General Meeting
This page contains minutes of General meetings, rules revision, appointments, amendments to constitution.
Minutes – 2010–11
Minutes of General Meeting held 7:30pm, 11 July 2011 at West Nottingham CC
Present: R. J. Richmond [President, in the Chair], A. N. Walker [Secretary], S. J. Burke [Treasurer], P. Brace, J. G. Collins, R. Dawson, D. Griffiths, J, Edwards, B. M. Hayward, F. R. Hill, M. J. Hill, C. Holt, A. Kenyon, C. Kirkland, G. Ladds, P. Lam, D. G. Levens, N. London, D. Sudar, J. T. Swain, J. K. Walters and R. Willoughby.
1. Apologies, minutes, matters arising
Apologies were received from N. Graham, A. Morrey, P. Sherlock, J. Tait and T. Walker. The minutes of the previous meeting, the RRM, were accepted without change. In matters arising, discussion of ECF membership was deferred to AOB, and the President said that there would be a visit to the University on August 22nd, the anniversary of the start of the 1936 tournament.
2. Reports of officers and committees
The President said that it had been a smooth and trouble-free year. He paid tribute to the quiet efficiency of the NCA’s officers. Four county teams had qualified for the national stages, but we had been unable to launch an Open team.
The Secretary had nothing of significance to report.
The Treasurer reported that there had been little significant change in the NCA’s finances. Over the year, there was a surplus of £157, comprising a profit of £937 on tournaments and a loss of £780 on other activities. The biggest changes were increases of £204 and £115 in the profits of the Congress and Rapidplay, respectively, of £300 in the costs of the county teams, and of £174 in the League game fee submitted to the ECF. He proposed increases in League fees, and also to allow reasonable travel expenses to NCA officers attending meetings. Our overall balance as of May 31st was £8362, mostly held in a building society. The accounts had been audited. The meeting adopted the accounts nem. con.
The Treasurer proposed to increase League fees from £45 to £50 per team in divisions one to four, from £36 to £40 per team in division five, to increase the club affiliation fee from £12 to £15, and to increase the junior rebate from 30p to 35p per game. The President proposed that the junior rebate should remain unchanged; this was supported by 10 votes to 1. There was some discussion on whether fees needed to go up while the NCA had large reserves, but the proposal, as amended, was passed by 11 votes to 2.
There was no specific report from EC.
The League Secretary, D. Sudar, said that the League had run smoothly, apart from some postponements because of snow. There had been one dispute. Two teams had entered the League after the start of the season. The Records Secretary, D. Griffiths, said that the move towards e-mail reporting of results had gone well; only two captains were without e-mail. Some individuals had been slow. The LMC Chair, M. J. Hill, said that LMC was thinking about proposing the introducton of a ‘transfer deadline’ for new players in the League.
B. M. Hayward, as Grading Results Officer, said that he had nothing to add to his written report. This was his last report, after 25 years in office; M. J. Hill proposed a vote of thanks, which received enthusaistic support.
County teams:D. G. Levens added to his written report that the U180 team had won the national final, thus going one better than the previous year. He believed this was our first win since 1995. He proposed that the team should be presented with medals. The President said this would cost around £100. The meeting approved this expenditure, and congratulated the team.
J. K. Walters reported that the U160 team had lost in the national semi-finals, again thus going one step further than the previous year. He thanked all his players, and said they had had good results.
The Secretary read N. Graham’s report on the U140 team. The team had reached the national stages, but had lost in the quarter-finals. The team had done less well than the previous year as several players had moved up to the U160 team, and we had also lost some juniors.
There was no report for the U120 team; results had been reported to the web site.
D. G. Levens said that both U100 matches had clashed with major junior events. The team needed a captain who could play on the day. In response to a question from N. London about why the clashes had occurred, he said that there was a lot of junior chess taking place, and, for example, NHS had just again won the national schools championship.
J. K. Walters reported that the Ward-Higgs correspondence competition ran to 15th July, so was not yet finished. We so far had 7½ points out of 14. He had enjoyed his time as captain, but was now stepping down. The meeting gave him a round of applause.
The President reported on ECF and MCCU matters. ECF was moving to six-monthly grades. The paper on financing English chess would be discussed under AOB.
The President, in his role as Congress Director, said that entries for the County Championship were down, partly due to bad weather, but for the Rapidplay and Congress were marginally up. He thanked the congress team, especially for their work on the Congress Saturday, when NHS had been double-booked. He also thanked P. Sherlock, who had done the grading for the latter two events.
The Schools Liaison Officer, D. G. Levens, said that he was trying to develop a Secondary Schools League. We were coaching around 300 juniors, but except at NHS there was almost no provision of chess when they left primary school. Both the players and their parents were keen that this should change. He was in contact with a number of schools, including some outside the county. We needed new blood to coach; he would be running courses, and called for volunteers. M. J. Hill asked who would accredit the coaches; currently this is the NCA, but it is hoped that MCCU will come on board.
The Publicity Officer, D. G. Levens, said that a weekly column in the Evening Post had been promised, but had not materialised. He hoped to be able to publish an occasional article.
3. Prizes
The President made awards to Grantham 1 [Division 1], West Nottingham 1 [Division 2], West Bridgford 2 [Division 3], Mansfield 2 5 [Division 4] and Ashfield 4 [Division 5]. He also reported that A. Yap had won the County Championship, with M. Fletcher winning the U160 title, A. Kenyon the U135 title, C. Attwood the U110 title, and M. Fletcher the junior title. The Best Game prize had gone D. G. Levens.
4. Election of officers and committees
Officers and committees were elected, all nem. con., as noted in the following table†.
| Honorary Life Vice-Presidents | F. Ellis, B. M. Hayward, A. E. Morrey and R. M. Sayer—see note † |
| Executive Committee | |
| President | R. J. Richmond |
| Secretary | A. N. Walker |
| Treasurer | S. J. Burke |
| LMC Representative | M. J. Hill - see note 2 |
| Co-opted members | N. Graham, A. Kenyon, D. G. Levens - see note 2 |
| Team Captains | |
| U180 | D. G. Levens |
| U160 | J. K. Walters |
| U140 | N. Graham |
| U120 | R. Dawson - see note 3 |
| U100 | C. Smith McGloin - see note 3 |
| Correspondence | S. Foster |
| League Management Committee | - see note 4 |
| Chair | M. J. Hill |
| League Secretary | D. Sudar |
| Records Secretary | D. Griffiths |
| Members | S. J. Burke, C. Holt, N. London, T. Walker |
| Reserves | K. Harvey, D. G. Levens |
| Other Officers | |
| Grading Records Officer | P. Sherlock |
| ECF Representative | R. J. Richmond |
| MCCU Representatives | R. J. Richmond, D. Sudar, vacancy |
| Webmaster | D. Coates and W. Place (joint) |
| Congress Director | R. J. Richmond |
| County Championship | R. J. Richmond |
| Schools Liaison Officer | D. G. Levens |
| Publicity Director | D. G. Levens |
| Special Events and Blitz | TBA |
| Auditor | D. Griffiths |
† Names in italics represent appointments by bodies other than the AGM.
Notes:
- F. W. Ellis and A. E. Morrey were elected at a previous AGM.
- These members were not elected by the AGM but by the LMC and by the other members of EC, respectively.
- Appointed subsequently by EC.
- The Chair and the EC representative were elected by LMC.
- The meeting discussed the role of Bulletin Editor, left vacant for some years, and agreed that this should be abolished. EC was asked to discuss the wider function of this role.
5. Any other business
The Secretary said that he had received a flyer about the film Bobby Fischer Against the World, which was opening on 15th July.
The Treasurer asked how much it would cost to get a web-site system organised, and D. Griffiths asked whether there was a more efficient way. J. G. Collins said we could ask I. Kingston, and perhaps pay for his services.
D. Sudar proposed that for the 75th anniversary year of the 1936 tournament, we could offer free entry to the County Championship and double the prizes. M. J. Hill, supported by D. G. Levens, proposed that there should be permanent mementoes for the winners. The President said that he would ensure there were small mementoes, and a wooden rook for the winner, the silver rook being kept on permanent display. The rooks would be awarded retroactively for the past ten years. The meeting agreed nem. con. that entry should be free.
The President spoke to the letter received from ECF about their membership scheme. There would be Gold, Silver and Bronze memberships so that those who played more paid more. The onus to join would be on individuals, not the NCA. After discussion, the President said that the consensus was that the scheme was short on detail, leaving a degree of scepticism, and we remained to be convinced. EC would prepare a paper for the next General Meeting, presumably the RRM.
Meeting closed at 9:20pm.