Mrs Dorothy Smyth

VICE PRESIDENT John Kirk

JUNIOR VICE PRESIDENT Dolan Croskery

CHAIRMAN Len McCavery

V/CHAIRMAN Colin Smyth

FINANCIAL SECRETARY Sam Duke

RACE CONTROLLER Dolan Croskery

Assistant race Controller Mrs Dorothy Smyth

PROs Ronnie Johnston

Mrs Dorothy Smyth

Clifford Browne

With the election of the Office Bearers complete it was then time to look at the new business of the afternoon and this saw several proposals for the 2018 race programme plus two other items the first of which submitted by ,

Killyleagh Central HPS read “That there be no limit on birdage in any Derby or Classic Race.” On being put to a vote this proposition failed as did the Proposal from Bangor which read “ That members gaining open or section positions receive a certification of achievement for each individual East Down Combine race . This certificate should be in the format of a headed A4 page which will record positions in both open and section, pigeon ring numbers ,date, race point and birdage within both Open and Section achieved by the individual member .”

The following is the race programme for 2018 as voted for :

OLD BIRDS ------

Commencing on April 14th

MULLINGAR

TULLAMORE

THURLES

1ST FERMOY

MALLOW& MALLOW (DEREK WISHART CLASSIC ) (same Day)

SKIBBEREEN CLASSIC

2ND FERMOY

TALBENNY

1ST BUDE

2ND BUDE

PENZANCE & PENZANCE CLASSIC

ST.MALO OLD BIRD CLASSIC

YOUNG BIRDS

1ST NAVAN

2ND NAVAN

1ST TULLAMORE

2ND TULLAMORE 1ST THURLES

FERMOY

2ND THURLES & TALBENNY YB DERBY (on the same day)

1ST SKIBBEREEN YB BERBY

2ND SKIBBEREEN YB DERBY  

As this was all the business of the afternoon the chairman closed the meeting after thanking everyone for their attendance , *******************

2Bird Dinner and AGM

Just a reminder that the 2 bird Dinner will be held in the Temple Golf club on Friday 26th January followed by the club’s AGM on Monday 12th February further details can be obtained from Dorothy Smyth .

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