VBCA Newsletter - August 2007
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The 85th Annual General meeting of the V.B.C.A. was conducted on Saturday August 11th 2007.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who attended, or took the time to lodge postal votes for the positions of Secretary, Vice President and 6th Executive.
Thanks to Damien Clemens for his interest in nominating for the positions of Vice President and 6th executive. It is always good to see positions contested and not elected unopposed.
Our new Vice President is Matt Horsey, welcome aboard Matt, and 6th Executive is Peter Hyczka who was re elected, well done Toska.
Portfolios will be assigned within the next couple of weeks when I have had time to speak with board members to ensure that the right people are assigned their portfolios as we will have a busy couple of years.
Nick will distribute minutes of the AGM separately once they are typed up so I won’t go into too much detail here.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 29th Blind Cricket Championships will now be held in Victoria as VISACT Blind Cricket in Canberra were unable to guarantee availability of grounds due to possible stage 4 water restrictions.
Although this is relatively short notice, I and the organizing committee are confident that Victoria will be able to conduct a highly successful event as always.
We need as much positive support from members as we can muster over the next four months and for the duration of the championships which commence on December 28th and run through until January 12th where there will be a presentation dinner and awarding of trophies relevant to the Championships.
All games will be played on our grounds at Kooyong and the canteen as we could not afford turf pitches even if they were available.
I have appointed an organizing committee comprising myself as chairman, Doug Sloan Ty Atkinson and Greg Heaven.
Colin Pierce is prepared to assist where required with ground marking etc. cooking breakfasts, barbecues and the like, but expressed a wish not to be included as a part of the organizing committee.
My reason for appointing this committee is that none of the members will be involved in an on field capacity with the championships, and with the exception of Doug, members will be available for ensuring the champs run smoothly.
I will give regular updates on the progress of arrangements for the champs, and take this opportunity to thank Brian Talbot for his offer of assistance which we will take up as the need arises.
SCOREBOX AND VISION AUSTRALIA RADIO
In the next week or so, work will commence on upgrading amplifiers, speakers and controls in the score box in order to bring it into the 21st century, and ensure clear problem free broadcasts of our Saturday evening cricket programme, and broadcasts planned for the duration of the championships as well as providing more simple and user friendly equipment and controls along with instruction manuals etc. for making instruction on the use of equipment more simple.
Additions such as enclosing equipment which needs no adjustment, stronger, more flexible boom arms for microphones, additional microphones, monitor speakers in the score box allowing volumes to be set, programmes and music monitored and much more without leaving the score box, and twin channel radio lapel mics for the umpires on both grounds will make life easier for scorers.
We are also investigating the possibility of obtaining two computers and flat screen monitors to make the task of scoring more simple, and accurate whilst being able to extract any stats and summaries which may be needed for radio programmes etc. without having to impose on a scorer to provide these during or after a game.
We will also be installing purpose built external speakers on both grounds which are smaller, and better quality so that ground announcements will not be plagued by the background noise we have endured over the past couple of years.
PRESENTATION NIGHT
No date has been set for the 2007/08 presentation night and I am still in the process of obtaining quotes on venues, however, at this point I have contacted Yak Bar in Flinders Lane Melbourne who prefer to conduct a stand up, finger food function and wouldn't’t provide a separate room for us.
I have emailed Melbourne Racing from which I have had no response, The Lexus Centre who have contacted me but I need to organize to visit and speak with them regarding our requirements, and a very good response from Moonee Valley Racing Club who have provided a good 3 course menu, and five hour bar with beer, wine soft drink and juice which comes to about $55.00 per head.
No decision has been made yet on a venue etc. however, the V.B.C.A. cannot afford to subsidize tickets again this year, especially not to the tune of $15.00 per head as we did last year.
I am raising this now as we would like as many people as possible to attend presentation night, and by planning early, if you would like to come but can’t afford to pay $55.00 or so outright, we can come to an arrangement which will allow members to pay for tickets over time.
20th ANNIVERSARY OF THE PAVILION AND 85TH YEAR OF BLIND CRICKET
As 2007/08 marks the 85th season of Victorian Blind Cricket, and also, the Charlie Bradley Pavilion will be 20 years old on January 30th 2008, we would like you all to think about what we can do to celebrate.
We have tentatively flagged Saturday January 26th 2008 to celebrate the anniversary of the pavilion, and perhaps we could celebrate both at the same time.
We will in the near future develop a mini survey to get a feel for what you might like to do to commemorate these events.
COME AND TRY DAY
The executive have mailed 96 letters to schools where vision impaired students are known to attend, and are planning to hold a come and try day from midday on Saturday 1st September 2007 where we would appreciate clubs either attending in total, or at least sending enough representatives to allow us to invite the attendees to form with experienced players to play a mini match of some kind.
REQUEST FOR EQUIPMENT
A couple of months ago, clubs were asked to consider contributing particularly bats to form part of a schools kit.
It was disappointing to find clubs took this request less than seriously.
We feel that clubs receive a pretty good deal so far as facilities and environment are concerned, and to have such a request treated in such a jovial manner by clubs very disappointing.
How often does the board actually ask clubs for contributions? Apart from affiliation and registration fees, it doesn't’t happen often.
This probably matters less now as since we made the request, Nick secured a grant for the purchase of, amongst other things, equipment for the development of the game.
I will leave this newsletter here as there will probably be reason for another one after the meeting to be held on Saturday September 1st.
Alf O'Neill
President