BRADSHAW BRIDGE CLUB

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

HELD ON WEDNESDAY 11 MAY 2022 AT THE MAIDEN PLACE COMMUNITY CENTRE

LOWER EARLEY

Apologies for absence. 

Received from Norma Allen, Angela Andrews, Bridget Brogden, Brian Buckley, Margaret and David Chopping, Marion Fleming,  Pat and Mike Gordon, Graham Holt, Gail Houghton, Vaikunth Ingale, Pam Medcraft, Sara Ribbens.

Minutes of meeting held on 21 May 2019

The minutes were agreed by the 28 members present. 

Matters Arising

There were no matters arising.

Chairperson's Report

Mel Tuson thanked the members present for attending.  The past two years have been a difficult one for the Club but the Committee has continued to hold meetings via Zoom when necessary.  The introduction of online bridge was welcomed by members and has proved to be very successful.  Face-to-Face bridge was resumed on Wednesday afternoons in September 2021 and although the start was rather stuttered the number of tables has gradually increased to a satisfactory level.  Refreshments have now returned at these sessions.  Online bridge has continued with BBO on Tuesday evenings and has been very popular .  However, we have now been informed of a new potential hirer for the hall so a decision will need to be taken as to whether we resume Face-to-Face bridge. 

Membership restarted in January 2022 (to run until December 2022) and the current membership now stands at over 100.  It has been particularly pleasing to see new members come along. 

Sadly, since the 2019 AGM we have had to inform you of the passing of the following members: Elaine Dunnage, Valerie Adams, Ethel Heyes, Elena Jeronimidis, Peter Parsons and Peter Wilde.  Our condolences to their families and friends.

Six pairs from the Club entered the final of The Chiltern League in April 2022.  Congratulations to Bill Mason and Colin Washbrook who won the event. 

Richard Lark captained a team in the B&BCBA League of 8 and will continue this in the future.  Thank you Richard.

The Club held a very successful bridge weekend in Bournemouth in February 2022 with 40 players attending.  Thanks to Pat Gordon and Jan Buckley for organising the event and congratulations to Anthony Collins and Simon Porter who won the Victor Ludorum trophy.   Teresa Hamilton has kindly agreed to take over the organising of a break early in 2023. 

Thanks were also extended to John Crook who has looked after our computer requirements and website so competently in recent years and also to all Directors and Technical Directors.

Finally, a big thank you to Jan Buckley, Margaret Chopping and Roger Merlyn who will be resigning from the Committee.  Their contributions have been much appreciated.  Margaret has kindly offered to continue as Membership Secretary.

Treasurer's Report

Martin Kellaway gave the following report:

Given that we weren’t able to hold an AGM last year I need to present to members our financial results for the past 2 years. That said, I will keep comments brief and for those who would like to see the fine details there are some copies of the accounts here if required. While the 2021 Accounts are audited the 2022 Accounts are at this stage unaudited, our Honorary Auditor having only just returned from holiday. If any subsequent issues do arise when the Audit is complete I will update Members.

In financial terms, I am pleased to report that the Club has weathered the pandemic stormin reasonable shape. Our activities in both 2021 and 2022 were disrupted in various ways but I can advise that we were still able to record a surplus of income over expenditure in both years, amounting to some £729 and £157 respectively.

As a result of these surplusesour cash resources at the Bank have grown to just over £9,700, a healthy amount but one which in part reflects the fact that we haven’t had to make any equipment purchases for some years. Such capital purchases are required from time to time – the items concerned being the Club laptop, our bridge tables, our dealing machine and the Bridgemate scoring devices – and until something goes wrong the timing of these purchases is unknown. In this regard, players at our Wednesday sessions will likely have noticed that our current laptop is proving to be a bit flaky and this has delayed our start on occasions, and as a result your Committee has recently approved the purchase of a new laptop. 

In summary, we continue to be a financially sound Club with our cash resources providing a good cushion of comfort against nasty surprises.

Before signing off, there is one other important issue that I would like to raise. As Mel has said, our Tuesday evening online sessions have continued to go well and against this background and given all the ongoing uncertainties with the Pandemic the Committee has to date held back on a decision whether to continue online or try for a return to face-to-face bridge here at Maiden Place. In this regard the Council did agree to keep our Tuesday evening slot free if possible so that a return to Maiden Place was always an option for us, but we heard from them yesterday that they have a potential hirer interested in the Hall and they therefore need to know whether we intend to return or not. In other words, it’s decision time.

Basically it’s a tricky one. Some members probably will want to stay online, some may be happy with either and some members probably aren’t keen on online and are waiting for a return to face-to-face bridge. It would be helpful for any thoughts from members here but our immediate plan is to get an email around all members asking whether they want online or face-to-face bridge on Tuesday evenings. Based on the feedback we will then need to decide the way forward.

Appointment of Committee Members

The following Committee members are willing to continue: Mel Tuson, Tricia Walker, Nick Higham.  There were no objections. 

Martin Kellaway will be standing down in due course after serving for 5 years as Treasurer.  Nick Higham kindly agreed to take on this role.  Martin will hand over this responsibility in the coming months.

New committee members were appointed as follows:

Tony Baker.  Proposed by Tricia Walker.  Seconded by John Smith.

Jackie Paxford.  Proposed by Jill Lark.  Seconded by Albine Patterson.

Barry Read.  Proposed by Teresa Hamilton.  Seconded by Tony Baker.  (Barry will kindly take on responsibility for maintaining the computer and website.)

Presentation of Trophies

The general awarding of trophies was suspended during the pandemic.  However the following exceptions were made.

Chairman’s Trophy 2020/20201.  Awarded to Tricia Walker

Chairman’s Trophy 2021/2022.  Awarded to  Martin Kellaway

Marilyn Collins Trophy 2021/2022.  Awarded to Tricia Walker

Any Other Business

There being no other business the meetings closed at 1.50 pm.