LOUGHTON CHESS CLUB AGM 2014

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting
held at the Club's premises
on Tuesday 17th June 2014 at 7.45pm

Present:

Gordon Clarke (in the chair) plus 10 others: Alistair Clark, John Campbell, Martin Van Tol, Simon Moth, Eric Spielmann, Robi Neogy, Oliver Finnegan, Graham Kershaw, Kevin Bowmer, Ronnie Melhuish

Apologies for Absence:

Ken Groce

Minutes of the Meeting held on 16th July 2013:

These were approved

Matters arising from the minutes:

none

Treasurer's Report:

JC reported that the balance at 30th April 2014 was £629.42, with little change from last year's balance of £633.85 . He thanked RN for auditing the accounts.

Team Captains' Reports:

Essex League 1st Team :

MVT reported that the First Team used 11 players during the season and avoided relegation in a split league with the strongest three teams aiming for promotion and the weakest three aiming to avoid relegation. The team won 3 matches, drew 1 and lost 6. SM was player of the year, with 61% over nine games and no losses

Essex League 2nd Team:

JC reported that the 2nd team remains in Division 3 having finished 2nd bottom with 3 wins, no draws and 7 losses. MVT was player of the year with a 50% record.

NCCL Team:

SM reported that in the NCCL B division, the club finished 4th out of 6th teams and had again reached, but been defeated in, the semi-final of the Finchley Cup. The team played 10 matches and won 3, drew 2 and lost 5, with RM as player of the year. SM thanked Ken and others for their assistance in setting up boards and clocks.

MVT highlighted the requirement to agree barred players for next season once grades were finalised.

GC thanks the Captains for their efforts.

Club Tournament :

OF reported winners of the club tournament as follows:

• JC won the upset prize, defeating OF and KG
• Ben Leadon won the grading prize
• OF won the tournament

KB requested that previous year's tournament spreadsheet to be used as basis for uploading future data to the website

Website Report:

KB reported that he had very recently taken over the website and would be looking at alternatives to Dreamweaver. It was agreed that results of league matches would be copied to KB when they were being sent to the League.

Programme for Next Season:

It was agreed that the club continue to enter 2 teams in the Essex League and 1 in the NCCL.

Proposal to change club night to a Wednesday

This was discussed on the basis that a large number of away matches take place on a Tuesday, frequently leaving the club very quiet. It was thought that by moving the club night to Wednesday, attendance might be improved. This was approved by 7 votes to 2. GC undertook to confirm with the Parent Club that there was no problem with a move to Wednesday.

Proposal to use incremental time controls for home matches

This was discussed with KB describing the advantages and disadvantages. It was unanimously approved that the club moved to 80min + 10 second increment for home match time controls. Note that this applies to Essex League and Club Tournament matches, but not to NCCL matches

Election of committee:

It was agreed that the committee for the following season would be:

OF relinquished his position as tournament organizer but has volunteered to assist setting up boards and clocks where possible.

Trophies:

Prizes were awarded to Players of the Year and Club Tournament winners as described above

Any other business

Methods for attracting new members to the club were discussed, including leafleting, local council publications, info in local newspapers and schools. It was agreed that the club should defray the membership fees of new members from existing funds as considered appropriate

JC was thanked for his long contribution to the club over many years.

The meeting closed at 9.20pm.