Treasurer’s Report for the year ended 31 August 2016
As can be seen for the accounts this has been another financially successful year for the club, when we made a surplus of £1,362 before purchase of the new Duplimate machine. After taking this into account we finished the year with £4,786 in Reserves - a healthy position.
This is the first full year of taking the higher table money which was partly offset by the higher rent and P2P contributions. The number of sessions played in the year were the same as the previous year though average table numbers were slightly less. During the year ended 31st August 2016, expenditure on replacement of small items of equipment and consumables was approx. £1100 less than in the prior year which contributed to the larger surplus before Duplimate cost. We will be replacing some more of the boards and the cards in this current year, there may also be a need to replace one of the computers. Otherwise costs should remain fairly static.
Total charitable contributions rose by £799 due to two of the regular charitable events not being played in year to 31/8/15.
Subscriptions of £10 and table money at £2 (£3 for visitors) will remain the same for this current year.
During the year we moved to internet banking which has helped me to manage the financial affairs of the club with greater efficiency as shown by the increase in interest! Lawrence as Chairman checks the bank statements regularly to monitor the transactions.
I would like to thank Chris Pullan our Examiner, and all who help in collecting the table monies under sometimes difficult circumstances.
Chairman’s Report 6th October 2016
It has been a pleasure to have serve as Chairman over the last year and I have found it very stimulating. I have also continued to enjoy the bridge
I would like to thank all members of the committee for the support they have given.
In particular I would like to mention:
Kate Castree
She is always there to listen to members concerns and to take the appropriate action.
Kate has done a great job in actively managing the membership list which has resulted in the club admitting an impressive 28 new members during the year and managing the waiting list down from 34 at last year’s AGM to currently 17.
Kate attends very regularly and usually arrives early and leaves late and has been a very conscientious club secretary in responding to members’ and visitors’ queries, organising committee meetings and the AGM and quickly distributing the minutes. She has also ensured problem issues are readily addressed and resolved.
Kate is also gradually building and refining the email list so we can communicate effectively to the membership via email.
Sue Moss.
As most of you are aware Sue is not only Treasurer but also prepares all the boards in advance of our weekly sessions on the Duplimate machine. She does all this whilst maintaining a friendly and positive disposition and provides sound judgement and insight at committee meetings, drawing from her knowledge of the club and bridge matters.
Over the next year we will be seeking to share Sue’s workload with regard to making up the boards each week now the new duplimate machine has arrived.
Sandra Cape.
Sandra took over the organisation of the Directors and Scorers in October 2015 after the sterling work Jim Tate had done for many years in this role. Sandra agreed to be co-opted onto the committee and has done a tremendous job during the year. She has organised two days of Directors and Scorers training and has ensured that we are getting the best out of our computer, Bridgemate and BridgeWebs system. She continues to improve her own knowledge by going on more Director training courses and encourage other Directors to do the same. She has always kept cool calm and collected when there have been computer glitches and ready to help other Scorers and Directors during the afternoon bridge sessions.
Directors and Scorers
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the other Directors and scorers who helped with bridge sessions throughout the year, without whom we would not be able to run the club successfully the way we do. I would also emphasise that they are all volunteers and we should all seek to be as polite and friendly to them as possible to make their jobs easier!
Ron Rutstein.
Ron has done an excellent job with the Website on taking over from Stuart Wabe who had done such great work with this over recent years. Ron has been innovative and has sought to use the site to communicate all the relevant news about the club and related bridge news and events in Surrey.
He has also been a great source of support to Kate and myself over the year and a very conscientious committee member. We are sad Ron is stepping down from the committee but very pleased he has agreed to continue to manage the website.
Carry Kurk.
Carry has had the daunting and thankless task of managing the spare partner list for the last two years which she has done with great effectiveness and in a positive manner. The spare partner system is a key part of running a successful bridge club and is vital for encouraging both new members and helping out all existing members and waiting list members when they are short of a partner. Carry was also instrumental in the addition of another disabled parking bay.
Neil Higgins, Bruce Paul, Ruth Treblick, Miranda Moore.
My thanks also to the other committee members who have given the club their support in many ways ranging from regularly performing the duty officer tasks, to helping manage the Christmas party and the Village Day Lunch and Bridge Drive, managing the car parking and providing good judgement and guidance regarding problems and complaints that arose during the year.
Ruth will be stepping down from the committee this year and we offer her our thanks for the contribution she has made. Ruth has exemplified the warm and friendly spirit of the club as she carried out her committee duties.
There are others I would like to thank for their contribution over the last year:
Jacqui White for providing such tremendous teas and cakes and being so friendly and always arranging for Tanya or someone else to stand in for her when she is away.
Roger Musgrove and his assistant Rob. for setting up the Old Barn Hall and the Harrison Room for our regular sessions and for always being prompt and responsive with regard to any issue we have raised with him.
All the members who have helped set up the boards at the start of sessions and for helping pack away everything at the end of sessions. Many hands make light work. Our thanks as well to those who help wash and iron the table cloths during the year.
All the past committee members who have provided useful advice and guidance to me and other committee members over the year. In particular in my case Coral and Stuart and Geraldine have always been there to give advice when I have asked for it.
Developments over the year.
Membership. Sadly, we had five deaths: Gill Jones, Mick Shires, Jean Knott, Ann Stringer and Ian Pearson. These were highly valued members of the club and some in particular made a great contribution to the club and promoting bridge over the years.
We admitted 28 new members and reduced the waiting list from 34 at the last AGM to 17.
The committee had to deal with three complaints, all regarding poor behaviour at the club, one involving a member and two involving waiting list members. We take all complaints seriously and hopefully there will be none in the forthcoming year. The committee strives to retain the friendly atmosphere of the club and we want to ensure that as the membership, which is always subject to natural turnover, changes that those new members being admitted share the same qualities found within the existing membership. For this reason, we have proposed a slight change to the procedure for admitting new individuals to the waiting list. And this is where you can help us. We always announce when visitors are present and also when applications for membership are posted on the notice board. Please try to take note of this and when you come to play against those individuals observe how they behave at the table and do bring any concerns to me or to another member of the committee.
Attendance.
Table numbers throughout the year were much the same as last year albeit the average for the year was about half a table down on the previous year. There were four sessions during the year when table numbers were 24 or more compared to 7 last year. The committee has established a target maximum of 26.
Competitions.
The Queen’s Jubilee Cup was changed from being given to the member with the highest attendance over the last year to the pair who scored the highest average pairs score over the year.
A new trophy, The Chairman’s Cup, donated by Stuart and Coral Wabe, was introduced for a Handicapped Pairs event. Our thanks to Stuart and Ron for the work they did in establishing the rules and managing this new competition.
Many of our members have also done well during the year in Surrey wide competitions and charity events and we have sought to recognise their achievements throughout the year at our weekly sessions and on the website so I will not list them all again today.
Christmas Lunch 10th December
This was attended by 75 members and again was a very enjoyable social event. Our thanks again to all who contributed so much to making this happen. The club raised £440 for the Cherry Trees charity through the raffle.
Village Day Lunch and Bridge Drive
We decided to change the format this year to a duplicate bridge event in the afternoon session. It was very successful in terms of attendance - 89 - and money raised £886 for the Bookham Community Association which manages the Old Barn Hall for which they are very thankful. Most people seemed to enjoy the event based on the Bookham Village Week’s Beatrix Potter theme but there were a few lessons learnt and next year we would suggest a slightly reduced programme and revised organisation of the catering and raffle prizes. The feedback about the quality of the food from the appointed outside caterer was positive.
Our thanks again to all the members who helped support these two events.
Money raised for other charities.
Children in Need raised £246 and Charity Challenge £247.40. Surrey Sims £483 in March and £292 for the Dorin Salver Surrey Sims pairs in Sept 2015.
Directors and Scoring
Sandra provided training and we clarified the procedure for correcting scoring errors.
Parking
We continue to try and actively manage the parking available at the Old Barn Hall with the manager, Roger Musgrove.
We have sought to provide additional information on the less congested free street parking located within a short walk of the Old Barn Hall.
Looking Forward
The club has invested in a new Duplimate machine as mentioned before and we need to bed in this system and train some members to use it.
Kate is continuing to try and get as many members as possible on email so that the committee can regularly communicate with members in an efficient and cost effective manner.
We continue to encourage all members who have access to the internet to regularly use our website as this is one of the best ways to communicate to members.
We will explore ways in which the club can promote and facilitate training and teaching to enable members to improve their bridge.
We will aim to maintain the ethos of the club which Coral sought to achieve under her Chairmanship and she described last year as “a club which continues to be somewhere people want to come because they can have a good game of bridge, played according to EBU rules in a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere.”
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