LINGWOOD BRIDGE CLUB
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 14th MAY 2019
The Chairman opened the meeting at 7.00pm and thanked everyone for attending.
- APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies have been received from: Mr D. Cooper, Mrs B. Cornell, Mrs S. Francis, Mrs S. Gibson, Mr N. Grandy, Miss P. Hanson, Mr R. Hart, Mrs W. Lloyd-Owen, Mrs J. Loveridge, Mrs S. Mabey, Mrs A. Owen, Mrs K. Rodger, Mrs G. Sizer, Mrs S. Thorburn, and Mr J.C. Williams.
- MINUTES OF PREVIOUS AGM 15.05.18
Agreed as a true record.
Proposed by: Mr P. Lewellen Seconded by: Mrs A. Hartley
- MATTERS ARISING
None
- CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
One of my first tasks as Chairman of Lingwood was to ask the Committee members to write down their responsibilities. Of course that included me as well - the two obvious things for me were to chair Committee meetings and the AGM. After writing down these two responsibilities I took a long time to think of something more practical I should do! In the end I decided that I should make sure the club is run efficiently! It certainly is run efficiently and that is due to the Committee members of Judith Sue, Angela, Chris and our latest recruit James. In addition to our Committee we have an impressive array of Directors at the Club, Bill West, Ivan McLauchlan, David Sparkes, Alan Rodger and Joan McGuffin. In addition Bill organises the rota of directors and the scoring. So my thanks go to our Committee and our Directors.
Next - my thanks go to Judith and Daphne who produce all the computer hands for Lingwood and four other clubs. This is time consuming and we all appreciate your efforts.
One of the issues the Committee had to consider was a large legal document from the English Bridge Union about GDPR. I and all the Committee refused to sign this document and I believe lots of other clubs also declined to sign. I wrote to the EBU and suggested a much simpler version of their document. They did modify theirs after a number Clubs complained, but we still didn’t sign it! Recently the EBU have written to all the Clubs stating that they didn’t have to sign their document after all. However the EBU informed us that had we signed their original document there was new document for us to sign to release us from our contract! The EBU did inform us that we should clarify our GDPR arrangements with our web site provider, and we are following up this issue.
The number of tables has averaged 11.2 which is exactly the same as last year although recently the number of tables has increased and on one night we had 15 and half tables. The membership is slightly up from last year.
For our Christmas party the Committee decided to make two changes. The first was that Sue would to buy all the food and drink (although we didn’t have to buy any wine because the event was cancelled last year due to bad weather). The second change was to run an individual completion with 4 winners. As far as the food and drinks it went very well. However there was a mixed reaction to the individual competition - some members thought it was great idea but other members didn’t like it. So for the next Christmas party the Committee have decided to adopt the same arrangements for the food and drink but for the bridge we will revert to the format of previous years.
Recently we have been reviewing the state of our bridge tables. As a result we asked Steve Cade Boyer if he could repair two of our tables which he did. In addition we have acquired four more tables - two from Witham Bridge club (which has closed down) and our thanks go to Dave Obey, and two from Heather Hills (they found six tables under the stage in the Village Hall which they gave us). I decided that 2 of them were suitable for our Club. We will be buying 5 new tables, the same type as Heather Hills recently bought.
We introduced a new prize this year, which was any pair scoring greater than 70% would receive a bottle of wine each. However we did put a restriction that an individual could only receive one bottle of wine in a calendar year. Of course one pair scored exactly 70% so we modified our rule and we gave them the wine.
Our programme for the year is fairly well established but we are receptive to new ideas and want to make the programme as attractive as possible. So either speak to me or any Committee member if you would like to make any changes.
I will be presenting the accounts (in Sue’s absence) in a few minutes but I’m pleased to say we have made a small profit.
Our Club entered the Fletcher and the Cornell which are the County's two Club competitions. In fact the County invites only the top Clubs in the County to enter the Fletcher, so obviously we are one of the top Clubs in the County. Although we didn't perform too well in these competitions, one pair from Lingwood were second overall in the cross-imping in the Fletcher. This was a fantastic achievement given nearly all the top pairs in Essex were taking part in this competition, so well done to James and Lionel.
When I volunteered to take over as Chairman it wasn’t a role that I thought I would really enjoy. However when I mention that I’m Chairman of this club I feel certain pride and there are two reasons for that, firstly the standard of bridge is good. Secondly, and more importantly, it’s very friendly Club and that is down to the members; so I thank all the members very much for making this an excellent Club.
- TREASURER’S REPORT
The Chairman gave the following report in the absence of the Treasurer.
Lingwood accounts
The result for the year shows a profit of £292.24 compared with a profit of £398.25 last year. This change is largely accounted for by the centre being closed for an extra week over Christmas and by a rent increase. The increase was 10% but as it is the first increase for 5 years it does not seem unreasonable.
The investment account balance is £ 1565.00
Average tables in 2018/19 stayed constant at 11.2. Numbers have increased since the start of 2019 averaging 12.6 for the first three months and peaking at 15.5
There were no major purchases. Spending on annual prizes increased slightly as a trophy needed replacing. The club funded the catering for the Christmas party.
Duplimate fund
Lingwood continues to manage the fund to pay for machine replacement, maintenance and consumables associated with the production of computer dealt hands. The fund stood at £3405 at the end of March 2019. Clubs have agreed to continue to contribute £120pa for each set of boards until further notice. Falcon Bowls Club Bridge Club has left the group.
A donation of £50 was made to each of Farleigh and Macmillan in recognition of the late Ray Jones who donated the machine.
I would like to thank David Sparkes for undertaking the independent examination of the accounts.
Statement of accounts attached – Page 4
Acceptance of report:
Proposed by: Mr J. Skuse Seconded by: Mrs L. Holladay
- ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE
James Murray has been nominated for the Committee vacant post, following the resignation of Stuart Wildig and was duly elected.
All other Officers and other Committee members have agreed to stand for a further year and were re-elected.
Proposed by: Mrs M. Martin Seconded by: Mr B. West
- PRESENTATION OF PRIZES
The Chairman presented the prizes for the competitions which had taken place during the year. (list attached – page 5).
- ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Table Money
A suggestion was made that table money be collected electronically – this will be discussed at the next Committee meeting.
Website
It was queried why the Committee are not shown on the Club website. They are shown under “Key Information”
Cross Imping
It was agreed by vote that Teams results will show cross imping.
Mr Matthews proposed a vote of thanks to the Committee, which was endorsed by those members present.
There being no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 7.30pm.
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