There was a kind of poetic symmetry to the fact that, on the cusp of the League’s 90th anniversary season, the 2022 AGM was one of the most important in its history.
That’s why all 25 current member clubs were represented in a full house at Wellington’s Sir John Bayley Club on Tuesday 8th March when the following key votes were taken . . .
* All matches in the Friday and Monday divisions will now be 10-a-side
*There will now be registered 6s instead of 8s for clubs with two or more teams
*Doubling up in fixtures will NOT be allowed
*Clubs with two teams in the same division will now only have to list 8 players for each team, rather than 10
*John Palmer is the League’s new fixture secretary and he can be emailed using this address: [email protected]
*Clubs have until midnight on Saturday 12th March to let him know how many teams on which nights they will be entering for the 2022 season
Fixtures will be published as soon as possible after that date – but clubs can now log in and update their registered players on the Mike Beckett system using the same log in code as last year
All other rule change proposals were passed unanimously at the AGM when Steve Wall was voted in as the League’s new vice-chairman and all other officers were re-elected en bloc
Treasurer Celia Miles reported a £436 profit on 2021 and competition secretary Phil King said that 75% of his dates for 2022 were now set in stone
General secretary Malcolm Fletcher added: “There are still plenty of positives for the League to be proud of – Molson Coors continuing their main backing, despite difficult trading conditions, and 2 new sponsorships deals agreed with Local Print Pros and Shropshire Vertidrain & Turf Services Ltd. Our sincere thanks go to all 3.
“A new and more user friendly website has been launched and will very soon give us everything we could ask for. Sincere thanks go to Steve Wall for this.
“We’ve actually got people willing to stand for office too, in these days when very few put their hands up and most have to be press-ganged into taking on a role they really didn’t want.
“And we have exciting plans to mark the League’s 90th birthday in style, including holding competitions at clubs who have been playing Mid Shropshire bowls since 1932 – and with our very own President Mike Potter serving as County President for a second time.
“As he said at the county AGM 24 hours earlier, 2022 promises to be quite some journey!”