Minutes of the Annual General Meeting, Monday 25 April 2016

Numbers increased during  the  meeting, with 29 members at the start of  the meeting at 19.05 (quorum needed  25), and 46 at the conclusion at 19.40.

1. Apologies for absence

    

   Roy Seaman, Peter Leary, Alex Kent, Brenda Jenkinson, Ray Jenkinson, Nigel Lewis and  Marie Craig.

    

    

2. Minutes of last year AGM

    

   The minutes of the previous AGM 27 April 2015, which had been displayed on the Club website for 10 months, were agreed as a true and accurate record by the membership. proposer Janet Thornhill, seconder Lena Lewis

    

3. Matters arising from the Minutes

    

   None

    

4. Chairman’s report

    

   The Chairman welcomed those attending to the A.G.M .

    

   ‘Once again it is my most painful duty of the year to record the passing away of two of our members:-

    

   Firstly, Gerald Everitt , who died in December. I really have no more to add to all that has already been said in tribute to him except to emphasise the irreplaceable loss to this club after so many years of service. The committee is recommending that we have a new trophy event in his honour – more about this later (item 11).

    

   Secondly,  Mike Smith, who died on Wednesday 13^th April. He was a long-standing member of the club who was also a respected TD. Our condolences go out to Julie and all the family. The funeral will be on Thursday next at Garston Crematorium at 1.20pm and afterwards in this hall. All are welcome to both and a collection bowl for two local hospices is on the table near the kitchen along with a card to sign.

    

   Again this year I cannot thank the committee sufficiently for all their hard work throughout the year. Without their efforts this club would not have continued to develop so well.

    

• Roger Thornhill, as Secretary, has again been a tower of strength (ably aided by Janet!) and has great organisation.
• Tony Skirrow, as Treasurer, has meticulously kept the accounts whilst battling through serious illness – I can assure you that he never ceased his attention to his job during his illness despite efforts to the contrary from  ourselves, and his wife!
• John Duthie, as Tournament Director, has worked very hard throughout the year to organise the TDs and the BridgeMate scorers. His efforts cannot be underestimated – whilst also caring for his wife through her illness – I can assure you he looks great in an apron! He has also liaised with Gary Conrad over the provision of the pre-dealt boards we have begun to use this year; as well as producing the great certificates for our competition winners.
• Jane Scaysbrook, as Membership Secretary, has continued to organise the Duty Officer system – a foundation upon which the club has built and maintained its progress – whilst maintaining the membership – not as straight forward a task as it may appear. Jane’s work is one of the main reasons why our membership has grown this year with 15 new members making our total membership rise by 7 overall.
• Martin Melhuish, as Supplies Officer, has provided our supplies of both paperwork and refreshments, always assuring we have biscuits aplenty and tea and coffee. This is always appreciated.
• Christine Cameron has again worked hard on scoring and maintaining records of club competitions. Sadly, Chris has decided to stand down from the committee. I would like to thank her for all she has done over the years and for her advice and support. Her final duty will be to present the competition trophies this evening.
• I would also like to thank Diana Barry and Gill Lambert for their contributions this year.

   

  The last twelve months have been a period of development and growth for the club.

  The BridgeMates are in action and  we are all getting used to them; The team of scorers has increased and  they are becoming  more au fait with the vagaries of the software:- Steve Lambert, Penny Mauger, Jane Scaysbrook, John Duthie, Christine Cameron and Colin Leeson.

   

  The pre-dealt hands have become a big asset – thank you to Gary Conrad for these.

   

  We have three new directors – John Stobo, Nigel Lewis and Bob Veal –   have begun to make their contributions to the rota.

   

  The membership has seen 15 new members, an  increase in  the total  membership of 7 over the year. Attendance has shown a clear increase:-

   

• On Pairs nights – a rise from 10.9 average tables to 11.94 average
• On Teams nights – a rise from 10.3 average tables to 11 average.

   

  This increase is a result of not just the Duty Officer system but also to you all – making visitors so welcome that they come back and stay. We are rapidly becoming

   

   

  known as one of the friendliest and most congenial clubs in which to play bridge in Hertfordshire and beyond – I thank you all for that.

   

  There were twenty tables at last May’s Peahen Trophy event and next week we look forward to Ian Mitchell from the EBU coming to Direct and Score for us. Please come!! The club is flourishing, the finances are healthy and I look forward to maintaining this next year. We on the committee will continue to do everything we can to this end and, with your help, we will develop further.’

   

1. Treasurer’s Report and the approval of the Accounts

    

   The Treasurer, Tony Skirrow, being absent, his report was read out by Roger Thornhill The Treasurer thanked Gary Kendall for auditing the accounts, since the recent auditor, Mike Smith, had been too ill to do so.

    

   The Treasurer reviewed the accounts, printed versions of which were tabled. He highlighted the increased subscriptions now totalling £470 (94 members) an increase of 7 in the playing membership from last year. The overall attendance on club nights  had  increased by 8.7%

    

   The Club had sustained  a number of one off expenses during the year. A welcome £2000 grant from Sandridge Parish Council (SPC), awarded to help purchase 20 BridgeMates left the Club paying the balance of £1274, while the Club’s ageing bridge tables had been replaced with good second hand tables and clothes, cost £375, off set by the sale of the old tables to members for £75. Three members had trained  as TDs (see later, cost £224.40), while a printer for the BridgeMates was also purchased.

    

   A consequence of using BridgeMates was that the Club needed pre-dealt boards. Not having a dealing machine, the Club paid £10 per board for this service, resulting in an annual cost of £490

    

   The rental for the use of the hall had been increased by 3.7% by SPC, leading to an increase of £91 over the year, while the EBU Pay to Play (P2P) cost rose from £0.35 to £0.36, counterbalanced by the county reducing its cost from £0.05 to £0.04, so no net difference resulted from last year.

    

   In summary the Club made an  overall loss of £419.41 over the year, and had  a balance of £2907.12 at year end,

    

   The rental for the use of the hall, and the P2P charges are expected to be unaltered for 2016-2017

    

   The Treasurer concluded that ‘Given the given the unusually large number of one off costs incurred in the year, the fact that our finances have only reduced by £419.41 is I believe a good result. Without these additional one-off costs, out income would have exceeded our expenditure. In view of this I would propose that we keep the subscriptions and table money at the current levels (subscriptions £5.00, table money £2.50 for members, and £3.50 for non members’

    

   Put to the vote, the Accounts were agreed (proposer Martin Melhuish seconder Careen Benjamin)

    

2. Tournament Director’s Report

    

   The TD reported that following an appeal by the Chairman to encourage members to train up as TDs, John Stobo, Bob Veal and Nigel Lewis had completed the EBU, and joined the TD rota, for which the Club was very grateful  

    

   The Tournament Director thanked the TDs and scorers for their considerable contributions over the year.

    

3. Tournament Secretary’s Report

    

   Again large numbers of our club members took part in most of the HBA events held this year.

    

   The highlights in these events were-

    

• Yesterday, Helen Robinson & partner were 5^th in the final of the HBA Championship Pairs. John Eyre & partner were 11th
• In the HBA Mixed Pairs Gill & Steve Lambert were 10th.
• We were represented by teams in The Eccles Cup, The Desmond Flockhart Trophy and The Rose Bowl.
• In the Club Winner’s Cup, Peter Leary & John Mathews were 5^th and Rod Adams & John Stobo were 11^th.
• In March, in the Marjorie Lukyn Final, James Rogers & Denis King were 6^th and Jane Scaysbrook & John Mathews were 9^th.
• In the EBU Autumn Sims Pairs, Pat Jacobs & June Ball were 8^th nationally and Helen Robinson was 11^th. There were many other notable successes in this event.
• In the Senior’s Pairs, Pat Jacobs was 15^th, Pat Henry & Susie Bond were 16^th and Jane Scaysbrook and John Mathews were 18^th.
• In the Senior’s Teams, Helen Robinson & June Ball were 3^rd, Bob Veal & Nigel Lewis were 5^th and Susan Dow, Jane Scaysbrook, Gill Fisher and John Mathews were 10^th.
• For the first time for several years the club had representation in the NICKO and Herts Leagues competitions.
• In The NICKO, Denis King’s Team of James Rogers, Mike Fawcett & Roger Forster won through 2 rounds.
• In the Herts League, Steve Lambert’s team of Gill Lambert, Jane Scaysbrook and John Mathews won 2 matches.
• In the Humble Cup, Bob Turnham’s team, who, qualified at the SADBC heat, reached the semi final and
• Helen Robinson’s Team, who also qualified at the SADBC heat, won the final on Saturday!.

   

   

   

  Our thanks should go to the very many who represented the club in the various competitions (including those not mentioned by name in this report).

  I’m sorry if I missed any particular person/result and I look forward to even more participation next year.

   

1. Duty Officer’s report

    

   The Duty Officer thanked the membership for their willingness to volunteer. It was pointed out that on average there were 11 singles on any one evening, equivalent to nearly three tables, and so helping to increase the Club’s membership

    

2. Election of Chairman  

    

   John Mathews agreed to stand as Chairman for the coming year, and was duly elected (proposer Gary Kendall, seconder Steve Lambert),

    

3.  Election of other Officers/ Committee members for 2015-16

    

   Christine Cameron, who decided not to re-stand for committee, was thanked by the Chairman for her considerable contribution over many years, specifically in her involvement in scoring and running the Club’s annual competitions.

    

   The rest of the committee offered itself for re-election, joined by two new members to the Committee, Steve Lambert and Gary Kendall

    

   The Committee were duly elected. proposer Penny Mauger, seconder Susan Dow, The Committee now numbers 10, the maximum as permitted in the constitution

    

4.  New Gerald Everitt Competition

    

   The proposal to inaugurate this trophy for pairs, to be held on the 3^rd Monday in January, was passed, proposer Gill Lambert, seconder Careen Benjamin

    

5.  Addition of Selection and Payment of Entry Fees Policies

    

   These proposed policies had been displayed on the website for many months, and were approved . (proposer Denis King, seconder Claus Crede)

    

6. AOB

    

   None

    

   14 Presentation of the Club Championships Trophies, 2015-2016

    

   Pairs                1^st Denis King and  James Rogers , runners up John Stobo and Rod Adams

   Teams              Harry Silverman Bob Turnham, June Ball and Helen Robinson, runners up, Bob Veal, Mike Hann, Denis King and Mike Fawcett

   Individual        1^st Denis King, runner up Jane Scaysbrook 

   Roy Seaman     1st Jane Scaysbrook, runner up John Mathews

    

   Trophies and certificates were presented by Christine Cameron, except to the winning team, who will receive theirs at the next team’s event. The Chairman finally presented Christine with a bouquet from the Club in appreciation of her considerable service on Committee

    

    

   Final minutes issued by the secretary29 May 2016