LOREBURN BRIDGE CLUB

Minute of the AGM held in the Bridge Club, Howgate Street, Dumfries on 26th May 2005.

The Acting President Neil Thomson was in the chair. There were 48 members present.

1 Apologies:
D. Yerrill, S. White, B. Martin, P Crowter, A. Foggo, F. Hannay, D. Shamash, E. Whitehead, J. Wray, B. Seex, J boardman, C. Hanlon, G. Burn, D. Emery,G. Bedford.

Adoption of the minutes of 27^th May 2004
This was proposed by M. Burn and seconded by D. Kearney.

2 Matters Arising:
Ian Fraser noted that there was no mention of the new members who had joined the committee. This omission to be amended.

3 President's remarks
"You all know that this year has been fraught with bureaucratic nightmare with trying to organise the purchase of additional land from Glass and Glazing, obtaining planning permission and applying for building warrants.

I can say that the land is currently under offer and we are awaiting an acceptance from Glass and Glazing's solicitor.

The granting of planning permission and application for building warrants could not have been achieved without the considerable help of George Wylie, who the Club owes a great debt to, thank you George.

As you will know planning permission has been granted and discussions are in hand with regard to the external colour of the building, it is likely to be a red brick finish on the new walls and render on the other walls that are being altered.

Building warrants were applied for about 6 or 7 weeks ago. The application has been inspected by building control and they have raised a few small issues that George should be able to sort easily and this will mean that building could start as soon as week commencing 6^th June.

Alternative accommodation has been arranged in the old convent,I have a simple map here if people would care to check it. We are due to sign a missive for occupancy, to start Friday 3rd June on a month to month basis, with a view to start playing bridge from the 6th June.

With good grace and a following breeze we are hoping to be back in our re-furbished premises sometime in September. Depending on the cost of re-furbishment, during August or early September I may well be looking for volunteers to redecorate the club.

I would like to thank all the committee for their work during the year. I may, at the time, forget to say thank you to the people who do the donkey work to keep the club running but I and the members are entirely grateful."

4 Treasurer's Report
The balance sheets were previously distributed to those present.
The Treasurer, Mr Ken Macdonald, reported a satisfactory year. He drew attention to the approximate income of £8,000 with a profit of £6,000 despite several unusual expenses which he expected to be one offs,
We are now exempt from rates as we have no flat and, at this time, no licence.
It is intended to put in a water meter which , because of our low water usage, should be much cheaper.
The members had no questions to ask the treasurer so the balance sheet was adopted by D. Adamson and seconded by Bill Ramage.
The Acting President thanked Ken.

5 Annual Subscription
It was agreed that this should remain at £30.
Members were reminded to return the membership details form for the database.

6 Report from the S.B.U.
Anne Athol thanked Loreburn for holding many of the S.B.U. events in the club throughout the year.
She remarked on how well Loreburn had fared in the league matches.
She reported how concerned they were about poor support for national events and asked that we all encourage club members from all the local clubs as well as Loreburn itself to participate in National events and Southern District events.

7 Report on Tournaments
Neil Thomson reported that the tournaments had run fairly smoothly.
A simultaneous pairs had been run in aid of the Tsunami fund and had realised £177.
Neil asked for any suggestions for events with a different format which he would happily consider. He had wondered about introducing more team events, but he would be grateful to hear what the members thought.
The Appleton Cup and handicaps are to be discussed later in the meeting.

8 Election of Office Bearers:
Eva Adamson thanked Neil for acting President during the past year and proposed that he took over as President now. This was duly seconded and Neil now chaired the election of office bearers.
The following positions were now proposed and seconded.
Vice President --- Rosie Harkness
Treasurer-----------Ken Macdonald
Secretary-----------Joyce Yarham
Past President------Eva Adamson
Committee Members
Four new members were proposed and seconded: Jim Steen, Gladys Henderson, Michael Anderson and Margaret Greensill(for one year only).

9 Election of Auditor
Mrs Storey of Primrose and Gordon was proposed and seconded.

10 Smoking Policy
Neil Thomson said that as was already stated in the AGM notice we need to consider the issue of smoking. The notice had given the reasons for applying a complete smoking prohibition within the club and he now invited comments from the floor.
It was noted that the ban would only affect about 3 of the present membership and it was indicated that they would find no problem in going outside to smoke. Neil pointed out one or two difficuties with smoking outside but it was not felt that these could not be overcome.
Neil then proposed that the Club had a complete ban on smoking in the Club, this was adopted by J. Bedford and seconded by P. Muir.

11 Appleton Review
Neil spoke of the reasons for change. He said, "Here I do have a view, I believe that the handicap system is not working correctly as the scratch results and the handicap results are too similar and as a result I believe the handicap results should be more severe. But this is not the only problem; the method of scoring also causes major problems with every board having a potential swing of in excess of 1,000 aggregate points. However to take a more common occurrence a vulnerable grand slam making, as opposed to going one off , is a swing of over 2,000 which is near enough the maximum handicap gone on one board. With this in mind a search for an alternative takes me to look at match pointed scoring, where each board is worth the same as any other. So a part score over trick can have the same effect as the one off in a grand slam, as such a much fairer result is achieved given that each board carries the same weight. As to a handicap, I would suggest that the current handicap for the pairs championship certainly levels the field. Some may argue that the handicap is too severe in this competition but to this I would say that it is based on the average of the pairs current ability and as such it is the fairest handicap. I would be willing to listen to suggestions that a proportion such as 75% of the average handicap be used. But as always this is my view and I now open to the floor for comments and or suggestions."
After a lengthy discussion and various points of view being expressed by a considerable number of members, three motions were put forward for members to vote on. At this point Abbie Robertson (a past president) reminded the members that they were not in the position to change the competition that they could only recommend proposals for the consideration of the committee.
The three motions were:
For the status quo to remain. ie. 26 weeks of aggregate scoring using a handicap system ranging from -500 to 2,000.
For two 13 wk. competitions to run. First half to be run as originally ie. aggregate with handicaps. Second half to be run using match points with or without handicaps.
To run a 26 week match pointed competition.

Motion 1 got 8 votes.
Motion 2 got in excess of 20 votes.
Motion 3 got 4 votes.
In the final vote for motions 1 and 2, motion 2 got the majority of the votes.
So the committee will now consider the two competition option.

12 A.O.C.B.
Anna Johnstone thanked both Eileen Cowan and Anne Gray for the work they had done and were doing in teaching and encouraging new players.
Beth Marshall asked that the handicaps accrued over the 4 summer months, by Wednesday night players, be zeroed in September. The committee will consider this.
Ruth Risk asked how we would know where to go when we arrived at the convent. Neil promised notices and said that there were maps displayed on the walls.
Gerry Dolan asked about keys for the tournament directors. Neil to arrange.
Duncan Adamson asked how we would let people know of the alternative arrangements. It was agreed to put notices on the door and by word of mouth.
As there was no further business Eva proposed a vote of thanks to Neil, the Chairman, and the meeting closed at 9pm.