Shropshire clubs may receive a financial boost this summer

County treasurer Marie Scott will report a profit of just under £5,000 on the 2023 season at tomorrow’s (SAT) AGM of the Shropshire association at the Salop Unison Club in Shrewsbury (11am start).

And that could lead to the re-launch of the scheme that lets affiliated clubs apply to the county body for grants, a scheme that has been on hold since the pandemic.

“The surplus of £4,725 will be transferred into the Reserve Account and the intention is to protect this fund and use the current account for the day-to-day running of the association,” says Scott.

“At the executive meeting in January, it was discussed that the Finance Committee should now consider re-starting the grant awards scheme in Shropshire – and / or look at ways to support future development projects to increase membership numbers into our sport.

“The small profit of £4,725 is, of course, encouraging news for Shropshire – but it does come with some caveats which we could not have forecast at the beginning of the year.”

That includes £2,365 in fines for non-attendance at the AGM, non-compliance with the DBS process, non-compliance with insurance and non-payment of invoices.

Both the senior and junior county teams received £750 in prize money from the British association and the loss on county competitions was cut from £684 in 2022 to just £134 last year.

A number of rule change proposals will be voted on tomorrow including moves to accommodate the new North Shropshire association, specific criteria for eligibility for the World Club Championship and the introduction of a March 31 deadline for affiliated leagues to supply the county with their annual programmes to try and avoid clashes of dates.