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Monthly Meeting Minutes 25th April 2001

A meeting of Blue Circle (Sittingbourne) Sea Angling Club was held at the Ivy Leaf Memorial Club, Sittingbourne on Wednesday 25th April 2001.

Members Attending

R Hills, N Sharrocks, J Padmore, N Sissons, S Chesson, D Allen, J Mann, T Price

Apologies

R Butler, J Allen, T Chesson, D Tree

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

These were distributed and it was raised that the venue for the match should have been Herne Bay Harbour Arm and not Hampton Pier, Herne Bay. It should of also been minuted that the presentation made £112.50 for club funds. Apart from these the minutes were accepted as a true record.

Matters Arising

1. Secretary and President still to meet to put together a history of the club
2. Treasurer still to obtain a new mandate form for the Club account as the original has been lost by the bank.
3. N Sharrocks still to order another set of monthly trophies with 2000 engraved on them.
4. The match against Hope Fishing Club held on Sunday 8th April at Folkestone Pier was only supported by three members of the club which was disappointing and brought into question whether or not these matches should continue if they weren't supported. However with the help of John Johnson from Hope the "Blue Circle" team won the event with J Mann as the top angler on the day.

5. Boat Trips....J Mann requires £20 from each member who wants to go on the trip on June 24th by the next club meeting which will be on Wednesday 23rd May.
6. The next match against Hope would be on Sunday 27th July at the Lloyds building Chatham
7. Knockout Competition....it had become apparent that R Hills should of beaten S Seager to go into the next round of the competition in accordance with the rules as he had fished one of the rounds but S Seager had attended none. Therefore R Hills would fish against S Chesson in this round.
8. Secretary gave report on NFSA Individual Membership meeting he had attended on behalf of club. Members were not in favour of the scheme and it was reported that cheap insurance was available through the UKSF as an alternative to the NFSA scheme. Secretary showed NFSA AGM propositions to members who voted against the proposed individual membership scheme, to vote for the Child Protection Policy and to vote for the Equity Policy. Secretary to attend the AGM and to vote in accordance with these wishes.
9. J Mann brought in a rod from the Casting Club passed to secretary for R Jolly to use at the next match as his had been towed away by a boat at the last match.
10. Further to the open letter to the Club in the last minutes it was agreed that J Mann, S Chesson and N Sharrocks should research a venue for the June Match and report their findings back to the club at the May meeting so that a more informed decision can be made when the club chooses its monthly venues.

April Match

22.04.01 Herne Bay Harbour Arm Fishing from 10.00 - 16.00 High Tide 13.00

Notable fish caught:
260g Flounder Tony Price

Key to Species Caught
f = flounder p= Pouting w= Whiting
sc = Scorpion fish d = Dab r = Rockling

May Match

The match was decided to be fished at Dungeness near the boats access road on Sunday 20th May fishing from 10.00 - 16.00. The pick up point will be at the water pump opposite the Dover Castle pub on the A2 at Teynham at 08.30. Secretary to obtain key to barrier.

Knockout Competition

J Mann bt J Padmore

Remaining heats to be decided at the May match

Pairs Knockout Competition

Pairings
1. J Mann + S Seager
2. J Padmore + J Allen
3. T Price + R Butler
4. D Allen + N Sharrocks

March Results

1 bt 4
3 bt 2

Correspondence

1. Newsletter Nr 3 sent to all members.
2. NFSA AGM papers
3. Deal 1919 Minnows competition details
4. NFSA Open Charity Match Details in aid of Kent Air Ambulance
5. Letter to D Rowe re late issue of NFSA Accounts
6. Gillingham Pier Opening Competition details
7. NFSA Quarterly Journal March 2001 and 2001 Festival List

These were shown and discussed.

Kent Casting Club

KCC will not have access to the casting field until further notice due to the Foot and Mouth epidemic.

Any Other Business

1. It was proposed to introduce a £20 Family Membership for two adults and their children. This item gives notice that this will be voted on at the next meeting so please attend this meeting to have your say.

2. It was proposed to hold a species points system match later in the year. This item gives notice that this will be voted on at the next meeting so please attend this meeting to have your say.

3. It was suggested that the club could have a fishing outing to Folkestone Pier in late July to catch a few mackerel.

4. Another letter has been received by the Chairman reproduced below for discussion:-

"Following the last newsletter I would like to make comments on the letter that was submitted to the Chairman

Venues
I Have never fished a venue with Blue Circle that I would consider inaccessible to any member of our club. The most inaccessible venue that we have fished also proves to be one of the most productive...Dungeness

Scratch matches, to me, are a big eye opener. They do not sort the men from the boys...it's more a question of luck or an intelligent anglers willingness to adapt his techniques. Surely this is part of match fishing.

Going on last years records the top eighteen members of the club caught 1771 fish, an average of 98.3 fish per member. If all eighteen members had attended each of the twelve matches that figure would average out at 8.19 fish per member per match. Unfortunately as we are all aware not all eighteen members attend every match. In fact the usual turnout for a match is approximately 10 members.

Same old venues
Last year out of twelve matches we fished ten different venues. Surely this is better than fishing one venue to near extinction.
Members thoughts on venues cannot possibly be voiced from the comfort of their armchairs. Members have to attend matches and meetings. Club funds will not stretch to a crystal ball.

There are things that I feel are becoming a real issue within the club. I feel that our new chairman had a mountain to climb at the beginning of this year in keeping this club together. So far, he has succeeded, some members though it seems are going all out to make his job even more difficult. I also feel as though some members of the club are being swayed by more dominant persons rather than voicing their own personal opinions. However, when things are not going the way they expected the complaints start coming.

Attracting new members.
If we want new members people need to know who we are, where we are and when we meet. This means advertising. They also need to know that we welcome ladies and juniors, although if we so have lady members then we also need to think ahead and make sure that all of the venues that we go to have a toilet facilities, ladies and some children are not going to be comfortable about going publicly!"

There being no other business the Chairman closed the meeting