Shropshire Chess Asociation 2007 AGM
At Newport Chess Club, June 21, 2007.
- Apologies
for absence. Received from Nick Rutter, Keith Tabner, Ian Davies, Glyn
Pugh, Richard Thompson and Colin Roberts.
- Minutes
of 2006. No matters arising.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Proposed
amendments to constitution. None.
- 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.