Dunfermline Bridge Club

Rules

Title

The Club shall be called Dunfermline Bridge Club (the Club) and is part of the Dunfermline Tennis and Bridge Club Limited (DT&BC).

Rules and Bye-laws

Without prejudice to anything in the Memorandum and Articles of DT&BC, the following shall be the rules and bye-laws of Dunfermline Bridge Club.

Object

The object of the Club shall be the advancement of the game of bridge in Dunfermline and District by encouraging and promoting the playing of bridge and the provision of playing facilities for the members under the auspices of the Scottish Bridge Union (SBU).

Management

The management of the Club shall be vested in a Committee authorised to incur expenditure, admit members and deal with other aspects of running the Club not specifically reserved for decisions of an Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Club.

Committee

The Committee shall consist of four office bearers, a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, a Treasurer and up to six Ordinary Members of Committee, all of whom shall be full members of the Club.

The Secretary and Treasurer and the Ordinary Committee Members shall be elected at each AGM.  The President and Vice-President shall be elected to hold office for two consecutive years, after which: -

• The President shall stand down as an office bearer but may offer him or herself for election as an Ordinary Member of the Committee;

• The Vice-President shall become the President and a new Vice-President shall be elected at the AGM.

The President shall act as Chairman at all meetings, both General Meetings and meetings of the Committee, and in his or her absence the Vice-President shall act as Chairman.  The Chairman shall have a casting vote as well as a deliberate vote in the event that the vote is tied.

In the event that there are more nominations for any position than there are places for that position, the election shall be held by secret ballot.

The Committee shall have power to co-opt members of the Club as required and to form sub-committees and create working parties as necessary.

There shall be a Competitions convenor and Match Point Secretary appointed from within the Committee.  The convenor shall be responsible for posting notices, on both the notice board and website (NB all further references to posted or made available shall relate to both the notice board and website), of competitions in good time and shall be the person to whom any queries regarding the competitions are made.  The Match Point Secretary shall be responsible for buying and issuing the Match Points.

Meetings

The Committee shall meet at least four times a year to discuss general business of the Club.

At meetings, five members of the Committee shall form a quorum, at least one of whom shall be the President or Vice-President.

General Meetings

An AGM shall be held in late August and a notice to that effect will be posted at least 28 days beforehand.  The day on which the AGM is to be held will revolve through the normal playing evenings in reverse order, i.e. Thursday, Tuesday, Monday.

An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) may be called at any time by decision of the Committee, or by written notice signed by at least 20% of the membership.

The following items will be available to all members at least 14 days prior to an AGM:

1. The draft minutes of the previous AGM;

2. The draft minutes of any EGM held since the previous AGM;

3. A summary of accounts to 31 July;

4. An agenda of the items to be discussed at the AGM.

Two tellers shall be appointed at the beginning of General Meetings to count the votes and report the result to the President for him or her to convey the result to the members present at the meeting.

Joint Management Committee meetings of DT&BC

The committee shall appoint two representatives from the committee, who would normally be the President and Vice-President to sit on the Joint Management Committee.

The representatives shall promote the interests and wishes of the members of the Club while always having regard to the interests of the DT&BC as a whole.

Amendment to the Rules and Bye-laws

Any proposal to alter the Rules and Bye-laws of the Club must be discussed at either an AGM or at an EGM held for that purpose.  Any proposal must be included on the Agenda for that meeting.

A proposal to amend the Rules shall require the approval of the majority of members present.

Minutes

Approved minutes of each Committee Meeting shall be made available for inspection by members.

The unapproved minutes of the AGM, and any EGM, shall be made available for inspection by the members no later than 28 days after the AGM or EGM. 

Bridge events

Normal bridge evenings are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.  The Committee shall seek approval of the Joint Management Committee to use the Club at any other time for playing or other purposes.

There shall be a rota of Tournament Directors made available to members. 

When there is to be a draw for partners or teams for a competition, the draw will be dealt with by two people.  One person will be responsible for the draw and the other person will be responsible for keeping a record of the draw.

Honorary Members

A member of the Club becomes an Honorary Member when proposed by the Committee and agreed at an AGM.  An Honorary Member pays no Club membership, SBU fee or table money fees but retains voting rights.  However, an Honorary Member shall pay any additional competition fees imposed by the SBU.

Subscriptions and Finance

The annual subscription is determined at the AGM of DT&BC in March each year.  In addition to the annual subscription each member shall pay the current SBU subscription as determined by the SBU.

The annual subscription shall cover the period from 1 April to 31 March of the following year and shall be due on 1 April.  The amount of table money shall be proposed by the Committee, subject to agreement with the Joint Management Committee, and put to members at the AGM or an EGM for approval.  If the SBU fee has been shown to have been paid elsewhere or separately, only the amount of the Club’s annual subscription shall be payable.  The membership of any member failing to pay his or her subscription by 31 May following the due date shall lapse and he or she shall be required to pay the visitor table money.  No-one may represent the Club or play in Club competitions unless they are paid up members.

Visitors and guests shall pay the normal table money plus £1.

Bridge club players who are full members of the Tennis Club do not have to pay Bridge Club membership fees in addition to their Tennis Club membership fee but must pay the SBU annual subscription.  Such members only have to pay half the normal table money.

The Committee shall have the power to raise finances for specific projects as agreed by the Joint Management Committee.

Only paid up members of the Club may vote at an AGM or EGM.

New members joining the Club after 1 November in any year shall pay a proportion of the annual membership fee calculated by reference to the length of time between the date of joining and the following 31 March.  Additionally the full SBU fee shall be payable subject to paragraph 1 above.

The financial year of the Club shall be from 1 January to 31 December to fit with the financial year of the Tennis and Bridge Club Ltd.  The Summary of Accounts for the AGM shall provide the details of income and expenditure for the year ended 31 July prior to the AGM.

The Committee shall control the finances of the Club on behalf of DT&BC.  Any changes to the arrangements of payments between the Club and DT&BC should be formally agreed by the Joint Management Committee.

The Club’s bankers shall be the Bank of Scotland, Bothwell Street, Dunfermline.

All Club funds shall be administered by the Treasurer, who will account for them to the Committee.

All funds raised by or on behalf of the Club will be applied to further the objectives of the DT&BC and for no other purpose.  This will not, however, prevent the payment in good faith of reasonable and proper fees to professional and technical advisers or the repayment to members of the Committee or of any other member of reasonable out of pocket expenses.

No member shall have any financial interest in the Club.

District Competitions

The Club shall participate in the SBU East District leagues as the Committee sees fit.

Team captains shall be appointed annually by the Committee and will be responsible for the selection of team squads in accordance with SBU East League Rules.  The selection of players for each team shall be done by the team captains in order of the ranking of each team within the SBU East District leagues, with the highest ranked team being selected first, followed by the second highest ranked team and so on until all of the teams have selected their players.  Any disputes regarding the selection of the teams shall be resolved by the Committee.  The final team selections shall be confirmed prior to the annual team notification meeting of the SBU East District.

Membership

The Committee shall have the power to admit new members to the Club.

The Committee shall have the power to suspend or expel members.

Membership of the Club shall not be completed until any subscription fees have been paid.

A member on payment of entry money and/or subscription thereby submits him or herself to the Memorandum and Articles of DT&BC and Rules and Bye-laws of the Club, both as to restrictions enjoined and penalties imposed, and on these conditions alone is entitled to the benefits and membership of the Club.

Membership of the Club is open to everyone regardless of his or her gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or age.

General rules

Any suggestions or complaints regarding the Club shall be submitted in writing and handed to the Secretary or any member of the Committee and will be considered at the next Committee meeting.

The Club accepts no responsibility whatsoever for the property or belongings of any member or visitor whilst on the premises of the Club.

Mobile phones should be switched off or silenced prior to the start of play.

Playing rules

1. Players should be seated 5 minutes (10 minutes if Bridgemates are in operation) before the time of commencement of the tournament as stated in the diary.  Players seeking to join the tournament after the 5 or 10 minute rule shall only be allowed to play at the discretion of the Tournament Director.

2. The Tournament Director shall have the final decision as to the movement played, the number of boards to be played and the number of boards which an odd pair will sit out.

3. The Tournament Director shall try to ensure that a minimum of 24 boards should be played by the majority of players and no more than four boards sat out.

4. No table may be booked.

5. At the start of play pairs should agree which pair is to play N/S and which pair is to play E/W.

6. North is responsible for the placement of boards at all times and the accurate completion of the travelling score slips or Bridgemate entries if used.  E/W are responsible for checking that the entry made by North is correct.  In the event of an irregularity all players may be liable.

7. The board in play must remain on the table in the correct direction at all times.

8. Play is subject to The Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge as adopted by the SBU.

9. The Tournament Director’s rulings on disputed matters or irregularities must be accepted at the table.  However, players may appeal against a ruling made at their table, in writing to the Committee.

10. Post mortems are time wasting and may be heard at other tables.  Hands in play should not be discussed during the tournament.

11. Club championships and competitions are open only to Club members.

12. The Tournament Director may impose a time limit of 7 minutes per board.  In the event of slow play the offending pair(s) may be liable to a score fine or a board not started bidding by 5 minutes before the end of the round may not be played.  The Tournament Director shall determine whether any score fine is applicable and whether any unplayed board may be played at the end of the evening.  The Tournament Director’s decision is final.