ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
7.00 pm
MINUTES
1.
Registration of
proxies: The following members signed proxy forms.
Steve
Eginton, Philip Watson, Carol Reguleski, W. Powell, Norman Wraight, Justin
Wickens, Chris Watkinson, Roger Fellows, Charles Moore, Kit Jackson, Toby
Naish, John Hitchman, Hugh Nobes and Steve Marquez
2. Apologies for
absence
Present: Mike Hill (MH chairman), Ian Payn (IP), Brian
Callaghan (BC), Susie Behrmann (SB), Chris Duckworth (CD), Roger Morton (RM),
James Smith (JS), Sati McKenzie (SM), Carolyn Murphy (CM), Ned Paul (NP),
Gordon Rainsford (GR), Richard Fleet
(RF), Martin Green (MG), Martin Baker (MB) and 14 members by proxy.
Apologies: Cecil Leighton (CL), Kit Jackson (KJ), Simon Cocheme
(SC), Steve Eginton (SE), Stefanie Rohan (SR), Andrew Romanowski, Philip
Watson, David Peters, Eric and Denise Kresner, Merrita Dickinson, Julie Bostock
and Peter Cotterill
3. Minutes of
the
No
points of accuracy were raised.
4. Matters arising
from these minutes
In
reply to a question from MG, the chairman clarified that the requirement for
being a ‘full’ member of the EBU is to have played in an EBU affiliated club at
least 12 times in the past 12 months. Direct membership is also possible by
paying the subscription to the EBU/county rather than through P2P at affiliated
clubs.
5. Chairman’s
Report
2009 was the last year before
the implementation by the EBU of subscription via Pay-to-Play. Fewer than half
of London’s affiliated clubs have signed up for continuing affiliation from
April 2010, and the county’s income from subscriptions is likely to be
significantly lower in future, even though there will be more “direct” members.
As a consequence, a number of steps have been taken to reduce the Association’s
costs. These include discontinuing the publication of a competition brochure
(and including competition data in the newsletter instead) and seeking
individual members’ approval to receiving the newsletter electronically.
However, we shall need to continue to monitor the situation very closely over
the course of the next year or so.
For the second year running,
our performance in the Tollemache and Metropolitan Cup gave us nothing to
celebrate. Sadly, the Committee Match against the Surrey Committee did not take
place in 2009 – it has been suspended indefinitely as both counties look to
reduce costs in anticipation of lower subscription income.
People
Christine Duckworth has, as
always, continued to shoulder the bulk of work for the Association as county
secretary, editor of the newsletter and youth officer. Roger Morton has had his
work cut out keeping fully in touch with the issues of Universal Membership and
has kept us well informed, whilst also maintaining the Association’s website. Sati
McKenzie continues to do sterling work running the leagues, the Champions Cup
and the London Championship Teams of Four for the Ian Gardiner trophy, whilst
also acting as the committee’s minutes secretary.
Simon Cocheme continued to deal
with a number of issues including the reinvigoration of the London Trophy but,
sadly, has now expressed a wish to stand down from the committee. Our thanks go
to him for all his work over a number of years. Also standing down from the
committee is Cecil Leighton, after more than fifty years service. Latterly, his
contribution has been solely to organise and administer the London Trophy but
the changes being made to that event include handling most of it
electronically, and the principle contact in future will be Kit Jackson.
Finance
The underlying financial
position seemingly remains stable. However, as reported last year, we remain
somewhat exposed as a result of the several handovers of the role of treasurer
over the last four years. Ian Payn has started to get to grips with things but
we still do not have audited accounts for any of the last four years. This is
not satisfactory and, although the individual competition reports and the
LMBA’s bank balances indicate that we remain financially sound, we do need
further action from the treasurer to rectify matters.
As already mentioned, a number
of actions have been taken to reduce costs in order to maintain financial
stability in the era of Universal Membership. Our 2010 subscription income from
Pay-to-Play is expected to be barely half of our 2009 subscription income.
However, on the positive side, many members whose clubs chose not to affiliate
in 2010 have become direct members and the number is still growing.
Sponsorship remains a critical
part of the Association’s finances. The Lederer could not take place without
generous sponsorship from our President, Bernard Teltscher, and the Young
Chelsea Bridge Club. Similarly, the Fox
Shammon Trophy, the finals of the London Trophy and the Della-Porta Plate and
the London Trophy Pairs continue to benefit from venues being provided by
Queen’s Club and the Royal Automobile Club. Our thanks are due to them all.
The Future
The EBU has successfully
implemented Universal Membership via Pay-to-Play but it will still take some
time for everything to settle down. Meanwhile, their work on developing bridge
education and investigating the possible benefits of adopting charitable status
continues. The Association remains committed to helping them in the process of
developing the game but will need the full support of its members, both
individuals and clubs to do so.
Earlier this year, the
Association staged the first ever
6. Treasurer’s Report
The
treasurer has not been able to produce any reports owing to lack of time and
work commitments. The general position as inferred from the state of the LMBA
bank accounts (approximately £8500 in credit) is that there is less money now
than there was a year ago. This is due, in part, to the fact that, in past
years, most subscription income for the year would already have been received
but P2P income is received in arrears and spread over the whole year. The exact
position is not yet known. Richard Fleet asked if LMBA trophies could be
classed as assets and if their values were known. The chairman clarified that
trophies have nil value in the accounts and the trophy winners are responsible
for insuring the trophies in their possession. In answer to a question, RM
confirmed that he had actually checked all the income and outgoings for 2008
and was satisfied everything was in order. The only thing lacking for that year
is the accounts in proper format for audit.
7. Adoption of
accounts for 2009: Not possible at this stage
as discussed under item 6.
8. Subscriptions
(inc. P2P) for 2011-2012:
The
chairman proposed that the committee be given the mandate to raise the direct
subscription (county share) by up to £1 and the P2P levy by up to 5p if it
should prove necessary. This was seconded by IP and agreed nem con.
MG was not clear as to how P2P actually works and an explanation was provided by RM.
9. Elections to
the Executive Committee
Four
members are standing down, namely, SC, CL, SM and CD. Of these, the first two
are retiring, while SM and CD are standing for re-election. Two new candidates
were nominated – Julie Bostock and Susie Behrmann. With four candidates for
four vacancies, all four were declared elected.
10. Appointment
of honorary auditor
Mike
Scoltock was proposed by MH, seconded by IP and reappointed nem con.
11. EBU
Shareholders’ Report
CD
reported that the transition to P2P has gone quite smoothly, on the whole. The
EBU staff are coping and the software is working well
despite a few minor problems. The EBU club committee has been helping clubs
with implementing P2P and using other EBU services for clubs and players. While
it is encouraging that the operational side has presented no insuperable
problems, more time is needed to see how it works for clubs and players.
On the organisation side, the sharholders
approved the proposal that the the EBU board could appoint
up to two of its ten directors to bring in skills not already available. The
three standing committees continue elected by shareholders while the club
committee is appointed but one member of the selection committee may be
appointed (in addition to the elected members). The youth committee has been
disbanded and its functions taken on, in part, by the newly formed education
working group.
Board members will have a 3-year rolling tenure in
future, to ensure that expertise is not lost. There will also be an upper limit
to the tenure period of all officers (previously only chairman and
vice-chairman).
The number of shareholders’ meetings has been
reduced from three to two per year.
There is ongoing consultation on the following:
·
Changes to the master point
system
·
Representation and voting –
whether clubs should have a direct vote
·
More visits to clubs by EBU
shareholders to improve communications
JS reported that possibility of seeking charity
status is being investigated now that it is possible, given that bridge is
recognized as a mind sport. It is hoped that, if found to be worthwhile, this
will be achieved in 2012.
A newcomers’ competition has been proposed.
RM asked about developments on the national grading
scheme. It is progressing, but more slowly following the untimely death of John
Carter.
RF suggested that these points should be put on the
LMBA website for members to comment on. This was agreed. RM to action.
Any other business:
Susie
Behrmann asked about the status of ECATS in running simultaneous pairs events.
She felt that there were too many events for clubs to manage. MH and NP
clarified that ECATS merely handles the actual operation of the events for
other organisations like BGB and EBU. It is not mandatory for clubs to
participate in all of them. In any case, if numbers fall, so will revenue and
the organisers will have to reconsider.
There being no
other business, the meeting closed at