General Meeting
This page contains minutes of General meetings, rules revision, appointments, amendments to constitution.
Minutes – 2008–09
Minutes of General Meeting [Rules Revision Meeting] held 7:30pm, 4 April 2009 at Navigation CC
Present: D. G. Levens [President, in the chair], A. N. Walker [Secretary], R. J. Richmond [Treasurer], M. H. Barnes, C. Budd, R. Dyce, N. Graham, K. Harvey, B. M. Hayward, C. Holt, N. London, A. Morrey, D. Padvis, W. Place, D. Sudar, J. T. Swain, M. Taylor and T. Walker.
1. Apologies; minutes of previous meeting; matters arising
No apologies had been received.
The minutes of the 2008 Annual General Meeting [circulated with the papers for the meeting] were approved.
M. H. Barnes said that he had had to contact MCCU in order to enter teams. The Secretary said he normally entered teams via a form sent by the MCCU, but the system had not worked this year. B. M. Hayward asked about responses to the circular sent to all known players after the AGM; the Secretary said that response had been poor, some 20 replies.
2. Proposed revisions to League Rules
The two proposed changes, that Rule D9 should have the phrase “provided that the total game score of a team shall not become negative” added, and that the dates in Rule B2 and Rule A3(c) should be brought forward to “30 June” and “31 May” respectively, were passed unanimously without debate.
N. Graham said that FIDE rules would change from 1st July; he would circulate any changes that affected us.
3. Appointment of Honorary Life Vice-Presidents
The Secretary introduced the proposal from EC detailed in the papers for the meeting, and said that these appointments would be a small reward for long service to the NCA. The proposals were approved nem. con., and thereby Peter Dodson, Frank Ellis and Alan Morrey were appointed Honorary Life Vice-Presidents.
A. E. Morrey thanked the meeting, and said he had made many friends through chess. N. Graham said that perhaps the appointees could be invited to submit articles for NN, for example including best games.
4. EC matters
The President reported that the NCA had purchased a banner, suitable for display at NCA events; and that many of the posts left vacant at the AGM had been filled. He also reported that, following a loss of sponsorship for the 4NCL teams, EC had approved a levy of £3 per game, subject to some reductions and exemptions, leaving a shortfall of around £75 to be met by the NCA. M. H. Barnes said that these teams were 'private', so should not be subsidised, and D. Sudar queried the arithmetic. The Treasurer said that the situation had become clear only after the first two rounds had been played, and it had been thought unfair to attempt to levy retrospectively; and N.Graham reminded the meeting that it had been his proposal that the NCA should enter the 4NCL in place of the Open county team, and that the NCA had agreed to support the Nottinghamshire 4NCL teams to a similar extent to other county teams.
R. J. Richmond reported on the Rapidplay and the Congress. The former had an entry of 130, up 10, leading to a surplus of £130; the latter had an entry of 148, up 8 despite clashes, leading to a surplus of around £600. M. H. Barnes expressed his appreciation to R. J. Richmond for his efforts. D. Padvis suggested a letter of appreciation to the High School for the venue; this was in hand.
R. J. Richmond said that, amidst some controversy, ECF had changed the grading limits for next year's County Championships; instead of U175, U150, U125 and U100, we would have U180, U160, U140, U120 and U100. In conjunction with the re-grading exercise, this amounted to a considerable change.
The Treasurer said that the list of signatories for the bank mandate was now very out of date; Mrs J. Waddingham had died, and A. J. Wright was not currently active, though still accessible. This was not an urgent problem provided that this meeting approved his proposal, supported by EC, that cheques up to a value of £250 need have only one signature. This value covered all normal expenditure, including the Congress prizes. This proposal was approved nem. con.
5. Amendments to the Constitution
The President introduced this item, based on the draft paper previously circulated and the proposed constitutional changes to implement it. The principal points were to set up an Executive Board to replace EC in a more formal way, and to split the role of President into a figurehead and a chief executive, who would not be bound by the three year rule. There was a long debate, in which participants said that it was good to re-invigorate the NCA every three years, that many of the ex Presidents present would not have been willing to undertake the role indefinitely, that EB needed a quorum and perhaps limits on numbers from each club, and that the imminent standing-down of the present incumbent made the proposed changes either irrelevant or timely, depending on point of view. The President made it clear that he was not personally seeking the CE role. N. Graham said that he had served as CE of MCCU for 18 years, and it had worked well.
When the proposals were put to a vote, the changes to Clause 11, proposing the setting up of EB, were passed by 9 votes to 7; this failed to meet the required two thirds majority, so there was no change to the Constitution. The related proposed changes to Clause 9, covering items to be dealt with in general meeting, were defeated by 7 votes to 8. However, the proposed change to Clause 2, changing “Objects” to “Aims”, was passed by 16 votes to 1.
6. Any other business
B. M. Hayward reminded the meeting that there were other items in the draft paper which had led to the constitutional proposals under item 5. R. J. Richmond said the point was to regularise the way in which officers were elected so that incumbents were not ambushed on the night. D. Sudar said that clubs should send delegates to the AGM, in which case the problem would not arise. The President said that he had been swayed by the debate, and now proposed that it was right to vote on the night; it was rare anyway for a post to be contested.
R. J. Richmond asked if the date of the AGM had yet been set; it had not.
B. M. Hayward said that there had been a shortage of information this year, and it was therefore difficult for those not on EC to know what was going on. N. Graham expressed thanks to D. Coates, who had become webmaster, but it was still incumbent on EC to produce minutes. T. Walker said that if it proved difficult, in the absence of NN, to get information to members directly or via the web site, perhaps at least club secretaries could be kept informed.
The President presented B. M. Hayward with a £20 book token in the light of the Presidential Award which he had announced at the AGM.
Meeting closed at 10:30pm.
ANW