NEW CLUB MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS: EFFECTIVE FROM 01/04/2015

Summary of decisions made at the inaugural meeting of the Shadow Committee 04/02/15
held at Kennel Lane, Billericay

All these decisions will be put to the full club for ratification at the Inaugural General Meeting of the Club, 7 p.m., April 9th 2015, Mountnessing Village Hall.

All these comments are important, but attention is drawn especially to those highlighted.

Officers and Committee

1. Graham Allen was elected as Chair
2. Nick Hagan was elected as Vice Chair
3. John Sutcliffe was elected as Secretary, and also as Membership Secretary
4. Alaric Cundy was elected as Treasurer
5. Bill West will take on the role of Webmaster; we will switch to BridgeWebs.
6. Other committee member - Sheena Millins

Other Key Roles

1. The four directors will be Val Mollison, Bill West, Graham Allen, Alaric Cundy.
2. Val Mollison will organise the Directors Rota.
3. Roger Hayward will act in the role of Honorary Auditor, though the Accounts will be endorsed as 'Scrutinised by........' rather than 'Audited by.....'
4. Sheena Millins will manage the kitchen and the refreshments. It was suggested that members could be asked to bring their own mugs to save costs on the plastic cups.
5. The four designated cheque signatories will be: The Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer
6. The wireless scoring equipment (when installed) will be managed by Alaric Cundy (other than on nights when he is directing, or is absent); Sheena Millins will assist / deputise
7. Alaric Cundy will provide back-up / assistance to the Webmaster
8. Carol McCue will operate a 'Find a Partner' scheme - shared with other local clubs
9. Julie Lake will be the Club's 'Education Officer'
10. The overall Ladder winner at the end of the year will earn the accolade 'Club Captain' for the following year, which honour bestows the privilege of selecting the teams to represent Mountnessing in the annual Essex Invitational Teams events - that is the Fletcher Trophy / Cup for Clubs (usually held in October) and the Ray Cornell Trophy (previously known as the Helliar Trophy) (usually held in February)
11. Committee members will share responsibility for collecting the table money on the night.
12. Permission will be sought for all four directors and Sheena Millins to become registered key-holders.
13. The boards will be delivered to / collected from Barleylands by players visiting both Clubs.

Timelines

1. The Club Accounting Period will run from January 1st to December 31st each year; in the inaugural year of 2015 the first accounting period will run from April 1st to December 31st.
2. The Membership Year will run from April 1st to March 31st.
3. An Annual General Meeting will take place in late February each year - timed to allow for the accounts for the preceding year to be presented, and any operational issues that affect the up-and-coming new Membership year to be voted on as necessary. In the inaugural year of operation under these new management arrangements (2015), a General Meeting will be held on Thursday April 9th at 7 p.m.

Constitution

The constitution will take effect from April 1st 2015 and will remain in force until such time as it may be amended by a vote at a General Meeting in accordance with the procedure set out in section 16 of the constitution. The adopted version is available here.

Prizes

1. The practice of awarding wine as prizes will cease after the last club session in March 2015. Any wine won prior to March 31st 2015 must be collected by 30th April 2015, else it will be forfeited.
2. There will be a new 'spot prize' awarded at the Christmas Party. [The method of determining the winner is yet to be determined; options under consideration include a free-to-enter raffle, with one ticket offered to each player on the night, or closest pair to a randomly pre-selected score.]
3. The current 'Player of the Month' scheme will continue, but there will be no prizes - merely 'the glory'
4. There will be a new additional more open 'handicapped monthly ladder' that will be accessible to all regular players at the club, and for which prizes will be awarded. [The method of determining the winner is yet to be determined; options under consideration include a handicap system based on NGS gradings as at the start of the month, or on the basis of a random draw from the pool of players who played at the Club every week in the month. Either way, all players who play at the club every week for a month will have a chance of winning the monthly prize.]
5. ALL prizes will take the form of 'Mountnessing Bridge Club Tokens' - two tokens per winner, each to the value of £2.50. These tokens can then be offered as table money either for two separate 'ordinary' club sessions or for one single Simultaneous Pairs event at the Club
6. The net savings are expected to be £500 in a full year, and will be used to fund a wireless scoring system.

Special Events Programme 2015/16

1. Two Simultaneous Pairs events will be held - both Charity-related - e.g., Kidney Research in July and WBF in January.
2. The monthly teams of four events will be discontinued due to falling viability.
3. The Club Championship events will be restricted to two per year: the Mary Rogers Trophy (January) and the Summer Club Championship (August)
4. The annual ladder scheme will continue as now, and the two winners (Ladies, Men) will each hold a trophy for a year.

On-the-night Operational issues

1. It was agreed in principle to adopt wireless scoring.
2. It was also agreed NOT to put the club into debt - the system could only be purchased using cash in hand.
3. It was agreed to pursue the possibility of hiring a system from another club.
4. It was agreed to run a one-table trial of the Jannersten Scoring system on February 12th to help to assess the viability of this much cheaper option
5. It was agreed to continue to deploy computer-dealt boards.
6. As an alternative option to 'find a partner', the Membership is to be asked whether they would be prepared to act as a Host on a regular basis - perhaps once a month or quarter.
7. The Club will become reliant on support from all the players on the night to ensure continued smooth running. In particular, players' attention is drawn to the points below:

• Pairs should be at the club by 7.15 (or at the very least, advise of a late arrival) to enable a prompt start - e.g., to avoid late changes to the tables / movement / boards / etc. This point will be even more critical after wireless scoring is introduced. Pairs arriving after 7.25 without any prior warning cannot be guaranteed a game.
• All fit and able-bodied players should contribute to setting out the Hall and to clearing away
• All players should ensure that their used cups and cup-holders are returned to the kitchen by the end of the evening
• All players should endeavour to play in good 'tempo' so as not to cause inconvenience to others

Financial Considerations

1. (At least) one more set of Duplimate boards will be purchased to ease the logistics of picking up / dropping off the boards for computer-dealing.
2. Bill West has been authorised to purchase the Licence for BridgeWebs
3. It was agreed to explore whether multiple copies of the computer hand sheets could be provided directly, and if so, what the additional charge would be.
4. Both the Director and the Director's partner will be exempt from table money.
5. It was agreed to invite Dorothy & Alaric Cundy to be Honorary Members.
6. There will be no changes to the core charges for the year starting April 1st 2015, other than as at 'Financial Considerations' point 4. So: Club membership - £15 for the full year; table money for club members - £2.50 (normal), £5 (Sim pairs), Free (Christmas Party); for non members, respectively £4, £7, £5.
7. Collection of membership renewals will commence in the immediate future
8. The Treasurer will explore options for a suitable bank account. Free banking is a 'must'; on-line banking, at least for inspection actions, is highly desirable.
9. Any two of the four designated cheque signatories will be required to sign each individual cheque or mandate.
10. If a 'Host System' is adopted, then a financial incentive will be offered for the 'duty host' - based on the 'Mountnessing Bridge Club Tokens'.
11. The financial assets as at 01/04/2015 will be all membership renewal subscriptions for 2015/16, less any expenses for 2015/16 paid in advance, such as, anticipated, the hall hire for April.
12. A projected Budget Statement for the 9-month period April to December 2015 will be presented to the General Meeting in April 2015. It will reflect projected membership and table money, and also the financial implications of all the intentions as set out in this document.