Minutes for Rugby and District Bridge League Committee Meeting

Held at Lane End,

1.    Attendees/Apologies

1.1.          Attendees

Nicky Bainbridge, Christine Cooper, Jane Carrington, John Drake (Chair), Liz Edwards, Lynda McClean.  Apologies received from Sid Downton.

2.    Revision of Past Year’s Minutes

As the Chairman had not previously served on the Committee, he ran through the past year’s minutes and highlighted points he wished to question in order to gain further knowledge of the league, resulting in the following question and answers

1. The question of being part of the EBU:  it was agreed this would not happen.   No vote was taken but the feeling was unanimous.
2. The question of who would be responsible for meetings such as the End of Season Event, AGM, etc.  It was agreed this would be the Secretary.
3. Nicky would be responsible for Press Releases.
4. Jane’s name needs to be added to the list of signatories. - Sid is responsible for arranging this.
5.  Changing the name of the league. This is an AGM matter and had been raised in Minutes of 19/08/2012, 18/02/2013 and the 16/05/2013, but for some reason never reached the AGM, a vote was taken resulting in 3 for, 1 against and 1 abstained. Vote was carried. 

3.    Minutes from Last Meeting

A proposer and seconder are required to confirm the minutes, to be followed by a vote. 

4.    Matters Arising from Last Meeting

All matters arising have been captured as points on the agenda.

5.    Review of Actions

All actions from the last meeting were completed except for those identified below.

6.    AGM 2013

Following the AGM, the following points were agreed:  Registered R&DBL Members only will be allowed to attend and vote future meetings. This will be part of the revised Rules and Constitution to be modified by Chris (Item 15, below).  To facilitate this, a list of members’ names would be produced for the meeting and attendance ticked, as appropriate;

Proxy votes will be allowed for any motions put to the meeting; Only somebody who has served as an officer of the league can stand for the position of Chairman.  These will be part of the revised Rules and Constitution to be modified by Chris (Item 15, below).

7.    Treasurer’s Report – Sid Downton

Not presented.

8.    Correspondence – Lynda McClean

No correspondence received.

9.    Job Descriptions

These are currently available on the website http://www.bridgewebs.com/rugbyleague/Roles%20and%20Responsibilities.pdf.

Nicky agreed to produce a more complete draft of committee members’ job descriptions

10. Annual Calendar

It was agreed that there would be monthly committee meetings to be held on the 4^th Monday on each month during the league season and Lynda would circulate the dates to the Committee.  Lynda agreed to take responsibility for the League End of Season Event to be held on Sunday 15 June 2014, starting at 14:00.  Jane agreed to confirm dates for the scheduling of the competitions, based on each Cup getting a separate 2 week period for its first round to run.  It was noted that Lutterworth Bridge Club are holding their Christmas Party on 4 December 2013.

11. Forward Thinking

In order to keep within the meeting’s time constraints, it was agreed to discuss this in the future.

12. League Status - Jane Carrington

The Fixtures Meeting is scheduled for 19:00 on Monday 9 September 2013 at The Townsend Memorial Hall, Clifton-upon-Dunsmore.  Eighteen teams have entered the league and this means there will be 3 divisions of 6 teams each.  All registration fees have been received.  Seventeen teams have entered both the Handicap Cup and Open.  Nicky suggested and it was agreed that the following would be included in each team captain’s information pack to be handed to them at the Fixtures Meeting:  confirmation that we would continue using the ‘Orange Book’ for rulings; confirmation on the ‘2 strong opening’; convention cards to be required for divisions one and two.  The league set up and structure drawn up by Christine and attached to the agenda was agreed, including the teams’ handicaps.

13. Tournament Directors

Christine had arranged for a signed confirmation from eight volunteers who agreed to be available as Tournament Director on behalf of the league in the event of a query arising during a match.  The original, signed documents were passed to Lynda for filing.  The names and availability are shown below: It was agreed that Nicky would be responsible for all matters relating to TD and their decisions.

14. News Bulletins

Nicky volunteered to produce a news bulletin for circulation to team members.

15. Re-Writing the Rules & Constitution

Christine agreed to produce a draft for discussion.

16. Team Numbers

Liz suggested that for the 2014/15 season, team numbers are limited to eight per team.  This will be discussed again at the next meeting.

17. Conduct Committee

Jane has a list of nominees for the Conduct Committee.  Once they meet, they will elect a Chair.

18. Website – Liz Edwards

Nothing to report

19. Dates for the Future

20. AOB

John asked that the Committee Meeting minutes are available on the league’s website, as soon as possible, after each meeting.