CHAIRMAN'S REPORT - 2003-2004
| This year has simply flown by and most of our events have been even more successful than last year. The continued improvement in the Association’s performance is due solely to the dedication and hard work of its Committee members and other volunteers behind the scenes and I thank them all for their various efforts. I would particularly like to thank Su King who has just retired as Newsletter Editor after a ten year stint. Her place is taken by Christine Duckworth who, having recently retired from working at EBU headquarters in Aylesbury, obviously has more time on her hands! I would also like to mention Simon Cochemé who successfully organised this year’s Lederer Memorial Trophy and has some exciting ideas in the pipeline for next year’s event. The Lederer is one of the few seriously good spectator events around and it could not take place without generous sponsorship from our President, Bernard Teltscher, and Warwick Pitch. We are indebted to them both and I would like to thank them once again. Finally, I would like to thank Queen’s Club for hosting the finals of the London Trophy and the Della-Porta Plate with their usual style. Sadly, we have lost four well known members this year. Keith Loveys, who won the Gold Cup in 1975 and was well known on the London scene, died unexpectedly of a heart attack. Dave Maeer fought cancer for many years but died after a short illness. Nina Harrison, at the age of 86, also died after a short illness. Esmund Bevan died suddenly. As usual, several of our members had success in national and international events. Danny Davies, Tom Townsend and David Gold won the English Trials. Ten London members participated in England’s victorious Camrose series whilst Leigh Chapman was a member of England’s winning team in the junior Camrose for under-25s. Philip Andrews, Michael Graham and Laura McDougall were successful in the Peggy Bayer Trophy for under-20s. London retained the Tollemache Cup whilst another London team were losing finalists in the Gold Cup. Finally, your Committee even managed to retain the London Vs Surrey Committee shield. London’s finances are in a sound state. We made a modest operating loss which we have more than adequate reserves to absorb and it is still our intention to break-even in future years. More worrying though is the fall in our membership this year. The EBU had a bad year, losing nearly 1,000 members, and London’s share was disproportionately high. This may reflect job losses in the City but I personally fear that other forces are at work. I grow increasingly concerned at the constant rise in the average age of the EBU membership and the ever greater number of players who regard themselves as “social players who only want to play for fun” and who express the view that EBU membership is irrelevant or incompatible with that aim. Concerns about the EBU’s management and governance, coupled with a lack of confidence in its ‘Development Plan’, led me to resign recently from the EBU’s Board of Directors. Combined with Christine Duckworth’s retirement, this means that London now has significantly less representation within the EBU and our Council delegates will have to work harder than ever to ensure that the Union steers a safe passage through the choppy waters ahead. To conclude, I have no doubt that the Committee will rise to the various challenges that we will face but if anyone would like to join us, then they would be most welcome. David Martin Chairman |
Mike Hill's Report 2000/2001
David Martin's Report 2001/2002
David Martin's Report 2002/2003
Mike Hill's report 2004/2005