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AGM Minutes 2019

 

 

                                            

St Albans D BC

 

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting, Monday 29 April 2019

 

 

46 members were present at the start time of 19.06 (quorum needed 25), and 78 at the conclusion at 19.45 p.m.

 

1        Apologies for absence

 

 Harry Silverman, Roy Seaman, Tess Alexander, Tony Shields, Ross Murray

 

 

2        Minutes of last year AGM

 

The minutes of the previous AGM, held 23 April 2018, which had been displayed on the Club website for 11 months, were agreed as a true and accurate record by the membership. Proposer Careen Benjamin, seconder Gill Fisher

 

 

3        Matters arising from the Minutes

 

None

 

 

4        Chairman’s report

 

All the Committee Reports, (except for the Treasurer’s, where it was considered inappropriate), had been on the website for several weeks, including the Chairman’s.

 

The Chairman gave his sixth and annual report, again thanking each of the committee members for their contribution, and the many members who had supported the running of the Club, such as duty officers, scorers, TDs, and pre-dealt board supply. He made special mention of Tony Skirrow, the Treasurer, who is retiring from the committee after 21 years dedicated service.

 

He highlighted the numerous changes which had taken place during his period as Chairman, including the introduction of BridgeMates, pre-dealt hands, the boost to membership during the past year, with the closure of Fleetville Bridge Club. He stressed the ethos of the Club was to be a welcoming club, with an emphasis on good table behaviour The Chairman particularly thanked Steve Lambert and John Duthie for the enormous amounts of hard work they had put in to accommodate two sets of boards being in use, and the movements required, resulting from the increased numbers present, and the membership for their patience while teething problems were overcome

  

 

Early in the Club year a Best Behaviour at Bridge committee was established (Chairman, Steve Lambert and John Duthie), which was opportune, as they had to withdraw the membership of one member soon after.

 

The Club membership has now topped 150, with an average of 16.89 tables on pair’s nights (12.72 last year) and 18.4 tables on team’s nights (from 13.1 last year)

 

The Club won for the first time ever, the Desmond Flockhart Trophy, a team competition between selected sides from Hertfordshire Clubs. The team of Harry Silverman, Sara Barnett, John Mathews and Jane Scaysbrook James Rogers, Denis King, Tara and Stan Harding went on to represent the county in the National Rounds of the Garden Cities Trophy, finishing 4th of 10 teams, only narrowly missing out on second place

 

 

5        Treasurer’s report and approval of accounts

 

The treasurer apologised for not being in a position to present audited accounts. A small discrepancy of 38p was still to be resolved. Post meeting note ‘The discrepancy in the accounts was resolved, and the accounts then audited. Audited accounts were distributed to members at the Club 20 May 2019’

 

The Treasurer reported however very healthy provisional figures for the Club year, with a profit of about £800, despite significant exceptional expenditure following the large increase in membership that took place early in the Club year. This included the purchase of an additional 8 BridgeMates (£911), 6 tables (£220) and extra bidding boxes and table covers (£170).

 

The Club has funds of over £5000. In view of this healthy position, and given (a) that the charge for the hire of the hall is not being increased next year, and (b) that the EBU pay-to-play charge is being increased by only 2.5%, the treasurer is proposing the table money on pair’s evenings will be lowered to £2.00 per head for members, and £3.00 for visitors. The table money for teams evenings, run as Swiss Teams to achieve the fairest overall result, and using an outside tournament director/scorer, will continue as at present, £3.50 for members, and £5.00 for visitors

 

A vote to accept the provisional figures was passed (proposer Wendy Dew, seconder Tony Wild)

 

 The Chairman sought the approval of those present for their approval to change the table money for pairs, which was passed (proposer Gary Conrad, seconder Tara Harding)    

 

 

6   Election of Chairman

 

The Chairman, as indicated a year back, is retiring, after 6 years in the job, during which major advances have been made by the Club

 

The Committee are supporting Steve Lambert being our next Chairman, and those present endorsed this (proposer Gary Conrad, seconder Careen Benjamin)

 

 

7 Election of other officers

 

In addition to the Chairman and the Treasurer standing down, Jane Scaysbrook (Duty officers and membership) and Martin Melhuish (supplies and provisions) are also doing so. The six remaining committee members are prepared to serve again, if elected. The committee recently discussed having a smaller committee in future, and to involving Club members in different areas of the running of the Club, which do not necessitate them having to attend committee meetings.

 

No further names have been received to serve on the Committee. Those prepared to stand again, in addition to the Chairman, are John Duthie, Gary Kendall, Gill Lambert, Roger Thornhill, and, Joan Walton, who was co-opted to the Committee during this past year

 

The members of Committee prepared to stand again, were duly elected (proposer Gary Conrad, seconder Careen Benjamin)

 

The following members have volunteered to assume responsibilities as follows

  • Jim Fry – organising teams on teams evenings
  • John Hedges – duty officers’ rota
  • Gary Kendall – treasurer
  • John Mathews – website
  • Jane Scaysbrook – membership
  • Bob Turnham - selection of those to represent the Club in competitions
     
     
    8 Motion by Bob Turnham to abolish the Duty Officer system
     
    Bob presented his position
     
    (Undated letter to the Chairman)  It is time that the role of Duty Officer was abolished. It is clearly wrong that that some people should have to travel quite long distances just to wait around in case someone turns up without a partner. It is not right that an individual has to give up an evening for what is often a wasted journey. I don’t think there is any other club in Hertfordshire that has a duty officer role, and it is time that St Albans also stopped
     
    Various members spoke of the benefit of having duty officers as a means of attracting and retaining new members to the club, a point made by Tony Wild, who has joined during the past year
     
    Put to the vote, there was near unanimous for the Club to continue with duty officers
     
     
    9 Motion for discussion from Penny Mauger
     
    Penny was present to make her case
     
    (email to the Secretary) I would like to put forward the proposal to the AGM of the St Albans, Duplicate Bridge Club on Monday 29th April 2019 ‘that for Regular Pairs Events the Club changes from having the last two rounds arrow switched and one winner to having two winners, one N/S and one E/W.’ For trophy or qualifying events the club could revert to arrow switches and single winners.
     
    With the expansion of the Club and having on average 18 tables every week it would seem to be a fairer result as N/S are competing only against other N/S Pairs and likewise for E/W.
     
    It would also be simpler for directors and scorers and avoid problems when tables ‘forget’ to arrow switch.
     
    A lively discussion took place, with contributions from those for and opposed. Put to the vote, the motion was carried (34 for, 27 against)
     
     
    10    Presentation of the Club Championships Trophies, 2018-2019
     
    Tony Skirrow, the outgoing Treasurer, presented the prizes to the winners
     
    Pairs Ladder. - Stan and Tara Harding  
    Teams Ladder - Harry Silverman Bob Turnham, Sara Barnett and Jill Mumford
    Individual Ladder – Bob Turnham
    Roy Seaman Trophy - Steve Lambert 
     
    The Club Committee proposed that John Mathews be made a Life Member for his long service to the Club and the Committee, particularly over the past six years as Club Chairman, when the Club has undergone massive change. This was unanimously supported by those present. John joins Diana Barry, Tony Skirrow and Roy Seaman as Life Members
     
    Final minutes issued by RT 22 June 2019