Southam Bridge Club - Chairman’s Report on 2018
Another stable and successful year for the Club. We began the year with 55 (out of 60) existing members renewing their subscription and during the year we gained 5 new members. Average weekly attendance was 26 compared with 28 in 2017.
The Stand-by Player scheme worked well again and we had a volunteer for 39 out of 49 possible weeks (compared with 37 in 2017 and 39 in 2016). However, we do seem to need to constantly remind members to think about volunteering and to remember to put their name down. Thank you to everyone who has taken part and especially to those who volunteered more than once.
There were 30 people at the Children in Need Simultaneous Pairs evening (26 last year) and the total donated was £90 (compared with £93 in 2017). We have participated for many years in this competition, which started in 2002, and this year saw the cumulative national total for donations pass £1 million.
Earlier in the year we also took part in a simultaneous pairs evening organised by Gloucestershire County Bridge Association in support of the English Juniors who were about to head for China for the World Youth Team Championships. Unfortunately the evening clashed with the world cup semi-final match between Croatia and England! Nevertheless 16 members attended and the donation was £52 (discretionary donations plus the table money which the club donated).
The Christmas party was excellent with 36 attending (40 in 2017). A reminder that the Club pays for the drinks and equipment but otherwise costs are kept low by the effort and generosity of all those who make and bring the food along. Thank you again to all involved.
We have discussed the pace of play a number of times and confirmed that the Club aims to play 27 boards and have a short break at half-time. It is principally the Director’s responsibility to keep play on schedule but this requires co-operation from the members. Please try to be aware of whether you are falling behind schedule and if so move on as quickly as you reasonably can.
At the November 2018 committee meeting it was decided that the club would establish a more modern and enhanced website (hosted by Bridgewebs) and also change the software program used to score the results to greatly simplify uploading them. This was introduced in January 2019.
After quite a number of years on the committee Gwynne and Mary Ann have decided to retire. On behalf of the Club I would like to thank them for the time and effort put in to help maintain the smooth running of the Club. I am delighted that Sarah Lear and Diana Wright have agreed to stand for election as committee members and, subject to members’ approval, look forward to welcoming them.
I imagine most of you will be aware that on 25th May 2018 a new set of standard data protection laws known as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect across the EU. The Club is not required to have a Data Protection Officer nor register with any compliance authority but it is required to follow the general principles contained in the GDPR and our approach will be explained during the 2019 AGM.
During the year we had the very sad news of the death of Gordon Weir who although only playing at Southam occasionally was a long-standing member of the club.
Once again I would like to acknowledge and thank all the Directors and the committee members for their various contributions towards the smooth running of the club and in maintaining the friendly and sociable atmosphere.
Tony Reeves
04/02/2019
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