General Meeting

This page contains minutes of General meetings, rules revision, appointments, amendments to constitution.

Minutes – 2014–15

• 13 July 2015
• 20 May 2015

Minutes of General Meeting held at West Bridgford Chess Club on 13 July 2015

Present were T.Walker (President); R.Richmond (Congress Director & West Bridgford CC); S.Burke (Treasurer & League Secretary); P.Sherlock (Grading Officer); N.Graham (Counties Events & Ashfield CC); Dr.A.N.Walker (Executive Committee & University CC); M.Naylor, B.M.Hayward, J.T.Swain, D.Padvis (Gambit CC); C.Holt (Grantham CC); A.Robins (Long Eaton CC); G.Neil, D.Griffiths, M.Swanwick (Nomads CC); M.V.Taylor, N.London (Radcliffe & Bingham CC); S.Luland (University CC); S.Scott, D.Levens (West Notts CC); W.Atiomo (West Bridgford CC).

1. Apologies for absence received from D.Sudar, A.Kenyon & M.Hill
2. Minutes of Rules Revision Meeting of 20th May 2015 were approved; proposed A.N.Walker; seconded N.London.
3. There were no matters arising. The discussion on a prize for the best Notts team in the League to be discussed later.
4. Presentation of prizes - all clocks had been presented at the Rules Revision meeting. The Best Game prize was won jointly by John Molyneux (Ashfield) for his game against Ankush Khandelwal (University) and Andrew Walker (University) for his game against Brian Hayward (Gambit). The Best Game prize for a player graded Under 140 was awarded to Derek Padvis (Gambit).
5. Officers’ Reports
   1. Presidents written report - accepted
   2. Executive Committee/Secretary’s written report - accepted
   3. Treasurer’s written report - accepted. Steve Burke presented the accounts which showed a profit of £407.55 for the year ended 31st May 2015. He advised the meeting of the system of “write-off” of equipment and said that the ECF bronze membership fee would be £14.00 for the forthcoming year with game fee up to £2.50 a game. The Auditor’s Report was attached to the accounts stating that the accounts had been properly prepared and were accurate. The Accounts were then presented to the meeting for approval and passed. Mr.Burke then proposed that the League Fees remain the same for the forthcoming season & this was passed nem con.
   4. League Secretary’s written report - accepted
   5. Records Secretary - Dave Griffiths gave a short verbal report stating that everything had gone well and efficiently.
   6. League Management Committee - Steve Burke gave a short verbal report.
   7. Congress Director’s written report - accepted
   8. County Teams written report - accepted. The President congratulated the County Under 100 team who had won their national final.
   9. Graders Report- Peter Sherlock presented a report to the meeting
   10. Correspondence - there was a written report from Steve Foster resigning from the post of correspondence captain as a team couldn’t be raised. On the proposal of N.London, seconded D.Padvis it was decided to withdraw from correspondence chess.
   11. ECF Delegate’s report - Robert Richmond advised the meeting that although the membership levels had been maintained, the fees had increased. David Levens had been unsuccessful in the election for Junior Chess Director.
   12. MCCU Delegates’ report - written report from Drag Sudar; accepted.
   13. Publicity/Schools - David Levens reported verbally to the meeting
   14. Webmaster - David Coates will continue to act in this capacity
6. Election of officers
   1. President - Tim Walker was standing down - there were no nominations
   2. Secretary - Alan Kenyon
   3. Treasurer - Steve Burke
   4. League Secretary - Steve Burke
   5. Auditor - Dave Griffiths
   6. Congress Director - Robert Richmond
   7. Executive Committee Members - Robert Richmond, Neil Graham
   8. County Match Secretary - Neil Graham
   9. Grading Officer - Peter Sherlock
   10. ECF Delegate - Robert Richmond
   11. MCCU Delegates - Drag Sudar, Robert Richmond, Tim Walker
   12. Schools/Publicity - David Levens
   13. Webmaster - David Coates
   14. League Management Committee - Chris Holt, Maurice Hill, Drag Sudar, Chris Budd, Nick London
       Reserves - Jack Litherland, Richard Myers
7. Amendment of Rule C4 from RRM - This was item (j) from the previous meeting. This was no seconder at the previous meeting; however N.London (Radcliffe & Bingham) was now seconding this proposal with M.Swanwick proposing and they spoke to the proposal stating the difficulties of running teams in the lower divisions. An amendment that the proposal read "the bottom three boards in Division Three and below" was accepted by the proposers. This was put to the vote and found favour 10-4.
   The question of a prize for top Nottinghamshire team had been considered by the Executive Committee and a sum of £10.00 or a chess set suggested. The meeting decided that no prize should be awarded.
8. Notices - John Swain reported on the success of Notts juniors in national Under 18 competitions (3rd) and Under 13 (6th) and thanked organisers for assisting in a Notts team and to Phil Beckett for arranging the tournament.
9. AOB - David Levens gave details of a National Chess Day to be held on September 12th. The meeting was reminded that there was no President and asked those present to consider the situation.

Minutes of General (Rules Revision) Meeting held at West Bridgford Chess Club, 7:30pm on 20 May 2015

Glossary: AGM: Annual General Meeting; EC: Executive Committee; ECF: English Chess Federation; LMC: League Management Committee; NCA: Nottinghamshire Chess Association.

Present were T Walker [President, in the Chair], A. Kenyon [Secretary], S Burke [Treasurer], R Richmond, A Walker, B Abrahart, J Collins, J Swain, D Griffiths, M Hill, D Sudar, C Holt, M Taylor, C Budd, T Croasdale, B Hayward, F Hill, N London, J Tait, C Cantrill

The meeting opened at 7:38pm.

1. Apologies
   Apologies were received from P Sherlock, M Swanwick, N Graham, S Scott, J Crawley, J Wagenbach.
2. Minutes of previous meeting
   The minutes of the 2014 AGM were approved
3. Matters arising
   There were no matters arising.
4. Presentation of League Prizes
   League prizes were awarded as follows:
   League 1: Grantham 1
   League 2: Grantham 2
   League 3: Radcliffe and Bingham 1
   League 4: University 2
   League 5: Gambit 5
5. Proposed rule changes
   Proposed rule changes
   1. Proposal to amend rule B7 – motion carried (for 16, against 1, abstained 3) subject to amendments highlighted
      
      All matches must start at 7:15 pm or 7:30 pm as notified by the home club to the league secretary unless both team captains have agreed an alternative time. The home team will ensure the equipment is properly laid out at the agreed time of starting. If it isn’t ready, the away team may:
      1. insist on the lost time being taken off the home players’ clocks and also
      2. claim a win by default on any board not ready within 30 minutes of the agreed time of starting.
         
         
   2. Proposal to amend rule B11 – accepted unanimously
   3. Proposal to amend rule B12 – this was considered in 2 parts, both being accepted.
      
      If a player fails to arrive at the board within 30 minutes of the agreed time of starting, that board shall be defaulted unless a qualified substitute is found in the meantime.
      (for 17, against 0, abstained 3)
      A substitute must be on the ECF Grading Database, or have played for the club during the current season. (for 10, against 6, abstained 4)
      
      
   4. Proposed new rule B14 – accepted unanimously
   5. Proposal to amend existing B14 – accepted unanimously subject to the highlighted section being removed. The LMC were asked to consider guidelines for this at their next meeting and also discuss/issue a guideline for late postponements such as a cut-off date during the season.
      
      Fixture rearrangements:
      1. A captain seeking to rearrange must inform the opposing captain and seek permission from the League Secretary
      2. The League Secretary will decide if there is a compelling reason for the rearrangement (non-availability of players is not a valid reason)
      3. If the League Secretary agrees to the rearrangement then, no later than 14 days after the scheduled fixture, the team captains must agree a new date and inform the League Secretary; otherwise the League Secretary may choose the date and, if necessary, the venue.
         
         
   6. Proposal to amend D1- accepted unanimously, D3 – accepted unanimously, D8 – accepted unanimously, and D11 – accepted unanimously.
   7. Proposed Schedule C new rule 7 – proposal withdrawn. However, the EC was asked to discuss the awarding of a trophy to the highest placed Nottinghamshire team in League 1 at their next meeting.
   8. Proposal that promotion/relegation between division 1 and 2 be usually 1 up 1 down – defeated (for 0, against 15, abstained 5)
   9. Proposal to amend rule B2 – insertion of ‘ after this date, any proposals to enter new teams to the bottom division may only be made by that club’s Club Secretary’ – accepted (for 17, against 0, abstained 3)
   10. Proposal to amend Schedule C rule 4 – this proposal was not seconded and therefore withdrawn.
6. AOB
   
   1. Item j) above was requested to be added to the AGM. TW to investigate possibility.
   2. JS raised awareness of the County Junior event on 21st June that we are hoping to enter at U13 and U18 level. JS offered to coordinate entries and liaise with Simon Scott.
   3. SB to consider penalties relating to rule D5.

The meeting closed at 10.13pm