Minutes of 3rd AGM of Austin Friars /Carlisle Chess Club
Held on Thursday 21st August 2014 in the clubroom.
Attended by George Glover, Bill Hardwick, Drew Millar, John Lydon, Alan Little, Bruce Wallace, Phil Walters and Dave Siddall.
1 Apologies;- Were received from Jason Maxwell, Chris Royle, Bill Burgess and Ian Mackay
2 Chairman’s Address (GG);- George Glover briefly thanked everyone for attending and Bill Hardwick and the various team captains for organising events through the year.
3 Minutes of the 2012 AGM (no 2). No meeting was held in 2013;- The minutes have been circulated and are accepted as correct.
4 Secretary’s Report (BH);-Nothing to report in this capacity at all – no real problems arose.
5 Treasurers Report (BH)
Accounts have been prepared but still only in draft form as we work on a year ending 31st August, although this can easily be changed. At present though I am just waiting for a bill for trophy engraving which will tidy things up.
As it stands we ran at a deficit of £39.77 (£13.15 last year). The club Bank balance now stands at £305.81, having been £428.68 when we set up in this format in 2011. We are very fortunate in still having no room hire costs to worry about and long may that continue courtesy of Austin Friars School. However, I think that our funds could do with a bit of a boost and although I would prefer to keep our subs at £3.00/£1.00, especially as Cumbria Chess and the ECF have made no increases it would probably be sensible to ask for £5.00/£2.00 this year. This was voted on and approved.
Another possibility may be to look at grants which could be available. Penrith succeeded with this, although their situation was special having lost all of their equipment, but Maryport also received a decent payment in response to their application.
6 Membership Secretary’s Report (BH)
Numbers this year stand at 19 adults and 7 juniors, compared with 16 and 8 the previous year. There are quite a few “uncertainties” though with Mike Hodgkinson still recovering from a broken hip. Chris Royle does not think he will be able to take part (and next year we will lose Jason too). Bill Burgess has hardly played the past year and I would like to see if he may get involved again. The Greenup brothers haven’t been for some time and it would be good to keep in touch them. Towards the end of last season Tom Bradford and Mark Libby got in touch and they may wish to take part this season but to what extent I cannot say.
As ever we would benefit from a few more members, both adults and juniors.
We are to consider preparing a “Flyer” to place in the library and perhaps in some schools.
7 Website Organiser’s report (JK) ;- No report received from John Kelly but at present the Carlisle Club website does still seem to be a “work in progress”.
8 Election of Officers :-
Chairman (GG)
Secretary (BH)
Membership Secretary (BH)
Treasurer (BH)
Tournament Organiser (vacant)
Website Organiser (JK)
Each of these positions was confirmed, with it still being the case that no specific Tournament Organiser has been appointed but that George Glover will arrange the Lightning Tournament, Bill Hardwick the Club Championship and also the Carlisle Rapidplay although it may not be possible to find a suitable date for that this season.
9 How many teams should we enter in the Cumbria League, the Whitaker Cup and the South Tyne League this season?
We discussed this at some length as it had been one of the main reasons for the meeting being held. The format of the Cumbria league will change this season and could be a one-division, county wide league, with all-play-all. However, depending upon the number of teams entering, the league may be split but in that event it has not been decided if the split would be based on playing strengths, geography or on some other basis. Teams entering may therefore have to travel across the county and also face the top teams depending upon what is decided.
At present we have 20 graded players but Chris Royle will not be playing this season and Steve Benn still cannot commit to regular games. It was felt that this was not a sufficiently large enough squad to adequately support four teams so we decided that we would enter three teams into the league.
For the Whitaker Cup we have fielded two teams for the past few years but agreed that we should enter three teams this year. Hopefully this will give playing opportunities to some members who may not get many games with only having three league teams entered.
In the South Tyne league it was confirmed that we will again enter our Austins and Friars teams.
10 Election of Team Captains;-
“A Team” – (PR)
“B” Team – (IM)
“C” Team – (BH)
Austins – (BH)
Friars – (J M)
Whitaker Cup “A” Team (JK)
Whitaker Cup “B” Team (IM)
Whitaker Cup “C” Team (PW)
The existing team captains were all confirmed and Phil Walters volunteered for and was elected as the Whitaker Cup “C” Team captain.
11 Club Championship 2014;- The trophy was presented to this year’s winner George Glover after explaining that his possible challenger to share the title, Jason Maxwell, was simply unable to complete his final fixture because of his opponents’ ill health. Once engraved the shield will then be full so arrangements will be made to buy a new trophy for the competition. This was one of the reasons for the increase in this year’s subscriptions. It was suggested and unanimously agreed that as the current holder as well as being the winner or joint winner for 9 of the last 12 years that George should be allowed to the keep the trophy.
12 Club Championship 2015;- Discuss format of competition.
Proposal from Phil Walters;-
Can I suggest the club consider playing the club championship this year with each player playing each other twice, once as black and once as white. The club season seems long enough to accommodate this. Also to encourage as many members as possible to participate, give cash prizes for first place, for best junior score and say a grading prize for members under 140 level etc. This could be funded by membership fee, or a separate fee to play in the club competition or as agreed.
This topic was discussed in detail with many possible variants being suggested. Everyone actually agreed that Phil’s proposals were very appealing but assuming a similar number of entries this year as last then to expect everyone to complete perhaps 22 or more games by playing as black and as white may be unrealistic. If the number of entries should reduce then it will certainly be considered. The cash prizes were not generally favoured and it was decided, for now at least to continue the competition in the present format.
13 Next AGM ;- To be held in late August 2015 if a meeting is required
14 Any other business;- None
The meeting was closed and thanks to all attending.
Bill Hardwick (Secretary)