The attendees were Bob Perry
(Chairman), Stuart Green (Secretary), Eddie Burke, Peter Windows, Mike Judd,
Tony Cooling, Clive Ferry, David Fuller and Stephen Hill
Apologies for absence Gwyn
Price, Ray Rhodes, Tom Healey and David Hackney
Minutes of the 2014 Annual
General Meeting The Secretary read the minutes and the meeting agreed that
these be accepted.
Matters arising thereof
Clive Ferry mentioned that he and Peter Windows, with the advice and help of
Steve Emmerton, had now become able to operate the new club website.
Treasurer's Report Copies
of the club accounts had been provided in advance by Ray Rhodes (Treasurer).
These showed the balance of £60.13 brought forward has become £114.13 on 1st
August 2015. Since operating expenditure for 2015-2016 will be slightly less
than last year, the club would be aiming for an excess well over £170 if
member's fees are kept at £10. This would allow us to buy an extra 3 digital
clocks.
Eddie Burke wondered whether we could aim to afford 4 new
clocks, as that would cover a future possibility that a 5-man team and a 4-man
team may play at home on the same night, still leaving one clock spare.
Tony Cooling kindly offered
to pay for one clock so that Eddie's suggestion could be acted upon.
Eddie Burke said that he would share this payment with Tony.
Thus, it was proposed by Peter Windows that the Treasurer's
Report be accepted, that annual fees be kept at £10 per member, and that the
club should buy 4 new digital clocks. This was seconded and the proposal was
passed.
Chairman's Report on the 2014
- 2015 season Bob Perry gave a summary of the activities of the previous
year, noting that we had retained the Division 5 trophy and had added another in
the Intermediate Cup, giving the club its most successful season for some
years.
The next season will start with the annual South Potteries Cup
match against Fenton on 21st September to be held at Meir.
Several of our members provided items for a Christmas Hamper
for the Legion branch to raffle for funds. This raised about £150 and we
received thanks from the branch committee for our gesture. (It was agreed that
we would do something similar again this year).
Next season's teams The A Team will compete in Division 3, the B
Team in Division 4, the C and D teams in Division 5. The club has also entered
a team in the Major Cup (under 150 grade) and 2 teams in the Perry Trophy
(under 110 grade).
Election of Officers
Bob Perry (Chairman), Ray Rhodes (Treasurer) and Stuart Green
(Secretary) were re-elected unopposed.
Election of Team Captains
Steve Hill indicated that he would like someone to take over as captain of the
Division 3 team. Peter Windows said he was willing to take this role and it was
proposed by David Fuller, seconded by Tony Cooling, that Peter be elected This
was carried unanimously.
Clive Ferry (Division 4 team), Bob Perry (both Division 5
teams) and Ray Rhodes (South Potteries Cup team) were re-elected unopposed.
Steve Hill (Major Cup), Stuart Green and Bob Perry (the A and B
teams in the Perry Trophy) were proposed and elected.
Captains' responsibilities
The Chairman pointed out that the NSDCA results secretary, Steve Emmerton, has
provided a scoresheet for match results on his website. Team captains should
use this version and enter their team with players and their grades.
The match result should be e-mailed to Steve Emmerton as soon
as possible (within 48 hours, preferably less) on this scoresheet.
One advantage to captains is that they will have the full
details of the opposing team before play begins and will be able to check that
they are playing an eligible team i.e within grade limit constraints and not
violating the '15 point rule'.
The Club Secretary will provide team captains with a list of
players' grades for the teams in their league division and a copy of the full
list will be placed in the chess storage cupboard.
County matters Five of our
members played for Staffordshire teams last season and the Chairman asked that
any members willing to be considered for county teams for the coming season
should inform himself or Stuart Green.
Royal British Legion and ECF
membership The Chairman pointed out that all Royal British Legion members
should have been notified that fees from October 2015 will be paid to the RBL
payments team directly instead of being collected by branch officials. If
members have not acted on this they should do so immediately by contacting the
RBL on 0808 802 8080.
ECF membership is due for renewal by the end of this month; ECF
usually send a reminder before the due date.
Any other business Stuart
Green said that he had noticed that the obsolete club website that we are
unable to close down now contained a notice that the site has been replaced by
a new Meir Chess Club website. The internet address for our new site is given,
although not as an active link.
There being no further business, the meeting was closed at 8.50
pm.