Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 6 October 2016

1.  Apologies: Richard Bird, Alistair and Alice Aukland, Dermot and Helen Mathias, Sarah Donne, Joyce Gibbons, Steve Quinn, June Wells, Terry Ward, Ken Angus

2.  Minutes of AGM 2015

Vote to agree as accurate record.   (proposed Hilary Strang, seconded Pres Wells).  Unanimous

 3. Matters Arising from AGM 2015 Minutes

2015 12a. The introduction of Bridgemate Etiquette has addressed the issue of allowing all players to see the results.

2015 12b. The provision of refreshments seems to be working well.

2015 13a. The request to host a Swiss Pairs event was considered by the committee but with the uncertainty over our venue it was decided that this was not the right time.

2015 13b. Teaching the use of the dealing machine and other software to more people has been partly achieved but there is more to do.

4. Chairman’s Report

MA reported on events over the year:

• MA reported that he has now joined the Refurbishment Committee and that JW continues as the Bridge Club’s representative on the Village Hall Management Committee. 
• The committee contributed to the design spec for the Vale Room and other facilities to cater for the needs of the club.
• We are continuing with the £1 levy on table money and having made our initial donation of £3,000 a year ago we have now made over a second donation for the same amount.
• The OBA have organised social bridge events in in Oxford, Henley, Thame and Abingdon and members have participated in some of them .
• Our club sessions have been well attended, having 10 tables on at least one occasion.  New bridgemates are on order so we will be able to accommodate more players.
• Thanks to David and Tina Hollick for organising the Friday sessions, they have some new recruits and these sessions are ideal for improvers as well as beginners.
• Thanks, also, to Mick Moore who has taken over the maintenance and cleaning of the dealing machine.
• Thank you to everyone who has supported the Club and helped in whatever capacity.
• Request for all cups to be returned by end of October to enable CF to get them engraved in time for this year’s Christmas party.
• Christmas party reminder: 5pm for 5.30pm start of play.

Chairman’s Pleas:

1. PLEASE PASS ON YOUR BOARDS WHEN YOU ARE MOVING.  Please place boards in correct order before passing them on and find out where they should go – don’t just leave them anywhere.
2. Would the person due to make the opening lead PLEASE lead BEFORE writing down the contract in their score card, or indeed putting away their bidding cards.
3. Please ensure you wash up and dry your own cups in a timely fashion.
4. Dummy to pass on bottom board when their table finishing late
5. Please do not bend or damage the cards as this impedes smooth dealing through the dealing machine.
6. Help to set up from 7pm is always welcome.
7. Also at the end in packing things away. 
8. Please report to the club by 7.20pm.
9. PLEASE be considerate when other tables are still in play and keep conversation, particularly conversation about the cards played, to a minimum and at a LOW VOLUME. 

5. Hall Refurbishment

MA reported that he has now joined the Refurbishment Committee and that JW continues as the Bridge Club’s representative on the Village Hall Management Committee.The committee contributed to the design spec for the Vale Room to cater for the needs of the club.

Our attention is now on our temporary relocation for the duration of the refurbishment.The Melland Room will be used but it cannot accommodate us for every session but have agreed upon every Tuesday and every other Thursday.The hire cost will be in excess of 2x what we are paying for the Vale Room.

MA outlined the arrangements made for the relocation:

Purchase of laptop, clearance of all our stuff from the Vale Room with temporary space provided at his house; purchase of extra set of duplimate boards with travel case to allow for 2 sessions to be dealt in advance along with the printing of hand records.

There will be no printed results on the night while in the Melland Room and extra help with setting up and clearing away will be needed.

A leaflet showing the proposed refurb and a request for donations from private individuals and businesses was available at the meeting and will be distributed to residents in the village.

Question raised about the Friday session as MA had made no enquiries about availability of the Melland Room as the small number of players involved would not be able to cover the hire cost.It is proposed that once we relocate the £1 levy currently intended for the refurb fund will be diverted to cover the extra cost of venue hire.A discussion followed with some alternatives offered:Friday players join in the Thursday session when running; hold a combined Friday session on the weeks with a missing Thursday session (but with the Friday session teaching format maintained this may not work); the club makes up the shortfall for the Friday session; the Friday session moves to the committee room which can accommodate it.MA said that no decision should be taken until nearer the time but all suggestions would be considered.

6. Treasurer’s Report

Colin Field presented the accounts and explained the main items of expenditure and differences with last year’s figures showing the finances are sound.  The figures show a £3000 donation to the Village Hall Refurbishment fund from the club’s assets.  (A further £3,000 has since been paid which will show up on next year’s account sheet which has come from the £1 levy designated for this purpose).

CF thanked Malcolm Cochrane for auditing the accounts.

Question from the floor concerned major equipment replacement and do we have enough money to fund this.  CF assured the meeting that he intends to keep our balance at a level to do so.  Our total equipment replacement valuation is around £4K.

Proposal to accept the accounts (proposed Pres Wells, seconded Dermot Paddon).  Unanimous

7. Teams Captain’s Report

Steve Quinn had submitted a report, read by MA.  The team finished 4^th out of 8 in Division III of the Wessex League with 3 matches won and 4 lost (overall score of 46.5%) and with 14 members taking part over the season.

MA thanked SQ for his captaincy and for organising the teams on behalf of Blewbury Bridge Club.  SQ is now stepping down with Dermot Paddon taking on the role for the next season.

8. Election of Officers & Committee

All existing members of the existing committee are willing to stand again and retain their current roles if the meeting approves.

Officers standing for re-election:  Mike Allen (Chair), Richard Brodie (Vice-Chair), Colin Field (Treasurer), Jean White (Secretary)

Other members standing for re-election: Steve Quinn, Hilary Strang, Susan Tilbrook.

Proposal to re-elect existing officers and members: Proposed Diane Bell, seconded Hazel Nixon.  Unanimous.

9. Subscriptions & Table Money

No immediate changes proposed as we are covering our costs but this may need to be reviewed when we return to the Vale Room in the likely event of a rent rise following the refurbishment.We have 81 members.

10. Equipment

Request made for new table cloths when we return to the Vale Room.

11. Website

Much appreciated and well maintained.

12. Future Dates

2016 Christmas Party – Sunday 11 December 2016 

2017 AGM – Thursday 5 October 2017 (followed by bridge play if time permits)

2017 Christmas Party – Sunday 10 December (assuming hall is useable on this date)

13. Points for discussion raised by Members

1. June Wells: Request for help with supplying the milk and biscuits for refreshments particularly when she is away.  Jane Lennox offered to help with this.
2. Bob Downey: Can we abandon Butler scored pairs.  Discussion on the possibility of producing 2 sets of scores, i.e. both Butler and Duplicate although tactics vary depending on scoring.  The proposal to abandon was put to the meeting.  The majority voted in favour of abandoning.

14. Any Other Business

1. Doug Tilbrook, on behalf of the membership, thanked the chairman and committee for the work they had put in over the year.

Meeting closed at 8.10pm. 

CHAIRMAN’S ‘PLEAS’

1. PLEASE PASS ON YOUR BOARDS WHEN YOU ARE MOVING!!!!  place boards in correct order before passing them on, & find out where they should go – don’t just leave them anywhere
2. Would the person due to make the opening lead PLEASE  lead BEFORE writing down the contract in their score card, or indeed putting away their bidding cards
3. Please ensure you wash up & dry your own cups, etc., in a timely fashion
4. Dummy to pass on bottom board when their table is finishing late
5. Please do not bend or damage the cards as this impedes smooth dealing through the dealing machine.
6. Do not talk so loudly – it is distracting for tables still playing.
7. Help to set up from 7pm is always welcome
8. Also at the end in packing things away - particularly when we move to our temporary home.
9. Please report to the club by 7.20pm

Tom Le Cren Cup - Richard Bird

Marjorie Le Cren Cup - Shirley Moore

Pari Parsu Cup - Allan Ridgeley and Stephen Quinn

Blewbury Bridge Club Cup - Diane Bell

Roy East Cup - Malcolm Cochrane

Shield for the Most Improved Player - Stephen Quinn

CREATING A WELCOMING ATMOSPHERE

New/inexperienced players are frequently discouraged from playing at a club duplicate session because everyone else there seems so knowledgeable and ‘expert’.

So, the following guidelines are, in addition to the English Bridge union’s Best behaviour At Bridge guidelines, designed to create as friendly an atmosphere as possible for new and inexperienced players.

Blewbury Bridge club undertakes to

1. Appoint several Welcoming Hosts/Hostesses
2. Discourage discussion of hands at the table – wait until sitting out or after play has finished
3. Greet new opponents in a friendly manner and exchange names
4. Be especially friendly towards strangers
5. Explain what and why if you need to call the Director
6. Avoid a ‘know-it-all’ attitude

BRIDGEMATE ETIQUETTE

1. Either North or South should be responsible for entering the contract and lead into the Bridgemate.
2. It is recommended that this is done before play of the hand commences but not if the person responsible is on lead.
3. At the end of the hand the Person Responsible should promptly enter the result and press OK.
4. He/she should then hand the Bridgemate to whosoever of East or West is nominated by that pair to check the Bridgemate entry.
5. That Person, and it does not matter whether it is East or West, should check the result and, if satisfied that is correct, should then turn the Bridgemate to face the rest of the table and, only then, press the agree button at the top.
6. If not agreeing the Bridgemate should be passed politely back to whoever input the result with an explanation of what is wrong.
7. On pressing the agree button, the only announcement that should be made by the player checking and agreeing the result is the %age score for North/South, i.e. ‘So much % to North/South’, AND THAT IS ALL.
8. The OK button may then be pressed to check other scores, but again ONLY such that all other parties may inspect them if they wish.
9. Finally, the Bridgemate should be passed back to North or South.