Minutes of the 42nd Annual General Meeting of the CCBA held at Carnon Downs Village Hall on
Sunday 20 September 2026

Present 32 :
Ian Marriott (Chair), Chris Bickerdike (Secretary), David Stone (Treasurer) - plus 29 members.

Apologies 2 :
Geoff Smith, Mike O'Neill

The meeting was opened at 3.52pm during the tea interval of the Autumn Pairs event.

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the last AGM held in September 2025.

Chairperson’s Report

Chairperson Ian Marriott began by indicating that, for the six events run last season, numbers attending were down by 10% - from 105 to 95 pairs.

Successes on the table included:

1. Henry Gompertz and Neil Harris won the national Nine-High Corwen Trophy. A new event in its second year, Cornwall pairs have now won it both years, following the success of Maureen Brinton and Judith Williams last year.

2. In the Western League, honours again went to our C team, who finished runners-up in their league, just 4 VPs behind Somerset.

3. Winners of our two  county green-pointed events were Mick Robson and Jo Bryant (John Perks pairs) and Rob Jones, Geoff Smith, Bill Thomson and Mike O'Neill (Harold Payne teams). This foursome also won both the other teams event during the year.

4. Five teams played in a new online league - winners were Ian Marriott, Norna Hughes, Neil Harris, Mick Robson, Jo Bryant.

Treasurer’s Report

David Stone outlined that there was again no income during the year as we continue to run down the large surplus.  The deficit of £1505 for the year ending August 2026 was £174 more than last year, and was due to the  purchase of a replacement laptop. There is now a bank balance of £6082 going forward. 

Again, there will be no entry fees charged for the coming year, and there will be no income from Pay to Play. A similar loss to this year is therefore anticipated for 2026/7.

David concluded by thanking Mick Robson for auditing the accounts again.

Programme for 2026/7

The CCBA will be running six events again this season - two before Xmas and four afterwards. Four of these events will be face to face, all at Carnon Downs, with the two National qualifying events again on RealBridge.

It is intended to make entry to these events online, with a committee member nominated to answer any queries.

Suzanne Warring has taken over the management/selection of the C team, with Chris Bickerdike continuing to be Cornwall's Western League secretary and to manage the A and B teams.  

Mike O'Neill will again manage the online league. Only one team has entered so far, with a minimum of four teams needed for the league to go ahead. Chris asked the meeting to get their teams together asap, and to let Mike know if an interested pair cannot find teammates.

Election of Officers

With Chris Bickerdike retiring as Secretary, Mike O'Neill was proposed by Chris and seconded by Bill Thomson to take over. After Chris outlined Mike's vast experience in all aspects of bridge administration, the meeting voted unanimously for his election.

The remaining four CCBA committee members all indicated their willingness to continue, and they were re-elected en bloc.

Any Other Business 

Nothing was raised by the meeting.

The meeting concluded with David Stone thanking Chris for all his work for the CCBA over the last 18 years. Initially he took on the role of secretary when there were a dozen or so other committee members each with specific roles. As it became difficult to recruit new committee members, he took on other roles over the years, and we owe him a great deal for keeping the CCBA alive and well. 

Chris responded by thanking David for his kind words, saying that a lifelong passion for bridge always made his committee work a labour of love.  

The meeting was closed at 4.17pm.