Here are some ideas to play with (you can compare pros and cons of each). I assume we have a total of 15-16 teams.
1. Traditional league, 8 months, 3 divs of 5 or 6 teams, play H and A (as 2007-08 season)
Pros: Low maintenance during season (for league sec and club fixture secs); well understood.
Cons: 8-10 games per season is too few. (could play each other 3 times, but unequal H & A balance)
2. Traditional league, 8 months, 2 divs of 8 teams, play H and A (as 2008-09 season)
Pros: 14 games per season; low maintenance during season (for league sec and club fixture secs); well understood
Cons: Large imbalance in standard between top and bottom teams, some don't enjoy, many teams have little to play for.
3. Two leagues per year, 4 months each, 3 divs of 5 or 6 teams
Pros: c16 games per season; more teams have more to play for; more frequent sorting of standard (promotion/relegation twice per year), so better balance of competitors.
Cons: Two sets of fixtures to sort (more work for league sec and club fixture sec); costs three sets of medals x 2 pa!
4. 2 divs of 8 play each team once, then split top half / bottom half of each into 2 divs of 4 play H and A
Pros: 13 games per season; everyone exposed to range of standards in first half of season then more evenly matched in second half of season; more teams have more to play for (all 4 mini-divs win medals)
Cons: Two sets of fixtures to sort (more work for league sec and club fixture sec); costs four sets of medals x 1 pa.
NB: There may be smart ways of mitigating the problem of two sets of fixtures per season (options 3 and 4)... eg in August publish all match dates (weeks) to April, so that everyone knows when (which week) they're playing even if (for the second half) they don't know who they're playing until January (or which day of the week for away games).
DK Cup
Re-drawing the fixtures every round seems unecessary work, and cause delay for clubs booking fixtures. The entire competition can be drawn before the season starts (like Wimbledon fixtures... and you could even introduce seeding if desired), and dates published for each round plus the final. Every team then knows it has to reserve fixed H/A dates in case they progress, and it's less work for the cup organiser plus club fixture secs.
Ladies & Junior League
This is essential for the health of Wilts volleyball. Commitment to regular league fixtures would be difficult because we don't have a huge stock of women and juniors (especially in some clubs) and participants often play for teams in WVA and NVL, or are irregular/casual. So a tournament format works reasonably well - it's very friendly, everyone gets lots of volleyball on the day, and it doesn't need regular commitment. As always, it would help if the 4-5 dates were published before the season starts, and stuck to. Recognising that full attendance is unlikely, I would suggest the league is decided on win% rather than aggregate wins, subject to a minimum attendance threshold (eg must attend, say, 2 dates out of 4 or 3/5 to qualify for championship ranking).
Personally I would favour some novel thinking to freshen up the WVA mixed leagues!
Cheers, Phil.