1973
1976
In August,
The club decided
to inaugurate an annual Club Pairs Championship with the winners to be
presented with a trophy: “The Pat Adams Cup”.
1977 The club was running
five tables per week.
It was decided
that the Club Pairs champion would be decided by a monthly competition running
on the second Wednesday of each month between September and
The first winners
of the Club Pairs championship were Mr &
1978 The hall could only
comfortably hold nine tables and the club membership reached thirty six so a
waiting list was started.
A second trophy
was purchased, the “
At the AGM, Dip
Dasgupta proposed that smoking should no longer be permitted at the club. The
proposal was not carried.
The first
Christmas party was held.
1979 The club’s membership
remained healthy although some people moved away so two people from the waiting
list were invited to join.
Benign finances
enabled the club to purchase a full set of new boards.
The AGM agreed to
award the winning pair a prize of 20p each (i.e. free entry the following week).
1980 The hall was
vandalised.
New cards were
purchased.
Provision of
refreshments during the evening ceased.
The first winner
of the
Table money for
members and visitors increased to 25p and 35p respectively.
1981
Membership
numbers declined and the waiting list was cleared.
1982 Membership was still
below complement.
Club finances
were very poor with almost nothing in the bank.
The Annual
membership fee was raised to £2 per year.
Table money for
members increased to 30p.
The prize of 20p
each to each week’s winning pair was abolished.
1983 Although the club was
averaging six tables per week, more members were still needed.
The annual
subscription was raised to £3, second raise in two years.
Table money for
visitors increased to 40p.
Dip Dasgupta was
elected to the committee.
1984 The EBU introduced
individual membership rather than through one’s club.
1985 Membership numbers
down and attendances erratic so table money for members and visitors increased
to 40p and 50p respectively.
1986
Dip Dasgupta
presented the club with a third trophy subsequently known as “the Dip Cup” to
be presented to “Selected Pairs”.
1987 Dip Dasgupta and
Dip and
Rumours that
1988 Membership numbers were
static.
The question of
smoking at the club was again raised at the AGM; it was agreed to continue to
permit smoking with no restrictions,
Dip stepped down
from the committee.
The club were
compelled to leave their hall in
1989 The club moved
premises to Cuddington Church Hall, The Avenue,
Increased hall
hire costs and falling membership necessitated the annual membership fee to be
increased to £5, the first increase in six years; members’ table money increased
to 50p.
The “Dip Cup” was
not awarded this year.
Long serving
committee member
1990
The “Dip Cup” was
reinstated.
Dip Dasgupta
became the first person in the history of the club to win all three available
cups in the same year.
The club premises
were shut for six weeks while repairs were carried out to the church organ. The
club relocated to the Conservative Hall in
1991 It was agreed that
there should be a minimum of four tables in play on a Club Pairs evening in order
for the result to count towards the Club Pairs championship.
Rumours
circulated that the church hall was to be shut either permanently or for an
extended period for rebuilding purposes.
1992 The EBU discontinued
group insurance so the club was compelled to take out its own Public Liability
Insurance for the first time.
The Annual
membership fee was raised to £6.
1993 Despite having a
membership of thirty six, the club were averaging only five tables each week.
Table money for
visitors was raised to 75p.
The issue of
smoking was again discussed at the AGM and it was agreed that no smoking was to
be allowed between 2030 & 2100, and after 2200.
1994 It was confirmed that
Cuddington Church Hall was to be demolished.
It was decided to
trial Teams events.
A decision was
taken to ban smoking during the evening at the table, but a ten minute break at
2100 was introduced to enable those who wished to smoke to have time to do so
away from the table.
1995 The club moved to
Membership numbers
decreased slightly.
The Annual
membership fee was increased to £8.
Table money for
members and visitors was increased to 80p and £1.20 respectively.
The “Individual
Cup” was not awarded but instead was presented to the inaugural winners of the
club’s “Teams of Four” competition.
1996 The move to the new
location proved popular: significant numbers of new members were seen now the
club was based in
Despite the
growth in numbers, the increased cost of hall hire necessitated an increase in
table money for members and visitors, for the second consecutive year, to £1
and £1.50 respectively.
The “Teams of Four”
cup was not awarded.
1998 Hall rental rose by
25% with a further increase anticipated. However, the healthy state of club
finances meant no increase in fees was necessary.
Membership
numbers again rose with an average turn out of six and a half tables.
A debate was held
on whether to continue running Simultaneous Pairs competitions and a vote at
the AGM was in favour 20 - 8.
It was suggested
that the club should invest in bidding boxes, but this was decided against on
cost grounds.
The “Unusual
Pairs” trophy was not awarded.
1999 The club’s bank
balance was adversely impacted by an inadvertent double payment of the annual
booking fee for the hall.
The club was
running five tables per week.
A decision was
taken to increase table money for members and visitors to, respectively, £1.50
and £2 per week. These significant increases were offset by a decision to
reduce the Annual Membership fee from £8 per year to £6.
Due to the
increasing number of Simultaneous events being played at the club, it was
decided to cease subsidising these events, and members would be expected to pay
the full fee.
2000 Ownership of
The club had 37
members.
The maximum
turnout in the year, including visitors, was nine tables.
Twenty four new
packs of cards were purchased.
After a vote at
the AGM it was decided, for a six month trial, to penalise both pairs at the
table for incorrect traveller completion.
2001 Club Secretary Mrs J.
Death passed away and was replaced by
The club had
thirty five members. Advertising for new members in local libraries commenced
and attracted a few new members.
Club finances
were healthy.
It was decided to
continue to penalise both pairs at a table when a traveller was incorrectly
completed.
The club again
debated whether to purchase bidding boxes but decided against the idea.
Only the Club
Pairs trophy was awarded this year.
2002
The number of
club members fell to thirty one, but there were an average of five and a half
tables in play each week (with seven tables seen on eight occasions),
indicating a very high proportion of club members attend every week.
Penalising of
mistakes on travellers continued, but the number of such instances had fallen
dramatically.
The
club purchased bidding boxes.
2003 The club had twenty
five members and averaged five tables per session.
It was decided to
discontinue the half time break.
2004 Club numbers increased
to over forty and an average of seven tables per week were in play (with ten
tables being played on one occasion), the highest number for some years, if not
ever.
A new committee
role of Membership Secretary was created and
It was decided
that Master Points would be issued electronically.
The winners of
the Club Pairs competition were presented with engraved commemorative plaques.
2005 The club had fifty
members, and averaged seven and a half tables per week.
It was decided to
trial Teams events, in various formats, through the year.
Dip Dasgupta
indicated this would be his last year as Chairman.
2006 Dip Dasgupta stood
down as Chairman and was replaced by
The club had over
fifty members and an average turn out of seven and a half tables each week.
The club entered
a team in the National InterClub Knock-out event (NICKO) for the first time.
It was decided to
continue running Teams events using the “Aggregate IMPs” format.
2007 Day to day management
of
A committee
meeting was held for the first time.
The club had 37
members with an average weekly turn out of 6.5 tables.
Fees were
increased: annual membership up £2 to £8, member’s table money up 50p to £2,
visitor’s table money up £1 to £3 - the first increases since 1999.
It was decided to
instate a “host” system on a trial basis.
Two club members passed away
during the year:
The club held a
Swiss-style Teams championship with a new trophy for the winning team.
The “
2008 A total of three committee
meetings were held throughout the year.
Hall rent remained static so there was no
increase in club fees.
Club membership was 54 at the AGM with an
average weekly turnout of 7.5 tables.
There was a record turnout of 10.5 tables
in
The “host” system was formally instated.
An “Individual”
event was played for the first time and was won by
2009 One
committee meeting was held throughout the year. It was decided to instate a
formal club Constitution, a decision that was ratified at the AGM.
The average weekly
turnout for the entire year was 9.24 tables. However, in the first six months
of the year the average turnout was 8.5 tables; in the second half of the year
the average turnout was 10 tables. In the last two months of the year the
average weekly turnout was 12.13 tables. In
Club membership
increased from 54 people to 67 people – 23 new members joined, but 10 did not
renew for various reasons. Given the highly unusual circumstances described
above, in early March 2009 the committee took the decision to not allow anybody
else to join
Again given all of
the above, the committee also decided to hire the smaller back room at
The Club Pairs Championship was won by Jacky &
Adrian Boulding.
The Club Teams Championship
was won by Jacky & Adrian Boulding playing with
Two club members passed away
during the year: