Minutes  of  Larkhill Bridge Club AGM held on Thursday 8th October 2015

1. Apologies for Absence: Pat Choularton, Pauline Boynton, Dorothy Graham, Eileen McKewan, Avril Knappett , Jane Caffrey

2. Minutes of the Previous AGM:  these are on the website and no matters were arising

New Items

1.  Election of Officers and Committee - Anne informed the meeting that Chris Embury wished to stand down as Treasurer and that Pat Shea was willing to take over.  Anne thanked Chris for her work as Treasurer and proposed the re-election of the existing committee plus Pat Shea to take over as Treasurer. This was agreed by the members.

2. Chairman's Report: Anne reported that this year has been very successful for Larkhill Bridge Club and Anne highlighted the improved attendance at the Friday Club.  Larkhill members had been successful at the County Annual Congress, in the Cantor Cup and in the County's  Intermediate Pairs.

Anne thanked the Committee and the Directors for all their hard work in supporting the club to run smoothly.

Anne reported that the club had now donated over £3,000 to charities.

Anne mentioned the successful holidays that the club had organised in Italy, Llandudno and Glasgow with two more holidays planned in Cockermouth and Spain.

Anne confirmed that the Community Centre hall was booked for Thursdays until the end of August 2016.

Anne informed the meeting about the outcome of a Committee meeting where a number of suggestions had been discussed and agreed to be presented to the AGM. These items had been discussed because of the positive financial position of the club (Chris Embury confirmed there was currently £9465.05 in the bank which had doubled in the last 12 months) and the number of current members 184, plus further people on the waiting list.

 These proposals are:

i.  To maintain membership fees and renewal at the current level (which has been unchanged for the last 5 years)

ii. To provide a free Xmas buffet for members and also 3 free play sessions per annum

iii. To offer one free play in exchange for 200 holiday voucher points

iv. To increase the number of rounds played each week to 8 with an earlier start time of 12.50 pm

v. To buy a dealing machine, either Trafford Bridge Club's existing machine or a new one

It was agreed to discuss these proposals in more detail under Special Business and Other Motions after the Treasurer's and Director's statement.

3. Treasurer's Report

Chris presented the AGM with the accounts for the past year which showed the finances of the club were very healthy, with a current balance of £9465.05.  Chris confirmed that she is standing down as Treasurer but was happy to continue as vice chairman of the club.  Pat Shea was willing to take over as Treasurer.  The members at the AGM thanked Chris for all the hard work she had put in to sorting out the club's finances.  Anne mentioned that the amount of work which Chris put in wasn't always seen.

Keith asked why the charity donations show an odd amount on the statements and Chris explained that the club made up the money we receive from raffles to a round figure.  We also give Larkhill community centre committee £100 at Xmas which is better for them as they can claim back tax.

4. Director's Report.  Paul said that he was very pleased about how the club had grown and that people were playing much faster now.  As the club grows, the results could be more of a lottery if we regularly got 11 tables on each side, so we need to play more rounds to increase fairness.  This is why the Committee are proposing why we should have an earlier start time with a slightly later finish time so we can fit in an extra round.

The Friday Club continued to run well.  Linda Williams had directed the Friday Club on a voluntary basis (for which the club was extremely grateful) but Linda had said she would no longer be able to continue to direct for us.  Hazel and Paul are now directing on a Friday but more people were needed to help.  Any-one willing to volunteer should contact Paul.

5. Correspondence - none had been received

6. Items for discussion

i.  To maintain membership fees and renewal at the current level (which has been unchanged for the last 5 years) - this was unanimously approved

ii. To provide a free Xmas buffet for members and also 3 free play sessions per annum

iii. To offer one free play in exchange for 200 holiday voucher points

These two items were discussed together.  Roger asked whether we could reduce the number of points required for a free play to 50 or 100 points.  We only award about 600 points per week which is worth just £6.00.  Anne said she had just printed off 32,000 points and so there were still waiting to be claimed.

Susan said she supported more free weeks rather than vouchers for free play as all members benefited from free weeks.  Paul and Mike supported this.

Geoff suggested not to bother to print off the vouchers and June supported this as the club weekly fee is so low it could reduce the work of the committee.  Anne mentioned that the vouchers are worth up to £30 if used towards a holiday so felt it was important to many members to continue to print vouchers.

The item was put to the meeting and the AGM almost unanimously supported the Committees proposal for a free xmas buffet, 3 free weeks pa and vouchers to be exchanged for one free play for 200 points.

iv. Increase the number of rounds we play on a Thursday to 8 with an earlier start time of 12.50 pm and a slightly later finish time.

After a brief discussion this proposal by the Committee was agreed.

v. Purchase of a dealing machine.

There was general agreement that it would be positive for the club to obtain our own Dealing Machine so we were no long reliant on Trafford BC and also if both clubs had a machine we could use each others should one of the machines fail or need to be repaired.

 It was explained to the meeting that there were two options being considered for obtaining a machine.  The first is to buy Trafford Bridge Club's existing machine which it had been suggested to Paul they would be willing to sell to Larkhill BC. The other option is to buy a new Dealing Machine which Anne felt was the best option for the club and this would cost in the region of £3,000.

Paul mentioned that having our own dealing machine would mean that we could have hand records for Friday Club too and it would make it easier for Roger to prepare 4 sets of boards each week if he could have the machine based at home.

Mark S said proposed that we thank Roger for his hard work preparing the boards for the club each week.

After further discussion it was agreed that it would be better for Larkhill BC and for Roger for our club to buy our own machine outright and the meeting gave approval for the Committee to go ahead with the purchase of a new machine for the club.

vi. Car Parking - Anne mentioned that the issue of car parking outside the centre had been brought up again as we were not always leaving a space for an ambulance to get to the Centre.  We must ensure we only park on the brick area.  It was agreed to bring this item up at the next few sessions. 

Only committee members who have to bring heavy items for the sessions eg bridge mates, boards and catering equipment or members with a disabled parking badge should park immediately outside the Centre, every-one else should be encouraged to park in the main car park or the car park behind the library. 

John asked whether we could approach the Larkhill Centre Committee to increase the size of the parking area and Geoff asked whether the Centre Committee could yellow hatch the tarmac area.

vii. Appointment of an Auditor. Keith thanked all the committee for their hard work and also asked whether now the club was expanding whether we should have an auditor.  Pat and Chris had already discussed this and had agreed to do this.

viii Xmas Party - Jean asked for info on this date - and it was confirmed the Party would take place on Thursday 17th December.

Anne thanked every-one for attending the meeting.

NEXT AGM WILL BE ON THURSDAY 6TH OCTOBER 2016 WHICH HAS SINCE BEEN CHANGED TO THURSDAY 13TH OCTOBER