Minutes of a Meeting of the NEBA Executive Committee, held at St Georges’ Bridge Centre, Darlington 9 February 2007

Present: The Magnificent Seven – Pauline Durie (Chairman), Ken “The Silent” Spragg (Vice Chairman), Sue Caygill (Treasurer), Bev Godfrey (Congress Sec), Ian Spoors (Chocolate Biscuit connoisseur), Ian Rankin (the Redcar Rebel) & Mike Baker (minuteer to the great & good)

 1. Apologies:
Chris “the Shadow” Benneworth (Chief Tourney Director)

2. Minutes of the Last Meeting:
The minutes of the last meeting (11 Oct 06) were approved.

3 Matters Arising:
a. The new computer for which funding had been approved (para 18) had yet to be purchased. It is hoped that Chris Benneworth will buy a suitable machine on his return from Vietnam, or perhaps he has gone to the Far East to research the matter.

b. The proposed venue of the AGM (Newcastle  23^rd May) is assumed to be acceptable to the Club, as the secretary has received no reply to the contrary.

4. Minutes of the Council Meeting:  There were no matters arising from the minutes.

5. NEBA Congress:
The congress had been successful. 42 tables for Pairs, 43 for teams, and 11 for the Newcomers event. The Chief TD said that the suite was not required, and a room close to the playing area would suffice for the 2007 Congress, which is 9^th –11^th November. The treasurer thanked Bev for the early presentation of the Congress accounts, which showed a surplus of £1100 - £1200, with some bills still outstanding. The increased surplus from the Congress was in part because there was no NEBA funded party. Bev thanked Pauline & Ken, her “spare pair”, and all who helped to make the weekend successful.

6. Treasurer’s report: 
The treasurer said that overheads had increased generally, and proposed that entry to NEBA events should be increased from £5 to £6 with effect from the start of the 2007 season. This was agreed, and Council will be informed. Sue thought the year-end surplus would be £400-£500.

7. Change of EBU Seniors’ date:
The Chairman had written a jolly cross letter to the EBU stating her displeasure and seeking compensation. No reply has been received as yet.

8. NE League:                     
Ian the Rebel said he had polled participants to establish what they wanted, but the concept of seeding teams had been rejected as the event was individually and not club based. The event is contained within a season, and is the gateway to playing in the Pachabo. Top teams had a busy start to the season, and would have difficulty fitting matches in before Christmas. The matter will be referred to Council. Ian took the opportunity to remind all participants in NEBA events of the need for courtesy throughout, and the mandatory requirement for convention cards to be available, and correctly completed.

9. Kempson Cup & Plate, and NEL rules;
Ian Rankin proposed a minor change to rule 8, so that “two different days of the week” becomes “2 different weekdays”. The change is to ensure that not only weekend dates are offered. This was agreed.

10. New League:
A name for the teams-of-4 league, approved at the last Council meeting, was needed. After much cogitation Ken Spragg suggested the quite brilliant “Diamond League”. This reflected not only the quality of entrants, but our logo as well. It was approved.

11. Tollemache arrangements:
The secretary explained that the venue had been moved from Kettering to the Hinckley Island hotel (just off Junction 1 of the M69) which is to become the permanent venue for EBU central events thereafter. A limited number of rooms were available at a special rate, so the secretary had booked rooms accordingly.

12. EBU membership:
Members are to be asked to enter their EBU number on entry forms for all NEBA events. This is to facilitate checking before the event. Players joining NEBA after 1^st November will pay half the annual rate.

13. NEBA Event format: The King Cup and the Deane Salver will be full 2-session events, with no meal provided.

14. St Georges Bridge Centre rates: Notification of new rates, applicable from 1^st September 2007 and valid for 5 years had been received. The treasurer had done her sums and stated the increase was in line with inflation, and therefore reasonable. The executive agreed.

15 Chronicle Cup – Finals format: Ian Spoors explained it was necessary to have a 7-table cup final, and a 12 table subsidiary final. This was to ensure that the EBU requirement of the main final being smaller than the subsidiary final was met, even when players had to be moved up to the main final. It also allowed the top few places in the subsidiary final to qualify for “greens” (points, not Brussels sprouts). The semi-finals attracted smaller numbers than previously, and the organiser cannot select pairs who score less than 50%. A small field therefore limits flexibility. The executive agreed, and the matter will be referred back to Council, when Ian Spoors will present the case.

16. A.O.B.
a. Bishop Auckland had raised the issue of an article posted on www.Poorbridge.com to which the club members had taken exception. The Chairman had asked the webmaster to remove the link between our two sites, and pointed out that the aforementioned site is not within our editorial control. Stronger action was not considered appropriate.

b. Ian Spoors stated that draft minutes should not appear on the web.

c. Ian “biscuit” Spoors explained that each club is told where their semi-finalists in the Chronicles should play to provide balance. Pairs do not have a right to choose in which semi-final they will play. A request may be made for a good reason, and the tournament secretary will oblige when possible.  He further explained that the Morpeth  semi-final had been arranged to facilitate qualifiers from Alnwick and Warkworth. Players from neither club were present, so Morpeth has not worked for the intended purpose, and venues may well be changed. (we like Chester-le-Street because of their biscuits)

c. There had been problems scoring the last 2 Sim Pairs. Clubs should review their movements and seek assistance from “the Shadow”. If Scorebridge is used, the Neuberg option rather than the default setting should be used.

17. Next Meeting: Friday 18^th May, at Ian Spoors residence

There being neither business to discuss, nor biscuits to eat, the meeting was closed about 10.15pm.
A special note to Brian Wright - The biscuits we ate were not Darlington’s.