Chairman's Report for the year 2014 – 2015
AGM Held on Wednesday 8th July 2015
The minutes of the last AGM have been circulated via email prior to the meeting and copies are available tonight. Does anyone have any amendments they wish to be made. Would someone please propose the approval of the minutes. Would someone please second that these minutes are accepted as accurate.
This report has been available on the website for previewing.
Membership
Over the year the membership of the club has fluctuated a little due to members moving abroad, moving home and by a number of deaths and new members joining the club
As at 25th June 2015 membership was 395 including three junior members, three honorary members Again over the year the membership has increased and remains very healthy with new members coming from classes or returning to the city and re-joining.
Deaths – Sadly we have seen quite a number of deaths throughout the year: Bob Kinloch, John McWhinney, Sid Kennedy, Felicity McGregor, Jane Miller, Richard Dennis, Ronnie Turnbull, Thea Teal and Mary Drever who was an honorary member. Some previous members: George Wiltshire, Val Thomson. All of these current and previous members were supportive members of the club and all enjoyed their bridge at the Carlton.
The family of Jane Miller funded the new Congress Cup for pairs and Mrs Beate Dennis funded the new Congress cup for teams in memory of Jane and Richard and we as a club thank them for this.
Subscriptions - Membership subscriptions remained at the same level this year i.e. £65 plus £6 for subscription to the SBU. The board have agreed that these should remain for the foreseeable future. We believe this offers good value for members.
Changes to the board – One of our board members resigned mid-term and we thank him for his work to this point. Mr Jim Herbert has indicated that he will step down after this AGM.
New members to the board after the 2014 AGM were Alison Littleboy and Jim Williams.
Card Convener - Jim Williams has now taken responsibility for the task of the Card Convener and is doing a grand job. He helps to coordinate the dealing team and together they make sure that we have enough boards dealt for the many tournaments in the club.
Education - Alison has taken on the responsibility of Education and is doing a wonderful job. There are a number of classes continuing to be run in the club each we Peckham, Clare Gray, Margot Cursister, Mike Young, Derek and June Morrison for their hard work and continued success. A talk on etiquette by Duncan Cursister was very received
Tournament - Jim Herbert has had the responsibility of being Tournaments Convener and he has done a remarkable job keeping us up to date with all the tournaments both in our own club and the wider bridge events in and out of the city. Jim puts in a great deal of time and effort preparing our calendar and filters in all the details we need to know. The regular weekly Club events took place as usual. The afternoon tournaments on Mondays and Thursdays continue to thrive with the Monday attendance sometimes exceeding 20 tables. The numbers attending on Monday and Wednesday evenings have fallen off a bit. Another attempt has been made to restart the Saturday night tournament. Attendances have been low but the organisers have persisted and the numbers have been viable. Those who attend enjoy this small tournament.
All the usual qualifying heats of District and National events have been held with some being better supported than others. Your Board decided that Simultaneous Pairs events to raise money for outside charities would be restricted to four per year and that the club would not participate in the SBU Easter and Autumn pairs since each club plays different hands making them not truly simultaneous.
Most tournaments held in the Club now use computer dealt hands and computer scoring. This requires each Tournament Director to be familiar with the processes involved. The Club really needs more members to be willing to learn how to be a Tournament Director and how to use the different items of equipment. More instructional classes are being arranged and members are asked to consider taking part in order to take the strain off the few excellent and willing Directors we have.
Our Club owes a debt of gratitude to its Directors and to the willing band of members who, week in and week out, prepare the boards and hand records so that we can enjoy our favourite game.
We thank Jim very much for his service and will miss him very much.
Congress - This year our Carlton Congress will be held on Sunday 11th October 2015 and Duncan and Margot Cursiter have agreed to run it.
House – Jim Wilkinson continues to take responsibility for the general maintenance of the club and this year we have moved forward on a number of tasks. Room 3 has now been redecorated and new table cloths have been made. Our next step would be hopefully to replace the side tables and perhaps some new chairs in this rather neglected room and bring it up to the high standard of the rest of the club. Repair work in the kitchen has been completed and this has also recently been freshened up with a new coat of paint. A new fridge and some cupboards have been purchased to provide more storage accommodation.
I.T - Mr Mike Baron, though not a member of the board, has continued to support the club on the I.T. front and for this we thank him. With his advice we have recently purchased a new printer. He also continues to maintain the club website. Members will be aware of the information they can get from the website and this is due to Mike keeping it up to date.
TD Training – Without TDs it would be difficult for the club to run efficiently and as Jim H says we need people to come forward an volunteer to undertake TD training. The club intend in the coming session to offer the opportunity for further training which we hope will be taken up by some members.
In my report this year I have tried to think of, and thank, the many people who do give of their time and energy to help the club in many different ways. We are indebted to many whom I have not mentioned by name and by virtue of the fact that I may leave some one out I will not name individuals. Suffice to say that your assistance in making the Carlton Club the great club that it is, is greatly appreciated by the Board and the members. I ask that you join me at this juncture to thank them all for their dedication and hard work on behalf of the Club.
Steward - I am sure you will all agree that Sara Duncan of Sara Duncan Catering has done a fantastic job in taking over from our previous excellent steward. Apart from the catering side of things Sara does a lot of work to support the club in other ways. She manages our diary, promotes the club for use by outside groups, helps with the I.T. and various other things that add to the smooth running of the Club. Her work at the Christmas Party, the Congress and other events for which she has catered have all gone well and her work goes from strength to strength. Sara will continue to work on your behalf and is always willing to make any small changes in dietary requirements that members need. We thank Sara for this work.
Secretary – Hasan has followed David Liggat as our secretary and this was a hard act to follow. He has worked tirelessly on our behalf and gives very willingly of his time to oversee the continued effective running of the club.
New Honorary Membership – The Board propose that David Liggat who was the secretary for the club for some thirteen year be given Honorary membership of the club and a vote of the members at this meeting will be taken to ensure this is the wish of the membership.
The Articles of Association - Last year we said that the Board were working on new Articles of Association. These have proved to be far more complicated than at first realised and they are not yet ready for viewing. A great deal of work has gone on with them and they are now nearly ready to be put to the lawyers to ensure they are acceptable..
Accounts and Financial Report.
Mr Brady continues to be our treasurer and works hard with the accountants to ensure our books are in order. He will now discuss the current finances of the Club.
The treasurer recommends that the present auditor be retained.
Elections and nominations for new directors
Presentation of the Trophies
Any other Competent business
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