OXSHOTT BRIDGE CLUB

The ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the Club will be held on Wednesday 26^th October 2016 at 7.15pm at the Oxshott Village Centre

AGENDA

1.    Apologies for absence.

2.    Minutes of the 2015 Annual General Meeting.

3.    Matters arising.

4.    Committee’s report.

5.    Hon. Treasurer’s report and adoption of the accounts.

6.    Election of Officers and Committee.

7.    Election of Hon. Auditor.

8.    Announcement of competition winners.

9.   Christmas party.

10.  Any other business.

It is hoped that members will attend if they can. After the meeting there will be a normal Duplicate Bridge session.

Any items for discussion under item 10 should be submitted to the Secretary 14 days prior to the meeting.

The current committee members are: Gail Norman - Chairperson, Susan Sadler - Hon. Secretary, Richard Burgess – Hon. Treasurer, Gillian Lowe, Daphne Pugh, Jonathan Spring, Peter Wardle. Susan Sadler is retiring as Hon. Secretary. Nominations are invited for the vacancy. The remaining committee members offer themselves for re election.

Susan Sadler – Hon. Secretary.

NOTE

Subscriptions, £10, are due on 1^st October and must be paid by the A.G.M. If a subscription remains unpaid by this date, membership may be deemed to have been discontinued.

If you have access to internet banking, you can pay your subscription directly into the Club’s bank account – HSBC,  40-17-07 , Oxshott Bridge Club, Account no. 31410067.

If you do not intend to continue your membership of the Club, please inform the Secretary.

OXSHOTT BRIDGE CLUB

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE FOR 2016 A.G.M.

The Club’s activities for the 2015/2016 year are provided below and any comments or views from the membership at the AGM would be welcomed.

Membership

This year I am delighted to say that we have welcomed several new members and I hope they are enjoying playing at Oxshott.  Our membership list is almost full but there are still spaces for a few more if anyone has a friend who is thinking of joining.

Last Christmas we sadly lost Jean Knott.  Jean had been a member of Oxshott since   1980.  She had served on the committee taking over as Treasurer from Elisa Money in 2001, only resigning from this post due to ill health in 2007.  However, she was re-elected to the committee in 2008 and served another three years. She had had a very successful bridge career playing with George Gardiner in several county competitions, and in particular she and George won the Mary Edwards Cup together with the Tournament Players Cup (non-existent now) in the same year, 2000.  She had a great sense of humour and is remembered with sadness and great affection.

Website

Like many other members I can’t wait to see what Mike Sadler has put on our web page from week to week.  They are wonderful pieces of news, gossip and extraordinary items of interest which do not seem to appear anywhere else.  On behalf of you all, I would like to thank him most sincerely for all the work he does in keeping our website up to date, it is the envy of many other clubs but I am sure he knows this!

Bridgemates

Our bridgemates have settled down and everyone seems to be quite comfortable now in operating them.  Mistakes are not as profuse as they used to be but every week there seem to be one or two which cause our system operators headaches.  Please would you all continue to check vigilantly to eradicate these.  Jonathan Spring, Tony Scott and Peter Wardle do an excellent job setting this up every week and downloading the results to the website and our heartfelt thanks go to them all for their patience and tolerance in undertaking this every week.

Finance

Richard Burgess has continued to run the club’s finances very competently and I would like to thank him on behalf of you all for all the work he does.  You will see from the financial report that the weekly table attendance is between 12 and 13 and Richard assures me that he does not see any necessity for increasing the table money or the subscription.

I am also very grateful to Jonathan for being our Auditor. I don’t know where he finds the time looking after bridgemates as well as doing a full time job but I thank him on behalf of all of us.

Competitions

I would like to congratulate again our successful Surrey team of Richard Burgess, Philip Duncan, Kevin and Deanne Goddard.  They won the Surrey League Division 3 and are now going to represent Oxshott in 2016/2017 in League Division 2 so we wish them every success.

Jonathan Spring and John French represented us in the Mary Edwards Cup in May.

This is a club champions’ competition and they finished very respectably.

Our club competition results are as follows:

Teams – Winners:       Richard Burgess, Philip Duncan, Sue Osborne, David Rotherham

                Runners up:  Mike Mulligan, Elisa Money, John French, Jonathan Spring

Tilling Trophy:            Winners:         Jonathan Spring and John French

                                        Runners up:    Daphne Pugh and Gillian Lowe

Individual Winner:     Gail Norman

            Runner up:       Jonathan Spring

To our winners many congratulations and here’s to a successful year in 2017.

As we did last year, we will be giving vouchers as prizes instead of money which will equate to either a year’s free membership or free evenings according to the competition.

Etiquette

I would like to just say a word about etiquette.  Some members are still talking about the previous hand when the next players sit down, which is very impolite.  Please welcome the new players and thank them when they leave.  Also it is against the rules to consult your convention card while bidding, exchange glances with your partner and, with the exception of the Stop card, do not take an exceptionally long time to pass as this is conveying information to your partner.  Your partner should not bid again if you pass.

Committee

Susan Sadler has been our excellent Secretary for ten years.  Sadly all good things must come to an end and she has decided to retire after doing an outstanding job and being a great support to me and previous chairmen.  I would like to thank her   most sincerely for all the work she has carried out and for her commitment to the club.    It makes a chairman’s life so much easier to have a reliable secretary behind her and Susan has always been there.

My thanks also to the rest of the committee who have worked hard behind the scenes and have been a great support.

We are very lucky in being looked after every week by our excellent Directors and I would like to thank them all for sorting out our mistakes and answering our questions so patiently.

Mrs. Griffiths continues to come every week and produce our teas and coffees cheerfully, whatever the weather, and I would like to thank her on behalf of us all.

I wish you all happy bridging for the coming year.

                                                                                                            Gail Norman

OXSHOTT BRIDGE CLUB

Minutes of the 53^rd Annual General Meeting held at the Oxshott Village Centre on Wednesday 21^st October 2015 at 7.15pm

Present: Mrs G Norman (Chairman) and 37 members. (Appendix A)

1.    Apologies for Absence:

       There were 9 apologies.

2.    Minutes of the 2014 Annual General Meeting:

       These had been published on the web site prior to the meeting. Hard copies were available. It was proposed by Mike Mulligan and seconded by Philip Duncan that they be approved. This was unanimously agreed.

3.    Matters Arising:

       None.

4.    Committee’s Report (Appendix B):

       This had been published on the website. There were no questions. Chairman Gail Norman thanked everyone for being part of such a welcoming Club.

5.    Hon. Treasurer’s Report and Adoption of the Accounts (Appendix C):

       Hon. Treasurer Richard Burgess was unable to be present, but had sent some written notes to the accounts that were read out by the Chairman. Hall rental has increased, table numbers are slightly down and it is expected that we shall make a small deficit in 2016. There had been some cost savings in stationary and refreshments. It was not felt necessary to increase table money or subscriptions for 2016. We have £3450 in the bank. Members were asked to bear in mind that our dealing machine was purchased second hand, so its’ life span is uncertain. With the ending of Rubber Bridge, there will be a saving in hall rental, but also a reduction in income from table money and subscriptions.

It was proposed by Pat Hammond and seconded by Kay O’Gorman that the accounts be adopted. This was passed unanimously.

6.   Election of Officers and Committee:

      Rosie Branch is standing down from the Committee. She was thanked by Gail for her hard work. To fill the vacancy Gillian Lowe was proposed by Daphne Pugh and seconded by Rosie Branch. This was unanimously accepted. All other Officers and Committee Members offered themselves for re election. It was proposed by Rowena Austin and seconded by David Rotherham that all be approved. This was unanimously agreed.

7.    Election of Hon. Auditor:

       Jonathan Spring had offered to continue as Hon. Auditor and this was unanimously approved.

8.    Announcement of Competition Winners:

       The following prizes were presented by President Alan Hammond:

       Teams :   Winners:       Mike Mulligan, Elisa Money, Jonathan Spring & John French

                       Runners up:  David Rotherham, Sue Osborne, Richard Burgess & Philip Duncan

        Tilling Trophy :  Winners:  Jonathan Spring & John French

                                     Runners up:  Mike Mulligan & Elisa Money

        Individual Winner :  Edwin Jones

                           Runner up:  George Gardiner

        Edwin Jones scored 234 points with 15 different partners. This is the 3^rd year in succession that he has won the Individual Competition.

9.   Christmas Party:

      This will be held on December 9^th. There will be no charge to members. To assist with catering numbers, a sign up sheet will be available in advance.

10.  Any Other Business:

        Members were reminded that subscriptions are now due.

        Annemie Bisgood explained why the Rubber Bridge Section would not continue after the end of the year. Due to very small numbers, it was no longer viable. Oxshott Bridge Club  had started as a Rubber Bridge Club, but in recent years the Rubber section has been running at a loss and has now reached the stage when it can no longer function. Annemie thanked the Committee for their support.

         Kay O’Gorman thanked the Committee for the work they do in running the Club.

There being no other business, the meeting closed at 7.25pm.