The 104th AGM was held on Wednesday 29th November 2023 at Turnhouse GC. It was good to see such a large turnout, with 85 attending even though snow had already started to fall around Glencorse. Isla McCrone opened the meeting and asked Caroline Steedman, Junior Secretary, to present her report ahead of the Junior prize giving.
Junior Prizegiving
Trophies and vouchers were presented to all the winners by Isla with the East of Scotland Girls Championship trophy being awarded to Lucy Fraser by Maggie McPherson, Chairman of East of Scotland Girls. Megan Fallon, Junior Champion 2023 (scratch), then gave a vote of thanks and the meeting then took a short break to allow family, friends and the girls to leave.
Maureen Joyce, Honorary Secretary advised that 147 apologies had been received, this was noted but names not shared in the interest of time.
Obituaries
Isla then advised the meeting of the sad passing of 3 members: Pam Duncan, Patricia (Tricia) Capaldi and Dorothy Fraser.
The minutes of the previous meeting, the 103rd AGM were approved and then Isla shared her Captains report.
Jane MacDonald, co-opted Honorary Treasurer presented the accounts, which were duly approved and shared the findings and recommendations from the Financial review undertaken during the summer. Committee had already reviewed these in full and approved all to proceed. The Financial subcommittee will persist going forward and report on a regular basis to committee the financial position of the Association. Jane advised that 2024 subscription fees would remain the same as 2023 charges.
Maureen Joyce then presented her report and advised the meeting of the 2024 competition schedule, which can be now found in the Calendar, and reminded members that all 2024 subscriptions were required to be paid by 31st January 2024.
New Honorary Members
Isla asked the room to support her proposal of 2 new Honorary members, firstly Karen Ferguson-Snedden, for her significant achievements at National, County and at individual events and secondly, Maggie McPherson for the tremendous amount of effort and time she has given to East of Scotland Girls. Both Honorary memberships were approved by the meeting.
Election of Office Bearers
We then moved to the Election of Office Bearers; Isla asked the meeting to approve Caroline Mansley as Captain, with approval gained, Isla handed Caroline the Captains badge and Isla received the Past-Captains badge. Maureen presented Isla with gifts from the Officials and Club Representatives, and Anne Hanson also thanked and gave Isla gifts from the squad, as a token of their thanks and support she has provided during her 2 year term.
Caroline then confirmed that Margaret Ferguson (President) and Maureen Joyce (Honorary Secretary) are still within their term of office and will remain in their current roles. Jane McDonald (Honorary Treasurer) has agreed to be co-opted for a further year, and sadly the role of Vice-Captain remains open.
Caroline Steedman was standing down after 7 years as Junior Secretary, and Caroline Mansley proposed, with Committee and Officials approval, Amy Foster to the meeting for approval as incoming Junior Secretary. Approval was gained and Amy is now in post. Hilary Laughland (Junior Administrator) also continues in her role working closely with Amy to shape the coaching and development of our junior girls and all young women across Midlothian who want to get into golf.
Caroline asked the members to approve Susan Randall to continue as our independent auditor for another year, this was approved; and advised that Jen Dick (IT support) had agreed to continue providing services as required to us in 2024. Linda Wemyss continues as Selector, but has decided to step down in November next year, as such Committee has approved Elaine Lumsden to shadow Linda this year ahead of her becoming the new Selector in 2025.
Caroline thanked all of the volunteers and the club reps who sit on Committee who were continuing, concluding or embarking on these official and supporting roles. Without them and the time they invested in Midlothian, we could not continue to deliver a full calendar of events for our juniors and adult members.
There was no AOCB so after a short break, Caroline asked President, Margaret Ferguson to present the trophies and vouchers to all of our prize winners.
Recognising the success of our County Squad, Caroline asked Isla McCrone to welcome them forward and present them with a commemorative photograph of their win. Both the Jamboree and the winning Scottish County Final squad members came forward, videos of their success were shared with the room and Scottish Golf had kindly “lent” us the precious and prestigious Scottish County winners trophy for all to see. This is the 5th time Midlothian have won this coveted event in the modern era, hopefully not the last. Champion of Champions Kate McIntosh gave a vote of thanks and Caroline closed the meeting at 21.44 wishing everyone a safe journey home.
With grateful thanks to Turnhouse for hosting us so well and to all our volunteers on the evening – Celia McIntyre (Craigmillar Park), Eileen Stevenson, Helen Ross and Catherine Robertson (all Turnhouse). With special thanks to Frances Kerr for taking all of these wonderful photographs.
Junior Prizegiving Gallery
Prizegiving Gallery
