BASSINGHAM BRIDGE CLUB

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING – THURSDAY 25th APRIL 2019            6.45pm

1  Apologies 

2  Draft Minutes  of AGM 2018 – circulated 

 

3  Matters arising   Reminder that in League scoring this year there will be no bonuses.

 

4  Treasurer’s Report        Accounts for 2018/19

 

5 Chairman’s Report                     Circulated separately

 

6.  Election of Officers

            Chairperson                                                 Vice Chair

            Secretary                                           Treasurer

            2 other Committee members 

            Election of Auditor

7.  There will be another Charity bridge day this year to be held on Friday 30^thAugust at the Hammond Hall.  The Charity for this years Bridge day will be Age UK (Lincoln & South Lincolnshire)

8. Membership and fees

            The committee have agreed to limit the clubs membership to 150 and in future to charge visitors a table fee 50% more than members, currently that would be £3.

9. A     Proposal: Everyone who comes to the monthly singles nights joins in the competition.                        Proposed:  Lesley Leverett                        Seconded:    Jean Tyler

Reasons:          This competition has been in place since Roy started the club, and is part of what makes Bassingham Bridge Club so inclusive and welcoming.

It was never compulsory to join in, as most people who felt nervous about competing initially, were eventually encouraged to give it a go, and join in. Those not playing used to be a very small minority.

I think that when you actually play with someone for an evening, you get to know one another better. 

Our club has always encouraged not just bridge playing but friendship and socialising, and I think that this event is important in this respect. It can help less experienced players to improve their game, and more experienced players are given the opportunity to meet and encourage those starting to enjoy the game.

Naturally there are misunderstandings, but I think that is part of the ‘’fun’. It makes this a more interesting and challenging night.

Recently thing have changed. New experienced members have not joined in the competition. This year (2019), only about a third of those playing on singles nights, have entered the draw, and are playing with a randomly selected partner.

In my opinion, this invalidates the whole competition:  How can someone win an individual trophy for the whole club, when only a third of those present are playing?

Regular partners have a definite advantage, so even if their results do not count towards the trophy, their involvement has a profound effect on the results. Do their slams count for the slam trophy? Is this result included in the averages for other annual awards? This was not an issue when the majority of players were competing, but suddenly things have changed.

I do not think the competition can continue, unless this amendment is passed.

Mathematically, if two thirds of the players are choosing not to enter, two thirds would be expected to vote against this amendment. I am appealing to you all to give the singles night a go and to allow this competition to continue

Amendment:  With regards to Lesley’s proposal for the individual competition, both Nigel and I would support that but propose the following amendment.  The start of Lesley’s proposal to stay the same i.e.

 ‘Everyone who comes to the monthly singles nights joins in the competition.’

Our amendment would then continue with, all partnerships to play a standard ACOL system.

The reason for this is, it is our understanding that this rule is enforced in the final of the competition and therefore should also apply to the qualifying rounds.  Proposed:  Nigel Haslam, seconded by Pat Haslam

The committee agreed to fully support both the amendment and the main motion.

9. B     Proposal: Proposer: Nigel Haslam Seconder: David Williams 

 ‘For the re-structuring of the format and administration of the Bassingham Bridge Club League Competition.’ 

The Reasons 

To devise a fair and equitable competition that would encourage the membership to take part. 

The detail 

A Players enter the competition as pairs, not as already established teams. 

B. The teams are established by means of a ranking system as follows: 

1. Each entered pair is given a ranking total based on their position on the Individual Averages Table e.g. currently Pat Haslam is 18th and Nigel Haslam 30th, giving this pair a total of 48. Sally Williams is currently 1st and Dave is 2nd giving them a total of 32. 

2. Each individual pair is then ranked in order according to their combined total e.g. this year, 24 pairs entered so they would be ranked 1-24, with numbers 1-12 being the first named pair in a team and the reversed pairs of 24-13 making up the teams of 4.

C. Depending upon the number of entries, the competition may be divided into divisions and the fixtures allocated on home and away basis.

D The arrangements for playing, number of boards, venues etc I propose should stay the same. 

E Scoring. A new scoring system was agreed at the last AGM and is due to be implemented in 2019\20. 

F Arranging Fixtures. The home team to offer the away team 3 dates for a fixture. If agreement cannot be reached, a further 3 dates should be offered. If no agreement can be reached for a fixture to be played then refer to (G) and (H) below. 

G The use of substitutes.

1. All teams should make every effort to fulfil their fixtures with their designated team members.
2. 
If all possible date alternatives have been exhausted and it is only possible to fulfil the fixture by using substitutes, the following should apply:

3. Only substitutes from a prepared list should be used. This list to be overseen by the committee or a competitions co-ordinator.

4. The substitutes list should not contain any player already involved in a team.

5. Each substitute on the list will have a ranking score.

6. Every attempt should be made to substitute players on a ‘like for like’ basis as far as possible. 

H. Unfulfilled fixtures. 

All fixtures should aim to be completed by 15th March.


Any fixtures not completed by the above date should be declared draws, with the appropriate points awarded. 

I
. Deciding the winners. If the competition is a divisional one and therefore a play-off final is necessary to decide the winner, this should be played between 16th March and the date of the Club’s AGM.

 

For information: -teams at present are selected by friends or on a locality basis. The committee has agreed that where a team has to bring in a substitute then the person proposed should be agreed with the opposing captain before the match is played.

 

10.  Date of next years AGM and Annual Dinner

Suggested Thursday 23^rdApril 2020 for the AGM and Friday 24^thApril for the annual dinner (for info Easter Sunday in 2020 is 12^thApril).

Other events in 2019 –                               Strawberry Evening             20th June      

Curry Night    Wednesday16^thOctober              Halloween Bridge               31^stOctober  

Random Seeded Teams   24^thNovember         Christmas Bridge                19^thDecember