MINUTES OF THE AGM OF THE STRATFORD ST MARY BRIDGE CLUB
HELD ON WEDNESDAY,27TH MARCH 2024 AT 6PM
Apologies for Absence: Christine Cooke, Robin Dromard, Adrian Hopkins, Emma Fowler, Mary Moir
Minutes of the Previous Meeting: Proposed by Sheila Gibson, Seconded by Vicky Potter.
Matters Arising: None.
Chairman’s Report
Paul Rickard thanked the committee members for their help during the year: Sheila Gibson and Elizabeth Knowlson for setting up the tables etc; Nick Reay and Christine Cooke for directing and scoring and Derek Brinkley for ideas.
During the year the club had averaged 8-9 tables, just below pre-Covid levels. Table money and subscriptions had remained the same. The Club had almost broken even. Derek Brinkley and Marlene Chant were taking a director’s course this spring and will be joining the directing team. There were 2 local teaching groups (Nick Reay and Emma Fowler) from which the Club could attract new members. The Club would be working with Emma Fowler and the Langham Bridge Club to set up supervised playing sessions.
The SSMBC is one of 15 SCBA clubs. We hosted the Teams of 8 competition in November. In the recent Teams of 4 competition a Club team comprising Derek and Rita Brinkley and Debbie and Martin Burwood came third.
Secretary’s Report: The Club had 66 members who had played regularly throughout the year.
Treasurer’s Report
The Club made a loss of £155.72 during the year. Table money and subscriptions will remain at £3 and £5 respectively for the coming year. After the Club resumed playing after Covid, the Community Centre reduced the room hire charge from £80 to £70 to help us while we encouraged members to come back to playing at the Club. The room hire charge will go up at some point. When it does we will have to increase table money. The Club currently has about £1500 in the bank.
Election of Officers and Committee: The Officers and committee members agreed to stand again for the 2024/5 year. Proposed by Maggie Demuth, Seconded by Joy Bevan.
Appointment of Auditor: Jenny Hart audited the Club accounts for 2023/4 and has agreed to continue as the Club auditor for 2024/25. Proposed by Derek Brinkley, Seconded by Sheila Gibson.
Award of Prizes: May Li and John Gan won the Pairs Competition. Debbie Burwood and Margaret Scurlock were the top 2 in the Individual Handicap Competition.
Any Other Business
Fun Evenings: Sheila Gibson said the individual competition held at Christmas had given members a chance to socialise, and she had enjoyed it. Alaric Cundy suggested pairs competitions using IMPs scoring. If you made the contract you scored well. If you went off, you would score badly if one pair made the contract. Paul Rickard said this could be tried, and it would not make any difference to pairs playing. It might encourage people to play keenly. Nick Reay agreed with this and suggested we play this format once a month. Derek Brinkley said this might be a bit too often, but it gave players a chance to practice if they were thinking of playing in a team.
Charles Ward enjoyed the individual competition at Christmas but preferred ordinary duplicate pairs on a normal Club evening. Vicky Potter just wanted matchpoint pairs. She said teams scoring was OK now and then, but wanted mainly duplicate pairs.
Paul Rickard asked the members if they would be interested in playing teams. Chris Rickard was in favour, but there was not much interest from members. Alaric Cundy said there could be a problem over traffic, and it might mean them letting down their other pair if they could not get to the Club on time. Paul Rickard said this might be a problem if there were pre-set teams. There would have to be a sufficient number of teams to make it worth holding a teams competition, and teams could not be played if there was an odd half table. Paul Rickard summarised by saying there was not enough enthusiasm for teams among members, but we could try IMPs scoring from time to time. We could hold individual competitions for special occasions like Christmas.
Debbie Burwood suggested they have an AGM pairs handicap as this would encourage lower ranked players to take part. Bob Violett suggested the 9 High Competition be made an open competition. Paul Rickard said this had been considered, as 75% of the SCBA membership had an NGS of less than 9. There were not enough tables for the 9 High Competition scheduled for 7th April 2024 to go ahead and it was being cancelled.
Up-to-date Phone List: After discussion it was agreed that Paul Rickard would write a note explaining how members could find other member’s phone numbers via the website rather than produce a paper booklet to distribute to members.
Ann Kelza Smith brought up the problem of biscuit crumbs on bridge tables, and asked that members leave the bridge tables as clean as possible.
The meeting closed at 6.30pm.
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