He highlighted how the County and come within one match of repeating the 'double' of winning both the 1sts and 2nds Midland Leagues, only for the 1sts to lose their last match.

That left the 2nds, under Neville Gardner, as our sole regional team success but your President remarked on how prospects for this year are good.

Your President referred to the individual successes, notably of all four stroke-play Junior Champions coming from one golf club, Copt Heath.

The Meeting then moved to presentations made by Bob Harrison, the new WUGC Treasurer.

Bob firstly detailed the last year's account and the reasons behind the loss of ?7.5K.

Membership income from the actual numbers of people joining WU Golf Clubs has continued to fall and whilst the County Membership Scheme has replaced the sponsorship income that finished in 2009, the cost of warm-weather training, even allowing for a significant contribution from the players who attended this in 2010, was the main reason fro the loss. This will not be repeated in 2011 and there has been a careful look at Coaching costs, although the Union will make endeavors to find more support for this integral part of the Union's core activities.

Bob then made a short presentation on the possible changes that could be made to the County Card Scheme for 2012, a change would which increase the Union's income.

The core of this proposal, for which full details are on a paper which every club has a copy, is that the Affiliation Fee will from 2012 be in two parts, the new part being a fee of ? 3.00 which will then mean that for any participating club all its members will then be County Card members and all able to enjoy 50% (or more) reductions in green fees at more than 1200 participating clubs across England.

This type of all member membership of a County Card Scheme has been tried successfully in Somerset & Wiltshire. They have found examples such as one extra four-ball per week over a 30 week period generating an extra ? 3 000 a year in club income.

It has also reversed a trend for ever diminishing income for some clubs.

There was comment and evidence form attending member clubs as to how the honus of distributing cards will still reside with Club Secretaries (at Club level) even though the Union's costs for this will be lowered.

Also the numbers of people still paying a full green-fee is going down whilst extar numbers (and course wear) is (has to) happen to make up for this short-fall.

There was also a question regarding the contribution and the receipt of all union benefits from Union Clubs who would still not participate in the Scheme.

Bob closed this first discussion on the proposal by announcing that an EGM will be held later in the Spring, giving all member clubs an opportunity to consider the paper and what is being proposed.

The meeting then moved to the election of officers -

Firstly John Jewsbury (Ladbrook) was proposed and voted in as the President Elect of the Union

In proposing John, his families history of being part of the Union was just part of a CV which made John an excellent candidate for the position, and his more than a decade involvement with junior golf has given him direct contact with all the current best players in the County.

Second to be proposed was Bob Harrison (Copt Heath) as County Treasurer. Bob was not well enough to be at last year's AGM but he is now fully fit and his work on the accounts, using his extensive Accountancy and successful business experience, was highly praised.

The third nomination was Dave Westwood (Handsworth) as the new County Captain. Dave has more than 20 years of County experience and his appointment was again warmly endorsed.

Retiring Past President John Duncombe was then appointed as the fourth Director for the Union, as EGU Voting representative.

There was then an appointment of all the offices who work on all the sub-committees.

David Morgan then talked with the attendees about the future development of both the Union and all WU Club web sites.

He detailed how social media (such as facebook and twitter) is changing all use of the web.

His recommendation was that clubs consider, as will the Union, specifically and targeted newsletters to site users. These should be well written and specific to a users' interests, with links to articles and access available on a web site.

This should also be tied in with use of hard copy newsletters and developing a relationship with local media, notably newspapers.

He recommended that clubs use hosting a

Union Championship or match to promote their club through detailing the quality of players participating or who have competed at a club in the past - David highlighted how the incredible historical success of our County makes this a very valuable tool and David did say he would help clubs with this sort of materials.

The final speaker was John Duncombe who gave attendees some background on the work of the EGU.

He asked club secretaries to let their club members know of the new Member Benefits programme launched via the EGU web site. There was also news that the expected amalgamation between the EGU and the EWGA (English Women's Golf) is progressing and is only held up by possible financial commitments that EWGA have.

The meeting concluded with your President introducing the new County Secretary Matt Nixon and then making a presentation to Graham Hayes, who will retire at the end of this month.