CHAIR'S REPORT

I              Introduction and Thanks

I would like to thank everyone for having made the past year such a successful one and in particular for continuing to provide a friendly and welcoming atmosphere in which to play bridge.

I would especially like to thank Peter Sykes who was our Chair for the last 5 years and who has offered me generous and unlimited support as I try to follow in his footsteps.

I am also extremely grateful to all the Committee members, without whom the Club would simply not run. The Committee this year saw significant change from last year, and this has highlighted a need for continuity planning. It is important that roles and responsibilities are seen as a collective responsibility and the current Committee are working towards improving the Club’s resilience.

All the Committee members have given the Club sterling support over the year, and I am personally grateful to each and every one. While there are collective responsibilities, the members each take on some primary roles.

Ann, as Secretary, does untold and unseen work in ensuring the Committee performs its functions properly and that the Club runs smoothly. She provides the Club, and me, with invaluable support.

Susan, as Treasurer, is most efficient in looking after all the money matters and keeping the accounts in good order. Our healthy solvency is testimony to her efforts.

Jill and Roger have developed and maintained the Monday evening sessions and have sat on the Community Centre Management Committee.

Dave directs Tuesday afternoons and frequently scores on Tuesday afternoons and evenings.

Den organises the Tuesday afternoon sessions and scores.

John is our Tournament director and our main Tuesday evening scorer. He has looked after our website, frequently directs on Tuesday evenings, and also directs the movements for our teams competitions.

Nigel is our Club Captain and oversees our 3 teams in the Inter Club league. I will not reproduce his report, but I would like to record my personal thanks to all those who have represented the Club so successfully over the year.

We were also, all too briefly, able to enjoy David Emerson’s company on the Committee but he has since left the area to take up a permanent role with the EBU.

All committee members give their time and effort voluntarily to assist in the management of the club and each is owed a real debt of gratitude.

I would also like to thank Audrey Bainbridge and Niall Keaney who take and collect the duplimated boards to and from Darlington.

Thanks should also be offered to Lisa who does such a great job on Inter Club match days and other events in serving refreshments.

II             Membership

Our membership continues at its highest level in recent years.  The Club (by which I mean Jill and Roger, helped by Den, Peter Sykes and Ann) have run bridge classes on Monday evenings, and this has recently brought us a national recognition via a member’s letter to the EBU Magazine. The Club owes sincere thanks to Jill and Roger who have given time and energy in delivering these classes for some years now and, understandably, they intend that this is their last year. As Mondays are currently a combination of classes and supervised play, we are now planning to maintain the supported bridge sessions, but withdraw for the moment from the formal classes. Jill has very kindly volunteered to take the lead in delivering this. Monday evenings are an important part of developing our Club's membership and providing an opportunity to learn to play bridge in a friendly environment. Indeed, Durham Bridge Club is, within NEBA, one of the more flourishing Clubs.

Many of our Monday members play not only on Mondays, but have joined the Tuesday afternoon set, and increasingly we see afternoon players joining us on Tuesday evenings. It is common to have 5 tables in supervised play on a Monday, 14 tables in the afternoon on a Tuesday and 11 tables in the evening. On any week there are often of the order of 120 players at our Club.

Indeed, of the management challenges this year, one of the best problems has been how to cope with our afternoon numbers. This has been addressed in two ways: (i) we occasionally use the second room to ease congestion and (ii) we have used a movement involving two sets of boards. We have, however, agreed as a Committee to use a simple Mitchell movement with up to 14 tables (each pair playing 24 boards of the 34 in circulation).

It is also most gratifying to welcome new and younger members. While for most of us ‘younger’ means under the age of 60, this year we have seen significant numbers of under 25s joining us and, indeed, representing us in the Inter Club League. Our warm relationship with the university Club will reap future benefits to both organisations.

III           Major Investments

With the increased membership, our tables have suffered physically and this year we invested in 15 new tables, at a cost of just over £550.

The Committee also decided to invest in a set of Bridgemates (at a cost of just over £3,000). This has proved most successful (especially as we now have just one set of scoring hardware) and it means that our hardware is the same as that in almost every other club. However, we have an intermittent problem with our Scorebridge software and this is yet to be addressed satisfactorily.

While not a major spend in the scheme of things, we introduced duplimated boards for the afternoon sessions; these have been warmly received, especially the print outs of the hands.

IV           Conduct

a)            Behaviour

The Club unconditionally adopts and supports the EBU’s stance on good behaviour at bridge. This year the Committee has, unfortunately, dealt with one particular incident which is itself the prompt for some of the constitutional changes which are being recommended to the AGM.

b)            Slow Play

As in so many Clubs, the pace of play continues to be an issue. In consequence we have this year circulated notes on the ‘pace of play’ which have already had some obvious positive outcomes. The recommended actions have been readily (though not uniformly I am afraid) adopted.

In our local ‘Rules’ we have now formalised the agreement at last year’s AGM, namely that:

If the Director has called the move and the lead to first trick has not been faced then that Board shall not be played by those pairs, and the Director shall award a score (adjusted as deemed appropriate)

And we have also proposed that:

play will begin at the various sessions of the Club at times as advertised; play begins at the designated time and all players are therefore required to be sat at their table at least 10 minutes prior to the start of play;

players arriving within 10 minutes of the start of play are not guaranteed to be able to play; the Director will use their discretion in such cases.

These form part of the ‘Rules’ recommended to this AGM.

V             Awards and Other Matters

1. George Cansino, a regular afternoon player, has very kindly donated a trophy won by his brother Jonathon at an international competition in the 1960s. Jonathon Cansino was one of Britain’s most celebrated internationals; with Jeremy Flint he created the ‘Cansino Convention’, and was also at the forefront (with Flint) in devising the Multi 2. The Trophy will be awarded at the end of the calendar year to the wining pair; heats for the Cup are scheduled for the first Tuesday of each month;
2. the Club hosted the NEBA Swiss Pairs Competition in September 2017; Ann Squires was the driving force behind what was a most successful event, so successful that pairs had to be turned away as we didn’t have capacity for all who wanted to play. The Club has, not surprisingly, been asked to repeat this event in 2018;
3. the Committee agreed that the club would introduce a new event to next year's calendar which would be a Swiss pairs evening session for which cups would be awarded;
4. the tradition of the annual Chair’s Progress award is being continued;
5. The Chair’s invitation teams’ event, which precedes the start of the Inter club season, again proved popular;
6. the Christmas parties have continued to be a popular event for our members;
7. EBU and Bridge England simultaneous pairs evenings have proved popular as usual;
8. our chosen charity this year was Tin Arts. Through table money and raffles, members contributed £513; the Club’s generosity this year was almost 15% up on last year’s figure of £450, reflecting both individuals’ giving and the enlarged active membership;
1. teams’ events in the evening sessions prior to Inter Club matches, and qualifying events for NEBA finals (Chronicle & Gazette Cups, Kempson Vases, and Summer Pairs), have all continued successfully;
10. the table money at the AGM bridge sessions is donated to the Alzheimer’s society;
11. weekly Bridge Club Notes continue to appear in the Durham Times, and these have now been extended to include all 3 weekly sessions;
50. Peter’s historical record of the club is on our website and currently covers the first 45 years;
1000. last but not least, I would like to record my personal and the Club’s respect to those members who have sadly died this year: Mick Pitt, Bob Robson, Bob Willis and Alex Siday. Mick and I were partners at the Durham Club for many, many years; the two Bobs were both regular players at the club for over 30 years and Bob Robson audited the Accounts until very recently; Alex Siday has been a regular player on Tuesday afternoons. All will always be remembered fondly.

Finally, my thanks to all our members who make this Club what it is and thank you all for your support to me as the Chair. Thank you.

Adrian

April 13 2018