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  • Committee Minutes post June 2007:  Full List

March 2024 Meeting Minutes

Published April 2024

Minutes of the Committee Meeting of the DBA held online 19 March 2024

The meeting opened at 10am.

1. Officers & Members Present: Jacqui Munns (JM) chair; Jeremy Childs, vice chair (JC); Neil Marsden (NM) treasurer; Doug Dunn (DD); Bill Luscombe (BL); John Wintle (JW), Sheila Ferguson, (SF), Mike Hamon (MH).

2. Minutes dated January 24, 2024

  • These were reviewed and accepted by the committee and the minutes will be posted on the website.

3. Treasurer's Update (NM)

  • NM has opened a 90-day access savings account alongside the Lloyds current account and has transferred approximately £20,000 into this account. As this account gives a favourable 4% interest rate, and given that having both accounts with the same bank will facilitate transfer of funds between the two, NM proposed that we do not need to investigate options with other banks at this time, and the committee agreed this. There remains £7,200 in the current account, including money collected for Devon County Congress entries.

4. Section Reports

North Devon Section

  • The North Devon Congress weekend was a success with 46 pairs and 23 teams attending. Good feedback was received about the event as a whole and in particular about the food and staff at the hotel. The congress made a profit of approximately £500, full accounts to follow.
  • The Charity Swiss Teams event for the Dartington Glass Trophy took place on Sunday, March 17, 2024 with 16 teams attending and raising money for Macmillan Cancer Care & the North Devon Hospice.
  • The next Bridge seminar will take place on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 at the Barnstaple Library.
  • Barnstaple Bridge Club is now struggling financially due to low numbers, even on No Fear nights, and the committee will meet to discuss the club’s future soon.

East Devon Section

  • None received.

West Devon Section

  • Kingsbridge Bridge Club have not yet returned to face-to-face (F2F) Bridge although the club has teamed up with Falmouth to run weekly online sessions, which are well attended. The club remain financially viable and will discuss their options for the future at their AGM on April 16, 2024.

South Devon Section

  • Newton Abbot (NA) Bridge Club F2F sessions on Thursday evenings are attracting five or six tables with similar numbers attending the relaxed Tuesday afternoon sessions. On Tuesday evenings, the online sessions run jointly by NA & Plymouth Bridge clubs are regularly getting nine or ten tables.
  • Teignmouth Bridge club run sessions on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and are averaging four or five tables. The club is also running a weekly beginner’s class in collaboration with the U3A.
  • Torquay Bridge club Tuesday evening sessions are regularly getting between six and eight tables with similar numbers attending the Wednesday intermediate sessions.

5. Sub-committee Reports

(i) Competitions subcommittee report 
The subcommittee (JM, JC & BL) has not met since the last DBA meeting.

  • Western Morning News Teams of Four Knockout - This competition is progressing with one match outstanding in each group, and these matches must be played by March 31, 2024. Regardless of the outcome of these two group stage matches, the group winners will be the teams headed by Warner Solomon & Richard Lingham. The final has yet to be arranged. The closing date for the EBU Pachabo Cup is May 24, 2024 and the final takes place on the weekend of June 8 & 9, 2024 on RealBridge. 
  • Devon Club Teams-of-Eight - As Torquay Bridge Club were the only entry to this competition, they are the winners by default and will represent Devon in the regional final of the Garden Cities Trophy competition on May 11, 2024 in Bristol
  • The Julia Chadwick Devon Pairs - The closing date for entries has been extended to Thursday, March 21, 2024, at 5pm. There are currently six pairs entered and it was decided in the meeting that this competition should go ahead.
  • Western League 2023–24 - In the penultimate round of matches on March 16 against Somerset, Devon B & C teams won and Devon A team lost. The final round is against Wiltshire on April 6, 2024. Currently, Devon A, B, & C teams are in 3rd, 5th & 2nd place, respectively.

(ii) Devon County Congress (DCC) subcommittee

  • The advert for the County Congress in is the February 2024 edition of the English Bridge magazine and looks good. The subcommittee (DD, JC, NM, BL) met on February 19, 2024 to continue planning for this event. Standby pairs for Friday & Saturday will be arranged, score booklets will be printed as last year, there will be hand records for at least 70% of attendees, and the prize money will be the same as last year (assuming similar final numbers). DD & BL will organise and transport all the equipment. 
  • Currently, there are 27 pairs and the equivalent of 10 full teams signed up, as compared with last year’s final total of 39 pairs and 19 teams.

(iii) Education & Teaching Subcommittee Report
The subcommittee (JM, JC & BL) has not met since the last DBA meeting.

  • There will be an EBED Teach the Teacher course on Saturday & Monday, April 6 & 8, run by Sally Anoyrkatis at the High Bickington Community Centre. At least four players from North Devon are attending. Following the course, the plan is to organise a course for beginners in the autumn to take advantage of the expected interest in Bridge from the EBU Bridge Festival in September. JC & DD have agreed to meet with the four delegates and other ND teachers to help with planning.

(iv) Engagement Subcommittee Report
The subcommittee (JM, JC & DD) has not met since the last DBA meeting. However, members of the subcommittee continue to make informal contact with clubs, enquiring about teaching, directing, and what support the clubs might want from the DBA.

6. Devon Equipment Inventory 

  • Terence Treeby (TT) has asked that the committee find a storage solution for the equipment that he currently holds and this was again briefly discussed. In the absence of other options, it was felt that the DBA could afford to pay for secure storage for equipment. Some of the equipment and stationery stored by TT could be disposed of and DD & BL will investigate when they visit to collect equipment for the DCC.
    MH mentioned that he also has equipment stored at his home. 
    Action. Both DD/BL and MH will provide inventories of equipment held, and the committee will then make a decision on how much storage space is needed and where this should be located.

7. EBU Festival of Bridge, September 9–15, 2024 

  • The EBU has said that the purpose of this week is to have fun, raise awareness of Bridge, and raise money for Cancer Research (CR). The dedicated Festival EBU web page is now live and includes event information as well as resources such as poster templates. The DBA is committed to supporting this event and using it to attract potential new players to the game.
  • JM, JW & BL all attended the latest EBU Festival Zoom meeting in early February at which JM asked for contact details of local CR fundraisers so that we could use their marketing expertise and plan events together.
    Action The Festival is to be further discussed in a separate meeting, TBA.

8. AOB 

  • DD asked that the North Section lend their Bridgemates to the DCC and this was agreed and arranged.

9. Future Meetings

  • Next DBA central committee meeting will be on Tuesday, May 19, 2024 at 10am on Zoom.

Meeting ended at 11am.

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