Altrincham & Hale Chess Club


Minutes of the 2016 AGM held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday 30th August 2016


1. Attendance


Present – Pete Arland, Richard White, Bill McCartney, Nick Lowe, Peter Hawes, Steve Ward, Tony Lane, Tom Tomkins, Reg Clucas, Mark Whalley, Vijay Kakarparthi, Denis Osborne, Jim Barr.


Apologies for absence – none received


2. Minutes of the 2015 AGM were agreed as correct and accepted.


3. Matters arising - none


4. Officers' reports


Treasurer (Nick Lowe)

(The accounts were circulated and accepted by the meeting.)


Treasurer’s Report for Year ended 31 August 2016


There has been a dramatic increase in the subscriptions to fund the additional cost of the room hire.

There were 23 members paying members (the total is the same as last year) and I have broken these down on the statement into those who paying at the full rate, reduced rate and rate for new members, separating this further into whose registered, or unregistered, with the ECF.

On the expenditure side, the main items are:

Net result is a small deficit of £19.93 leaving the accumulated reserves at £172.51. The balance sheet shows that this is made up of cash held in the building society of £135.91, debtors, being fees owed of £90 and deducting £53.40 owed to me since I paid for the trophy engraving.


2016/17 subscriptions.

My budget projects a small deficit of £5 if everyone renews their membership, assuming Karl re-joins, Yaroslav does not and the outstanding fees are paid. Any drop in numbers will mean increasing the fees.


The proposed subscription rates:


Secretary (Reg Clucas)


Our first complete year at the Woodheys Club has gone smoothly. Visiting clubs generally are impressed with the venue. So my year as secretary has been fairly easy compared to the previous year when we were looking for our new venue, and there is little to report.


I have continued to keep the website updated, which is part of the secretary's role. There have been no major changes.


We have had numerous new people visiting the club this year, but as far as I am aware this has resulted in only two new paying members. Many people come along for a few sessions and then give up. We need to consider ways of encouraging them to stay and become members – one possible idea would be to hold more regular 'fun' events such as blitz or handicap competitions which are currently only held annually.


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Following the Secretary's report, there was some discussion about the last point, i.e. new members. Steve Ward felt that too many competitions might actually put people off, as they would prefer more relaxed friendly games. It was agreed that the Secretary would in future follow up potential new members who have stopped coming, to find out their reasons. It was also agreed that newcomers should be given a 'welcome' sheet containing club information.


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Competitions Organiser's report (Nick Lowe)


This is going to be a brief report as the events are mostly ongoing!


Both club championships are progressing towards a conclusion due by the end of September. There will then be the Handicap, which will then decide the Grand Prix winner.


The only two completed events in the last 12 months were:


Handicap

This was played last September so completing the 2014/15 season. Just nine players took part over 8 rounds but it did not quite work out as an all play all – just Yaroslav and I managed to achieve that feat.


Yaroslav, Tom and I had no handicap imposed; with us all having to play without a queen and rook against Denis, but it did not stop Yaroslav from achieving a perfect score as he beat all comers to finish with a 100% record.


Nick finished second losing just the one game and third was Tom with 6 points just having lost to the two players who had finished ahead of him.


Wayne had a commendable score of 5 in finishing fourth.


A few struggled so I will tweak this in their favour, so they will have an increased handicap.


Quick Play Tournament (Blitz)

This had 14 participants, played over 6 rounds. This competition has been won alternately over the last 4 years between Tom and Nick. However, whilst we both got off to good starts Reg maintained the pressure so that after 2 rounds we were the only ones with a 100% record. Round 3 saw Reg with white, defeat me, and then continue his fine form in defeating Tom, this time with black in round 4.


Meanwhile after a poor start Steve Ward had progressed, so with 2 rounds to go Reg was a point clear of the three of us. It turned out that Mark also had 3 points, but due to a technical glitch in the scoring system, not picked up until afterwards, he was recorded as having only 2 points. Perhaps the scorer was still recovering from his defeat in round 3!


Steve took on Reg in round 5, but could not overcome him, leaving Reg to take a tactical draw in round 6 with Vijay to clinch the title with 5.5 points. Mark finished second with 5 points, his only defeat to Vijay, leaving Tom and I in joint third with 4 points.


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 have been added to the respective pages of the club website.


Tom Tomkins proposed a vote of thanks to all team captains and other club officials.


5. Presentation of trophies


Reg Clucas was presented with the Captain's Cup, for the annual Blitz competition. The winners of the other trophies are yet to be decided, so it was agreed to hold a presentation event later in the season, after the League fixtures are known.


6. League Entries for 2016-17


We will continue with one team in the Manchester League. For the Stockport League there was some discussion as to whether to continue with all three teams, as it was becoming difficult to get players for the Limit League team and many of the same players were playing for both the B team and Limit League team. It was therefore decided that we would drop out of the Limit League in the forthcoming season, and enter just the A & B teams in the Stockport League.


7. Membership fees


As mentioned in the Treasurer's Report, the Treasurer proposed that subscriptions remain unchanged, i.e. £65 for ECF members whose ECF fee is being paid by the club, £50 for others (both with a £25 reduction for those drawing state pension), and £30 for new members for their first year's membership (not including ECF membership). The meeting agreed this proposal.


8. Election of Officers


The following officers were re-elected unanimously -


Wayne Kranz has stepped down as Stockport League B team captain. Vijay Kakarparthi has volunteered to take over and was duly elected.



9. Any other business


None.



Reg Clucas

12th September 2016