Nottinghamshire Contract Bridge Association
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Wednesday 16th May 2018
6.30 pm at Nottingham Bridge Club
Minutes
Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence had been received from Phil Dale and Sandy Fulton.
Minutes of the AGM held on 10th May 2017
These were approved by the meeting. Proposed by Graham Lee and seconded by Graham Brindley.
Chairman’s Report
John Auld informed the meeting that this would be his valedictory report, as he was standing down from the committee after many years’ service. He thanked the twenty three people present for coming to the AGM. He also thanked the committee for all of the hard work that they had put in over the past year. It was their love of the game that kept the committee going.
John Auld commented that the year had been fairly uneventful, with the county teams not exactly being successful. He drew attention to the performance of Ankush Khandelwal, one of the county’s younger players, who had done very well in several national events throughout the year.
John said that the committee had organised a club conference for the affiliated clubs within the county. At this event the representatives of the clubs had had the opportunity to discuss what they wanted from the county organisation.
The chairman mentioned that it was good to see the South Notts Consortium had launched a fast track teaching scheme and were also running a two weekend course in June. He wished the consortium well for the future.
He commented that in the eight years since the introduction of Universal membership, the number of NCBA members had increased dramatically. Given that the majority of these new members were “social” players rather than “competitive” players, meant that the emphasis for NCBA should change. Competitions for this type of players should be introduced. A long term plan to get more players competing in county competitions needed to be implemented.
Event Winners and Presentation of Prizes
The following prizes were presented:
Teams of Eight League
Division 1
Winners: Nottingham Gambit
The team would represent the county in the Garden Cities Trophy
Runners Up: Retford A
Division 2
Winners: West Bridgford A
Runners Up: Woodborough A
Division 3
Winners: Mansfield
Runners Up: Phoenix B
Teams of Four League
Division 1 Winners: Palookas
Winter Pairs (Wednesday Night Drives)
The overall champion was Lloyd Eagling.
Farr Cup (Similar pairs): The winners were Steve Raine and William Crook.
Black Cup (Mixed pairs): The winners were John & Irene Auld.
Treasurer’s Report and Submission of Accounts to 31st March 2018
Ian Dovey, the NCBA treasurer, commenced his report by thanking Martin Mellor for checking the accounts. He explained that the excess of income over expenditure had decreased from £504 to £385.
As in previous years the NCBA had paid the entry fees for county representatives to play in the Pachabo, Tollemache, Corwen and Garden Cities competitions.
Extra expenditure this year had been incurred in running the clubs’ conference and organising a session on the new laws for county directors. These together with the drop in universal membership income had caused the drop in excess of income over expenditure.
On the positive side, the new Wednesday afternoon teaching drives had generated over £1000. The treasurer thanked the Nottingham Bridge Club for their generosity in allowing the county to use the premises free of charge, and the NCBA committee members who ran the events.
The accounts were approved by the meeting. This was proposed by Mel Shepherd and seconded by Lloyd Eagling.
The meeting then discussed the county component of the universal membership table fee. It was decided that it should stay and the present rate of 4p for the moment.
David Adams stated that it would be beneficial for the committee to have a financial plan for the following year. The problem of doing this, when the income stream was unknown, was raised. It was agreed that the costs of any strategy plan should be considered.
David Adams formally thanked the committee for the support that they had given to the South Notts Consortium teaching scheme.
Election of Officers
No vote was needed as there had not been two candidates standing for the main committee posts, and there were still general vacancies on the committee.
The committee will be:
President: Position vacant
Chair: Toni Smith
Hon Treasurer: Ian Dovey
Hon Secretary: Clare Batten
County T.D. Keith Spencer
County Captain: Position vacant
Other committee members
Shirley Ashtari
Graham Brindley
Jane Hall
Hilary Kirkland
Paul Sweet
Sue Wright
Members present were asked if they would consider joining the committee.
Mark Goddard thought that it was important to fill the post of county captain. The committee thought that a suitable person would be found before the start of the new season of county matches.
Motion Concerning Teams of Eight Fixtures
Sandy Fulton and John Rolph had submitted the motion that
“For the first half of the season matches are to be organised and agreed by 31st October. For the second half of the season, matches are to be organised and agreed by 31st January”
It was stated from the floor that the present rules had tighter restrictions regarding the second half of the season, as the first match in the second half often had to be played by the end of January.
The motion was defeated on a show of hands.
The new chair, Toni Smith, agreed that this topic would be discussed at the next committee meeting.
John Auld was thanked by Ian Dovey for his many contributions to Nottinghamshire bridge over the years, both as a member of the committee and as a player. Toni Smith echoed these sentiments and also wished to place on record her thanks to the committee members who were standing down, namely Irene Auld, Chris Clark and Gordon Fullerton.
The meeting finished at around 7.30 pm. The meeting was followed by drinks and nibbles and a free game of bridge.
P.S. After the meeting Mark Goddard agreed to join the committee, so has been co-opted onto the committee.
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