NOTTINGHAM BRIDGE CLUB

MINUTES OF COMMITTEE MEETING

Saturday, 4^th June 2011 at 4.45 pm

Present:

Dinah Mairs (Chairman)	Graham Brindley	Phil Gross
Mark Goddard (Treasurer)	Nick Clarke	Kate Little
Cathy Turski (Secretary)	Lynne Cumberpatch	Stuart Wharton

1. Apologies: William Crook, Pauline Payne, Peter Moore, Andrew Scott, Terry Bentley

2. Minutes of Meeting of 9^th April 2011: were approved and signed with amendment to item 13(i) ‘changes to beer supply and bar prices both approved by a majority’.

3. Matters Arising:

3.4.5 Situation regarding the Flats: Flat B a leak in the boiler had caused water to run down the wall and caused some damp in playing room 2 – boiler now drained and will be looked at by the plumber next week–Dinah to ask the plumber if the angle of the overflow pipe can be altered. Flat B – tenant has been granted Housing Aid so current rent should now be paid, there is also now a direct debit in place for £90pw to reduce arrears. Dinah to ask the agents to monitor the situation closely. Flat C – now available for let – agents have received one or two enquiries but not yet let.

3.9(i) Future Strategy – Bridge Drive was disappointing as no-one turned up; feedback indicates that the majority of social bridge players are happy to continue as they are and are not interested in playing duplicate bridge.

Open Day – Sample Posters & Fliers were circulated for comment. A supply of each will be made available and members will be encouraged to ask local libraries, Post Offices etc to display a poster and also to pass fliers to friends/family/anyone who may be interested in learning bridge. Kate to arrange for ads to be placed in the Nottingham Evening Post, Recorder & NG3 magazine. Phil to put details on website. Dinah said she hoped all the Committee would attend the Open Day & Club Members would be asked to give an hour or two to help – a list to be put up with time slots. Mark & Phil agreed to take the lead in the introductory talks. Mini-Bridge to be played to allow complete beginners to have a go. A further sub-committee meeting to be held to finalise details.

3.9(ii) EBU Teaching Course. Only 4 people attended the course. Stuart & Graham both found it helpful but some aspects less effective due to small number of attendees.

11.2 Directors’ Course – Stuart and Clare Batten attending – first of 4 sessions completed – course will finish in October.

4. Future Strategy of the Club – Playing Strategy: A copy of Mark’s original paper was circulated. Mark led a discussion, stating that one of the aims of the club should be to improve the overall playing level. Whilst there would always be some members who wanted only to play a social game of bridge, many would welcome the opportunity to improve their game – not only through formal lessons but using various techniques. It was agreed that; i) a free session would be introduced on the 4^th Thursday of the month, starting on 22^nd September, where a number of ‘interesting’ hands would be played, followed immediately by an analysis of the bidding/play by an experienced player, starting off with Mark ii) once or twice a year, we will try to hold a play with the ‘experts’ session, where less experienced players will be paired with more experienced ones – it was suggested that outside experts might be brought in for some of both these sessions but the general feeling was that there should be enough experienced players prepared to help within the club. iii) A Q&A section will be set up on the website, where members can submit hands played in previous drives – and hopefully find out how that one person made an extra trick! iv) members to be encouraged to enter teams of 4 and teams of 8 leagues – Graham to find out closing dates and, as last year, a notice to be put on the board v) sub-committee to be formed to co-ordinate & plan long-term strategy – Mark & Graham plus others, possibly committee members not at the meeting.

5. Secretary’s Report: Data-base update forms received and completed from EBU and Pinpoint (Notts Council). Email received from David Burgess, NCBA, requesting nomination from clubs for a representative to act as contact between clubs & EBU – a vote would then take place to elect the representative. Cathy apologised – she had not submitted a nomination due to the shortage of time and was unsure what the actual role was as the EBUCC already acted as a liaison point with the EBU. Graham said Marie-Clare Adderley had been appointed.

6. Treasurer’s Report: £6,500 - £7,000 in the bank. Loan now stands at approx £16,000 – a further £2,000 to be paid off. Buildings insurance due for renewal at a cost of almost £2,000 – this is £370 higher than last year – Dinah to check to see if we can find a more competitive quote.

7. Membership Secretary’s Report: A list of amendments/additions to the handbook has been produced and emailed to members, with a limited number of copies available for those members without email. Phil asked if there was a mechanism in place to ensure the correct table fees were being paid and that previous members who had not renewed their subscriptions were now paying visitor’s fees. Phil and Mark will cross check their lists of players/members, though Dinah felt sure this was not a problem.

8. Teaching:

(i) Andrew has a list for the beginners course, to start on 21^st September – he will contact applicants (22 at the moment) on return from his holiday and asked (by email) the meeting to consider if there should be a change in the fee – currently £35 for 10 classes.

(ii) Stuart & Graham will be taking over the course – the meeting was informed that following their ‘free’ EBU teachers course they were contracted to run an EBU beginners class – we would be required to pay the EBU £20 per student – for this students would receive a book and newsletter. If a student subsequently became a regular P2P player, the club would receive a £10 refund. Several members of the committee were concerned by this hidden cost and the fact that it had not been made known to them before the course. After discussion it was agreed by a majority to raise the Beginners’ Course fee to £40 for 10 lessons. Graham also said the EBU course was based on 3x10 week sessions and he and Stuart would have to look at it to see if it would be possible to adapt it to our normal 2x10 weeks course.

(iii) Lloyd Eagling and Keith Rodgers have offered to run an Improvers Course if we can get one going, but not on a Wednesday evening

9. Special Events:

(i) Max Radford Trophy – won by Satish Shah and George Graham

(ii) Poyser Cup – won by Shirley Wilson and Dinah Mairs

(iii) MacMillan Charity Event – raised £535

(iv) Strawberry Fayre – Sunday 10^th July – price as last year - £15 per pair

(v) Eric Nunn Trophy – for mixed pairs – to be held Saturday, 15^th October

(vi) Jack Hammond Trophy – will start in September

10. Suggestion Book: Suggestion 1. When there are between 10 and 12 tables could we play 3 board rounds to avoid only playing 22 boards which happened on one occasion. The Committee agreed that nine 3 board rounds would be played except when there are 12 tables as then 24 boards are always played.

Suggestion 2. Could the Committee consider exempting the Director from paying a table fee? – The committee agreed that Directors did an excellent job and put a lot of work into an evening’s drive but felt many others put time and effort into the club and if exemption were considered for one, many others should also be considered and this would be divisive and impractical. The Committee appreciated the thought behind the suggestion.

11. Date and Time of Next Meeting:

Saturday, 10^th September at 4.15pm.

12. AOB - There was no other business.

The Meeting closed at 6.50 pm.

Signed Date