AGM September 2013
Lytham Ex-Service Chess Club
Lytham Chess Club Extraordinary General Meeting 26th September 2013
In attendance:
John Cooper , Colin Liddle (writer) , John Regan , Phil Raynor , Dennis Davies , Keith Sansom , Ben O’Rourke , John Cox , Geoff Robinson and Jonathon Hartley.
Apologies for absence
Apology received from Paul Evans who is working away.
Minutes last year’s AGM
Minutes approved without comment.
Chairman’s Report
At the beginning of last season John Regan and I were busy trying to get the main club to agree a one-off annual payment for our room charge instead of the £10 charged on an evening by evening basis. We were unsuccessful in this but have probably saved some money because there were many evenings when we did not use the Function Room and thereby did not have to pay. Some players have been happy to play chess downstairs in he bar when there was no match upstairs but the bar lounge is not really suitable for playing serious games in.
John Regan has also investigated the requirement of reasonable access for the disabled to private clubs which is provided for in the Equality Act. This is particularly relevant to us but the Ex-Service Club has told me that it has no plans to provide any form of improved access for the disabled.
Our membership continues to decline and we are particularly sorry to lose Diego Garcia-Lucas who won the Len Gibbins trophy last year but has now moved away. There are some members who support the teams they play by playing in league matches but are either unable or disinclined to spend other evenings at the club. Last season I ran a couple of light-hearted evening sessions in the form of a “How Good is your chess?” quiz, using a large demonstration board and I think this was well received. We could do with some new members since it would help to keep down subscriptions and raise the level of club activity.
Over the board our only success has been achieved by our 3rd team led by captain Keith Sansom who have once again won Division C. They have now been Division C champions for 4 of the last 5 years and have decided to accept a promotion to Division B to which they are entitled.
Secretary’s Report
Secretary’s comments similar to Chairman regarding cost of use of premises which had transpired to be quite reasonable over the course of the year. The issue regarding disabled access to the upstairs room still remains. A 1 to 1 training session at Ben O’Rourke’s home was given by the Secretary earlier in the year.
Treasurer’s Report
- Accounts
The accounts although not audited were accepted..
The Treasurer was reminded to pursue the Ex-Service club for payment of our match fees.
Regarding Annual subscriptions John felt that it was reasonable to propose a membership subscription of £20.00 for the new season taking into account our healthy financial situation and this was agreed.
- CLUB SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE NOW DUE.
Members are reminded that they must also pay a yearly subscription to the ECF as well as paying for their Ex-Service club subscription.
- It was proposed and agreed that juniors (aged under 18) could join free although payment to the Ex-Service Club and the ECF would still need to be paid by them.
Tournament Organiser’s Report
There were a relatively few entrants in the Club Championship this year but otherwise there were no issues.
Captains’ Reports
- John Cooper 1st team
Finished bottom of the A Division. Suffered grade-wise against strong opposition.
- Phil Raynor 2nd team
A good season finishing in second position in the B Division behind a strongly performing Bispham team.
- Keith Sansom 3rd team
Another excellent year. Played 9 Won 7 Drawn 1 Lost 1
Keith’s team won the C Division once again and are moving into Division B this season.
- Geoff Robinson 4th team
Finished third out of four in Division C.
Amendments to Constitution
There were no proposals on this subject.
Election of Officers and Committee
‘The Usual suspects’ were re-elected!
Paul Evans is to take over the running of this coming year’s Club Championship.
Program for next season
The club is entering 4 teams in the league , and the Challenge Cup , and 2 teams in the Rapid-Play Handicap. (Captains: John Cooper and Geoff Robinson)
With 2 teams in the same Division it was mentioned that the League Rules require we ‘star’/nominate a total of 4 players from these teams.
Presentatio of Club trophies
- Club Championship
This year’s club champion is John Cooper.
- The Len Gibbins Trophy
The winner of this year’s award for services to our club is our Chairman, John Cooper.
- 2013 Silver Queen Trophy
There is a new winner this year !! Roy Ellames from Poulton won on tie-break to beat the perennial winner Preston’s Brett Lund.
Other business
Geoff Robinson proposed to run a Handicap event in the course of the year and this was agreed on a trial basis.
John Cox offered to set up a club website and this offer was well received. John is now the club’s Webmaster.
It was mentioned that details on Child Protection policy can be found on the Lancashire Chess Association’s website.
It was reminded that we should check to see if the local schools and libraries ,Aegon and British Aerospace had our contact details.
John Cooper has provided the following lists of potential dates for chess analysis for interested members. I.e. Club evenings with no club fixtures. Members are welcome to bring along any particularly interesting game of theirs for study and comment by John. We can also use some of these evenings as we did last year for a chess quiz along the lines of ‘How good is your chess? ‘ using the display board.
Thursday 24 October 2013 Thursday 07 November 2013 Thursday 05 December 2013 Thursday 19 December 2013 Thursday 02 January 2014 Thursday 09 January 2014 Thursday 23 January 2014 Thursday 06 March 2014 Thursday 13 March 2014 Thursday 27 March 2014 Thursday 03 April 2014 Thursday 10 April 2014 Thursday 17 April 2014