minutes

OXFORD OWNERS ASSOCIATION

c/o Oxford Stadium Sandy Lane Cowley Oxford OX4 6LJ

Chairman - Stuart Locke-Hart Treasurer - John Alcock Secretary - Jenny Hebborn

MINUTES of the AGM held on WEDNESDAY 22nd FEBRUARY 2006 at 19.30 hours at OXFORD STADIUM

The Annual General Meeting was opened by the Chairman Stuart Locke-Hart who thanked those present for attending

The Total number of persons present were 9 these consisted of the Chairman Stuart Locke-Hart - Treasurer John Alcock - Secretary Jenny Hebborn - RGT Rep Mel Hancox and General Manager Steve Rawle together with 4 Members also present was Paul Saxton who once again very kindly opened and closed the premises for the AGM

Once again it was a very poor turn out for the AGM in view of the numerous complaints that we had received recently from both Trainers and Owners the opportunity to put your complaint to the General Manager Steve Rawle was available to all but was obviously not thought worthwhile on part of the complainants although the date and time of the AGM was advertised

The Chairman reported: -

a) As the General Manager Steve Rawle was due to answer questions
under A O B it was agreed that the questions would take place first
of all as Steve Rawle had to leave the Stadium by approximately
8.15 p.m.

b) A Member asked the General Manager about the state of the Track
and the GM reported that the Track was at present running fast the
Member also brought to the attention of the GM the fact that their
dogs were running consistently on BAGS although they had asked
their Trainer to ask the Racing Office to put the dogs on Night Time Racing as they brought considerable people into the Stadium and Restaurant / Executive Suite and also sponsored Races
The GM told the Member concerned to contact their Trainer once again and get him to ask the Racing Office for the Dogs to be placed on Night Racing should this not be forthcoming then the Member was requested to contact the GM

c) The Chairman stated that should the Owner complain to the Racing
Office they would be told that they should go through their Trainer
and past experience has proved that the Trainer can be penalized for complaining

d) The GM stated that there was no wish to have 10 Open Races on a
Tuesday Evening this was at present due to the Sickness Bug within
the Trainers Kennels and the need to fill 5 Race Cards per week

e) The GM stated that changes would be taking place within the next
few weeks which should benefit all people/owners concerned

f) The Chairman reported that the lack of a GM has caused considerable problems as far as the O O A was concerned although we had still
held our Members All Trophy Night and Ladbrokes £100 Race it is
hoped that now we have a resident GM things can only get better

g) An increase in Prize Money was requested at the end of last year but
it was stated that Oxford was doing far worse than in the previous year
and therefore there would be no increase for 2006
It was hoped that with the turn around of business under the new General
Manager that Owners would be looked upon more favourably especially
with the increase in BAGS fees that have started this year

h) The O O A Night which was held on the first Tuesday of the month
has been moved to a Friday therefore the next meeting will be Friday
7th April 2006 this will also ensure that all Trainers have runners on
an O O A Race Night
We are unable to hold the March Meeting as the first Friday in March has been booked for a Ladbrokes Benefit Night

i) It was reported that monthly meetings would be held with Steve Rawle
when we will be able to air any problems/questions that Owners etc may have

j) Sponsorship will once more be up for renewal and the Chairman
stated that he hoped Ladbrokes would once again generously
sponsor the £100 Races

k) 645 Races and Hurdle Races is still an issue and Owners/Members
are asked to request these types of races if they have greyhounds
that are able to race over the distance/sticks this in turn will make Greyhound Racing far more interesting

l) Welfare is still top of the agenda it was requested that should Owners
experience any problems these should be reported to the GM

m) It is hoped that every new Dog Registration (NGRC) will produce
Owners who have to be enrolled as a member of the O O A personally
as at present dogs have not always got a bone-fide owner/s

n) The Treasurer John Alcock reported that a balance of £5018.01 was brought forward on the 31st May 2005
Income as at 8th February 2006 was £7532.60
Expenditure as at 8th February 2006 was £2504.97
Balance as at 8th February 2006 was £5027.63
It was agreed that should a Sponsor not become available for the £100
O O A Races then the funds at present held would be used for this purpose

o) Jenny Hebborn reported that Membership currently stands at 195
Concern was once again expressed that not all Trainers encourage
Owners to join although we have several Trainers who have all their Owners listed as Members The difference in Members from this year to last is approximately 40 however we must take into consideration that we still have 3 months of our year to go
It is hoped that eventually all Owners will become Members

p) R G T
Mel Hancox reported that between 70 -90 Oxford Dogs had been
homed within the last 12 months All dogs homed have prospective new Owners home checked and also follow up checks to ensure that all is in order and to assist should
any problems occur We have at present 10 kennel places for Retired Greyhounds and it is
hoped that Ivor Stocker will be visiting Oxford Stadium with the objective of setting up a Committee for Fund Raising etc for the benefit of Oxford dogs which is desperately needed

q) Re - Election of Officers
All Officers were prepared to stand for re-election and as no other persons were willing to stand it was agreed the existing Committee would continue

u) A O B
There were no questions under AOB as they had already been Answered by the GM

The O O A would like to thank the Management for use of the premises and also providing the refreshments which were very much appreciated

The Meeting was brought to a close at 21.15 hours

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