Shropshire Chess Asociation 2007 AGM

At Newport Chess Club, June 21, 2007.

 

  1. Apologies for absence. Received from Nick Rutter, Keith Tabner, Ian Davies, Glyn Pugh, Richard Thompson and Colin Roberts.
  2. Minutes of 2006. No matters arising.
  3. Officer’s reports.                                                                                                             A. General Secretary. (Absent).                                                                      B. League Controller. John Casewell said all games did take place with few defaults. He was not called in to adjudicate in any disputes. John said he had tried to issue the fixtures earlier this season. He added that having been in the post for four years, he was now standing down, although he was prepared to help, support, and guide anyone new to the job. Presentations were made to the 2006-2007 season winners – Church Stretton B (Division Three), Wellington A (Division Two); and Newport A (Division One).                         President Iain Wilson thanked John for all his work.                                       C. Treasurer. Francis Best said there was a small deficit of under £10. It was agreed to investigate the possibility of an alternative arrangement to game fees through the ECF individual membership scheme.                                               D. Auditor. Absent.                                                                                                E. Grading officer. In a written report Nick Rutter said there had been a problem obtaining information from the winter cup. Nothing was on the website and he had only been able to pick up a small number of games.              F. County individual. In a written report, Nick Rutter said there had been 27 entries. The tournament was not yet completed.                                           G. Oswestry rapidplay. Keith Grice said the last event, won for the third consecutive time by Nick Rutter, had broken even. He was resigning as organiser having run it for five years. Unfortunately nobody else had come forward from the Oswestry club to take on the role, and if nobody came forward within the county, last year’s tournament would be the last.                  H Winter knockout, Cox and Minor Trophies. Derrick Powell said there were 15 defaults among 24 entrants in the winter knockout and several clubs were not interested, and the remainder struggled to raise teams. Due to a general lack of enthusiasm, he recommended that the competition be discontinued. He added that he had received very few match cards and much grading information was lost. The meeting agreed not to run the winter knockout again.                                                                                                   I. Publicity officer. Toby Neal said regular items had been appearing in the Shropshire Star.                                                                                                     J. Darwin event. John Casewell said he thought the last festival, the fourth, had been the best. He was standing down as organiser.                                K. Website editor. (Absent).                                                                                  L. Congress organiser. A written report was read.                                        M. County junior organiser. Francis Best said there had been a tailing off of new younger children expressing an interest in coming into chess. One idea had been to run a junior under-100s team. A junior chess academy had been well received and he proposed to repeat it.                                                         N. County first team. Windsor Peck said three matches had been played, and all lost. The team was now relegated into the minor part of the open. With more support the team could have done well, but had a limited number of players. He signalled his intention to step down after the next season.                                                                                                                         O. County under 125 team. John Westhead said they had played four, won three and drawn one. The team had not lost at home in four years. He was stepping down.                                                                                                   P. Under 100 team. In a written report Ian Davies said they had got through to the English national final, being played on July 7. He would be stepping down afterwards as his grade looked like being over 100 and he preferred to be a playing captain rather than a non-playing one.                              Q. MCCU delegates. Iain Wilson said the MCCU was sounding out the opinion of counties on whether the MCCU should become a company limited by guarantee and potentially becoming a charity, the main benefit of which would be if anyone took legal action against the MCCU it would be the company rather than the officials and delegates who would be liable. There was discussion at the meeting over whether there was any likelihood of the MCCU facing litigation and the circumstances in which this might happen.            R. ECF delegate. In a written report Nick Rutter said there had been a report on the integrity of the grading system and it had been noticed that grades were deflating.
  4. Election of officers. President, Iain Wilson; secretary, Colin Roberts; league controller, no nominations; treasurer, Francis Best; auditor, Glyn Pugh; grading officer, Nick Rutter; county individual organiser, Nick Rutter; Oswestry rapidplay, no nominations; Cox and minor knockout, Derrick Powell; publicity officer, Toby Neal; Darwin festival, no nominations; website editor, Keith Tabner; congress organiser, Colin Roberts; junior organisers, Steve Rooney and Francis Best; county 1st team organiser, Windsor Peck; under 125 team organiser, no nominations; under 100 team, no nominations; MCCU delegate, Richard Thompson; ECF delegate, Nick Rutter.
  5. Proposed amendments to league rules. None formally presented to the meeting, but one had been submitted to the secretary, concerning promotions which were decided by defaulted games. It was decided that this should go to the rules committee and be presented to the council meting.
  6. Proposed amendments to constitution. None.
  7. Any other business. Eric Elwell had returned the correspondence cup and wanted it recorded that he no longer had it. Iain Wilson said Coddon might be looking for a new venue from September, although it was not certain they would lose their venue. Shifnal and Telford club were moving to the Nedge Tavern in Stirchley.                                                                                                         The meeting finished at 10.08pm.