The meeting was duly held, face to face, at the West Riding pub, 38 Wellington Street, Leeds, LS1 2D, on Saturday 12th August, starting at 1 p.m. and ending at 4.08 p.m.

Official draft minutes are expected within a week’s time, so no attempt to detail matters seems necessary here and now. The mood of the meeting was “up-beat”. It has to be said that aspirations expressed at such meetings can exceed eventual outcomes, but 2023-24 nevertheless looks like being a better season than recent ones in various ways, and all ten attenders of the meeting seem to have left with justified optimism.

On a few specific points:

1) Tim Wall was (re-)elected to the post of President as Yorkshire’s nominee, he previously having held post as Northumberland’s nominee!

2) Rupert Jones (Yorkshire) was elected, albeit as an interim measure (he will think!), to the post of General Secretary, in absentio, or in absentia, depending in whether your style of Latin prefers use of a participle in an elliptic “time when” expression or else simply a noun - both mean he wasn’t there at the time! (He had acquiesced to this in advance.)

3) Retiring Gen. Sec. Dave Cole (Cumbria) was thanked for his years of service to the Union, and he will support Tim and Rupert unofficially from the wings.

4) The post of Grading (should now be Rating) Officer was left unfilled on the assumption that none would be needed due to results going through the ECF’s League Management System, though one idea which surfaced in the meeting might yet mean a Rating Officer may end up being needed, though they haven’t worked that one out yet! (The present writer would have filled the post if necessary and can still assist in the slightly possible event that somebody ends up being needed.)

5) David Kilmartin (Gr. Manchester) took over Dave Cole’s other relinquished post, that of Trophies Officer, a key qualification being he knows the address of the person currently possessing three of the trophies and so can collect them!

6) Other Officers remain unchanged.

7) Cleveland County CA, currently not actually affiliated, was admitted to the NCCU, assuming they get round to actually applying (in writing, for the records) as believed is intended.

Steve Mann