HEMEL HEMPSTEAD BRIDGE CLUB
Minutes of 54th
AGM held on Thursday 27June 2013
Attendance 27 members
1 Apologies for Absence
Tom Banks, David Blasebalk, Susie Bond, Jacky Davies, Gill Fisher, Owen Frith, Sue
Fleming, David & Margaret Goodwin, Derek Gowlett, Pat Henry, Pat Hobson, John Jeffery, Paul
& Fiona Littlewood, Tony & Barbara Neal, Sita Piggott, Walter Russell, Anne Short, Julie Snell, Jean and Clive Walters,
Cynthia Wheatley,
2 Minutes of Last Meeting
Copies
had been available on the website and these were accepted as a true record. There
were no matters arising.
3 Chairman’s Report
David
Stimson reported that during the past year we
have continued to run Duplicate
Bridge nights on Mondays,
Tuesdays and Thursdays (including Bank Holiday Mondays). All evenings use duplimated boards and David
again thanked David Blasebalk for running the Duplimate machine.
The club’s membership was slightly down on last
year and the average number of tables per week was down by about half a table.
We purchased new sets of cards in February in readiness for the Club’s Swiss
pairs. We will be running this event again in Februay 2014. We also purchased
new sets of bidding box cards. We went for the higher quality ones which should
eventually become less slippery.
The Christmas party had the same turn out as the
previous year. Susie organised the food
and she, the committee members and Pat Henry brought specific items. The
chairman thanked all those who contributed. Again we managed to hold the ticket
price at £9; I think that’s pretty good value for food and wine plus the hire
of the hall.
This coming year we will not be running a heat of
the Herts Humble cup due to poor turnouts in recent years. We will be running
the Herts pairs qualifier on the first Monday in September 2013. This evening
will be a normal Monday night pairs, counting toward the Ladder, but the top
50% will be eligible for the Herts pairs semi-final. From now onwards all Sim.Pairs
events and the Marjorie Lukyn will count toward the Ladder. The only
competitions which will not count are club competitions.
The rules of both the Janet Fitzgerald Trophy and
the Hudson Salver will be amended to avoid any ambiguity in close situations.
David reported the sad loss of Anne & John Hart
who both passed away last year within six months of each other. Both had been
regular players on a Tuesday night. They will be sadly missed.
David thanked all those who have served on the
Committee; Cliff Short, Paula Morton, Lesley Peers, Susie Bond, David Blasebalk,Tim Cooper,
Martyn McDonald and Pat Jacobs. He also
thanked Derek Gowlett for
organising Tuesday’s bridge; all our Directors; Roger Edmonds for the web site; Anne Short as our membership secretary; Margaret Goodwin for acquiring our provisions
and Cynthia Wheatley for bringing the milk each week. Margaret has had to
relinquish her responsibility and she was thanked for her work over the
past couple of years. Martyn MacDonald had volunteered to take over
this responsibility.
In response to a question the chair stated that
originally Sim Pairs had been excludedfrom
the ladder as it was thought there would
be a number of external entrants but this had been proved not to
be the
case.
4 Treasurer’s Report
Cliff Short reported that the accounts had no surprises. Income and expenditure were in line with
forecasts . The biggest item of
expenditure was the cost of the hall and this had only risen by 1% for a few
years and for the forthcoming year – this helped us keep our costs down.
Subscriptions and table money for the coming year would be the same as last
year although P2P had gone up. We had
taken more money in season tickets but table money was slightly down.
It was proposed by Vic Symons and seconded by John Jackson that the meeting
should accept the Accounts and this was agreed.
5 Appointment of Auditor Brian Carroll was proposed as
Auditor for the coming year by Martin MacDonald, seconded by Lesley Peers, and
approved by the meeting.
6 Election of Officers and Committee
Proposed
Chairman: David Stimson.
Proposed
Treasurer: Cliff Short.
Other
committee members who had agreed to serve for 2013/2014 were : David Blasebalk, Pat Jacobs, Susie Bond,
Paula Morton, Lesley Peers, Martyn MacDonald and Tim Cooper.
It was proposed from the floor by Roger Edmonds, and seconded by Helen Robinson
, that the existing Chairman (DS), Treasurer (CS) and Committee Members (DB,
PJ, SB, PM, LP and TC) should be re-elected en bloc. This proposal
was carried unanimously, and those listed
above were duly elected to serve for the coming year.
Pat Hogger thanked the Chairman
and the committee for all their work on behalf of the Club and its members.
7 Any Other Business
There was a suggestion that future AGMs should be
held on a Monday as this was the club’s most popular night. The Chairman replied that this was tried
unsuccessfully (due to noise from another event in the hall) a number of years
ago but the committee would relook at this.
There was a question as to whether the committee had
considered using Bridgemates. David
replied that the committee were keeping a watching brief and were hoping the
technology developed. He outlined some of the main advantages and
disadvantages. There was a lively discussion and a non-binding indicative vote
of those present was taken. This gave
similar numbers of people in favour, opposed or neutral.
It was agreed by those present that before any
decision to adopt Bridgemates – at a cost of approximately £2,000 – was made,
there would be a vote of the club membership. In the meantime the committee
would regularly look at any developments.
9 Presentation of Prizes
TUESDAY TROPHY Des Whitelock &
Martyn MacDonald
CHAIRMAN’S
CUP Pat Hogger & George
Summers
SMITH
CUP Simon Chilton & Peter
McRoberts
HOBSON BOWL Jackie
Davies & Maggie Moore
Derek Gowlett & Walter Russell
FELDENWOOD
TROPHY Pat
Hogger & John Jackson
SUTCLIFFE
PLATE June Ball & Brian
Smith
Helen Robinson & John Eyre
TUESDAY
BOWL Jean Wilding &
Andrew Horton
BYRON CUP Naomi
Gibbs & Brian Carroll
Derek Gowlett & Walter Russell
HUDSON
SALVER Margaret & David
Goodwin
Pat Hogger & John Jackson joint winners
CARPENTER CUP (Married Couple) Fiona & Paul Littlewood
TONY
WEATHERLEY (Monday Ladder) David Stimson
TUESDAY
TANKARD (Tuesday Ladder) Margaret & David Goodwin
WENDY COTTON (Thursday Ladder) Roger Edmonds
NEAL VASE David Stimson
HEMMINGS INDIVIDUAL Walter
Russell
JANET FITZGERALD TROPHY Lesley & Derek Peers
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