Wednesday 22 March 2023 at 5 pm via Zoom

PRESENT: Mark Goddard (Chair), Shirley Ashtari, Chris Frost, Mel Shepherd, Keith Spencer, Julia Staniforth, Roger Stock and Dave  Treharne.

1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted there were no apologies as all members were present.

2. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING HELD ON 4 JANUARY 2023

The minutes were agreed as a correct record.

3. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

1. Both the Teams of 4 and Journal Cup competitions had been highly successful attracting 8 teams and 22 pairs respectively. The cost of the Journal Cup was in the region of £300 and it was agreed that the Journal Cup be limited to 36 boards in future and incorporating a Howell movement in the first half and a Mitchell movement for the second half.
2. The cost of entry to the Tollemache was now £182 rather than a much higher fee when played F2F. Mark agreed to contact the A squad players to ascertain views on whether to approach Derbyshire CBA to enter a combined team.
3. Mark reported that he intended to host further seminars at the end of April, May and June 2023, with topics of general play, squeezes and one to be determined, all on Realbridge to avoid participants having to change platforms.

4. CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR 23/24 AND FREE ENTRY FOR PRIDAY CUP WINNERS

It was agreed that the programme for next season should be in line with this season as follows:

Mixed/Open Pairs F2F at Nottingham Bridge Club on Sunday 22 October 2023

Priday Cup, F2F at Nottingham Bridge Club on Sunday 12 November 2023

Teams of 4 (Qualifer for the Pachabo event) on Realbridge on Sunday 28 January 2024

Journal Cup F2F at Nottingham BC on an agreed Sunday in March 2024.

Dates to be fully confirmed when venue availability is confirmed and any possible change to the Director’s availability.

The winner of the Priday Cup would be awarded free entry to a future Midland County 9 High event currently costing £6 per pair.

5. REVIEW OF LEAGUES OF 8/PROPOSED RULE CHANGES

No further issues had been reported in respect of the smooth running of the league and the League Secretary had provided a document with some minor rule changes following a dispute that had arisen in the first half of the season’s fixtures.

The Secretary agreed to contact all the club contacts to ascertain the number of teams that were likely to be entered in the league next season and the preferred platform.  When the default platform has been agreed a review of the league rules would be completed.

6. COUNTY MATCH ORGANISATION

 Shirley was thanked for ensuring that as far as practicably possible a team of 8 was available for the three sections and on occasions this had led to last minute changes due the withdrawal of players at very short notice.  This had led to a suggestion that a team captain be appointed to assist with these issues. It was felt that the arrangements in place were satisfactory but there was a need to designate a captain/person to be responsible for the movement of boards in F2F matches.  It was expected that next season matches involving significant travel would continue to be played online but those of neighbouring counties would be played F2F as part of the continuing promotion of F2F bridge.

7. TROPHY INVENTORY AND STORAGE ARRANGEMENTS

Keith explained that it had been difficult to find an organisation that could engrave and value the trophies but one had recently been approached and it was intended to circulate a list of the trophies and their values when the work had been completed.

8. TREASURER’S REPORT, FUTURE UMS FEES AND INVESTMENT REVIEW

Details of the transactions that had taken place to date had been circulated and it was expected that expenditure for the year would be in the region of £1k with no income receipts.  It was noted that in the current year there had been no EBU competition fees paid but in the forthcoming year there would be entries for the Garden Cities, Pachabo and Corwen competitions however the fees if played online were much less than when played F2F and would be less than £500 in total. Roger would forward the documents to Mark after the year ending on 31 March for preparation of the accounts to be submitted to the Independent Examiner and to the AGM.

It was agreed that the UMS fee for 24/25 to be recommended for adoption at the AGM would be 4p.

Discussion took place on the investment of just over £10k currently with Scottish Widows attracting less than 1% interest and that there were options to invest with Nat West in a 95 day notice account attracting 1.5% or with Cambridge and Counties Bank that offered a 95 day notice account at 3% and a one year fixed bond paying 3.5% with a minimum invest of £10k.

It was agreed to invest the Scottish Widows investment in the one year fixed rate bond with Cambridge and Counties Bank as soon as practicably possible.

9. LEAGUE OF 8 REVIEW

   This had been dealt with under item 5.

10.   REVISED DATE FOR AGM AND ARRANGEMENTS

Following the decision of the EBU to amend the date of the Garden Cities competition to a date that coincided with the AGM it was agreed to revise the date of the AGM to Saturday 20 May 2023 commencing at 4.30 pm. The Secretary would amend the documents for display on the website and arrange to notify clubs and members.

11. WEBSITE MATTERS

The Secretary would email copies of the minutes to the webmaster for display and details of the AGM would be displayed in large text on the homepage with supporting documents accessible by a link.

12.   EBU MEETINGS AND CORRESPONDENCE

 a) The information relating to the availability of a county logo incorporating the EBU logo was noted.  

      b) The Secretary would contact Nottingham BC to ascertain if the club wished to enter a team in the Garden Cities event as they would be the league winners.

c) The Secretary would contact the three leading Nottinghamshire pairs in the Journal Cup to ascertain if they wished to enter the Corwen Trophy competition, the leading Notts pair qualifying for free entry. Keith indicated that as winner of the teams of 4 event he wished to enter the Pachabo competition and would notify the secretary of the team members when the team was finalised.

d) The EBU had issued a survey requesting the county’s view on whether the Corwen and Pachabo competitions should return to F2F or remain online.  There was no clear view and this would be relayed to the EBU.

13.  REPORT FROM MIDLAND COUNTY WORKING GROUP

Copies of the minutes of the meetings had been circulated and there were no specific issues to address other than to note that the Secretary had secured 6 entries to the next ‘9 High’ event scheduled for Saturday 25 March 2023. Feedback would be sought from the entrants and if positive, arrangements would be made to market any future events more widely. The fixtures for the next Midland County league would be arranged so that neighbouring counties would play matches at the beginning and end of the season so that if F2F there would be less likelihood of adverse weather affecting the fixtures.

14.   AOB/ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING

1. Four sets of bar codes had been purchased costing £16 for the dealing machine to ensure that boards were dealt sequentially.
2. Keith had displayed on the website the success of Willie Crook in winning the EBU Christmas Quiz.
3. The disaffiliation of Reach BC was noted.

15.   DATE OF NEXT MEETING – Wednesday 7 June 2023 at 5.00 pm on Zoom.