EIBA-YEARBOOK 2024-2025 Web-Complete - Flipbook - Page 89
DIRECTORS’ REPORT
For the period ended 30 November 2023
As the new financial year commenced the threat of COVID-19 had, thankfully, become
minimal but the whole Country was now facing continual increases in the cost of living
which made individuals making the choice of whether they could continue playing of the
sport.
As a result, membership levels across the country had a further decline from 64,959 to
64,211 across the 255 affiliated clubs.
Combined with this the Company struggled to attract new Commercial Partners, which it
had expected to see some success with, as the sport was now back to full activity.
However, the Company were grateful for the continued support from Utility Bidder, Fred
Olsen, Gallagher and O’Neills.
Finally, the continuing rise in the cost of living caused higher accommodation and air
travel costs associated with sending international teams to events in Ireland and
Scotland.
Consequently, the end of year financial result was a loss of £52,070 before depreciation.
The International programme saw mixed success for England. The Women’s team won
the British Isles Series in Scotland, but the Men were unable to extend its record-breaking
record as the finished second. Both the Men’s and Women’s U25 teams came second in
their series as did the U18s which was well hosted by Solihull IBC for the Company.
In addition to a full programme of National Winter Competitions, with increased entries
across the competitions, the Company was pleased to finally be able to introduce the
National Summer Competitions. The Company wishes to thank Nottingham, Dolphin,
Spalding, St Neots and Kempston Park Indoor Bowls Clubs for hosting the finals so well
for us.
The new on-line Competition portal was launched and despite a few challenges when
publishing the competition draws, it is now operating as expected for the administration
of the National Competition programmes.
Changes were implemented to the National Competition structure. The number of Areas
were reduced from 18 to 16. In doing this the number of entries per Area were levelled
out to balance the number of rounds played before reaching the National Finals and via
zoning within the Areas, made travelling distances less of a concern until the later stages
of the competitions.
In Development, led by Mike Lambert, a Summary Step-by-Step Guide was placed on
the EIBA website for future reference of clubs interested to read the simple method
outlined. Mike reported that he had been greatly gratified by supportive letters from those
who took the time to follow the required simple steps, and then carried out the necessary
hard work to achieve re-growth.
The Company continued to use its portfolio of social media platforms (Facebook, XTwitter and Instagram). These are proving to be successful in getting information on all
areas of the sport, both nationally and locally, out to wider audiences.
A well, received addition was the appointment of Sian Honnor to provide a series of
interviews with players and officials covering all aspects of the game.
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