Present Alan Grunwald, Lyn Morton, Alan Parker, Arthur Jones, Stan Powell,

Avis Roberts, Jonathan Robinson.

Apologies Keith Robbins.

Some clashing of Wessex team matches with previously arranged committee meetings had occurred. The team captains, Keith Robbins and Lyn Morton, would do their best to avoid such clashes in future but fixing of mutually acceptable dates with some other Wessex clubs had posed problems in the past.

Lyn Morton said that the first repayment of the Bridgemate loan to Alison Nicolson had been paid and that the second would be paid at the end of February 2009.

Currently our membership was down by nine compared with last year which obviously decreased our income. The committee discussed various players who had attended more or less regularly and agreed to try to encourage them to return.

Alan Parker had investigated possible alternative venues for the club if it had to leave the Comrades Club sometime in the future. Of 14 sites considered so far the only suitable one is the Wantage Methodist Church Hall.

In the absence of Keith Robbins, it was reported that the ‘A’ team had won 4 matches in the Wessex League and lost 1. Two matches against Summertown teams had still to be played so if we got favourable results we could be promoted to Division 2.

Lyn Morton said that the ‘B’ team had won 3 matches in Division 5 and lost 2 matches. There was still one match to play so promotion this season was unlikely.

Analysis of results for 2007 and 2008 showed that there was a tie between Peter Cecil and Jonathan Robinson. The Secretary would arrange for the cup to be suitably engraved and obtain smaller cups for both players.

Arthur Jones had circulated a paper which the committee thought was most useful. The most important ideas were that no discussion of results should be audible to adjacent tables and that there should not be any significant time spent discussing hands played earlier by other players. Any discussion could be curtailed or forgone at the request of their opponents at the table. Club directors should be made aware of the contents of the paper and should be encouraged to enforce the principles contained in it.

It appears that certain club events have not been popular with our members. In 2008 we had 4 Butler scored events plus 2 handicap teams plus 4 normal team events. After some discussion it was agreed that:-

• We should have 1 handicap teams event per year
• If on a handicap teams night we had an odd pair then we should use Butler scoring
• We should have 1 handicap pairs event per year
• We should retain the 4 normal team events

We should put these proposals to club members at our forthcoming AGM in May 2009.

Alan Grunwald outlined his plans for the club:-

• Standing still was not a viable option so we should try to increase our number of active players
• Pay-to-play is likely to increase table money by 50p. per player/ per session
• We might like to have club ‘polo shirts’. Since these had been introduced at other clubs, e.g. Wantage Town Football Club, Alan Parker would try to find out the cost and the number for a minimum order.

It was pointed out in the six years (2003-8) during which cups for individuals and pairs had been awarded that on four occasions the individual winner was also part of the winning pair. It was thought that this was not entirely satisfactory so that the current rules might be changed. Thought should be given to this matter with any change to be implemented in 2010.

Alan Parker (Hon. Secretary)