FLORESTA PARQUE GOLF CLUB COMMITTEE MEETING

No 2022-08 HELD ON 7th January 2022

Present Mary Berry – Captain

Peter Noone – Vice Captain

Geoffrey Harnett – Chairman

Linda Anthony – Secretary

Giles Fox – Treasurer

Mike Abbott- Handicap and Membership Secretary

Rod Smith

Brian Newsham

1. Apologies

1.1. None required.

2. Approval of Minutes and Matters Arising

2.1. The minutes were approved by the Captain.

2.2. Members are reminded that they may not attend the AGM if their membership of the Club has not been paid.

2.3. Membership fees were due as of the 1^st of January, anyone who has not paid their membership fees will play as a visitor in Club competitions. An email covering this and other matters will be sent to the membership.

Giles Fox

2.4. The singles competitions are Federated competitions that are run by the Club, any member who is not federated will play as a visitor in these competitions and a visitor’s prize will be awarded. The Federation membership is current until the 31^st March. A notice about the above will be put on the board in the bar, the shop and the website.

2.5. This is the notice which will be displayed under the heading Competition Entry Fees.

To clarify the entry fees for various categories of players to the Floresta Parque Golf Club Competitions in 2022, please see the table below.

Member of FPGC / Federation Fee Paid

Non-Qualifying Competition 3 euro

Qualifying Competition 3 euro

Member of FPGC / Non-Federated

Non-Qualifying Competition 3 euro

Qualifying Competition 5 euro

Non-Member of FPGC / Non-Federated

Non-Qualifying Competition 5 euro

Qualifying Competition 5 euro

All entrants to each competition who are eligible to pay the 3-euro entry fee will be competing in the members prize categories. All 5-euro entry fee players will be competing in the Visitors prize categories except that the club may include visitors in the members prize categories when playing in a team event with members – the 5-euro entry fee will still apply.

2’s Competition’s

All Entrants 3 euro

Note

FPGC Membership fees from 2021 expired on 31^st December 2021.

2022 fees are due from 1^st January 2022.

Federation Fees are payable before 1^st April 2022. Players who hold Federation Membership from 2021 are still Federated until 31^st March 2022. The Federation charge a late payment penalty for renewals after 1^st April.

Players who can demonstrate that they are members of the Portuguese Golf federation at another Portugal Golf Club will be eligible for the 3-euro entry fee in qualifying competitions.

Rod Smith

3. Company Matters

3.1. GSA has been put on the market, some members may have seen the advert in the January Tomorrow magazine, sealed bids are invited to be submitted by the 24^th February, the top three bids will be invited to bid again if the asking price is not achieved.

3.2. Document Store – Phase 3 have placed a contract with GSA to access this. Phase 1 and 2 and the Golf Village are currently negotiating with GSA.

4. Treasurer’s report

4.1. Currently 104 members have joined the Club, ten of which are new members. Seventy five percent of members paid their membership by bank transfer, making the Treasurer’s job simpler.

4.2. In my Treasury Report for 2021 I requested that should anyone like more specific information or explanation to submit your request in writing to the Chairman by Jan 7^th 2022. I am glad to report that I have had a very positive response from the Members and following today’s Committee Meeting I am happy to share the questions raised together with explanations.

Before I share these with you, I would like to remind you that fees were expected before the 1^st January and if you have not yet paid, please do so as soon as possible. So far, I have had a terrific response to the renewals and 104 Members and new Members have already transferred funds or paid in the shop. Please remember you are not entitled to attend the AGM on the 14^th January 2022 and you will now have to pay €5 instead of €3 take part in any club competition unless you have paid your Membership. I am, of course, aware that many Members are not currently in Portugal and will pay when they arrive. There is no problem with this but this will mean they will not be entitled to any Membership privileges and their Federation Handicap will not be renewed until payment is made and if left beyond 31^st March 2022 will attract a 10% late payment surcharge*

Q & A’s

Most sets of accounts include a Balance Sheet. Can you supply one?

I choose to publish the accounts in the way that I do as I feel it is highly important to be able to demonstrate our ‘Income and Expenditure’ in some detail and then illustrate the ‘Surplus/Deficit’ that is generated in a nontechnical way. I then accompany this with a ‘Statement of Assets’ so anyone can easily understand the reserves the Club hold. Not everyone is familiar with the accounts in the way that people from a commercial background may be. However, I am very fortunate that a fellow Member has taken the time this week to enable me to adjust my reporting structure so in future it will also incorporate a complete balance sheet report more in tune with accounting protocols.

Please give details of €2,600 Treas/MemSec golf fees.

The annual cost from GSA for two single Members (they will not let these two subscriptions be considered as a ‘couple’) with the early payment discount of 10% is €3204. The reason we get this discounted down to €2600 is because we insist that in return GSA must share the cost of the CNIT card (€1200 annually) equally as it is a benefit that attracts golfers to play at GSA. The conditions of access to the CNIT card scheme is full Federated Membership of FPGC together with a suitable golf subscription with GSA. A high proportion of the Membership take advantage of the CNIT Card scheme and it has enabled us to recruit new Members to the Club over the last few years successfully.

How does the Charity account work? Why doesn’t the amount collected agree with the out payment?

Charity funds are collected into the club finds through the collection boxes for the 8^th bunker and 15^th lake, designated charity competitions and by the efforts of groups and/or individuals fund raising or donations. This fund is then distributed by the Captain to the charities they wish to support. These distributions are recorded in the Committee Meeting Minutes which are published on the website. The amount collected will never correspondent exactly with the out payment because the distributions go out to several charities at different times. Any charity fund surplus at the year end is carried forward to the next year and you can see the existing liability for the Charity Fund in the Asset Statement I prepare.

Christmas Hamper. Are these those in Golf Reception and the Club Bar? I thought these were created by the staff for their benefit.

The heading ‘Christmas Hamper’ refers to all the costs the Christmas Hamper Competition which we enjoyed in December. Part of this cost does include providing Hampers to the Golf Reception and the Spikes Bar so the staff can raffle them off for a Christmas Bonus from the Club but also cover the dinner for Members, entertainment and prizes on the night.

I am surprised that the Membership fees does not divide by the annual fee of €60

The Membership Fees do not divide equally into €60 because one individual was obliged to pay a late payment surcharge of €6 in 2021.

I would have expected the Federation income and expenditure to balance out?

During to the confusion and restrictions caused by Covid at the beginning of 2020 a few Members indicated they would pay when they arrived later in the year. The Committee took the view to be supportive to these Members to maintain their Handicap record. In just a few cases we didn’t get the payment of the Federation Fee so the income and expenditure do not balance. This is the reason why in my first request to the Membership for payment in 2022 I stipulated that we would not be doing this again.

I cannot recall whether or not the accounts are presented as from your e-mail or if a final hard copy is circulated for the AGM. Either way, it would be much easier for us uncommercial/financially less literate members to assess and understand the financial actions of our club during each year if the comparative figures from the previous year for each item were included. Unusual changes can then be explained to Club Members.

I believe as the report is delivered electronically it is a simple process for any Member to make this comparison for themselves. I provide an accurate commentary within the report that highlights any significant figures, especially in comparison with the previous year’s performance.

Given the disruption to travel plans over the last year are vouchers going to be valid for more than 12 months?

The vouchers have returned to having a valid life of only 12 months from April 2021. At the start of Covid we extended the life of vouchers to 18 months to give everyone time to use them but this was reduced back to 12 months once unrestricted travel resumed. In reality we have being very lenient and tried to make sure vouchers issued to people who have not been able to travel stayed active until they got here and they had a chance to use them. We will still be lenient going forward but only to Members who can demonstrate exceptional circumstances why they couldn’t use them.

Whilst it is expected that prize money is only a proportionate part of the total entry fees, I believe that for transparency the formula for calculation should be published and updated when necessary and /or provided via notes to the accounts.

From the competition entry fees we try to ensure that that at least 80% of the money is distributed back to the winners and only 20% is then retained by the club. To achieve this a Table has been prepared for the ‘Cards Team’ to give them guidance to achieve this result. The next time you play in a competition please just ask whoever is doing the cards to show you this table.

I hope this information I have provided now covers any questions concerning the accounts for the Membership. I would like to thank everyone for their support and interest. Especially those who have shared their experience and guidance to help me improve the way I operate and report.

*Unless agreed in writing with the Treasurer before the end of January 2022

MEMBERSHIP & FEDERATION FEES 2022

It is time to pay your Membership and Federation Fees for 2022. These fees are unchanged from last year and remain €60 for Club Membership and €60 for the Federation Fees for each individual. You can make payment either in the Golf Shop or alternatively you can also pay online direct to the Floresta Parque Golfe Clube bank account:

IBAN No: PT50 0035 0861 0000 7693030 38

SWIFT Code: CGDIPTPL

If you choose to pay online please make sure your surname is used as a reference in the transfer so we can readily identify where the payment has come from and please send an email to confirming what you have paid and which individuals you are paying for. If any of your personal details, such as email addresses or phone numbers change, please let us know.

4.3. Junior golf: at the AGM a proposal will be put forward that the Juniors, defined as 17 and under, should pay a €10 membership fee.

4.4. Destination of the Charity Funds raised:

In the last 10 years there are only a small number of charities that the club has supported – They are NECI, Lagos Orphans, Riding for the Disabled, Bombeiros, Madraguda. Additionally, some years there have been one off requests for support like Kelvin Whittaker’s Pink Ribbon Charity Walk and the Donkey Sanctuary.
Most charities are supported most years, so it is predictable where the money goes
Each year the Captain gets to nominate his/her additions or deletions to the list for that year
The committee are there only to provide advice on suitable charities to the Captain and to arrange the actual payments via Michael
Until the year is almost over the list cannot be finalised as we don’t know how much there will be to each charity.
Traditionally, there is an announcement on Captain’s Changeover evening of the amount raised and the Charities supported by the outgoing Captain.

4.5. Charity monies raised in 2020/21 €11.128,00 and have been distributed accordingly: NECI (Baptista sponsorship) €6000,00, Pink Ribbon, Kelvin Whittaker’s walk, €500, Madraguda € 3000,00, Bombeiros €500,00, Rui Gloria, autism charity, €500,00, and the remainder €618,00 will carry over to 2022. In addition Captain Brian’s bunker charity box raised €1300,00 which he kindly donated to the Mustard Seed in Lagos.. Going forward there will be only one charity collection box.

4.6. The payment of 2’s money will revert to a minimum of €10 and maximum of €100.

5. Handicap and Membership report

5.1. Mike Abbott sent an email to all members explaining how the current handicap system operates, this was again discussed at the meeting and will be covered again at the AGM. Players must play off their current handicap (providing a handicap record when returning from abroad) and the Club reserve the right to check handicaps at all times. The handicap list will be updated once a week and displayed on the board, this is only a guideline as the handicap list I updated daily by the FPG. All players are responsible for their own handicaps.

5.2. The annual handicap report has been done and there are no changes. Mike Abbott will check that the handicap list shows players with handicaps over 36.

Mike Abbott

5.3. Competition results will be shown on the website shortly after each competition has been played. The top ten results will also be shown in singles competitions. The website will be updated.

5.4. The issue of block bookings and booking for competitions was discussed. It was agreed that a meeting would be held to discuss the way forward with a view to improving and updating all our systems and the way booking for competitions is organised.

6. Captain’s Update

6.1. The Captain’s Changeover, everything is in place and the evening event organised.

6.2. The Knockout competitions will be completed before the Changeover.

6.3. The Loyalty Lottery will not continue this year.

7. AOB

7.1. Geoffrey Harnett went through the order of running of the AGM. He thanked the committee for all their hard work and remarked on how much he had enjoyed his six years as Chairman, working with great Captains, committee members and the members in general.

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