Wednesday 4 January 2023 at 5 pm via Zoom
PRESENT: Mark Goddard (Chair), Shirley Ashtari, K Spencer, J Staniforth, R Stock and D Treharne.
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WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
The Chairman welcomed Dave Treharne to his first meeting of the committee following his co-option agreed at the July 2022 meeting.
No formal apologies had been received from either of the two members not in attendance.
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MINUTES OF LAST MEETING HELD ON 5 OCTOBER 2022
The minutes were agreed as a correct record.
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MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
- A former officer of the committee had confirmed that it was intended to submit a nomination to serve on the committee at the next AGM.
- Fifteen pairs took part in a successful Priday Cup event which had a late change of venue to Nottingham BC due to Woodborough Village Hall being unavailable.
Twelve pairs had competed in the Mixed Pairs/Open Pairs event played on Realbridge. A complaint had been received regarding the use of screens and it was agreed that screens would not be used for the forthcoming Teams of Four event. Shirley would provide a response to the complainant.
- Keith reported he had contacted the EBU regarding a county TD’s course but none were planned for the immediate future and so a date was awaited.
- There were insufficient pairs available to field a Tollemache team and discussion took place as to whether to explore the possibility of a joint team with Derbyshire who had also been unable to field a team. The two counties had previously joined together to run one day green point events. It was agreed to consider further at the next meeting.
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ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE FORTHCOMING TEAMS OF FOUR AND JOURNAL CUP EVENTS
Shirley reported that 6 teams had entered to date which would make a viable competition, Keith would direct and Mark would set up. A member had expressed a view that a F2F event was preferred. The committee confirmed that Realbridge was appropriate as the EBU Pachabo event for which this event was a qualifying event would be held on Realbridge.
The Journal Cup (qualifying event for the EBU Corwen Trophy) scheduled for 5 March 2023 would be held at Nottingham BC although the Corwen event was being held on Realbridge. Keith would direct and there was a requirement for a minimum of 36 boards so catering would be required. Shirley would seek the contact details of the former caterer to arrange.
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CLOSURE OF NEWARK BRIDGE CLUB AND CONTACT WITH REACH BRIDGE CLUB
The Secretary expressed disappointment of the closure of Newark BC but as there had been no indication it was not possible to provide any assistance. An apology was extended by the Secretary to the Chairman as contact details for Reach BC had been forwarded in the summer and were needed to be resent in order for the secretary to establish contact with the club.
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TREASURERS REPORT
Roger reported that all previous signatories had been removed and the new signatories of himself, Keith Spencer and Julia Staniforth were now in place. The address on the account had now been changed to the treasurer’s home address thereby completing all the necessary changes.
Dave enquired as to whether any financial information was published on the website and it was confirmed that it was only made available at the AGM. A proposal was put forward that the information be published on the website and following a vote, three members voted in favour, two were against and one abstained. Dave also enquired about the investment account held in a Scottish Widows Savings account and it was agreed that Roger would provide more information on the interest rate currently being received and the type of the account. Members would also seek information on interest rates currently available for business accounts for consideration at the next meeting.
Expenditure to date was around £600 but taking into account the remaining free bridge events a total spend of around £1.2k was expected. Roger would provide draft accounts for the next meeting.
Roger confirmed that he would be unavailable for the period 6 February to 9 March 2023 and therefore there may be a delay with any creditor payments.
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UPDATE ON LEAGUE OF EIGHT MATCHES TO DATE
Most of the first half fixtures had been completed with the exception of a match in division one which was scheduled for early January 2023 and a match in the second division which had been subject to a complaint due to late notification of suggested dates. Roger and Julia as the only non- members of the clubs involved had considered the complaint and produced a report which identified a need for clarification and remedies regarding the failure to agree fixture dates. It was agreed that a review of the general rules was needed and the Secretary agreed to contact the league secretary to seek any recommendations for rules changes for consideration at the next meeting.
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STORAGE OF TROPHIES
Trophies were currently stored with Keith (other than the ‘Robin Hood’ trophy for the green pointed teams of four event which was at Sponden) and needed to be relocated in the near future. Keith agreed to compile an inventory and to obtain a valuation for the trophies and consideration would be given to the matter at the next meeting. Nottingham BC had offered the use of a shelf in the club but this would only house some of the trophies.
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ARRANGEMENTS FOR AGM
The Secretary would co-ordinate the documents and circulation in accordance with the constitution which was available on the website. A nomination form had been produced for uploading on the website although an email with the necessary details was acceptable.
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WEBSITE UPDATING OF CLUB INFORMATION
Keith had commenced updating active club details and the removal of clubs who had ceased to exist. It was agreed to continue to display details of non-affiliated clubs in order to promote bridge playing.
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COACHING AND PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
Mark had commenced a debriefing session on the Monday evening after each county match and was planning a seminar on a Wednesday evening on Realbridge to demonstrate bidding of distributional hands. It was agreed this should be free of charge to participants.
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EBU MEETINGS AND CORRESPONDENCE
a) The Secretary reported that Chris had substituted for Keith and she and Chris had attended the EBU AGM in London. There was no voting other than to determine length of office of members of some committees. The Vice-Chair had resigned shortly before the AGM and Adrian Darnall had recently been appointed by the Board. The UMS for 23/24 would increase by 2p to £0.44, other fees would rise by a similar percentage and details had been circulated.
The issue of subsistence was raised and it was agreed that a lunch of allowance of up to £5 and dinner allowance of up to £20 would be paid and a total of £25 for day events such as EBU.
b) Details of a hardship fund for clubs and a buddy system with an EBU for county chairs were noted.
c) The EBU was providing an in-year ‘Master Points’ listing which could be sorted into national and local points and provided details of recent rather than a life-time performance. Counties were able to identify four winners from these lists and counties were encouraged to publish information on their website. Keith agreed to explore this.
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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 the promoting of the next ‘9 High’ event scheduled for Saturday 27 January 2023. Andrew Scott and some club secretaries had been asked to promote this and Shirley agreed to include in any emails to be sent to members prior to the event.
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AOB/ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING
The county match against Derbyshire in January would take place at Sponden and it was agreed that the February match against Leicestershire would take place at Nottingham BC providing catering could be arranged. Keith would arrange to use the Woodborough BC equipment to enable computer scoring to be used. There would be no charge to players. It was confirmed that no travel expenses were payable for the match at Sponden.
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DATE OF NEXT MEETING – 22 MARCH 2023 at 5.00 pm on Zoom.
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