Nottinghamshire Contract Bridge Association
 Committee Meeting
28th August 7pm @NBC

Minutes.  Apologies were received from Chris Frost, Mark Goddard and Sue McIntosh.  (after the meeting apologies were also received from Maciej and Jane Hall). The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

Matters Arising.  Ian Dovey requested that information pertinent to the minutes but decided later should be indicated as so, it was decided that this information would be put in brackets.  Clare Batten has said that the date of the proposed blue point event has been changed because of a similar event in Derbyshire so as to avoid a clash it is now to be held on 20th October.

Chairs report  Toni asked the group if Pravin Tailor could be co-opted onto the group as he was now involved with organisation of the county teams.

 She asked that we look back at the bridge festival in July and review the event.  It was decided that we needed to do more planning. So we needed to be thinking now about what was needed to be done.  We would hold another festival next year but it would be just for Nottinghamshire. (see correspondence received from Ripley bridge club regarding the SIMs)   This would be based around the date of the Green point events. The SIMs would be held on the Monday of that week as this was the day that we could get maximum club participation.  The Priday cup needed some tweaking of the criteria for entry.  The NGS qualification would be put back down to 9.  The maximum number of boards would be 24.  It would be a level 2 event.  It was noted that some education was needed to encourage people to enter.  Many of the players this event was aimed at were not aware of the NGS grading system and more publicity was needed.  The TD conference was not as well attended as in previous years no one from Leicestershire had come despite an invite being sent to their committee. Members of the committee who attended however commented on it being useful and who like it to run again. It was mentioned that the title of the masterclass was too vague which had put people off from coming although the attendance on the night for the class was just about the right number.  The libraries initiative was not well attended.  It was observed that when SNOTTY had done this it was later in the year in the autumn/winter time when people were more interested in finding some new hobby to pursue.  Pravin who had helped with the teams event on the Sunday said that this was not well supported it was noted that many clubs do not run teams events.

The Chair had also received 2 pieces of correspondence.  One involved the SIMsthere was a complaint by Ripley bridge club that they had not been allowed to enter and that it was discovered that they had not contacted the organiser directly.  The other involved the “leakage of club sessions” and the chair could not at this stage discuss this further.

The Chair noted that there had been another liaison meeting with Nottingham bridge club.  The meeting had been attended by David Treharne, Mel Sheppard, Andrew Scott from the bridge club and by Toni Smith, Clare Batten and Graham Brindley from the county committee.  It was noted that Graham had offered to start beginners lessons at the club during the day to start Thursday morning in October.

Toni asked if we had any suggestions for a county president now that Ankush had left the area.  It was agreed that Toni write and invite John Auld if he would take on this position.

Secretary report.  Clare said that although she had not attended the Midlands working group The EBU had ask us to identify whether it was possible for clubs to provide more session of bridge.  They had also discussed the proposed changes to the session charges for county events.  The county will lose their discount on the amount they pay the EBU to run a session and it was noted that this will have an effect on the county finances.

Treasurers report.  Ian reported that the current account was currently £5764 and that we had approximately £10,000 in the savings account.  There was some discussion as to whether we could get a better interest rate by making investments elsewhere but Ian pointed out that organisations could not always make these investments as they may be restricted to individuals.  Paul Sweet was asked to look further into this and liaise with Ian over the matter.

Teams of Eight.  It was noted that Jane had sent out the information for the start of the new season.

County sub groups:

Communications sub group Clare had tried to get interested parties to meet to discuss this further with little success.   It was agreed that Clare will contact  people again to work on this matter.  It was suggested that the following people form the subgroup.  Clare as county secretary, Sue Wright, Keith Spencer as Web master and possibly Sue McIntosh (who was not present at the meeting).

County Events sub group Sue McIntosh the chair of this sub committee was not present and so Toni stated that they had met.  The minutes of the meeting had not been sent to the whole committee so it was difficult for the committee to discuss the recommendations.  It was decided therefore that these should be available to the whole committee at the next meeting.  The following was discussed:

County nights It was confirmed that the county night on 11th would be held and that Mark Goddard had agreed to organise this and that Keith would direct and do the boards.

Matches  a selection committee had met to make a selection for September's game, 3 Captains had been chosen and they were Mark Goddard for the first team, Pravin Tailor for the second team and Sue McIntosh for the third team.  It was asked why the selection had not been put on the web and Clare  replied that she was waiting for Sue Mcintosh to get back to her with a suitable message to all those who had not been selected as she felt that they should not find out by looking on the internet.  Clare also expressed her concerns that 45 people had expressed a wish to play for the county but many of these may become disillusioned with the county if nothing is done for them and they are not selected.  Toni said that Sue had been in contact with Derbyshire over having 2 friendlies and that 2 dates had been offered for a home and away game however because of her work commitments Sue may be unable to organise these any further Pravin agreed to take this over Special Events Graham stated that he did not think this was part of the sub groups remit.  It was suggested that there be a separate sub group to look into these events.  Graham handed out the list of dates for these events for next year.  It was decided that Graham look again at some of the dates for possible clashes.  Another blue pointed Swiss pairs could also be run midweek in February.  Clare to consult with the EBU about whether 27th February is OK as the county needs a licence to run these events.  The profit sharing arrangement with the 3 counties and the use of Spondon as venue was breaking down.  Leicestershire now had their own premises.  Ian said that there was little to be gained financially from it remaining so it was decided to not continue this arrangement.  Toni then suggested if this was the case why would we necessarily need to use Spondon she also said the if Sue Mcintosh was here she would suggest a hotel be hired for the green point events.  Other members of the committee then suggested we make use of the halls that local bridge clubs use.  Nottingham bridge club is not big enough for this type of event.  It was also pointed that the people attending would want food and also a bar.  The use of a hotel for this event would need costing out and could increase the price of the event.  This has to be weighed against any potential increase in attendance.

Trophies Sue has struggled to get these up to date.  It was agreed that Sue purchase a cabinet as soon as possible to go up at Nottingham bridge club and then we may all be able to help sort out the trophies.  Ian said that the mixed pairs trophy was a salver but Sue was unable to find such a trophy and other trophies had no space on them.

Youth Bridge Paul Sweet said that on his recent trip to Keyworth to present prizes for the SIMs he had discovered that SNOTTY had become involved in the EBU initiative to get bridge in to schools and he wondered whether the county committee could support this in some way.  Ian who is on the SNOTTY committee said that he was aware of the initiative.

AOB Toni asked whether we should have a clubs conference next year in late February and if so what should the theme be?

Graham proposed that we give the bridge club £100 a year for teas and coffees used by the supervised play session that the county run on a Wednesday afternoon.  This was agreed.

It was decided that the committee would meet to discuss a restricted agenda in order that they could discuss the minutes of the county events sub group.  The committee will therefore meet on 9th October