MINUTES OF THE 57TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF
THE LOUGHBOROUGH BRIDGE CLUB
THU 30TH MAY 2013 AT JOHN STORER HOUSE
In attendance were the Chairman and 53 others.
Apologies.
Apologies were received from:
Peter Stockdale
Syd Kerslake
Diane Kettle
Angela Yeo
Christine Oldroyd
Susan Stockdale
Diana Bowden
Marilyn Roberts
Ruth Johnson
Sue Perrett Linda Simmons
John Wilcox Richard Rees
Mary France Janet Green
Stuart McDonald
The Minutes of the last AGM had been emailed to members and were not read out.
Matters Arising from Minutes of Last AGM. There were no matters arising.
Chairman’s Report. We are now well settled at JSH and our relations with them
continue to be excellent. We are not looking for any alternatives.
Over the last year the number of regular players has fallen from 88 to 77 with 6 new
names replacing 17 others. The total number of club members is higher than this due to
occasional players.
In the league both teams had a good season finishing third in the first and fourth divisions
respectively.
However time seems to pass ever more quickly and we shall very soon be sending off our
entries for next season. So if any of you wish to play in a team please let one of the
Committee know as soon as you can.
On the individual basis, for the first time ever, we have two players representing England.
Susan Stockdale is a regular member of the England Ladies team and played in the team
that won the Women’s European Championship and also the Mind Sports games. Also
she will be part of the team to play in the forthcoming World Bridge Teams
Championships in Bali. Our other star is Ben, who is still too young to be called a regular
international, but who has made an excellent start by being part of the England under 20
team which won the home internationals, played for the Peggy Bayer Trophy, by a huge
margin.
Meanwhile at County level, Dick and Lucy Pathan won the Gimson Trophy with Brian and
Sheila Stockdale runners up which qualified both pairs to compete for the Corwen Trophy
which is an inter-county competition for which only the leading pairs in their own County’s
competition are eligible.
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Again both the Christmas and Summer Parties were well attended and were enjoyed by
all, due in no small part to most of you who brought along food and prizes. Hughie and
Bob organized the bought in food for the Christmas Party and Paul again did a good job
with the raffle.
I would like to thank the Committee, all of whom have done their jobs very conscientiously
and competently over the year. On an individual basis Sue has continued to do a brilliant
job with the website and the scoring but has also now taken on a directing role which she
taken to like a duck to water. Perhaps her background keeping school classes in order has
been a good preparation. Ruth has very ably amalgamated the remains of the former
University bridge club with our team from last season. Bob seems to have got over a
health scare and is now working for the club as hard as ever whilst Stuart and Paul have
continued to run the Sim Pairs and collect table money respectively.
Barrie preferred not to be on the Committee but has continued to fix up players with
partners on a regular basis. One other member I wish to thank is Angela who is down at
the club before anyone else almost every Thursday and starts setting up the room by
herself, moving tables and chairs and continuing to help until the job is finished. Her work
is unseen by most.
Finally I must mention Hughie who, because of his failing eyesight, is not standing for
treasurer this time. He has been Treasurer for the last 12 years and has always done a
great job in ensuring that our finances are in order. He was also the driving force in
sorting out our arrangements with JSH and we have much to thank him for over the years.
However as you are aware he is no shrinking violet and he is standing for the Committee
again. I am sure his voice will continue to be heard.
Matters arising for the chairman’s Report. There were no matters arising.
Treasurer’s Report The Treasurer reported a loss of just under £100 for the year, a
result that he thought was very good considering the vast increase in rent we had to bear
following our move from the Grammar School to JSH. He informed the meeting that we
had £8600 in our deposit account and £1400 in our current account and were in a
position where he felt it was not necessary to increase table money or subscriptions for
the coming year. Table money would stay at £2.00 for members and £3.00 for visitors
while subscriptions would stay at £10.00. On that subject he informed the meeting that
subscriptions were now due and that anyone who had not paid by the end of June would
face dire consequences and be liable to pay visitors fees. The Treasurer thanked John
Wilcox who was responsible for the auditing and was pleased to say that John had agreed
to audit our books for the coming season.
Matters arising from Treasurer’s Report.
There were no matters arising.
Competitions and Trophies. Hughie Cairns felt there was perhaps a need for the club to
reduce the number of competitions held over the season explaining that he felt most of
the members were happy to play the normal club nights over the season. He pointed
out that we had to cancel one competition, the Palfreyman, during the season because of
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insufficient numbers and that some other events had been poorly attended. Sue Hardie
felt that competitions were important, particularly Teams-of-Four events as these gave
our members good experience and perhaps encourage them to enter for the winter
league competition. There was a feeling in the room that the competitions were not
publicized enough, they were advertised on our website, Bob regularly sent out
reminders when competitions were due and announcements were made at club nights
near to the events. Sheila Stockdale felt that not having a notice board could be a factor
and Brian Stockdale agreed to bring a portable board with him when he attends club
nights.
Bob Seymour felt that we needed someone to be responsible for pairing up people who
did not have regular partners, particularly in the mixed pairs event, and Barrie Parker
readily agreed to do this.
The matter was put to a vote and, with the exception of the Palfreyman, it was agreed to
continue with all competitions but hold them on a Thursday. The reasons for dropping
the Palfreyman were it was not particularly popular and it was difficult to organize.
Lucy Pathan urged all members to make an effort to support all of our completions.
Election of Committee.
In an unopposed election the following members were
voted on to the committee:
Chairman
Treasurer
Secretary
Geoff Shaw
Paul Anderson
Bob McCulloch
General Committee
Hughie Cairns
Sue Hardie
Stuart McDonald
Ruth Johnson
The trophies were then presented by Mary Beresford, the winners being:
Alice Cup
H Gordon
J Taylor
Jackson Cup
D Pathan
L Pathan
Loughborough Cup
S Stockdale
P Stockdale
S Stockdale
B Stockdale
Sharanda Cup
B Stockdale
S Stockdale
Doris Fawcett Cup
L Pathan
J Lloyd
D Pathan
J Lloyd
John Dixon Cup
M Pointon
M Coverdale
The meeting closed at 7.40 with all of the members expressing a warm appreciation of
the work done by Geoff Shaw.
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