Nottinghamshire Contract Bridge Association
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Wednesday 10th May 2017
6:30p.m. at Nottingham Bridge Club
Minutes
Apologies for absence.
Apologies for absence had been received from Tim Anderson, Keith Rodgers, Chris and Dorothy Close, Ian Dovey, Penny and Michael Craven.
Minutes of the AGM held on 11th May 2016.
These were approved by the meeting. Proposed by Graham Brindley and seconded by Jane Hall.
Chairman’s report
John Auld thanked everyone for coming. John also thanked the committee for their hard work which is often unnoticed. 2016/17 had been reasonably successful. The county team were a close third in the Dawes trophy and came close to qualifying for the Tollemache final. Nottingham Gambit, the county teams of 8 champions, qualified for the National final on 24 June.The Summer teams of 4 event was a success and has an increased entry in 2017. The Priday Cup for club players continued this year and represents a fairly successful attempt to draw club players into the county events.However declining numbers and a lack of young players remains a big issue for both Notts and the EBU. Also the gap between clubs and NCBA is still a problem. To address these underlying challenges Toni Smith has taken an initiative to be discussed later in the AGM.
Event Winners and presentation of Prizes. The following prizes were presented by the county association president, Gordon Fullerton.
Teams of 8 League
Division 1
Winners: Nottingham Gambit Garden Cities Entry
Runners up: Retford A £10
Division 2
Winners: Keyworth A £20
Runners up: Retford B £10
Division 3
Winners: Keyworth B £20
Runners up: Nottingham B £10
Teams of 4 league
Division 1 Winners: The Palookas £20
NCBA Winter Pairs (Wednesday Night Drives)
Overall Champion: Steve Raine £25
Farr Cup: Steve Raine and Ankush Khandelwal £25
Black Cup: John and Irene Auld
Treasurer’s Report and Submission of Accounts to 31st March 2017
Martin Mellor, a county member who helped prepare the accounts, presented them in Ian Dovey’s absence. The amount of money made by the county was down on the previous year. This was due to less money being made at the county green point event and less income from the pay to play sessions from the clubs. This was in line with the current trend of fewer people playing competitive bridge. It was commented that there were many non-affiliated clubs in the county so it was difficult to say whether the actual numbers of people playing was decreasing. Toni Smith is arranging for the EBU club liaison officer Bev Purvis to come and speak to all the non-affiliated clubs in an effort to get some of them to join the EBU. The county continues to try and engage with them as part of the county committee’s role is to promote bridge. The county had also given some money to help restart the university bridge club. At the moment the pay to play component from the county will remain the same. Martin also said that we were still awaiting an invoice from Nottingham Bridge Club for the hire of their premises. The accounts were approved by the meeting. A member had asked prior to the meeting if they could be given a list of prize winners for the various events they had run in the last 3 years. Ian had given the county secretary some of this information. This will be published on the county website.
County Strategy.
This was presented by Toni Smith, the committee member for promotions and communications. Toni explained that this was a progression from the survey done 3 years ago. It was felt that although some actions had taken place as a result of the survey, such as the newsletter, masterclasses and setting up of the university bridge club, the number of responses back was limited. It was hoped that the strategy could provide a way forward. Two members present offered to give further input into the strategy. It was decided that a small sub- committee of county members could look into the ideas put forward in the strategy and Toni would present these back to the committee.
The meeting finished at 7:30. The meeting was followed by drinks and nibbles and a free game of bridge.
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