Altrincham & Hale Chess Club


Minutes of the 2015 AGM held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday 8th September 2015


1. Attendance


Present – Pete Arland, Adhiyaman Parthiban, Richard White, Bill McCartney, Peter Hawes, Steve Douglas, Steve Ward, Wayne Kranz, Tony Lane, Tom Tomkins, Reg Clucas, Mark Whalley, Denis Osborne, Thomas Hague.


Apologies for absence – Graham Bird, Nick Lowe, David Hughes, John Roff


2. Minutes of the 2014 AGM were agreed as correct and accepted.


3. Matters arising


4. Officers' reports


Secretary


My second year in the role of secretary has not been as stress-free as my first year. This was entirely due to the uncertainty over our venue, and the subsequent search for alternative premises once it became clear that it was impractical to continue at the Navigation. I visited many possible venues during this search; however, we have Tom Tomkins to thank for finding the Woodheys Club for us. I had actually made an e-mail enquiry to the club, which appears to have been 'lost in the ether', but credit must go to Tom for actually visiting the club in person to make enquiries, and it is due to this that we are here today. The other person to thank is Wayne Kranz, who provided the transport and muscle power to move the equipment cupboard and it contents.


I hope members will agree that the Woodheys is a better venue than the Navigation. However, this does come at a price, and as the Treasurer's Report shows, it has necessitated a steep hike in club subscriptions. I hope members will not find this too much. It is after all less than £1 per week, and as one member recently commented ,“I spend more than that at the bar when I buy a drink”. We have been very lucky to have had a free venue for many years, and consequently we have had very low subscriptions, even returning money to members in recent years in the form of a subsidy towards their ECF membership.


In retrospect maybe we should have set higher subscriptions in previous years, in order to accumulate a surplus to set against an unforeseen eventuality such as we have faced this year. But we are where we are, and I would ask all members to help our cash flow by paying subscriptions promptly. The other thing that would help is recruiting new members, and welcoming and encouraging those who drop in to the club. If we have more members we will be able to reduce subscriptions for everyone.


Reg Clucas 8th September 2015



Treasurer – The accounts are attached to these minutes. The accounts were circulated and accepted by the meeting.


Treasurer’s Report for Year ended 31 August 2015


The income has increased by £60, once the final two subscriptions have been received, and the reason for this is that two years' subs were received from Jane Brophy (£40) and also Jim Barr re-joined (£10).

There were 22 members registered with the ECF and just 2 are non ECF members.

There has been a large increase in expenditure:

The rent cost and clock purchases explain the deficit incurred of £454.30.


The accumulated reserves stand at £192.44 and the balance sheet shows that this is made up of cash held in the building society of £120.44, cash in hand of £41, debtors, being fees owed of £50 and then deducting £19 owed to Reg.


The subscriptions for 2015/16 have to increase as the club has additional costs to pay. There will be a full year’s rent and the ECF membership has increased to £14. My budget projects a small surplus if the membership is 23 in 2015/16 with subscription rates:



Payment can be made in three instalments, but everyone needs to pay at least £20 this month to cover the ECF fees and help towards the rent.



Competitions Organiser's report


The Meeting gave a vote of thanks to Nick for organising the various competitons. In Nick's absence, his report (below) was read to the meeting.



This year all the winners of the various trophies have been decided including the Grand Prix, even though there is one event left!


The Rapid Play Handicap completed the 2013/14 season. Fifteen players took part over 6 rounds.


Going into round three, only Matt and Thomas had maintained a 100% record; with Matt wining their match and in fact winning all six games, having beaten Tom, Mark and Nick along the way. No handicap for Matt in future!Nick finished second losing just the one game and third were, Thomas having lost to the two players who had finished ahead of him, and Adhi with 4 points. Five players scored less than 50%, but they did all finish with two points.


The Grand Prix went to David Johnson with 66.67 out of 100, ahead of Peter Hawes with 61.25 and Tom with 57.5.


5-Minute Tournament

This had 13 participants, played over 6 rounds.


Tom, the defending champion, suffered a defeat at the hands of Richard in round 1. This may have affected his form as more losses were incurred in rounds 3 and 4 leaving him with only a 50% record. Round two had seen Reg and Richard draw against each other leaving only Steve Douglas and Wayne with a 100% record. Wayne won their match in round three. Unfortunately, for Wayne the competition did not finish at that point, and he did not proceed to add to his points total. This enabled Richard to take over the lead with 3.5, followed closely by Steve Douglas, having taken the scalp of Reg, with Wayne and Nick just half a point behind.


Round 5 saw a further change in the leadership as Richard slipped up against Nick and with Steve Douglas also winning it left those two with 4 out of 5, pursued by Reg and Richard on 3.5. Therefore the climax for the title came down to a match between Steve and Nick, which Nick was successful so won with 5 out of 6. Steve slipped down to 4th as Reg and Richard both won their final matches to finish joint second with 4.5 points.


The lowest score was two points, which four players achieved so at least everyone did win a game that evening.


The Club Championship

Both competitions were all play all.


It was hoped that there would be 7 participants, so each person played 6 games. Unfortunately, due to circumstances two could not play and Karl could not complete all his matches. However he did play the leading contenders, so it did not affect the destination of the trophy.


Last year there were a number of drawn matches, but the results this year were much more decisive. Reg and Yaroslav dominated the event. Yaroslav won his first two matches, but then lost to Reg. However, Reg then lost his game in hand to Karl. Yaroslav proceeded to win his last game leaving Reg having to beat Nick to force a playoff. However, this was the only draw in the competition, leaving Yaroslav the victor with 3 out of 4. Reg second on 2.5 and the others too far back to mention, although they played fewer games!


There were 7 main participants, with Jordon and Adhi playing just one game, so those matches have not been included. Thomas and Harry did not play all their matches, but I have included their results.


Steve Douglas won all 6 and finally has won this competition, having been so close over the last few years. Peter Hawes and Steve Ward produced the only draw against each other and finished with 3.5, although they have played only 5 matches. No one else achieved 50%, though Thomas may well have done if he had played enough games.


Rapid Play Handicap

This is to be played on 22nd September.


The Grand Prix trophy

A total of 15 players have so far played at least one of the competitions. Although the Rapid Play Handicap has yet to take place, Steve Douglas cannot be caught thanks to this impressive form in the first two events and has built up a total of 76.67 out of 85. Next are Steve Ward and Peter Hawes with 47.5, but there are only a maximum of 15 that can be obtain in the last event.



Team Captains' reports – Reports from the captains of the Manchester League, Stockport League and SE Lancs Summer League teams were read to the meeting, and will appear on the respective pages of the club website in due course.



5. Presentation of trophies


Not all winners and/or trophies were present, however the Major & Grand Prix trophies were presented to Steve Douglas, and the Committee Cup (Club Championship runner-up) to Reg Clucas. All trophies require engraving, and a volunteer is required to organise this.



6. League Entries for 2015-16


It was agreed to continue with three teams in the Stockport League (A, B & Limit League) and one in the Manchester League.



7. Membership fees


As per the Treasurer's report, subscriptions for ECF members will be £65, non-members £50, with a £25 reduction for OAPs. However, it was proposed that new members will pay just £30 for their first year's membership, in order to encourage new members to join. The meeting agreed this proposal.



8. Election of Officers


All the present officers were re-elected unanimously -


9. Any other business


The meeting discussed ways of publicising the club in an effort to attract new members. It was agreed to investigate advertising, or maybe even submitting match reports, to local newspapers, e.g. Messenger. It was also agreed to make use of the noticeboard in the Woodheys Club, with their permission.