AGM August 2016
Lytham Ex-Service Chess Club
Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 4th August 2016
Present: John Cooper (Chairman), John Regan (Treasurer), Keith Sansom, Ben O’Rourke, Dennis Davies, Pat Coleman, Bob Tinton, Peter Wilson, Colin Wilks, John Cox (Secretary)
Apologies: Phil Raynor, Colin Liddle, Paul Evans, Geoff Robinson
Minutes of Club Meeting 24th August 2015 were accepted and signed off by the Chairman.
Actions Arising - All actions had been successfully completed.
Chairman’s Report:
In my last report I commented on the static membership of the club. I am pleased to tell you that last season saw a slight increase in membership, including some experienced players. We have succeeded in keeping Kit Hopkins and Tom Leah on our books despite their migration to university and they attend the club regularly whenever they are down from university. We are discussing a possible change of venue to Booths in St Annes this evening and this could lead to an increase in membership as some members have already pointed out.
We have succeeded in keeping 4 teams running in the League this year but none of them have won any trophies. Our only team success has been a victory for the Geoff Robinson/ Pat Coleman led team in Rapidplay Cup Plate competition, winning the final by 7.5-0.5 against Poulton.
I wish to thank the two Johns for their stirling efforts in running the club over the past year. John Cox has been a highly efficient secretary and webmaster whilst John Regan, our treasurer, has been the welcoming face of the club for new members and has dealt with the main club to good effect.
Finally, our thanks are due to the team captains and to our tournament organizer, Paul Evans, for continuing to run the Club Championship. Family and business commitments have prevented Paul from playing much chess this year, so it is to his credit that he has kept going as our tournament organizer.
Secretary’s Report:
There has been little activity this year. The club website has been maintained reasonably up to date. ECF July gradings are shown for Club Members on our website on the ‘Members’ Details’ page.
An analysis of games played for the Club is also shown on the Members’ Details page. This showed that Phil Raynor had gained the most points, 7, for the Club this year from 14 games. Ben O’Rourke had played the most games, 16, and gained 6.5 points. Pat Coleman had also gained 6.5 points from just 11 games.
Treasurer’s Report:
John Regan presented the annual accounts which have been externally audited. There was an increase of £77 in the amount carried forward. The full statement is available on the Club website on the ‘Members > Club Documents’ web page as 2015-2016 Accounts. The Treasurer proposed that the annual Club Fees be retained at £20 and this was agreed unanimously.
Tournament Organiser’s Report:
In the absence of Paul Evans, the Chairman proposed and it was agreed that the Club Championship had been well organised.
John Cooper and Ben O’Rourke were joint winners of the Championship with 4 points each and Ben also won the award for the best under 150 player.
Captains’ Reports
- First Team: (Report by John Cooper)
In the League we finished at the bottom of the table with seven losses and just one win. Our win occurred when our former strong juniors, Kit Hopkins and Tom Leah, were playing for us, but unfortunately they have been away at university for most of the season and were unavailable. For the reasons mentioned in my report as club chairman Paul Evans was also unavailable for most of our matches. Colin Liddle was also available for only two matches owing to absence working away from home.
The absence of these strong players meant that I was obliged to bring into the team Ben O’Rourke, who played in seven matches, Lynne Morrison(5) and John Regan(3), but all of them scored at least one point for the club. My thanks go to all of them and to Phil Raynor who played in all but one of our matches.
- Second Team: (Report sent by Phil Raynor)
We were in contention at the top of Division B for a large part of the season but crucially lost our last match against Preston 3. We actually ended up in third position behind Preston 3 and Bispham 1.
- Third Team: (Report by Keith Sansom)
The 3rd Team finished in fourth place in Division B but on the same points as Poulton 2 in fifth place. Both teams had one win, one draw and six losses.
Our overall game scores were three wins, fifteen draws and fourteen losses. Pat Coleman was our best player, taking part in all eight matches and achieving two wins, five draws and one loss. My thanks go to all nine players who supported the team, usually against much stronger opposition.
- Fourth Team Report : (Report sent by Geoff Robinson)
In the League the 4th Team won 2 games and drew 1. Unfortunately this was not enough to avoid last place. Nevertheless it allowed 11 members to play competitive chess including 3 new members who moved onto higher teams. Many thanks for all who played. Looking forward now to a better result next year
Rapidplay Second Team
The second Team, captained by Geoff Robinson and Pat Coleman aided by Dennis Davies, Ricky Lord and John Cox beat Poulton 2 by 7.5 points to 0.5 to win the Rapidplay Cup Plate in the final.
Election of Officers and Committee:
The Club Officials (Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary) confirmed their willingness to continue for another year and were elected unopposed.
Prior to the meeting, Paul Evans had already confirmed to John Cooper that he would be delighted to continue as Tournament Organiser. He also asked John to inform the members that he would like to play in the next Club Championship, since he is unlikely to play in League matches because of business and family commitments. Because of his difficulty in getting down to the club on Thursdays he would like to play his games at weekends or on other days during the week. There were no objections to this arrangement.
John Cooper was re-elected as Team 1 Captain for another year.
The Chairman undertook to ask Phil Raynor to continue as 2nd Team Captain.
Geoff Robinson had previously resigned from the position of 4th Team Captain for health and domestic reasons. This resulted in a re-organisation of 3rd and 4th Teams with Pat Coleman taking on the Captaincy of the 3rd Team and Keith Sansom becoming 4th Team Captain.
Programme for next Season:
The programme cannot be defined until after the League AGM which is to be held on 8th September 2016. There was some discussion over whether the 3rd Team should move down to Division C, but this would depend on Morecambe 2 being promoted to Division B from Division C and if so should Poulton 2 or Lytham 3 be demoted? Pat Coleman as new Captain of the 3rd Team was of the view that the 3rd Team should remain in Division B for at least the next year. John Cooper and John Regan undertook to look after our interests at the League AGM.
Proposal to change the Club Venue
Prior to the AGM, John Cooper had sent a note to all members stating that the Committee were looking at the possibility of moving from the Ex-Servicemen’s Club to the new Booth’s Supermarket in Ansdell. This follows the very successful move by Poulton Club to Booth’s supermarket in Poulton. John Regan was able to quantify the cost saving to the club as about £230 per year based on the cost of rent to the Ex-Service Club of £310 in 2015 less 4 times £20 refund for League Team fees. There are other advantages such as greater visibility in a more attractive environment for potential new members (Poulton has seen an increase in membership since their move), easy car parking (of particular interest at the AGM as there was considerable difficulty in parking because of the Lytham Festival).
There are disadvantages in that Booths closes at 10pm and hence the Club would have to start at 7pm instead of 7:30pm to allow 3 hour playing time. Concerns were also expressed about the possible loss of social facilities such as playing in the bar on club nights when there are no formal matches. (Coffee did not seem to generate the same ambience although Coffee Houses are common in Europe). Access to Booths by bus was also a concern as there is no bus service along Heyhouses Lane. There would be storage for boards and chess pieces, but the library could not be accommodated. However Peter Wilson volunteered to be custodian of the library and catalogue the books. This was gratefully received. Concern was also expressed that shoppers might try to take advantage of a place to leave children whilst they shopped under the pretence of the children learning to play chess. To counter this, it was agreed that children would only be allowed if accompanied by an adult.
Ben O’Rourke proposed that John Cooper and John Regan should continue with negotiations on the basis of moving to Booths after the Silver Queen Tournament (to be held on 15th September). A vote was held on the move and all present were in favour apart from one abstention.
It was noted that the name of the Club would have to be changed if we moved and ECF, League etc. would need to be notified of the change in name. No decision was made on a name, although Lytham St Annes Chess Club seemed to be favoured.
Presentation of Club Trophies:
Club Championship
As already stated John Cooper and Ben O’Rourke shared the Club Championship trophy and Ben O’Rourke won the under 150 rating competition.
Len Gibbins Memorial Cup
This was presented this year to John Regan for his work as Treasurer and for identifying a potential new home for the Club. He was also commended for his frequent attendance on Club nights, providing the welcoming face to the Club for new members and in his dealings with the main club.
Player of the Year
Pat Coleman was declared to be Player of the Year for his outstanding achievements in his successes in the League and in the Rapidplay Cup matches.
Other Business:
There was no other business.
John Cox
Club Secretary