Minutes of committee meeting held on 19 August 2020 at 6pm via zoom
Present:
Mark Goddard Chairman
Ian Dovey Treasurer
Sue Wright
Sue McIntosh
Keith Spencer
Jane Hall
- Apologies: Shirley Ashtari, Graham Brindley
- Treasurer’s report and approval of accounts
The draft annual accounts for the year ended 31 March 2020 had previously been circulated to the committee. It was proposed and seconded that the accounts were approved, which was carried unanimously.
It was noted that there had been no income/expenditure (other than settling the outstanding creditors) since the accounts date and so the bank balance sat around the £16k mark. Some income was anticipated soon from the BBO drives and P2P.
It was noted that the rent charge in the accounts was for 2018, 2019 and the first three months of 2020. From January 2020, Nottingham Bridge Club had introduced new pricing and that resulted in a county match costing £75 (£60 room and £15 for duplimate) and a county night costing £30 (£25 room and £5 for boards). The cost of special events depended on the number playing. The use of the room for teaching was free.
- Change of bank signatory – the appointment of new signatories needs to be formally minuted for the bank to action it. It was agreed to postpone this until after the AGM to ensure that the named people were ongoing committee members
- AGM – it was agreed to hold the AGM at 5pm on Saturday 26 September. SW agreed to handle the admin around sending notices to the members of the meeting in sufficient time to meet the constitutional requirements.
The meeting will be held by zoom. As NCBA does not have its own zoom account, it was agreed to ask NBC if they could use their account for a small charge [NBC have agreed to it being used for free].
One agenda item at the AGM will be around the county element of the P2P charge. It was unanimously agreed that the committee would propose that it should be set at zero for the 2021 year.
- MCWG feedback – the main feedback was around the fact that EBU are currently looking at strategy (focusing on non-affiliated clubs) and that the inter-county league was likely to restart in an online format in October, albeit there were details still to be ironed out (including who would administer it).
- BBO activity – it was noted that NBC, Phoenix, Woodborough, East Bridgford, Sunday Tigers and NCBA all offered online drives on BBO. IN addition, other clubs such as Retford were offering drives on funbridge. It was discussed whether it was felt that the clubs needed anything from NCBA at this time. It was felt that they were well established now and had their own support networks, plus Keith was seen as a point of contact if people needed help.
It was discussed if NCBA should be putting on any other events. It was felt that NCBA should only do events which are not offered by the clubs. A team of four competition was organized, but it was mentioned that this was being done privately for free in the county (NCBA would have to charge UMS), which coupled to the fact that there were no volunteers to run such a competition meant it was not seen as viable. A swiss pairs tournament or looking to hold some our existing events was mentioned and it was felt that this is the way to go. This would be discussed further at the next committee meeting.
- Club conference actions – it was noted that the club conference was held earlier in the year, but that not much had been done in follow-up to it. A major reason for that was Covid which rendered many actions not applicable in the short term. The other major reason was the personnel change at NCBA. SW had found notes and other feedback in respect to the conference and agreed to pull together something to share with eth clubs and move this forward.
- Return to physical bridge – The return to physical bridge was discussed as it is the main factor facing clubs in the next 12 months. It was noted that an imminent return is unlikely for many clubs, but that there was knowledge of some clubs playing around the country and some bridge holidays running.
Whilst there was a limited amount NCBA could do, it was felt that there were actions we could take – in particularly to join up local clubs to share knowledge to disseminate national knowledge we may be aware of and maybe provide advice on risk assessments (although any assessment must remain the responsibility of the individual clubs). It was agreed that MG would send an email to club secretaries to try and start this process.
- Date and time of next meeting – to be agreed after AGM
- AOB – Thanks to JH for all her help (she is stepping down at the AGM) and to MG for stepping into the Chair role to move things along.
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