Rugby Bridge Club Management Committee
Minutes of Meeting held at Townsend Memorial Hall Clifton
on 28th February 2014
Present:
Peter Langley - Chairman
Philip Shorey - Treasurer
Anne Carrington – Membership Secretary
David Hicks - Secretary
Terry Bradbury
David Owen
Apologies from Janet Chappell, Wendy Pattinson and Chris Malthouse..
- Royal British Legion Club Hillmorton
The financial spreadsheet prepared by Terry Leary and Phil Shorey to support the application to the bank for a loan to enable the club to purchase the above premise, was formally agreed.
Phil Shorey advised the Committee that he had visited the bank and in principle, if formal application were to be made, they were agreeable to lending Rugby Bridge Club £30k to enable the purchase to be made and as part of that process would carry out a structural survey, which would be made available to the club.
The Committee then discussed the draft paper prepared by Peter Langley to support the proposal to purchase the above premises at an EGM to be called if the club were to be successful in its bid.
After discussion it was agreed that any motion, at the EGM to be called, to support the intended purchase would require least 50% of the membership to vote in favour, as was provided for in the Constitution.
As part of those discussions reference was made to the fact that for the intended tenancy agreement with Cawston Parish Council the majority required to vote in favour had been 75%, but the view was expressed and accepted that it was appropriate for the Committee to seek such a majority for a tenancy agreement requiring an investment of £115k, with no assets, whereas the purchase of the RBLC would provide the club with an asset worth £125k and was totally in keeping with the long term ambition to have our own premises.
It was then agreed that postal voting would be allowed for those unable to attend the meeting.
It was also agreed that there would be a need to seek the services of a solicitor to undertake the conveyancing work and David Hicks undertook to make enquiries as to seek such services.
Discussion then turned to the question of the club being successful in its application and the possibility of offering the club to other users. Whilst the submission to the RBL had stated that that the Club would wish to do so the point was made that recognition would have to be made of the requirements of the other possible users and for example it was said, a Children’s Nursery, they were known bidders, would impose Health and Safety requirements on the club, which could well be unacceptable.
Actions: Peter Langley, Phil Shorey and David Hicks
- Pairs League
The Chairman in referring to the Pairs League said he was unhappy with some of the rules and after discussion it was agreed that they would remain unchanged at present, but as a club event we could seek to make changes and the thoughts of the senior TD would be sought. It was also suggested that no changes should be made without speaking with Stephen Green who had patented the format of the Pairs League. It was noted that in general terms the rules the club were currently working to were the same as applied at other bridge clubs in Warwickshire and Leicestershire, but there were some differences in the prize money awarded to the winners.
Considerable debate then followed on the question of prize money, promotion and relegation at the conclusion of which it was decided that there would again be no changes to the present arrangements but for the Autumn series the club would look to reduce the session fees to £3 and for this series there would be no cash prizes but trophies would be awarded to the winning pairs in each league, which was in accord with the policy that the Committee wished to adopt for all club competitions.
An issue was then raised with regard to the dates of the Pairs League, which were on a number of occasions immediately adjacent to the Saturday ‘Troughers’ evening, which meant that over a period of 6 days there were 5 bridge sessions and in addition a teaching session on Saturday morning. This it was suggested was too much bridge in such a short period of time
It was agreed that David Hicks would seek to get alternative dates at the Townsend Memorial Hall avoiding ‘Troughers’ weekends and for the Autumn series dates would be mindful of such evenings.
- Travel Expenses
The Chairman referred to the recent issue raised with regard to travel expenses, car mileage and reminded the Committee that so far as the club were concerned car mileage would be paid at the rate of 25p a mile where journeys made on behalf of the club were of a greater distance than members would normally be expected to drive to attend bridge sessions. He undertook to prepare a statement outlining the policy for inclusion on the club web page and there would also be need to amend the management committee procedures to reflect the club’s position on the payment of such expenses, which were not currently provided for.
Action: Peter Langley and David Hicks
- Roles within the Committee
The Chairman referred to recent conversations that Wendy Pattinson had had with Graham Lightfoot and it was agreed that a group consisting of Wendy Pattinson, David Hicks and Phil Shorey would meet with Graham to discuss the possibility of him having roles to support the work of the club and. It was suggested that with his County and EBU contacts, a liaison role on behalf cclub with the County and EBU could well be appropriate. It was agreed that a meeting would be arranged with Graham to discuss this possibility.
Action: Wendy Pattinson
- Technical Improvement Programme for Improvers
The Chairman referred to recent exchanges with John Drake with regard to him creating and running a Technical Improvement Programme Course with a series of seminars throughout the summer months.
There was full agreement within the Committee for John to take his initiative forward, which would take place in the Townsend Memorial Hall at Clifton on Wednesday evenings. It was pointed out that there was need to be mindful of the fact that there was an Improvers session on the same evening in the hall. The view was expressed that the room could be divided into two to enable both sessions to take place on the same evening but there could be an issue with regard to the total amount of space required because of John’s intention to have a seminar split into two parts with the second session being the playing of prepared hands to reinforce the subject of the seminar.
It was agreed that there should be an open invitation for members to attend the seminars with a prominent announcement on the Club Web Site and that the fees for attending would be £4 a session, but consideration would be given to members having a reduction where they signed up for the whole series.
Action: Peter Langley
- A.O.B.
- Saturday Improver Sessions
Attention was drawn to the fact that there was no detailed programme on the Club Web Site describing the object of the teaching sessions. It was agreed that Chris Malthouse would be asked to address the issue and associated with the issue raised it was agreed that there was a need to ensure that there were pre-set hands to support and strengthen the understanding of the conventions taught at the tutorials.
Action: Chris Malthouse
- Monday Afternoons
Anne Carrington informed the Committee that she was prepared to consider a Monday Afternoon session at Clifton commencing in Autumn if there was sufficient support for the initiative and in doing so made reference to the recent increased attendances at the Friday afternoon sessions.
There was support for the suggestion made and Anne was asked to take her initiative forward.
Action: Anne Carrington
- Troughers Evenings
Terry Bradbury raised the issue of Master Points awarded at ‘Troughers’. He said the Allott competition (every even month) awarded Master Points on the website but these were not currently included in the RBC Master Point competition despite the fact that ‘Troughers’ was billed as the highlight event of the month. Terry was asked to explore with Liz Edwards whether these could be included. He subsequently reported back that Liz has no disagreement in principle but raised three objections to changing it for 2014:-
- She had already done the work and would require to be re-done.
- Changing the rules part way through the year was undesirable.
- Patti Jarvis as The February winner had already been announced, both on the website and in the Advertiser.
Terry indicated that he accepted the points made by Liz- even though it seemed rather unfair on Wendy Crees who won most Master Points in February but received no recognition for this achievement.
The Committee agreed that Allott inclusion was appropriate from 2015 onwards.
Action: Chris Malthouse
7 Annual Membership
Anne Carrington undertook to remind members that the annual membership fees were due from the 1st April 2014.
Action: Anne Carrington
8 Annual General Meeting
It was confirmed the AGM had to take place before the end of June.
Action: David Hicks
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