NCBA Committee Meeting Minutes – Monday 11^th January 2021 by zoom

Present: Mark Goddard (Chair & County Captain, MG), Ian Dovey (Treasurer, ID), Keith Spencer (County TD, KS), Shirley Ashtari (SA), Brian Brooks (BB), Chris Frost (CF)

Apologies: None

1. Minutes of last meeting (12 October) were approved.
2. Matter arising from minutes

MG noted that the county did not enter a team into the Tollemache. This was due to difficulties raising a suitable team that wanted to play bridge online the whole weekend. It was noted that no East Midlands county submitted a team.

KS noted that the Priday Cup was run with 26 boards. The winners included a guest from outside the county, so the trophy went to Colin Horsburgh and Gerard McCormack.

KS also noted that he had attended the EBU AGM as a shareholder and nothing of note came out of it.

3. Finances.

ID reported that the County were receiving income each month due to the Wednesday evening drives run by KS and currently had no outgoings.

The most recent statement (6^th January 2021) showed a balance of £6,310.

At the AGM it was agreed that the county’s portion of the UMS charge would drop to zero for the following year. This usually applies form the start of the EBU’s year (April), however they had allowed counties to bring in the change earlier and as such NCBA adopted form the beginning of December.

ID confirmed that he is still pursuing the online banking arrangements with Natwest and the matter is ongoing.

4. Entry to EBU events

MG noted the EBU were planning to run events this year which the county would ordinarily organise qualifying events to determine the county’s representation. In addition, as the events were cancelled last year, they had altered the eligibility this year. MG noted that he had a conflict of interest for the first two events discussed, having been part of the winning team/pair the previous year.

Garden Cities – the county representative is usually the winner of the Team of 8 league. As no league is being run this year, the EBU have confirmed that last year’s winners (Nottingham Bridge Club) could be the county’s representative. It was noted that no prize money had been given to Nottingham Bridge Club in lieu of the entry fee last year. As such, it was agreed that Nottingham Bridge Club be the county’s representative and NCBA will pay the entry fee as they would have the prior year.

Corwen – the top three pairs in the Journal Cup are normally the county’s representatives, with the winner’s entry fee being paid. The Journal Cup is being run this year and as such that is still the case. In addition, the EBU have said that the winning pair form last year can also be entered (if not qualifying). It was agreed, that if they wanted to play, NCBA would also pay that pair’s entry fee (as would have been the case the previous year).

Pachabo – The normal representative is the winner of the county team of 4 knockout competition. The EBU have stated that the team being entered could be up to 8 to allow last year’s winners to also take part. A team of 4 qualifier has not been planned yet, but was to be taken away as an action point for further consideration and the entry position confirmed at the next committee meeting.

5. NCBA events

Team of 4 league – MG thanked ID for doing an excellent job running the event before Christmas which had 14 teams. ID was willing to run another iteration and as such that is going to start from the end of January. Once again NCBA will cover the P2P charge. It was agreed we would make a push t see if we could get to 20 teams.

Journal Cup – This is to be held on 7 March. It was agreed that entry price would be BBO$5 per person (to reflect the green points on offer) and it would be 36 boards with a 40 min break (or thereabout) after 18.

Mixed Pairs – This is to be held on 7 February at 2:30. 24 boards and BBO$3 entry.

8 High inter-county teams: MG noted that the MCWG were organising a one-off teams event on 30 January aimed at people who had NGS 8 or less. This was intended to be Midlands wide, with counties entering the teams. It was agreed to email out to see if there was any interest. NCBA to cover the entry fee of £8 if there were any takers.

Other possible events were discussed such as Blue Point/Green Point events, individual tournament, swiss teams tournament, and simultaneous pairs. The latter it was agreed that KS would canvass the Wednesday attendees to see if they were interested. On the others, it was felt like there was enough through March and that other events should be considered at the next meeting.

6. Communications

MG thanked SA for her work on the newsletter.

MG noted that he had a lukewarm response to an initial email around a club chair’s meeting, but that he did plan to proceed when time permitted.

7. Unaffiliated clubs

MG noted that a new club had affiliated – the Reach club based in Southwell. This had been found out after the event (the EBU did not tell us) and MG had reached out to the Chair of the club.

It was agreed that more effort should be made around attracting unaffiliated clubs/players, however there was no easy way to do this. MG was going to try and get hold of a presentation done by Oxfordshire to their unaffiliated clubs and it will be discussed at a later meeting what options we can practically pursue.

8. Date of next meeting

Monday 1 March at 5pm via zoom

9. Other Business.

1. MG mentioned the MCWG and that he was struggling to attend. BB agreed to attend on NCBA’s behalf.
2. MG noted that he was unlikely to be willing to continue as both Chair and Captain (and may step down form both) following the next AGM due to time commitments, as such the committee should start considering options.
3. KS noted there were 872 members of which c300 were online.