Yeovil Bridge Club

Minutes of Committee Meeting 15^th September 2016

Present : Dave Steele (Chairman), Ray Bourke, Shirley Durrant, Tony Manickam, Rachel Pantling, Bob Warrender

DS stated that attendance, particularly for pairs, remained a concern and asked for any new ideas to boost attendance, as initiatives tried up to now had met with limited success.

The teaching programme was being advertised with posters and ‘fliers’ in a number of locations.

DS had tried to contact Mike Toft to find out who printed our ‘dance card’. RP is to ask printers she knows in Stoke-sub-Hamdon if they are able to print the ‘dance card’ at a reasonable price.

TM reported that we have a new scoring system using tablets on trial for a month and asked for patience by directors when the movement is being set up.

The system cannot be used for teams scoring at the moment.

The new system was used in the pairs session following the meeting and appeared very successful.

RW and TM have since re-trialled the system largely to familiarise RW with setting up a session.

RW has learnt that Colin Simcox is to direct teams on 22^nd September and is aware that our system cannot cope with team scoring.

The names of some members who might play if they had a partner were discussed with some of these needing to play if representing Yeovil in the County League.

RW had some replies from members willing to represent the club in the re-instated Somerset Club Championship (now restricted to those below National Master).

It was agreed that at next year’s AGM a committee member should act as a ‘stand-by’ so that anyone attending the AGM on their own would have a game.

SD was strongly in favour of re-instating our Christmas Party and thought it might encourage members to attend. 

RP said she had to push members to buy tickets and RB commented that the more people attending the greater the financial loss to the club !

DS to gauge member’s interest.

The meeting closed at 6.45 pm.

Yeovil Bridge Club

Minutes of AGM at Johnson Park on Thursday 1^st September 2016

The Chairman welcomed the 21 members present

Apologies  :  Ann Allsopp, Rachael Brown, Brian Corbett, Cyndi Harris, Rachel Pantling, Glenda Shave, Stewart Upton

Acceptance of the 2015 AGM minutes (tabled) was proposed by Mary Gordon and seconded by John Durrant, with no matters arising.

The Chairman reported another difficult year for the Club, with very poor attendance at Pairs evenings and a reduction in number of Teams playing regularly. Colin Simcox’s team unluckily missed out on winning the County League by losing their last match by too large a margin.

An attempt to find more attractive premises is ongoing as is an effort to attract more members. An initiative which we hope will be successful is the introduction of lessons by Ray Walder and John and Shirley Durrant and these are to be widely advertised with posters and ‘flyers’.

In thanking his committee for their work during the season, the Chairman also stated how discouraging it was to the committee to find the Club declining despite many initiatives being tried.

The Treasurer presented accounts (tabled) reporting that despite low attendances the Club made a surplus of £183 this being largely explained by the cancellation of the Christmas Party which had been subsidised in previous years.

Colin Powell did not wish to be re-elected to the committee, but Dave Steele proposed that Shirley Durrant join the committee, seconded by Laurie Gordon.

Officers and other committee members were willing to stand and their re-election proposed by Ray Walder and seconded by Pip Duncan.

AOB

Shirley Durrant asked if we could buy better bridgemates and Tony Manickam said he was investigating an alternative system, as our present system no longer functions and would involve considerable expence.

Charles Gant asked if hand records could be put on the web-site, but this would need us to aquire a duplimating machine at considerable expense or pay for duplimated boards. The possibility of sharing duplimating facilities with Sherborne was raised.

Mary Gordon suggested we might use different venues, changing each week, but it was thought that this would throw up too many problems.

Shirley Durrant proposed that we revert to playing every Thursday and it was agreed by all that this was desirable. Bob Warrender has advised JP that we now want the hall every Thursday.

The meeting closed at 7.05 pm, after which Shirley Durrant presented the trophies

Minutes of Committee Meeting 4^th August 2016

Present : Dave Steele (Chairman), Ray Bourke, Tony Manickam, Rachel Pantling, Bob Warrender

(Also Ray Walder)

Ray Walder : Ray put forward ideas of offering beginners and improvers bridge lessons and requested approval by Yeovil Bridge Club to use Johnson Park and help from the club in advertising lessons.

Committee members unanimously agreed that the club support the project and would investigate if  JP membership would be essential for those attending.

Premises : DS reported that The Red House would accommodate Yeovil Bridge Club, but problems or storage of equipment made it unattractive.

The old Westlands Sports Club venue is not available until February 2017 and likely to be expensive.

RW thought the idea of sharing premises with Sherborne was not likely as The Terrace was expensive.

Finance : RB reported a surprising surplus of £185 for 2015-16 due to there being no capital outlay, no entry to pay for SCBA Club Championship and no Christmas party which has been run at a loss in previous years.

Programme/Dance Card : DS asked what should go on the dance card and where it had been printed. A decision on whether to meet every Thursday or only 2^nd and 4^th Thursdays is to be put to the AGM before Programme could be completed.

We should run a heat of Michael Coda Sim Pairs even if not on 2^nd Thursday and we wished to continue to offer the two Sim Pairs events that we did this year.

Committee : Colin Powell is resigning and  a replacement for Mike Toft was never found.

DS to approach Shirley Durrant to join the committee.

SCBA Club Championship :  Reintroduced for 2016-17, but restricted to those below National Master.

RW to list and contact any remaining Yeovil members who qualify and invite them to enter as a pair or team or both.

Scoring : With 3 scoring systems now on our computer, it was suggested that we should start using the EBU system which is free and not renew our Scorebridge licence due in the Autumn.

AOB  A short discussion regarding the falling numbers attending Club evenings ensued. It was felt that playing 2 and a half tables or 3 tables on a Pairs evening because of lack of numbers was not very satisfactory but there was no obvious answer to improving numbers. TM suggested the County had not improved mattes by the new format of the % Pairs and by increasing the fee to £4 per player. Percentage Pairs was one of our most productive nights in the past. Again, it was agreed that this will have to be discusse at the AGM and Members made aware that the Club may have to close if numbers did not increase..

      Yeovil Bridge Club    

Minutes of the AGM at Johnson Park on Thursday 3^rd September 20015

1.   The Chairman, Dave Steele, welcomed 20 members, with special greetings to Tony Manickam.                       

Apologies: Rachel Pantling, Kate Balmford, Bob Warrender and Colin Powell.

2.   Minutes of the 2014 AGM were agreed. Acceptance was proposed, seconded, and passed unanimously, with no matters arising.

3.   The Chairman promised to be brief to allow ample time for discussion later. The past season had again seen success for the club in the Inter Club Championship. Shirley Durrant’s team had just missed (by 1VP) winning the A Division of the County League. There were other creditable achievements in the County events, for which congratulations to all concerned. Our Club is a respected force in the County, thanks to the efforts of our members.

There are some new County events this season for non-expert     players, e.g. teams and pairs. Please see the Yellow Handbook.

Low attendance on Pairs nights is a continuing worry. We have tried several new ideas and would welcome comments and further suggestions.

Finally, my thanks to the Committee for all their work and especially to Mike Toft who has organised production of the Calendar, arranged Simultaneous Pairs, and grappled with the Bridgemates! Mike is leaving the area soon and will be much missed.

The Treasurer reported that the Club’s finances are in a healthy state despite table money receipts being about £100 down. On teams nights numbers had fallen from 8/9 to 6. There was a one-off outlay on Bridgemates.

4.   All officers and Committee members were prepared to continue to serve, with the obvious exception of Mike Toft, for whom a replacement will be urgently sought. Their re-election was proposed, seconded, and passed nem con. Acceptance of the accounts was proposed by Laurie Girdon, seconded by Pip Duncan and passed unanimously.

A.O.B.

1.   Carolyn Blake informed the meeting of a Bridgewebs program through which a partner can be found.

2.   Shirley Durrant proposed the re-introduction of a Standby system. Many were in favour, including Steve Fletcher who praised the Taunton scheme.

3.   Location.

      a) Pip mentioned Milford Community Centre.

      b) Co-location with Normandy?

      c) Looking to the future, the possible renovation of Westland’s Sports

      and Social Club might be able to provide a room.

      d) Noise, especially from the darts players, is a big discouragement for

      some.

4.   Events in August:- both Make-up Teams and the Individual event had

      had support, but the number of boards played in the latter needs to be

      addressed.

5.   Carolyn wondered if we should make the AGM more of a social event as

      Sherborne do?

6.   Tony Marshall encouraged members to promote the Club and, if

      negative opinions are expressed, to counter them.

The Chairman thanked all for their contributions, and stated that the Committee would meet soon to discuss all the above suggestions

The meeting closed at 7pm, after which Mary Gordon presented prizes.

Yeovil Bridge Club

Minutes of Committee Meeting 21st May 2015

Present : Dave Steele (Chairman), Ray Bourke, Colin Powell, Mike Toft, Bob Warrender

Club Nights :Discussions revolved around poor attendance and suggestions to improve this in the remaining sessions of the season.

The reintroduction of a ‘stand-by’ was not thought to be viable with the low numbers and likely to result in one less pair as often the 'stand-by' would be someone who has already paired up to play. The system with names on the web-site of those to contact if in need of a partner was having limited success, but Mike Toft had some requests to play.

As some had said they did not attend because of slow play / late finish, having a 7pm start was suggested and would be recommended to members at next week’s teams.

The following programme was approved for the rest or this season :

3^rd Thursday June to August : Simple bidding system competition with regular / frequent partnerships being discouraged and committee members inviting infrequent attenders to play with them.

2^nd Thursday in August : Individual, now easily organised with use of bridgemates (providing MT present !)

4^th Thursday in August : Teams with draw for teammates, but only possible if suitable numbers present, otherwise pairs event.

There is some possibility of the SCBA not running Percentage Pairs in 2015-16; if this is the case Yeovil should run their own percentage pairs hoping to boost numbers.

County League : it appears likely that Yeovil will have four teams despite some team members leaving.

AOB : A donation of £100 to Air Ambulance to be made (as agreed with Minehead Bridge Club when giving us their old bridgemates). (RW to inform Minehead of this)

Mike Toft will produce an ‘idiot’s guide’ to use of our bridgemates as more of us need to be able to run an event using them.

All the Committee members present stated that they were prepared to stand for a further year, but Ray Bourke stated that he would not deal with ‘membership’ again. Dave Steele would do so if no other volunteer found.

The meeting closed at 6.55pm (no date for pre-AGM committee meeting agreed)