Minutes of a committee meeting held in the Comrades Club on September 2nd 2009
PresentAlan Grunwald, Alan Parker, Lyn Morton, Arthur Jones, Keith Robbins,
Stan Powell, Krys Kazmierczak (EBU)
ApologiesGaye Kyle, Avis Roberts, Jonathan Robinson
Alan Grunwald introduced the speaker, whose principal objective was to help Wantage Bridge Club to increase their number of players. Krys had experience in helping Summertown B.C. achieve this successfully.
Krys’s main points were:-
.Teaching prospective new players was important. Contact teaching centres in Oxford or organise tuition within our club (one teaching post was available)
.New members must be made welcome – no unfriendly behaviour
.Use free advertising as much as possible e.g. posters, flyers, local websites
.Host system was useful (host given two free games)
.Form an email group in the club
A useful discussion ensued.
Alan Parker reported that the Ridgeway Cup, which had been held for five years, had now been suspended due to lack of interest shown by some of the clubs involved. He would contact local clubs to find out if a competition using a different format e.g. teams of four extending beyond the summer months, could be run. Possibly another club might be interested in organising such an event.
Lyn Morton stated that the finances were sound and that the loan to buy the Bridgemate system had been repaid. We were still awaiting an invoice from the Comrades Club to cover room hire since the start of the financial year.
Matches had now been arranged for both teams and prospective players have been contacted.
Since Ed Scerri’s recent talk had been well received and showed a small profit it was agreed that he should be asked to give another (March/April 2010) possibly on common mistakes in bridge or difference in tactics between teams and pairs play. Stan Powell and Keith Robbins would organise this.
It was suggested that Alison Nicolson might be able to organise club seminars on a semi-regular basis. Krys mentioned that Summertown B.C. ran such events at which about 16 players attended, paying £10 per ticket.
There have been complaints about the clutter in the storeroom in which we keep tables and ‘tin boxes’. Alan Parker has spoken to the steward who is aware of the problem and he promises to sort it out. There have also been problems with some of the lights in our playing area not working; some of these have now been fixed and Alan is assured that the others should be working shortly.
Alan Parker announced that he will not be standing as Secretary again after the AGM in 2010 since he has occupied the position since 1999. It is likely that there will be some changes in the Secretary’s duties when the Pay to Play system starts in the New Year.
Alan has checked with Keith Sadler and the Comrades Club and both are happy for us to hold our Christmas party on December 17th 2009.
Tuesday 1st December 2009 at 7.30pm in the Comrades Club (venue is booked).
Alan Parker (Hon. Secretary)