Chairman’s Report 2018
Thank you all or coming to our AGM 2018.
This is my 5th report to an AGM as Club Chairman and I am delighted to say that the club has progressed steadily and is now in a very healthy position in all aspects as we go into the next year. This is due to both the committee who have worked tirelessly on your behalf and to you, the members, who have continued to enhance our club with its increasingly merited reputation as one where competitive bridge is played in an outstandingly friendly atmosphere.
The committee comprises:-
Roger Thornhill our ever-efficient Secretary.
Tony Skirrow who is always a vigilant and excellent Treasurer.
Martin Melhuish who ensures our supplies of tea, coffee and biscuits as well as other necessary material supplies.
Jane Scaysbrook who is always efficient as Membership Secretary as well as maintaining the highly successful Duty officer system.
Steve Lambert who has continued to be the motivation behind the upward trend in our teams competition; organises participation in competitions at HBA and National Level; organises our scorers; constantly updates the website and has worked brilliantly recently to ensure we are ready to comply with new laws on Data Protection in May 2018; and is initiating the new Butler’s pairs event in July.
John Duthie who organises our TDs with their rota and training.
Gary Kendall who acts as a deputy for our treasurer and contributes valuable ideas and opinions to discussions.
Gill Lambert who organises our contact with those who are unwell and is a constant support to all we do.
Jane Redmond our latest recruit to the committee who is beginning to make her mark on our organisation.
I should also like to thank all our TDs and scorers without whom we could not run each evening and Gary Conrad for our pre-dealt hands.
As Tony will outline later, our finances are increasingly healthy.
Our membership has grown to over 100 this year and our attendances have risen again to an average of 12.72 tables on pair’s nights (from 11.77 last year) and 13.1 tables on team’s nights (from 12.6 last year). These figures have been surpassed throughout April as well.
John Stobo and Steve Lambert have started to be part of our TD team; also James Rogers and Gary Kendall have completed their training and will also be added to the team and I am sure that you will welcome them when they start in their new roles and will give them every possible encouragement and tolerance when they do so.
We have successfully added a new event to our calendar this year – The Swiss Pairs and this year we are introducing a Butler Pairs evening – please see the website for details although it is really only a modified pair’s event.
The committee has decided to return to the method of calculating our Pairs Ladder from percentages to Master Points. After a one year trial it was found to make very little difference to the outcome and thus brings it back in line with all our other ladders.
The rewards for winning one of our annual championships have been changed this year. In addition to the trophy which the winners keep for one year, we are now giving a small personal memento rather than the booklets of the past few years.
Whilst this year has been one of almost total advancement but we did have one incident that was utterly avoidable and was totally unnecessary and unfortunate. This lead to 2 of our newly trained directors (Nigel Lewis and Bob Veal) standing down from our TD team as a direct result. This incident caused me considerable angst and concern. As a result the committee have decided to appoint a “Best Behaviour at Bridge” subcommittee consisting of myself, John Duthie and Steve Lambert to help adjudicate on any possible future incidents.
However, I am sure we can look forward to continued progress over the coming year and I want to encourage you all to continue to maintain the highest standards of behaviour at the table as well as to the welcoming of all to our club and to encouragement of all the newcomers to understand and uphold our ethos.
I have been considering my own position as Chairman and, although I shall be standing for election again tonight, it is highly likely that it will be my last if re-elected. And I will probably stand down at the next AGM.
Meanwhile let’s have another great year at SADBC!
John M.
Tournament Director Report (John Duthie)
Firstly, I would like to thank all the Tournament Directors that have helped the club this year by giving up their time and effort
to run Sessions in this closing year. Long may they continue. It will be of no surprise to them that I have already drafted next years rota to be released shortly.
Unfortunately we lost 2 directors last year, but you will be pleased to hear that we have two new willing volunteers,
ie: James Rogers & Gary Kendall, who have just about finished their training, and hopefully
will be eased in to the saddle in the coming months. I am sure you will give them your full support.
John D
Competitions Report (Steve Lambert)
Many thanks to our excellent team of scorers during the year: Penny Mauger, Rod Adams, Jane Scaysbrook, Colin Leeson and John Duthie. Your time is much appreciated and more help would always be welcome.
Thanks also to everyone who represented the club in various HBA events. We would have had a record year except for the weather enforced rearrangement of the Desmond Flockhart Trophy but it was still great to see so many players taking part. Thanks to Jane Redmond, Lynn Prentice, Bob Veal, John Hanlon, Gary Kendall, Chris Joyce, Martin Shuttleworth, Colin Owen, John Stobo, Rod Adams, Helen Robinson, Bob Turnham, Stan Harding, Tara Harding, Harry Silverman, Sara Barnett, Roger Forester, Denis King, James Rogers, Mike Fawcett, Michael Rawlins, Naomi Gibbs, Gill and Steve Lambert who all represented the Club.
The Club Ladders were as well contested as ever. Stan & Tara Harding won the Pairs; Helen Robinson, June Ball, Bob Turnham & Harry Silverman the Teams for a record 9th consecutive year and Bob Turnham comfortably won the Individual. Steve Lambert won the Roy Seaman Trophy with the result being in doubt until the final week of the season.
The number of Trophy evenings the Club hosts continues to increase. The Anniversary Pairs was won by Susan Mount and Francis Eddlestone and the Gerald Everitt Memorial Trophy by Gill & Steve Lambert. The Club also held its inaugural Swiss Pairs competition with Walter Russell & Maggie Moore winning. This year we propose to add a Butler Pairs Trophy evening, a format not often played in the UK.
Finally the season also saw some exceptional scores. The Ball Team had a record score of +149 IMPS in September, a gain of over 6 IMPS a board ! The three highest pairs scores of the year, and incidentally the only three 70% + scores of the year, were all achieved by the same pair Gill & Steve Lambert with the highest of these, at 72.16%, also being the best result against NGS achieved in the year.
Overall it has been an excellent year for the club and we hope to see an even wider representation of players in the HBA events in particular in 2018/19.
Steve L
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