Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Cricket Memorabilia Society held online
30thMarch 2026 commencing at 7:30pm
Present: Mr Richard Brown (Chairman) (RB), Mr Steve Cashmore (Secretary) (SC), Mr Peter Madelin (Treasurer) (PM), Mr Alex Picker (AP),
Mr. Nick. O’Neil (NO), Mr Phil Lloyd (PL), Mr. Andy Collier (AC), Mr Ken Burney (KB).
1. Chair’s Opening Remarks and Updates
RB: as yet, he has had no response to his enquiry regarding a potential new President. RB will make further approaches.
Chris Broad is booked as a guest for Derby on October 17. Paul Allott is a potential future guest.
RB has not yet had a room hire quote from Lord’s. The date lined up is either 14 or 21 November. We get a discount from Lord’s but it based on an increasing room hire charge.
2. Review of 2025/6 meetings and auctions
PL said that Leicester had a poor room layout which was NOT as agreed. More preparation was needed as SC was absent. Around 81% of the lots were sold with sales in excess of £4,000. There were not as many bids on the books as usual. This probably equated to lower sale prices and RB worked hard to generate sales from lower opening bids. PL said that some bids were made too late by members prior to the auction.
RB: the room hire at Derby went up from £250 to £350. However, Jon Filby at Hove got us a good deal there. The cost of room hire at Lord’s is expensive, much more than other venues. We need to consider making a charge to members for attendance there.
3. Update on Membership (SC) and Finances (PM) – impact of raising price of CMS cards?
SC: we have 299 paid up members – soon to be 300!
SC: the special 150th edition of our magazine is ready. He may receive the copies in the next day or two. Proof reading which identified errors led to delay in the printing production.
PM: room hire charges (c £1,800 in total) are indeed going up but the biggest cost – comfortably – is for going to Lord’s.
RB: should we consider trying to get a sponsor for one or more of our meetings? Should we go to West Bromwich Dartmouth to celebrate our 40th anniversary?
We took £675 from card sales at our Leicester meeting. There followed a discussion about sales of back catalogue cards. It was agreed that they should be £8. Cards from this year onwards are £5 at a meeting or £8 subsequently.
NO advised that charging £8 for old cards has had no impact on sales. This price compares favourably with those seen on the likes of Ebay.
SC: 45 members have had to pay a £5 surcharge due to renewing late/payment by cheque = £225 extra revenue.
4. Subscriptions & Guest Fees
RB said that the committee needs to consider raising member subscriptions to £30 from August 2027. Any decision to raise subs would have to be formally approved at our January 2027 AGM. Increasing costs for both room hire and guests are especially concerning. We are at risk of posting an in-year loss for three consecutive years and that trend cannot continue indefinitely. It was noted that subs have not increased for many years*.
A guest fee to attend individual meetings was also discussed. We agreed that a £10 guest fee would be charged from the start of our 2026/27 season. We also agreed that family membership of CMS (currently £22) should be for members at the same household. RB would highlight this in Membership Matters. From October 2026, at Derby, we will produce a register of members that they sign against each meeting. It was advised that guests were NOT eligible to bid at an auction. If, on the day, they upgraded to membership then the £10 guest fee would be offset against the membership sub. PM advised that Standing Orders are for a set figure whereas direct debits are for a variable amount such as used for utility bills.
*Post-meeting note: AGM2010 raised the “flat rate” by £5, resulting in ‘full’members at £20 and ‘senior’ members at £15. AGM2015 increased ‘senior’ members to £20, removing the 2-tier subscription.
5. Request for funding
Malcolm Lorimer and Geoff Wellsteed have requested funding for a new book project about cricket memorabilia and pubs. A discussion ensued and it was agreed that they would need to present a business case in terms of the number of books, cover price, any discount for CMS members etc. When this is received, consideration will be made with a ceiling of £500 funding.
6. CMS Award of Excellence 2026
A cricket lover from Pakistan, Dr. Nauman Niaz, has written several books on memorabilia and Pakistan cricket. He should be a strong contender.
7. Plans for 40th Anniversary of CMS
RB suggested that we have this as a March meeting and move our normal auction slot to February. RB asked PL if that would cause any problems for our auction team. PL said that it would mean moving planning to an earlier stage but was doable.
Hold 40th Anniversary at our original meeting place at West Bromwich Dartmouth?
RB hopes that David Frith will write an article on John Arlott for this event.
Should we have an anthology of magazine articles from over the last 40 years?
We should hang a memorial plaque at WBD.
We have a logo for our 150th magazine which could be amended for use for our 40th anniversary.
NO: could we write an article comparing the changing costs of different types of cricket memorabilia over the last 40 years?
RB: has been in contact with a recent guest, Barbara Daniels – RB suggested that past guests could be invited as a guest for our 40th anniversary. However, we would only pay a fee to our speaker.
RB to PL – please can you check the logistics for an auction in February rather than March?
8. AOB
RB: we have given c £500 to the Alzheimer’s Society from our charity efforts. Should we consider linking up with Prostate Cancer UK – a charity which looks to support those suffering from Prostate Cancer?
This meeting closed at 20:45