MAYFIELD DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB

 

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING   -  Tuesday 25 April 2006

 

 

The twenty-second Annual General Meeting of the Mayfield Duplicate Bridge Club was held at St John’s Church Hall, Tadworth on Tuesday 25 April 2006.

 

 

The Meeting commenced at 7.15pm with 60 members present including the following 9 Committee Members:

 

    Malcolm Channing (Chairman)       Keith Jackson

    Chris Pullan (Treasurer)               Terry Kedgley                                              

    Peter Lee (Captain)                      Ron Maclaren

    Mrs Rosemary Rice (Secretary)  Roy Smith

     Roger Sugden   

                                                                                                  

Apologies for Absence

Liz Phillips, Pam Cox, Pam Hoskins, Rosemary Lyttle, Audrey Grzesiak, Pat Hunter, Kath Coward and Joan Underdown.

 

Chairman’s Report

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Meeting and asked for queries on the minutes of the last AGM.  Being none, he signed the Minutes noting their acceptance proposed by Roy Smith and seconded by Peter Norman.

 

The Chairman asked that the meeting take the reports of the Chairman, the Secretary and the Captain as read as they had been displayed on the notice board so that the members could have an opportunity to read them. This was agreed.  A copy of the Chairman’s report is attached (A).

Malcolm reported further on the sudden death of Pam Southon on Easter morning.

 

He expressed his special thanks to Sylvia Timberlake for her continued assistance with scoring and catering for the Club and presented her with a Photo Album as a gift of a thanks.

 

Secretary’s Report

Report taken as read.  There were no questions.  A copy of the report is attached (B).

 

Captain’s Report

The report was taken as read.  A copy of the report is attached (C). Peter Lee stated that this had been a very good year and he highlighted the many successes of Mayfield members in both National and County competitions.

 

He then asked Peter Norman as one of the earliest members of the Mayfield Club to present the trophies to the prize winners as set out in the Captain’s Report.  Prize vouchers to runners-up were distributed after the Meeting to save time.  The full list including runners-up is attached (D).

 

Treasurer’s Report

The Treasurer presented the accounts, a copy of which is attached (E).  He thanked Martin Trouse, the Hon Auditor, for auditing them and presented him with 2 bottles of wine for his efforts.

 

Chris reported that the Club is in a healthy financial position with the reserves standing at £13,600. This year’s loss of £329 was slightly less than last year due to reduction of prize vouchers, the lower Christmas party expenditure and to an additional month’s interest on the capital sum.  He reported that the Hall rent had been increased further by £2.50 per night but Rosemary had managed to negotiate a reduction for the Friday night from £52.50 to £35.00 which means that we can keep the existing annual fee and table money unchanged.

 

The adoption of the accounts was proposed by John Timberlake and seconded by Tim Cook and carried unanimously.

 

Elections and Appointments

Following the resignation of Joan Underdown and Mary Street there were 2 vacancies on the Committee. One of these has been filled by Andrew Barnett and the Chairman invited members to put themselves forward from the floor. No offer was made so he said that the Committee would have to continue with 10 members instead of 11 for the time being. The election of the Committee as a whole was proposed by Peter Norman and seconded by Sylvia Timberlake and carried unanimously.

 

The Chairman paid tribute to the exceptional work carried out by Joan Underdown over the 19 year period for which she has served on the Committee. Her smooth running of the Stationery was particularly appreciated. Unfortunately, Joan was unable to attend the AGM due to recent eye surgery so the presentation of a gift in recognition of her work will be made when she next attends the club.

 

The Chairman thanked Martin Trouse for auditing the accounts and, as he was willing to stand again for a 6th year, his election was proposed by Bob Canning and seconded by Geoff Whitehead and carried unanimously. 

 

Any Other Business

 

The Chairman raised the continuing problem of slow play and repeated his usual plea to all players to delay any discussion of the hands until they had completed play of all the boards in the round.  This is an ongoing problem that needs to be eliminated to maintain the high standard of play expected at the Mayfield.

 

Someone David Elvin raised the question of whether the Committee had considered the introduction of computer dealt hands.

The Chairman responded that the Committee had recently looked into the feasibility of computer dealt hands and Bridgemate scoring.  In both cases, the costs are prohibitive and really not feasible for a club without premises where the required computer equipment may be kept on site.  It was generally considered that the only real benefit of computer dealt cards was the availability of the hands after play. Malcolm pointed out that the hands are available on the web site usually within an hour from close of play.

 

Roger Morton asked what strategy was being applied for ensuring the future of the Club and Tim Cook added that maybe Friday night could be advertised as a low level ‘no fear’ evening.

The Chairman stated that the Mayfield was already registered with Surrey as a club which welcomes newcomers to the game on Friday evenings. This should be available to teachers of bridge classes.  Tim Cook stated that he had received no such information sent to him directly as a teacher.

 

John Timberlake expressed his thanks to the Committee for the work they had done for the Club.

 

There being no further business the meeting closed at 7.40pm.

 

 

 

 

MALCOLM CHANNING - Chairman