Minutes of the Ipswich & Kesgrave Duplicate Bridge Club AGM

Thursday 5th November 2015

Kesgrave War Memorial Community Centre, Twelve Acre Approach, Kesgrave

Present Barbara Barker (President) and 67 members. The meeting was declared open by the Chairman Peter Allnutt. The secretary being indisposed, minutes were taken by Chris Chambers.

1.      Apologies for Absence

Received in writing from Mr P Lefort & Mrs M Allnutt and four members announced from the floor.

2.      Minutes of the 2014 AGM

The minutes had been previously posted on both the club website and notice board prior to the AGM. These were accepted as a true and accurate account by a vote of the membership, passed nem. con. and signed by the chairman.

3.       Matters Arising from the Minutes

i.         Mr M Bone asked if all trophies had been returned (with regard to matters arising in 2014) and was assured by the President that all had.

ii.       The Chairman took the opportunity to note that the lost Helen Mack Salver (for Women's Pairs) would be replaced in part by generous contribution from Debby Sutcliffe whom the Chairman thanked.

4.      Chairman's Report

Peter Allnutt addressed the meeting;

My report is full of positives concerning the past year, and this is due entirely to the members of our committee working behind the scenes on your behalf, making sure that we all enjoy ourselves on a Thursday evening. We can thank Joan Mayhew and her support team of helpers who ensure we all enjoy coffee, tea & biscuits and of course clear up after us at the end of the evening. 

Every club depends on attracting and keeping new members and Anne Edwards our Membership secretary tells me that we now have 136 members, up 11 from last year, in spite of suffering a loss of 14 lapsed members. 10 new members and 11 new 'graduates' from Stepping Stones have more than made up for this. The new members and the Stepping Stone graduates have bought new life into the club which we greatly appreciate. On a sad note I have to report the death of Geoffrey Harries back in March this year. My thanks to Anne who works tirelessly to make sure the committee runs smoothly.

The success of Stepping Stones has been largely due to the efforts of Chris Chambers, who has given his time freely to pass on his bridge expertise. Our thanks to Chris for running this training scheme and for all the rest of his work on our behalf. 

With the ending of Stepping Stones last October we began another "Bridge from scratch" course which is being run by Viv Mason. Sponsored by the club, Viv attended and passed EBU Club Teacher training. The course at present has 14/15 new students. If you bump into them introduce yourselves and encourage them. We thank her for her time and we look forward to welcoming her students into the main room.

A big thank you must go to our directors headed by John Garbutt and his team of directors and BridgeMate operators who organise the play. They are always friendly and unbiased. My advice to our newer members is, always call for the director when there is a query. Even the most experienced players get it wrong sometimes.

I personally dislike anything to do with paperwork, organising events, collecting money and worst of all taking minutes, but someone has to do it, and for this we must all thank our treasurer Trevor Stiff, secretary John Leigh, Paul Lefort host secretary and Wendy Lefort who acts as the club’s auditor – well done to them! Unfortunately Trevor is standing down this year, so a special thank you to him for doing a great job.

Finally but certainly not least, there is Barbara Barker our President and Club Captain keeping a gentle hand on the tiller, ensuring everything runs smoothly – she is probably our club’s best ambassador both at club and county level.

The committee and I appreciate that the most important people are our members, and I thank you on our behalf for making this a great club and most of all enjoy your bridge!"

5.      Treasurer's Report 

Trevor Stiff delivered his final AGM financial report as treasurer:

The accounts show a total surplus of £1462 (last year £2245). This year's figure includes surplus from Stepping Stones section of £535, with last year's figure including a contribution from Bridge Classes of £917. For the forthcoming year, Bridge classes have started again and we can expect a healthy surplus from that source once more.

This leaves the club's bank balance and funds at a healthy level, ensuring the club's future and its ability to replace items of necessary equipment as and when the need arises. Details I should mention:

i.  Average attendance slightly down from previous year, but recently numbers improved again due to a good number graduating from the Stepping Stones section (congratulations and thanks to Chris Chambers). ii. During the year we have been dealing for Framlingham and Woodbridge. The income received means that we now have a net income for dealing of £209 as opposed to last year's cost of £144.  (Again thanks to Chris).

ii.               Engraving expenditure of £373 represents 2 years’ costs, getting trophies up to date.

iii.             Finally, I would like to record my thanks to the many people who have helped me in my year as Treasurer: Barbara Barker for help with the table money collection, to Anne Edwards and other committee members for assistance and guidance throughout the year and to Graham Beeton for help and advice particularly with end of year procedures.

iv.              Also, many thanks to Wendy Lefort for acting as the club's auditor and for agreeing to hold office for another year.

v. Finally – good luck to my successor!"

There was only one question to the treasurer; Mr M Bone asked for explanation of the acronym FAAR. As this was coined by the previous Treasurer the question was passed to Mr G Beeton: 'Fixed Assets Acquisition Reserve', a mechanism for spreading the costs (or benefits) of long-term asset purchases (or donations/gifts/waivers etc.).

The adoption of the accounts was proposed and seconded from the floor and passed nem. con.

6.      Chief Tournament Director's Report

John Garbutt thanked the directing team and BridgeMate operators for all their efforts during the year. Results are now invariably available on the website before you leave the bridge room.

The club planned to move to new scoring software in 2016, the recently released EBUScore (a rebranding of Jeff Smith's successful program). The club programme was always under revision, although any suggestions would have to be prompt, as the format (without major changes) for 2015-16 would be finalised shortly.

The Chief TD applauded the club's acceptance of new players and echoed the Chairman's exhortations not to accept rulings by players and to call the director in all situations.

7.      Membership Secretary's Report

Anne Edwards had little detail to add to the membership summary given in the Chairman's report. She stressed how pleased she had been with the conduct of the membership in accommodating a much wider range of abilities and experiences, especially towards recent arrivals from Stepping Stones.

8.      Election of Officers

With the exception of the Treasurer, who wished to step down, all officers had served three or more years in post and were thus constitutionally obliged to retire. There being no nominations for their posts, in accordance with the constitution, the Chairman had invited them to stand which they agreed so to do. For the two vacant posts there was a nominee for each; Gillian Winkworth for Treasurer and Trevor Stiff for Vice Chairman. The three incumbent committee members sought re-election. Precedent dictates that the floor is opened for nominations but none was received.

From the floor Mr M Bone moved that the club management of officers and committee thus constituted above be elected en bloc, seconded by Mr B Sellick. This motion passed nem. con. and the management of the club is therefore:

9.                 Appointment of Auditor

The current Auditor Mrs Wendy Lefort was re-appointed nem. con. and received a vote of thanks for her service.

10.            Proposals

None received prior to or at the meeting.

11.    Any Other Business

i.         Mr D Haig-Thomas asked if the cumulative competitions, for example the Men's and Women's Pairs could be made single winner by an arrow-switch to ensure fairer comparisons. The Chief TD replied that as these events were over many sessions (six for the Men's/Women's) and such considerations had a very small impact.

ii.       Mr D Haig-Thomas also asked about submission of teams events but was surprised to learn that there were only two such in the calendar. The Chief TD confirmed that all IMP Pairs and multiple teams were submitted to the EBU for Masterpoint and NGS purposes

12.    Announcement of Prize Winners

Following last year's precedent, the practice was repeated of collecting trophies at year-end and presenting them freshly engraved at the December wine and mince-pies evening. The President announced the winners and they were collectively applauded at the conclusion. A new award was made, to the winner of the most Masterpoints in the club year.

The Meeting was declared closed by the Chairman at 7:25pm.