Apologies for Absence
Apologies had been received from Mike Brannan and David Evans.
Minutes of previous AGM and Matters Arising
The minutes were agreed as a true record. There were no matters arising.
Reports from Officers
a. General Secretary - John Paines submitted a written report and thanked the other officers for their support, particularly during the current period when he was away working in Hampshire for much of the time. The League still lacked a Junior Organiser. He had made considerable savings on postage owing to more officers and club secretaries being on e-mail. He had been representing the League on the BCF Management Board and at Council during a busy year for the Federation. The League's website continued to be highly popular; John Richards was about to hand its running over to Paul Butterworth after several years of hard work. To this last point John Richards said that the site was about to be featured as Website of the Week on the Radio Bristol website.
b. Match Secretary - Jerry Humphreys submitted a written report. He announced the winners of the various competitions and noted that the unofficial award for the most improved player had gone to Phillip Lawson of Hanham. 2236 games (a drop of about 300) were played in total. 68 players (excluding students) had left the League, and there was a net loss from the previous season of 27 players taking part in at least one game. The number of defaults was around the same. University and Grendel had greatly improved in this respect (University had not defaulted a single game) but Bath and Clifton had worsened. He had been disturbed by the number of teams postponing matches, often without contacting him first. Postponements should only occur in the event of bad weather or the illness of several players. The new quickplay rule appeared to have struck a happy balance, and 58 games were played with quickplay finishes. A new innovation had been the distribution of league tables by e-mail where club secretaries have this facility; however he preferred to receive results on the normal forms rather than by
e-mail. The average time between matches and the results being received had slightly worsened to over ten days, and the worst offenders had an average of 22 days. He anticipated that the League would have 45 teams in the following season, a drop of one. The Junior League had been boosting its numbers; as had several clubs, particularly Grendel but also Bath, Thornbury and South Bristol.
John Richards asked whether it would be possible to avoid clubs having more than one match on the same night. Jerry said that he avoids it as far as possible but sometimes no other arrangement is possible. There were various queries regarding promotion and relegation, which Jerry clarified. Steve Boniface said that University deserved congratulations for their exemplary performance in not defaulting any games, especially having been demoted to Division Four, and the Chairman agreed with this point.
c. Treasurer - Martyn Sellars submitted a set of accounts and a written report. The League showed a surplus of £91 for the year. Income had continued to fall owing to the declining number of teams and the fact that there was no further income from book sales. Trophy costs had been low but would be higher in the following season because of the necessity of purchasing various new plinths. Direct funding of 4NCL activities had been reduced to one entry fee of £200; however the second team entry fee had been met from BCT funds following discussion of BCT finances by LMC (see next item), and a further £149 was being made available from the BCT account towards the next season's 4NCL entry fees. The League's cash reserves (excluding BCT and 4NCL funds) were in the region of £2000, and the Treasurer was not proposing that registration fees be raised, although he doubted that the League would break even in the next season owing to the projected trophy costs (£180). He thanked Richard Allen for stepping in to audit this year's accounts.
Chris Carter asked why bank interest had fallen from £62.28 to £27.16. The Treasurer said that it was a result of a general fall in interest rates. He felt that the new Treasurer should review all the banking arrangements.
The Chairman said that the LMC were very sorry to be losing Martyn after six years of service, and a vote of thanks was given to the retiring Treasurer.
d. Bristol Chess Times Editor - David Collier said that BCT was no longer sponsored by Sedgwick, so is no longer yielding a significant profit. He apologised for the lack of recent issues but said that this was a result of a lack of copy; he saw himself as its editor, not its major contributor. Welcome contributions had come from Martyn Sellars, Steve Boniface, John Richards and Chris Jones. He said that an issue would be out shortly, followed by a further one to include a report on the League Congress.
Martyn Sellars explained that the League had agreed to cover the cost of the BCT copies distributed to clubs. The Chairman said that BCT deserved to have more subscribers and more contributors.
e. 4NCL Team Manager - John Richards said that the first team had been "doing a Wimbledon" for the last couple of years in Division One; this season they had duly been relegated on game points. Nearly all the players had pledged to return for the following season. Melanie Buckley had received her first FIM norm as a result of her 4NCL performances. It was likely that there would be a third team for the new season; there were plenty of strong male players but the team would have to be self-financing and a female player would need to be found, as well as a third team manager. Any sponsorship would be most welcome.
Chris Carter requested that the final 4NCL league tables be made available at future AGMs.
f. Grading Officer - Graham Mill-Wilson said that he had taken over from Ray Studer this season but had not heard a great deal from the BCF. It was difficult to get information from them but he had now spoken with the Director of Grading, Roger Edwards. He observed that according to the BCF he is the "Results Officer", since the BCF calculates grades. All matches completed by 31 May were due to be sent to the BCF by June 30, and this task was well in hand. The concept of a mid-season grading list now appeared to have been abandoned. In response to a question about the risk of results sheets going astray, it was explained that Jerry Humphreys formats the results into a spreadsheet which Graham will send to the BCF.
g. Adjudication Secretary - Gerald Mobbs submitted a written report. For the first time during his tenure there had been no appeals. There had been 77 adjudications processed, as compared to 87 the previous season. The turnaround had decreased from 26.3 days to 21.9 days. Gerald thanked the adjudicators for their efforts. He reported that £162 had been raised for the League as a result of failed claims.
Jerry Humphreys thanked Gerald for conscientiously forwarding him the adjudication results every Friday evening.
Adoption of Reports and Accounts
At the instigation of the Chairman a vote of thanks was given to the Officers. It was proposed by Ian Biddick that the Reports and Accounts be adopted, and this was carried nem.con.
Presentation of Trophies and Certificates
Jim Boyce thanked last season's winners for returning their trophies promptly. Engraving was up to date. He pointed out that winners could if they wished return their trophies to the League early rather than keeping them throughout the season (this might apply to University students).
The following honours were announced and trophies presented by the President, Richard Allen:
League Congress:
Open Chris Beaumont (Grendel)
U-150 Steve Grant (University)
U-115 Graeme Thomson (Clifton)
U-80 Kevin West (Civil Service)
Division One Clifton A
Division Two Bath B
Division Three Downend C
Division Four University A
Division Five Clifton D
Team Knock-Out Horfield
Minor Club Knock-Out South Bristol
Summer Lightning Keynsham
Alan Ashby Salver Mike Brannan (Downend)
Bristol Grand Prix: Tyson Mordue announced that he and Melanie Buckley were retiring as Chairman and Secretary at the end of the season and being replaced by Richard Allen and Paul Butterworth respectively. He announced the following honours:
Rapidplay Prize: Ian Ponter (Downend)
Most Events Prize: Graham Mill-Wilson (Yate)
Open Champion: Tyson Mordue (Keynsham)
Open Runner-Up: Simon Buckley (Keynsham)
Challengers Champion: Michael Green (Downend)
Challengers Runner-Up: Paul Spiller (Downend)
Election of League Management Committee
The following were elected unopposed:
President Bob Sully
Chairman Michael Brigden
General Secretary John Paines
Match Secretary Jerry Humphreys
Treasurer Roger Hardy
Bristol Chess Times Editor David Collier
Election of Other Officers
The following were elected unopposed:
Grading Officer Graham Mill-Wilson
Junior Officer James MacArthur
Adjudication Secretary Gerald Mobbs
Recruitment and Publicity Officer Richard Lobb
Tournament Organiser William Davies
WECU Council Member Richard Palmer
4NCL Team Manager John Richards
Auditor Martyn Sellars
Vice-President Howard Millbank
Congress Secretary Steve Boniface
Election of Life Vice-President
Bob Sully spoke in favour of the election of Don Conway as a Life Vice-President. This was agreed by acclamation.
An adjournment followed this
item.
Bristol Chess Educational Trust
Chris Jones submitted a written set of accounts. He said that the Trust had income of £253 during the year to 30 April (including £100 from the sale of the residual donated books to ManChesster Supplies) and had made five grants to schools totalling £273 (for provision of sets, boards and a number of clocks). There were no applications for grants from individuals. He reminded the meeting that this season had been the first full year for the three new trustees (himself, Martyn Sellars and Jerry Humphreys). They had met at least quarterly and the main objective was to seek ways of raising the profile of the Trust with the League's players. For example, an insert had been made into the League Congress entry form containing information about the Trust and its purpose and scope, together with contact telephone numbers of all trustees. It was too early to judge the success or otherwise of this initiative. Cash in hand as at 30 April was £873.
A donation of £50 from League funds was proposed by the Treasurer and agreed nem.con.
Membership of the Friends of Chess
Steve Boniface said that alongside the Paignton Congress a Harry Golombek Memorial Tournament is being held this year with support from the Friends of Chess; ten GMs will be participating. He hoped that in due course a FIDE-rated tournament could be held in the South-West with funding from the FoC.
John Paines said that he had received one report from the FoC during the season which had said that it was being relaunched with a new management team.
Steve Boniface proposed that the League renew its membership of the FoC (£15) and make an addition donation of £35. This was agreed nem.con.
LMC Motion
The following Motion was proposed by the LMC:
"This Meeting approves the affiliation to the League (under Rule 1.4) of the Bristol 4NCL Squad."
John Richards explained that the background to the Motion was that some members of the 4NCL Squad were not entitled to play in the League Congress because they were not members of League clubs. After some discussion the Motion was passed nem.con.
Members' Motion
The following Motion was proposed by Steve Boniface and seconded by Alan Hibbit:
Add to Rule 6.4 (Playing Sessions and Rates of Play) new clause 6.4.f as follows:
"If at the start of the match only one player is present on a particular board, then that player shall have the right to nominate the mode of play on that board, that is, either a quickplay finish or the standard rate of play appropriate for that division. If at the start of the game neither player is present on a particular board then Rule 6.4.d shall determine the mode of play."
After a prolonged discussion during which the Motion and the existing rules were clarified, the Motion was passed by 25 votes to 10.
There were no other Members' Motions.
Discussion on League Knock-Out Competitions
Graham Mill-Wilson led a discussion on League Knock-Out competitions. He said that many players from the clubs playing in lower divisions, whilst supporting the existing competitions, would like to see a competition giving their club more chance of winning a trophy. Suggestions made included the following:
The Chairman informally polled the meeting on a number of questions:
It was agreed to leave the matter in abeyance until the next AGM. Graham Mill-Wilson suggested that all clubs should discuss the matter internally.
Any Other Business
Steve Boniface said that the Hanham Congress was taking place on 7-9 July.
James MacArthur advised that the Junior League is currently playing at Downend but is considering a move to Bristol Grammar School (Clifton).
Devon Thomas said that the
Harambee Quickplay was to take place on June 25.
There being no other business,
the meeting closed at approximately 10.30pm.