Present Alan Grunwald, Lyn Morton, Alan Parker, Stan Powell & Avis Roberts

Apologies Arthur Jones, Keith Robbins & Jonathan Robinson

6 places are available for Wantage directors at the EBU course to be held in the Methodist Church hall on Saturday 29^th November.

There were some comments about the need to rearrange this meeting. Alan Grunwald asked Wessex League captains to avoid arranging matches that clashed with previously scheduled committee meetings.

Lyn Morton said that there had been no significant increase in the number of club members since our July meeting. Ways of improving the situation were discussed – essentially we need more publicity. Alan Parker suggested that he would contact Malcolm Simpson for a mention in the OBA newsletter.

The host system does not work at Wantage.

The club owes Alison Nicolson £1,000 for Bridgemates. Our next repayment is due at the end of November – we hope to pay back £200 - £250 per quarter.

There had been complaints from members that the 28 boards played at the recent BGB Sims were too many. Club directors should be asked to avoid this in future.

In the Wessex League the ‘A’ team had won both their matches while the ‘B’ team had won one and lost one.

It was suggested that Wessex League results should appear on our site. A link to the Aylesbury site would be useful since the latter gave results for all 5 divisions.

(Post-meeting note: Links have now been provided to the A and B team results on the Aylesbury site.)

The Bridgemate system was working reasonably well. Stan Powell suggested that each player should be allocated a ‘pin’ number when they become members. Alan Grunwald voiced a concern that any incorrect entry by club members would lead to more work for the scorers. Lyn Morton said that entry of players' names was one of the least stressful of the scorer's duties.

There was little interest in nominating certain of our members to participate in OBA pairs/teams for two events this autumn.

The organiser, Clive Keep, has asked us to check the eligibility of all players prior to the start. People should indicate whether or not they wish to take part in the competition. For example, if a pair have already played at another club they would not be eligible to go further, even if they met the qualifying standard. We would not operate a two tier system in any event – if people played they should pay any surcharge e.g. £2.50 for the national event in January 2009.

Feedback from our members suggested that Butler scored events were not popular. After discussion it was thought that a decision as to their future should be made at our next meeting in January 2009 after the club members had had a chance to make their views known at an EGM in November 2008.

Current members of the committee and the bulk of members would be loath to relocate our bridge club to other premises. However the Comrades Club have financial problems which we hope can be resolved. Nevertheless Alan Parker and other members of the committee are attempting to ascertain what other venues could satisfy our needs which are (a) regular Thursday evening bookings (b) adequate car park and storage space for our equipment (c) space for 10-12 tables and (d) reasonable hire charges. So far 30 or so alternative venues have been identified, but of those checked, 10 do not meet our criteria. However we are continuing our survey and plan to report to the committee at our next meeting.

These competitions are run by the OBA annually. The committee thought that it should simply draw members’ attention to their existence and leave them to form their own team if they wished.

Alan Grunwald said that this had been planned for November 1^st 2008 but little interest had been shown by club members so it has been cancelled. Alan Parker pointed out a major problem with an event limited only to club members since, in his opinion, we need at least 5 tables, preferably 7 tables, which means that a fairly high proportion of club members should participate to make it successful. However such an event would be considered again for 2009.

Alan Grunwald mentioned that the OBA would hold a Swiss pairs event in Oxford on December 7^th 2008 (details in the OBA prospectus).

When it had been tried on club nights, a draw for seat position had been successful. In future a draw would be held at the discretion of the director.

(Post meeting note: The above date clashes with a previously-arranged Wessex League match. The meeting has been rearranged for Tuesday 3^rd February 2009).