March 2014 Meeting Minutes
Published March 2014Minutes of the Committee Meeting of the DBA held on Wednesday 19 March 2014 at the Isca Centre.
Draft minutes awaiting approval at the next meeting.
Present: Howard Kent-Webster (Chairman), Terence Treeby (Hon Secretary), Vivien Peters (Hon Treasurer), Ros Morgan (West), Terry Cannon (East), Paul Ainsworth (South), Neil Marsden, David Clarke (North), Andrew Leslie (Education Sub-Committee for item 9.4).
1. Apologies. George Simnett (vice-Chairman), Keith Ponsford (East), Denis Davey, John Boxall (North) Pam Ward (South), Jeanine Keith (Tournament Administrator).
2. Minutes of meeting 27 November 2013. Agreed and signed.
3. Matters arising
3.1. (Nov 4.3). The Treasurer has made progress with an inventory of DBA property and renewed the county insurance.
3.2. (Nov 4.6). Expenses rates for dealing and directing from 1 Jan 2014 to 31 Dec 2014 to remain unchanged.
3.3. (Nov 5.2). Andrew Leslie’s EBU share has been transferred to Dick Andrews.
4. Treasurer's Report
4.1. The Treasurer tabled the state of accounts to date. Currently £13962 in reserves and £11774 in current account including £10189 congress entries. The EBU database currently shows 1441 Devon members but clubs are reminded to update their information in order to maintain the accuracy of this. 7 clubs have reclaimed affiliation fees; 6 members have reclaimed assistance with directors’ courses.
4.2. The Treasurer tabled an event-by event statement of costs etc of each county event. The Treasurer will review the prize structure for the Devon Pairs (Julia Chadwick) and circulate prior to the next meeting. The Chairman undertook to consult with Warner Solomon regarding the Tollemache and report back to the next meeting.
4.3. A request for 4 additional sets duplimate boards in time for a busy September onwards was submitted and will be considered for the next budget.
5. Secretary’s Report and Correspondence (including Shareholders’ report on EBU matters)
5.1. Circulated to committee with comments 18 Jan : EBU subs for all counties.
6. Calendar 2014-2015
6.1 It was decided that there would be no printed calendar for 2014-15 in its current form. The information is all available on the website. There will be a reduced version on 2 sides of A4 circulated via clubs for those members who want one. See also 7.1. and 7.2.
6.2. Events 2014-15: draft circulated; changes noted. The Committee and the Hon Treas agreed fees for county competitions in 2014-15.
7. AGM
7.1 The savings from not issuing a calendar enable the committee to propose to the AGM that the P2P rate for 2015-16 stays at 3p.
7.2. Notification of 2014 AGM has been / will be carried out as per constitution (ie in handbook, by poster, in magazine). A change to the Constitution regarding notification for AGMs 2015 onwards will be put to the 2014 AGM. The mechanics of this notification will be discussed at a future meeting. [detail in separate document].
7.3. Agreed to propose deleting from the Constitution references to (a) balance sheet and (b) Regional Club committee. [detail in separate document].
7.4. (Nov 4.7). Proposals agreed with Section Treasurers to modify sections 7(d) and 9 of the constitution. This will now be put to the AGM. [detail in separate document].
7.5. Confirmed that all 4 officers are available for re-election.
Separate document referred to in 7.2, 7.3, 7.4.
8. Section Reports
8.1 South circulated. The section urgently needs new committee members and a league organiser. Agreed to propose deleting from the Constitution the requirement for section committees to have a secretary [detail in separate document].
8.2. East. Woolcott weekend and league successful.
8.3. West. Nothing to report
8.4. North. Successful congress; league logistics proving difficult.
9. Sub-committee reports
9.1. Technology sub-committee no report. Asked to recommend how to avoid bridgemate failures at large events.
9.2. EBU Counties Working Group. Reports circulated of Notes from Northern and Eastern meetings. Western meeting scheduled for 3 April.
9.3. Tournament Sub-Committee.
(a) Julia Chadwick : in 2012 and 2013 8 clubs held qualifiers with about 18 tables in the final. 2012 169 players took part. In 2014 we promoted the extra master points and 11 clubs held qualifiers with 215 players but still about 15-18 tables in the final. This raised the green points for the winners without attracting any more to the final. Next year’s promotion will stress cheap green points more prominently. Following the Devon Pairs (Julia Chadwick) final the Hon Secretary received a complaint from one pair about the behaviour of another player. This has been referred to the Conduct Committee. Directors should be reminded to announce prior to an event that they should be called if there is a behaviour problem just as they should for a bridge problem. There was a delay in dealing with this and a rescoring because of a problem with emails sent via the website.
(b) Club teams of 8: 10 teams and a good contest.
9.4. Education Sub-Committee.
(a) (a) Update on Robson tour circulated and approved with a county subsidy of £700.
(b) (Nov 7.4). Sub-committee plus Chairman and Treasurer and (to be invited) Dick Andrews had considered proposals. for future training (rolling programme of advanced workshops). A proposal for a self-financing workshop in 2014 was tabled. The committee agreed with the format but only for 2015.
(c) It was agreed to investigate candidates for county director’s courses (needs credit in assessment) and to try to establish a list of directors willing / able to run county events.
9.5. Selection Sub-Committee. Report circulated. It was agreed that the selectors should be the ones who decide how many players to send in a particular year based on financial guidelines from the committee as well as quality and availability of players. Jim Grant is standing down as captain after 3 years.
9.6. Congress Sub-Committee. Quote for scorebooks £242.82 accepted. Other preparations in hand. We have had confirmation that we can go ahead with the congress in 2015 (any building work will not affect that). £10189 for 49½ tables pairs plus 55 teams banked to 18 Mar. 2 more tables of each “cheques in post”. (up on 2013). We had about 10+ tables of each enter later than this in 2013 so expect to be full. Volunteers needed to be “on duty” at sessions.
9.7. Conduct and Disciplinary Sub-Committees: nothing to report. There is a vacancy on the Conduct Committee which should be filled at the first meeting after the AGM when the composition of all committees is confirmed.
10. Any Other Business
none
11. Next meetings
11.1. AGM Sun 15 June
11.2. Wed 9 July.