TROWBRIDGE COUNTY TOWN BRIDGE CLUB

trowBRIDGEclub

Annual General Meeting

Minutes of the Second Annual General Meeting

held on 27 April 2009 at trowBRIDGEclub at 6.50pm

Present:            Graham Baskerville (Chairman), Diana King, Ron King, Phil Green,

Eve Barwell, Pat Lewis, Ian Cain, Emma Jackson

40 people were in attendance 

Apologies:        Richard and Christine Moore, Peter Sampson, Sheila Rhys, Angeline and George Nicholson

1.         Chairman’s Report – the Chairman, Graham Baskerville reported the continuing success of the Club, which has gone from strength to strength.  The Club is now considered to be a serious duplicate Club with Duplimated boards, four directors and a senior tournament director of county standard.  The Chairman thanked the sponsors for their continuing support, and mentioned the success of the Murder Mystery event.  The Club is now in a position to go ahead with the purchase of an electronic scoring system, BridgePads, following a successful trial.  There are plans for a second Bridge evening later in the year.  New members from around the county, and students from the classes, continue to join the Club.  Results are published within hours on the Club’s website.  Partnering arrangements continue to expand and have successfully paired up new and existing members.

2.         Treasurer’s Report – the Treasurer, Ron King, reported a very healthy end of year balance of £4,900 although this would be reduced by £2,000 when BridgePads had been paid for.  This meant that the Club would be able to absorb the increased cost of Pay to Play (p2p) so that annual subscriptions and table money would not be increased.  However, no reduction would be made either, as it was possible that the Club would have to purchase its own Duplimate machine in the future, and the latest room rent increase would reduce our yearly profit for next year.  Proposed by Jill Wyatt and seconded by Joyce Etheridge, the accounts were accepted unanimously.  Richard Moore was thanked for his examination of the accounts and his appointment approved for the coming year.

3.         Changes to the Constitution – proposed by Jill Wyatt and seconded by Emma Jackson, it was unanimously agreed that in future the Chief Tournament Director should be appointed by the Committee rather that elected at the AGM and that, in addition to the Officers, the elected Committee Members should be increased from 4 to 6, that the quorum be changed from 5 to 6 and that the powers of co-option increased with changes in the appropriate paragraphs in the Constitution.  The amended Constitution was published in the AGM documentation which members approved.

4.         Election of Officers – proposed by Reg Midwinter and seconded by Rosemary Caddick, the Officers and Committee of the Club were elected as follows:- Chairman Graham Baskerville; Secretary Diana King; Treasurer Ron King; Committee Eve Barwell, Ian Cain, Pat Lewis, Pam Ward, and Emma Jackson.  The amended Constitution required the Committee to appoint the Senior Tournament Director as the post required technical expertise.  (Secretary’s Note: Phil Green was appointed to this post by the new Committee which met at the end of the evening.  In order to provide continuity, the appointment will remain until the Committee Meeting following the 2010 AGM).

5.         EBU Strategy on Pay to Play – Phil Green confirmed the arrangements for p2p which would come into effect on 1 April 2010 and that the Club would not be making any charge for this.  Indeed current EBU members would save £21 per annum as they would no longer have to pay their annual subscription.  Non-EBU Members would benefit with the magazine, diary, the training of directors and the availability of law books.

6.         Electronic Scoring System – Phil Green explained that the BridgePads system which we had been trialling had been positively received and the system would remain in place.  The handsets and computer were in the process of being purchased and Joyce Etheridge had kindly given a computer screen to the Club in order to show the results.

7.         Second Club Evening – Diana King explained that, with the success of the Monday evening Bridge, the Committee had decided to trial a second evening on the first, third and fifth Thursday evenings each month.  This arrangement would start on 17 September (third Thursday in September) and run until Christmas.  This would provide the Club with eight Thursday evenings on which to run the Bridge Club along exactly the same lines as Mondays, with Duplimated boards and BridgePads.  At the end of the period the Committee would look at the viability of continuing the second evening.  A reduction in rent has been agreed with the Cricket Club for this trial period.  Five tables would be required in order to break even.

8.         Any Other Business - there being no other business the Chairman thanked everyone for attending.  The meeting closed at 7.20 p.m. and Bridge commenced.