Durham Bridge Club

Minutes of the 48^th A.G.M.  Tuesday, 23^rd April 2019
at 12.45 p.m. in Framwellgate Moor Community Centre

Forty three members of the club were present.

Apologies:      Alison and Godfrey Young, Brenda Rutherford, Nigel Martin

Minutes of the 47^th AGM: were accepted and signed

Matters Arising: No matters were raised from the membership

Reports:
            Chair: The Chair’s report had been circulated to members with the agenda (and is available on the website with these minutes). There was no response from the meeting to his request for questions. The Chair reiterated his thanks to the other members of the committee

            Treasurer : The accounts for 2018-19 (signed by the auditor) were presented and accepted (available with the minutes). The Club?s finances are healthy but expenditure on room hire and duplimated boards had increased while income from subscriptions and table money had remained much the same.   The club had made no major investments in the course of the year.

            Club Captain :  On behalf of Nigel Martin the Chair reported that it had not been a very successful year. The A team had been relegated to the B division, the B team to the C division, and the C team to the F division He thanked all those who had played for the Club

            NEBA representative: Adrian Darnell reported that the NEBA AGM had been postponed until Friday 14^th June at Stannington and urged members to attend. He also reported that the rules for the Interclub competition were to be changed for next season so that all teams in the A division played each other as in the other divisions. Neba was proposing to change its disciplinary regulations to increase the possibility of mediation

            FMYCC Management : Jill Hancock reported as the Club?s official representative on the FMYCC committee that the development of the kitchen had begun and that work was going as planned.

Subscription/Table Money for 2019-20: The committee proposed that table money for members should be raised to £3.00. It had first been set at £2.50 in 2008 and subsequent rises in expenditure had been covered by the increasing membership and expecially by the success of the afternoon session.  However these do not seem to be continuing to increase whereas expenses are. It was agreed that the proposed rise would be prudent. Subscriptions would remain at £5 as would other table money rates ( £3.50 non-members; £1 students)

 Election of Officers and Committee

The following had been proposed and seconded and were accepted nem. con. by the AGM:

Chair:      Adrian Darnell
Secretary:      Ann Squires
Treasurer:      Susan Penswick
Club Captain:      Nigel Martin
Chief Tournament Director:      John Portwood
Webmaster:      John Dobson
FYMCC rep. (and Vice Chair):      Jill Hancock
Social Events Organiser:      Christine Farnsworth
Monday Evening Rep. :      Irene Hancock
Committee Member (and Vice Chair):      David Thompson
Committee Member:      Den Kerry
Committee Member:      Charles Bucknell

Occasional Sunday Sessions : The proposal that the Club should arrange the occasional session on a Sunday afternoon to which members of other clubs would be invited was accepted

Future Plans: The Chair raised the possibility that the club should take over the rent of a permanent room that had become available in the “schoolhouse?. This would provide the club with a permanent and more secure base (the FMYCC had been broken into the previous weekend and our computer stolen). It would also give us a room for meetings, a permanent teaching room of c. 3 tables and allow us to acquire our own duplimating machine. (Last year we spent nearly £600 on duplimated boards and had to rely on members going each week to Darlington to collect them.) The Chair had applied to the EBU for a small capital grant with this in mind.

Presentation of Trophies (by the Chair)

            Sykes Cup:                                                 Iain Gordon and Margaret McCabe
            Club Championship Salver:                        Iain Gordon
            Afternoon Club Champion:                         Adrian Darnell
            Club Summer Champions:                          Iain Gordon and Margaret McCabe
            Afternoon Club Summer Champions:        Barbara Taylor and Renee McMahon
            Durham Cities Trophy:                               John Gray and Louise Badcock
                                                                                          (winners of the evening bridge
                                                                                                            session on the day of the AGM)
            Chair’s Progress Award:                             Irene Hancock

AOB : Peter Sykes proposed a vote of thanks to the Committee.
     There being no further business the meeting closed at 1.10 p.m. The Chair reported the decisions of the meeting and presented the relevant trophies to members attending the evening session on 23^rd  April 2019.