HELSTON BRIDGE CLUB

Minutes of AGM held at Hens Horn Court on 4 October 2022

Present : 19

John Couser, Rod Bell, Sandra & Chris Bickerdike, Carol Trezise, Janet Meredith, Heather Peers, Jackie & Bob Royds, Colin King, Geoff Plowman, Chris Kempton, Owen Prior, Graham Kidson, Liz Whittaker, Diane Johnstone, Judith Williams, Jane Ritchie, Annie Russell

Apologies : 7

Val Clifford, Linda & Phil Dickson, Marion & Brian Mitchell, Laurie Burley, Jack Jeffrey

1.The minutes of the last AGM in 2019 were read briefly by acting Chair Rod Bell, and accepted.

2.The Chairperson’s report was read out. Rod thanked Val Clifford and her committee – Sandra, Linda and Diane - for their hard work since 2013.

3.The outgoing Secretary gave a brief resume of the last 2 ½ years:

March 2020 – Last F2F session at Football Club

August 2020 - BBO online bridge started

October 2021 – Unsucessful F2F Monday afternoon bridge at Carleen

March 2022 – Hens Horn Court F2F Tuesday evening started, concurrently with an online session.

Summer 2022 – Numbers dwinding at both sessions; some cancelled

4.As a totally new committee is needed, the nominations were read out, and they were duly elected unanimously :

Chairman                  John Couser

Secretary                  Judith Williams

Treasurer                  Geoff Plowman

Committee               Janet Meredith

At this point, Rod stood down, and John took over chairing the meeting.

5.The Treasurer’s Report was presented by Geoff; audited by Colin. Total funds on 30 April 2022 were £5820.48, an increase of nearly £1000 on 2019/20. The need to keep this much was raised particularly as it may be liable to Corporation Tax if the authorities got involved.

In view of above, the agenda Motion “The club suspends any membership fees for the next year” was brought forward, and unanimously adopted.

Cups have been already disposed of, and prize money will be discontinued.

6. The agenda motion “That para 9.11 of the Constitution be amended to permit voting at the AGM (a) in person by show of hands, (b) by proxy, or (c) online” was discussed, and a counter motion including (a) and (b) but excluding (c) was put forward and accepted unanimously by the meeting.

7. An additional motion “That the committee has the authority to make obvious amendments to the Constitution to enable it to implement any motions passed at the AGM” was put forward by the Chair, and this was passed unanimously.

8. The agenda motion “ That the Club continues to run both a face-to-face and an online session concurrently on a Tuesday evening” was discussed at length. The poor attendance at both sessions is in part due to the fact that those members who are currently willing to play either online or F2F, can only play in one session on any one evening.

The motion was eventually voted on and defeated by 8 to 5 with 3 abstentions.

9. A counter motion “That the Club continues to run both sessions but not concurrently, and that the committee explores the viability of running on two different evenings” was discussed and carried by 15-1 with one abstention.

10. Liz Whittaker and Jane Ritchie told us about the new Penwith club they are setting up. They have booked Leedstown Village Hall for the second  Saturday afternoon starting this month. They are starting with a maximum nine tables with afternoon tea included. The Helston tables, currently stored in Heather Upton’s loft, will be used and stored permanently at the hall. This is a pilot scheme to run for three months. No master points will be awarded as the club will not be EBU affiliated.

The meeting welcomed this initiative, as it will encourage more players to play F2F. 

The retiring secretary, Sandra, and retiring committee member, Diane, who organised the Friday and Saturday sessions,

were thanked for their work and both were presented with beautiful flowers and a gift token.

There being no other business, the meeting was closed at 7.00pm.

Sandra Bickerdike

Retiring Secretary