Unification Matters

Bowls Oxfordshire Mixed section

Notes from the inaugural planning meeting on 10 May 2023.

In attendance

John Hurren, Cynthia Briant, Shaun Morley, Tony Wright & Dolcie, Pat & Brian Ray, Alan Scholan.

Theme - Building a new section, without having to do things in the way they have been done before!

OPPORTUNITIES

We want to be fair & transparent from the outset and will need to be welcoming, helpful and encouraging, with the emphasis on playing enjoyable bowls. Notes from our meetings will be widely circulated and put on the county website.

We should be prepared to work hard to advertise and sell this new section to people that have not been happy or didn’t think they “fitted in”, in the past.

We need to reach out to players around the county that may not have tried bowling for the county in the past or have been avoiding playing for the county due to poor experiences or difficult people, or who have appeared to want county activities to be rather elitist.

This work will feed into the new constitution and provide advice and encouragement for officials in making things work well with people participating and gaining enjoyment from the activities.

The work ahead of us:

MATCHES

  1. Develop a programme of mixed matches against other counties starting in 2025. This could be a relatively small number to start with, but hopefully will grow.  The fixtures will need to be arranged through the summer of 2024, but earlier contact with other counties this year so that they are aware of our interests and we can gauge who is likely to accept fixtures with us. We need to evaluate when in the week these fixtures may occur. Tony Wright will make contact with potential county opponents during this season on our behalf.
  2. A Discussion on how selections will be done, some selected on merit, plus others who are “up and coming players” that have the potential to improve as bowlers when playing with good players. The selection team will consist of 3 people only, one man, one lady and one other person. Likely to be the Match Secretary, the finance offer and one other, potentially the chairman of the section.  
  3. Dress code on the green will be county shirts, (both current men’s and ladies shirts, which have the same colours and similar styles), greys or whites to be agreed with opponents when making the fixture, but our preference will be greys. Due to the potential problems of accommodating 48 players in relatively small changing rooms, players may travel wearing bowling attire if they wish and this will also apply to the socialising part of the day at the club afterwards. Only the figure head on the day may wear a blazer and tie. Smart casual is encouraged for all others if not wearing their playing attire.

Keeping expenditure down for players was a contributory factor for this decision.

  1. We would prefer not to have meals after playing, although light refreshments may be welcome. We will change traditional practices of saying grace & toasting the monarch but would want to be hospitable with our opponents and share the match results etc. One of the aims is to keep the match fees reasonable.
  2. Transport payments will be paid to drivers and will contribute to expenditure for away games only (as set out in the BO policy for Contributing to Transport costs).
  3. After the selection process, we will communicate with club bowlers that have been selected by Email and by displaying details on the county website. Copies will also be sent to Club Secretaries and county delegates. Potential players will be asked to state which games they are available for and wish to play in, in advance. The aim will always be to give a minimum of one weeks’ notice.
  4. We would encourage club secretaries and delegates to promote the opportunities to play and encourage club bowlers to participate with the county mixed section.
  5. When selections are made, the aim will be to ensure a minimum of one person from each gender plays on each rink (or triple) at all times. The actual make up of rinks will be largely determined from the number of people wishing to be selected for that particular game.

COMPETITIONS

  1. We all have a clear understanding  about the difference between mixed activities and Open activities
  2. It has been indicated that the current domestic competitions could all be open competitions. We believe both the men and ladies have trophies for the same contests, so we need to decide which cups to use for the open competitions, gaining permission from the original donator if possible, for making the change (e.g. Allison Cup, Longford Cup etc). This may free up some cups for other mixed competitions that we intend to organise. Pat Ray offered to undertake a review of what trophies are available, gain the necessary permissions for change and advise which cups can be recycled and what new acquisitions are required.
  3. We have the opportunity to also run mixed competitions in the county for the first time. We agreed we would offer the following mixed competitions, which would be internal events, indicating the minimum number of entries required to proceed on a knock out basis. These will be: a mixed pairs comp, a mixed fours comp, an Australian Pairs comp, an over 60 mixed pairs and an over 60 mixed fours comp.
  4.   We will need a set of rules for each competition, based on Bowls England guidance and Cynthia Briant offered to develop these on our behalf. The competition secretary (when appointed) will arrange the draws and other organisational tasks required, like recording results and communicating this on the county website etc

MIXED LEAGUE(S)

  1.  The current Oxfordshire Mixed League have indicated they would be interested if this became a Bowls Oxfordshire activity within the new structure. However we need to send a formal invitation to join us. SM indicated this should be done before October 2023, so that it could be discussed and a decision for the 2025 season reached at the Mixed league AGM.
  2. This is likely to increase the interest in playing and we can expect new clubs to join, which may require two or more leagues. The League representatives were requested to consider how they would develop the league if other clubs wish to join.

The invitation to be offered would be to move the current league structure with the whole committee into the mixed section, where they would fully control all aspects of running the league(s). They need to discuss whether a fixed programme on a designated day should be identified, as the current arrangements can vary immensely from club to club. (may be Tuesday evenings or Sundays or a bit of both?)

JH promised to provide details of potential benefits from joining the Bowls Oxfordshire structure for consideration.

  1.  Decide who will manage the results and league tables that we hope will be found on the Bowls Oxfordshire website from 2025 onwards.
  2.  Sponsors may be needed to provide a trophy and potentially prize money.
  3.  What fee may be charged for participation (currently only a £10 induction fee is requested and no other payments are received)

 

GENERAL

  1.  Everyone was asked to consider what are our needs for the new website?  Look at what the OBA and BOL do and decide what we want to do.
  2.  How will be get people engaged with this?  Really good communications, a visit to clubs to sell them the new opportunities if necessary. Use of social media was also discussed.  We need club officials to help promote the opportunities of engaging with the mixed section
  3.  Date of next meeting – to be decided dependent on progress.