GOSPORT BRIDGE CLUB
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Tuesday 30th August 2011 at Stubbington Catholic Church
The meeting commenced at 1905 with Chairman Roz Reid in the Chair and 34 members present.
1. Apologies for absence.
Apologies for absence were received from Sue Poole, Ian and Jane Christie, Brian Wick, Christine McNiven, and Mike and Marilyn Mollart Rogerson.
2. Minutes of the previous AGM held on 31st August 2010.
These minutes had been displayed on the notice board and were accepted as read.
3. Matters arising.
Para 7. EBU Affiliation. Mike Gwillam asked if we would in fact be disaffiliating and re-affiliating from the EBU. The Chairman said that this would depend on EBU decisions on P2P fees which will not be made until October. EBU matters were an agenda item for later in the meeting.
4. Chairman’s Report.
Roz opened her report by saying that her first year as Chairman had been a steep learning curve; she and the Club would not have survived without the great support of her predecessor Pat Loader and help from Keith Palmer who were both always available for advice and guidance. She also thanked her committee members,
our directors, table transporters and caterer Shirley, for all their help in running the Club.
In competitions this year our teams in the Basingstoke Cup, HICKO and NICKO competitions had all been knocked out in the first round but we shall be trying again this coming season. Our Solent Cup team reached the final again. Individual pairs and teams have done well. Mac Nuromohamed and Phil Downham were 2nd in the Pottage final, 7th in the BGB simultaneous pairs and also won our own Pairs Championship. Adrian Fontes, Mac Lowcock, Mike Gwillan and Martin Smith were 2nd at the Bournmouth Congress Teams, other Gosport players secured two 4th and one 6th places at the Brighton Congress where John Jones and Adrian Fontes had also done well. We have players to be reckoned with at County and National level. In the Club Mixed Pairs there was a tie between Pat Loader/Peter Aubeck and Celia Carter/Brian Stapleton so each can have the cup on their mantelpiece for three months. Mac Nuromohamed, Madeleine Lawson, Meta Bird, Beryl Bradford, Christine Taylor and Anne White have won pens for being our top Club pairs in various Simultaneous Pairs Competition. Roz presented Trophies to Mac Nuromohamed, Phil Downham and Pat Loader to applause.
Annual subscriptions are now due; Roz felt that annual membership at £4 (if paid in the next three weeks, £5 after that) and table money at £2 represented very good value for a cheap night out. She asked members to tick the box on their membership forms if we could share their telephone numbers and e-mail addresses between other club members, this makes finding partners and general communications so much easier. Also she asked members to try and find us some more new members and to help the committee run the Club. Participation can improve your game as she had proved by learning how to score; her results seemed much better when she did the scoring.
Finally Roz announced the sad recent death of Jill Howard Williams, a long standing and much loved member of the Club whom we shall all miss.
5. Treasurer’s Report.
Phil Downham produced a statement of the Club’s financial position, which had been inspected by John Jones. We had made a small loss over the last financial year of £219 but still had a healthy balance creditor of £3081. Subscription and table money income were down slightly on the previous year and room hire fees were slightly up. P2P fees at £143 were affordable. It was generally felt that our finances were in a satisfactory state although the Treasurer and Committee would continue to monitor them. It was proposed by Pat Loader, seconded by Keith Palmer that the accounts were approved and this was passed unopposed.
6. Club Constitution and Rules.
Phil Runchman explained to the meeting that the Club Constitution and Rules dating from 1977 were out of date. He had looked at the EBU draft Constitution for Clubs on the web and redrafted our Constitution and Rules to conform, and also to delete obsolete references to Gosport Community Association. A copy of the new Constitution had been posted on the notice board. Salient points were
a) The Constitution does tie us to the EBU as our members are automatically enrolled with the EBU for P2P. However if we wished to disaffiliate from the EBU we could do this by a simple majority vote at an AGM or EGM amending the Constitution at the same time.
b) The committee had decided that only a simple majority would be required at an AGM or EGM to change the Constitution and Rules. To require a 2/3rds majority could make it too difficult to introduce changes, which in fact a majority of members wanted.
c) We now have a politically correct process to deal with members whose conduct may be called into question. This is quite complex and we hope and expect never to have to use it. However it is there if we need it.
There were no questions from the floor and it was proposed by Keith Palmer, seconded by Mac Nuromohamed that the new Constitution and Rules were accepted. This was passed unopposed.
7. EBU Matters.
Keith Palmer continues to monitor events at the EBU as a Hampshire shareholder. Losses following the introduction of P2P continue to mount with the latest estimate in the region of £120k. EBU liquid capital has fallen from £500k to £230 and so Keith continues to have concerns about the EBU financial management. The EBU AGM is on 5th October; this will set the level of P2P fees from 1st April 2012. One penny on P2P fees will generate about £16k for the EBU; Keith anticipates a rise of 8 – 10 P. Current P2P fees are 31P for the EBU and 4P for the County, total 35P, so next year could see a significant rise to about 45P. The EBU and P2P continue to be highly controversial. Mike Gwillam felt that the EBU were trying to control our finances and he resented the fact that he could loose his copies of English Bridge if he did not attend twelve P2P sessions through holiday or illness. Roz pointed out that we did have control of our own finances as were we discussing them now but if Mike wished to write to the EBU about English Bridge he would have the support of the Club.
Keith’s suggestion to the Club membership was that they should set a limit on the P2P fees which the Club committee could accept without calling an EGM to reconsider our EBU affiliation. (The committee can call an EGM at their discretion at any time and the membership can demand an EGM if 20 members request one without being subject to a limit but a limit would help the committee by guiding them as to what was acceptable.) Pat Loader proposed, seconded by Karen Dewar that we set a limit of 50P. This was put to the vote and carried, 19 in favour, 5 against with 2 abstetions. Pauline Bishop asked if this would automatically mean a rise in table money of 50P but was reassured that it would not although some smaller rise could not be ruled out. Pauline also suggested that we consider moving the date of our AGM to after the EBU AGM so that we did not need to call EGMs on this matter. Our AGM does coincide with our financial year, subscription payment, and publication of the annual program but the committee agreed to look at this suggestion.
8. Election of Officers.
Current Officers of the Club and committee members were all willing to stand for re-election but there were vacancies for up to two more committee member. Jean Ruskin kindly volunteered to join the committee. It was proposed by Pat Loader, seconded by Phil Runchman that the current Officers and committee members be re-elected with the addition of Jean Ruskin and this was carried unopposed. The committee for next year will be: -
Chairman Roz Reid
Vice Chairman Edna Stratton
Secretary Phil Runchman
Treasurer Phil Downham
Scorer Keith Palmer
Committee Members Shirley Corner
Jean Ruskin
9. Appointment of Inspector of Accounts.
John Jones agreed again to be our Honorary Inspector of Accounts. Proposed by Jean Pike, seconded by Edna Stratton and elected unopposed.
10. Any Other Business.
a) Jean Ruskin asked if the Club could buy some left handed bidding boxes and the committee agreed to look into this.
b) Jean also asked if rounds could be timed with a timer or bell to avoid undue delay and late finishes. It was evident from other member’s comments that there was widespread concern about late finishing but the problem for directors is that new members are often the slower pairs and we do not wish to harass or upset them. The committee agreed to discuss this again and also look into the possibility of training more directors which we do need.
The meeting closed at 2002 so that members could play bridge.
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