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Draft
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the North Eastern
Bridge Association held at Newcastle Bridge Club, 23rd
May 2007 at 6.30pm
Present: Pauline Durie
(Chairman) Ken Spragg (Vice Chairman), Susan Caygill
(Treasurer) Ian Rankin (Chief
Tournament Secretary), Mike Baker (Secretary) and 37 members
Apologies:
John Howie, Clive Owen, Ian Muir
1
Chairman’s report. The Chairman thanked Newcastle Bridge
Club for their hospitality, and apologised to Cramlington BC
for the change of venue, as Cramlington BC had originally
agreed to host the meeting. Pauline thanked the members of
the Executive committee for their work during the year,
Association members who had represented NEBA, and all the
club players who had made the last year successful. She
reported that the Durham students who had represented
England in the World Universities event in China had
finished 27th in a field of 39. Pauline
continued, mentioning two areas she feels of are concern –
poor attendance at Council meetings, so decisions taken may
not represent the opinion of the majority of clubs and
members, and the problem of complaints, which have to be
vigorously investigated in accordance with the Constitution.
The first problem would be resolved if club representatives,
or their nominated proxies, attended meetings, and the
second would be avoided if players were courteous at the
table, to both their partners and opponents.
2
Minutes of the previous AGM. The minutes of the 2006 AGM
had been on the NEBA website since June, and had been
displayed at the host club. Ian Spoors proposed, and Susan
Green seconded, that they be accepted as read. This proposal
was carried, and there were no matters arising.
3
Treasurer’s report. The treasurer produced the balance
sheet, and the only query was which charity had benefited
from the donation. The Chairman said it was the Alzheimer’s
Society. The treasurer described the increase in entry fees
(from £5 to £6), which had been agreed by the executive
committee, and finished by thanking Chris Hope for his work
as auditor. Acceptance of the balance sheet was proposed by
Sue Green and seconded by Ian Rankin, and carried
unanimously.
4
Secretary’s report. The secretary said that Ponteland Village had left the
association during the year. He said that of the 27
remaining clubs, only 4 secretaries regularly responded to
his e-mails. He would appreciate a fuller response.
5
Amendment to the Constitution. The secretary explained
that the Executive committee and the Council had voted to
include the County Youth Officer as a co-opted member of the
Council, subject to approval by the AGM. The required
amendment to achieve this was to add the words “County youth
officer” between “Tournament Secretaries” and “and Team
Selectors” in paragraph 7a) line 5 of the Constitution. Liz
Muir proposed the amendment, which was seconded by Tony
Bell, and carried unanimously. (Sec’s note: the County youth
officer is Ken Pattison, who would be delighted to hear from
anyone interested in helping)
6
Election of Officers. Only one nomination had been
received for each post, and the following were re-elected
unanimously after their block adoption had been proposed by
Susan Green and seconded by Nigel Durie.
Chairman: Pauline Durie Vice Chairman: Ken Spragg
Treasurer: Susan Caygill
Secretary: Mike Baker Chief Tournament
Secretary: Ian Rankin
7
Election of Auditor. Chris Hope was proposed by Malcolm
Oliver, seconded by Beverley Godfrey, and re-elected
unanimously.
8 Any
other business.
a.
NEBA Simultaneous
Pairs. Noel Bailey asked why the same hands were played on
three nights in the NEBA simultaneous pairs competitions.
Ian Spoors explained that many clubs played on only one
night of the week; so spreading the event over 3 nights
enabled most clubs who wished to participate to so do. On
some nights only 2 clubs played the hands, and the cost of
producing separate hands/booklets for so few was too high.
To incur such expenditure would be irresponsible to the
point of recklessness. It was agreed that the executive
committee would consider possible changes to the system.
b. Club
Champion Pairs & Teams. Tony Bell lamented the low number of
entries to these events, and asked why attendance is so
poor. In response it was said that alternative venues had
been tried, and that we already had our limit of green point
events, although the events chosen for green pointing could
be changed. Brenda Charlton explained that many players
play at several
clubs, but could represent only one in the competitions. It
was also noted that some of the less strong clubs saw no
chance of winning the John Clark salver, so did not send a
team.
C.
Bridgemates. In response to a
question from the floor the Chairman explained that the
Executive had looked at the possibility of buying
bridgemates and decided that it would not be cost effective
at the moment.
There being no further
business, the Chairman thanked all who had attended, and
wished them a pleasant night’s bridge. The meeting
closed at 7.05pm
Mike Baker
(Hon Sec)
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