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| Minutes 25-6-2012 |
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GOSPORT BRIDGE CLUB
Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on 25th June 2012 at 91 Palmerston Way.
The meeting opened at 1903 with the following committee members present.
Roz Reid Chairman
Edna Stratton Vice Chairman
Phil Runchman Secretary
Phil Downham Treasurer
Keith Palmer Scorer
Shirley Corner Committee Member
1. Apologies for absence.
Apologies were received from Jean Ruskin.
2. Minutes and Matters arising.
The minutes of the previous committee meeting held on the 23rd April had already been circulated but the Secretary briefly summarised them so we could deal with matters arising.
a) The Treasurer has updated our membership list with the EBU
b) Our concerns regarding the relationship with the Solent Bridge League appear to be resolved although we await the result of their EGM on P2P. The Chairman and Pat Loader are working amicably on the next seasons programme.
c) We have located nine out of ten of the new tables bought last year but cannot identify where the other one might be.
3. Treasurer’s Report.
Our balance creditor remains at £2,800 and has been falling by about £250 each year over the last few years (disregarding capital expenditure on new tables). However the rent for our new venue at the Methodist Church Hall (£25 per week) is significantly less than before at the Catholic Church Hall (£36 per week) so if membership numbers are maintained we should be able to start accumulating some more capital although this was not the purpose of the Club. Phil Runchman wondered if we should consider a small increase in table money in view of a large item of capital expenditure envisaged for electronic scoring (vide infra) but this was not supported by the rest of the committee as our table money is already more that that at other clubs in the region.
4. Competitions Update.
There were no new competition results to report. However the County is proposing changing the format of the Solent Trophy competition. Currently this is a knock-out competition for teams of eight, this year our team narrowly lost to Southampton. The winners of the Trophy go on the play in the Garden City multi team competition run by the EBU for the best teams in the whole South of England. It is however difficult to arrange matches as one needs to find a date and venue to suit 16 people! The County is proposing to change to a single multi team event run on a Sunday at Romsey and is asking for Club’s views on this. Keith agreed to seek the views of our best players who make up our Solent Trophy team and let the Chairman know the result so that she can e-mail our view to the County.
Action:- Keith and Roz.
5. New Venue – Methodist Church Hall.
Following reconnaissance by a team of committee members we had decided to move from the Catholic Church Hall to the Methodist Church Hall in Mays Lane Stubbington and have in fact moved there on 12th June. The committee was unanimous in their view that this move has been a great success and comment from the membership is very favourable. The fact that we can store tables at the hall and do not have to take them home is a great boon. It will be difficult to accommodate more than twelve tables but this is enough for SBL team nights and we do not usually get more than twelve tables on Pairs nights. The only drawback is that Church rules do not allow consumption of alcohol at parties and no raffle prizes valued at more than £5. Thanks are due to Jean Ruskin who researched and found this new venue.
6. Next Year’s Programme.
Roz produced her draft II of next year’s programme. The SBL will probably have seven teams in at least one of their two divisions next season and will need 14 nights for teams to play each other twice. The programme gives them this with two extra nights to catch up on cancelled matches. The committee agreed that should more catch up sessions be needed then not more than one match should be played on scheduled Pairs nights in the summer, if necessary SBL teams may have to find alternative venues such as playing catch up matches at members’ private homes. SBL will play on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month from October to May inclusive. The programme includes four simultaneous pairs events, there was some discussion in the committee as to whether all of these were needed but it was decided that they were, however it was decided to have only one and not two multi teams events. It was decided to cancel the Anniversary Party on 4th September partly because of the alcohol ban but mainly because we no longer needed to celebrate our move from Gosport to Stubbington eight years ago when we had held the party as a means of boosting membership. The Christmas Party will be on 11th December. Phil R suggested that we book the Catholic Church Hall for this night so that we could serve wine and have a better raffle but after discussion it was decided to accept the Methodist restrictions and Phil would bring a hip flask! Roz made her usual plea for directors, John Jones has agreed to direct the sims and some of the major Pairs nights, Keith and Phil D will help as usual so it was thought that we could manage. Roz will finalise the programme by the time of the AGM in August.
Action:- Roz
7. Blue Points.
Keith explained to the committee why the EBU is introducing blue points. Currently they award local Master Points for club and local events which allows players to rank themselves locally and Green points for National sims and major Congresses so that players can rank themselves nationally. However some players find it difficult and expensive for travel and accommodation to attend major Green point events, and yet they would still like collect Green points. Blue points will fill the gap and be awarded for certain specified Club and County events. A Club will be able to hold up to two Blue point events each year and each County up to four. These events must meet certain rules, they must be open to all EBU members, be in two sessions and at least 36 boards must be played. Three Blue points will be equivalent and can be converted to one Green point. Some Hampshire events at Romsey will be Blue pointed next year and we as a Club could organise one, perhaps at a weekend, but not on our usual Tuesday night.. This could attract good players from other local clubs. The committee felt that we should wait until Blue points are up and running before considering arranging an event ourselves.
8. Electronic Scoring.
As discussed and minuted at the last committee meeting Keith has been researching the possibility of introducing electronic scoring. The Hammond Memorial Hall Trust, a local charity would be prepared to give us a grant of £800 to pay for this if we can raise/afford the other approximately £1,400 needed. He has researched two systems but recommends one, Bridge Mates II, which has been tried and used worldwide. Basically it consist of a Bridge Mate pad for each table which transmits the score for each board to a base station connected to a computer which calculates and displays the score instantaneously. Players will need to enter their EBU number at the start of play at each table. Once the system is up and running there would be no need for table slips or paper travellers although for the first few sessions it would be prudent to use them as a back up. The score for each board is entered on the pad by North and verified by East to transmit it to the computer. Keith showed sample Bridge Mate Pads to the Committee and even the more techno-phobic members of the committee thought they would be easy to use!
The advantages of the system are:-
(a) The score is available on the night as soon as the last board has been played
(b) As the score is calculated automatically no mistakes can be accepted.
(c) No one has to sit up all night to calculate the score.
If we bought the system we may be able to recoup some of the cost by hiring it to other clubs and/or the County, it can be used for scoring Multi teams, Swiss teams and other event as well as normal Pairs. Maintenance costs are minimal, batteries for the pads may need replacing every couple of years and software may need updating but this should be free.
The committee felt that this was a good idea and would make the Club up to date for the 21st century. Two committee members wondered if we should consult the membership at the AGM before committing ourselves to spending 50% of our capital reserve, however most of the committee including the Treasurer felt that they would like the system in place for the start of the next season in September so we should go ahead and buy it now. Keith was therefore authorised to purchase the system with Bridge Mate pads for twelve tables. Eventually we should like to have pads for fifteen tables and we could perhaps approach the SBL for a contribution to the capital costs. Keith undertook to provide the necessary instruction to Officers of the Club, Directors and the Membership on using the system.
Action:- Keith.
9. Annual General Meeting 28th August 2012.
The Club AGM will be held on 28th August as already notified in the current programme but the Secretary would produce a Notice of Meeting and agenda for the Club Notice Board as in previous years. There was no further need to discuss the EBU and P2P again as an agenda item, the Chairman would mention electronic scoring in her annual report but Keith would be on hand to answer Member’s questions. Current Officers and Committee Members are happy to be re-elected although nominations for new Committee Members would be welcomed.
Action:- Phil R
10. AOB
(a) Roz as Chairman has to update the Club page on the EBU website. She will nominate herself as Competitions Contact, Keith will be Principal Scorer and Website Manager. The EBU will be informed about our change of venue.
(b) Keith suggested that we consider using a professional website manager, Bridge Webs, to manage our website as he was concerned as to what might happen if he himself was unable to keep it updated for us. Roz had noted how good the new Titchfield website looked and this was managed by Bridge Webs. This would cost £40 per year and so the committee agreed unanimously that we should do this. Bridge Webs would provide an access code and password so that Officers of the Club could access the site to post score results committee minutes etc on the site.
Action: Roz and Keith.
11. Date of Next Committee Meeting.
This was agreed as Monday 22nd October which would be just after the EBU AGM.
The meeting closed at 2109.
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