Minutes of the Meeting of the Claygate Bridge Club Committee held at 14.00 on the 1st February 2018 at Torrington Close
Present:
|
Chairman: |
Gavin Wilson (GW) |
|
Elected Committee Members: |
Yvette Barton (YB), Pauline Harris (PH), Muriel Hodder (MH), Kay Wilson (KW) |
|
Co-opted Committee Members: |
none |
|
Other Club Members: |
none |
1. Apologies for Absence
None.
2. Confirmation of the Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on 20th November 2017
The minutes of the meeting of 20th November 2017 were agreed and signed by the Chairman.
3. To Report on the Actioning of Items from Previous Meetings
- 17-2Ⓐ2 GW agreed to ask the council's adult education teachers for referrals. ⓞⓟⓔⓝ
- 17-2Ⓐ4 GW to circulate the committee with details of the EBU's P2P debits of this year. ⓞⓟⓔⓝ
- 17-2Ⓐ5 GW to send PH another copy of the EBU Invoice for the 2017 Law books. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ
- 17-3Ⓐ1 MH/PH to check, when the room hire bill from Elmbridge arrives in January, that the club was awarded two freebie evenings as a result of the first debacle. ⓞⓟⓔⓝ
- 17-3Ⓐ2 GW to request another freebie session from the Day Centre Manager, because of the second evening of chaos. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ
- 17-3Ⓐ3 GW to ask David Rotherham about previous arrangements for the club's public liability insurance cover. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ
- 17-3Ⓐ4 MH/PH jointly to sign the year's financial accounts. ⓞⓟⓔⓝ
- 17-3Ⓐ5 GW to ask DAVID ROTHERHAM to help with the drinks again. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ
- 17-3Ⓐ6 Due to sticky fingers from eating, GW is requested not to change the cards until after the Party. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ
- 17-3Ⓐ7 GW to announce to the Club that normal bridge will follow the Party. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ
- 17-3Ⓐ8 The Monday after this announcement, GW to circulate a clipboard register of interest, to enable YB & MH to estimate numbers. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ
- 17-3Ⓐ9 GW to request that the Day Centre be opened by 1815 on the day of the Party. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ
- 17-3Ⓐ10 GW to find at least one — preferably two — technically capable club members to help plan and support the roll-out. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ Carol Wildig (CW) has volunteered.
- 17-3Ⓐ11 GW to provide training to the scoring team. ⓞⓟⓔⓝ GW needs to discuss this with CW.
- 17-3Ⓐ12 GW to provide training to users. ⓞⓟⓔⓝ Three videos have been created and links placed on the club website. But face-to-face tuition is vital.
- 17-3Ⓐ13 GW to provide gentle familiarisation for everyone before launching in to the big roll-out. ⓞⓟⓔⓝ GW sent an email broadcast to all members alerting them to the future roll-out. The BridgePal system has been active for two evenings so far, with two users on the first night, and one on the second.
4. Chairman's Report
GW expressed his disappointment that the numbers are down — 10-11½ tables so far this year, compared to 13-14½ last year over the same period — when most other indicators suggest the club is doing well. Others have reviewed the membership and believe that there are around 10 members who are unlikely to renew this year, either due to infirmity or relocation. The Club has a substantial float, but we should aim to cover our variable costs. GW said he believed the membership was not especially price-sensitive in the £2-£3 zone, compared to the price of an evening's entertainment at say, the Everyman Esher. The key focus for 2018, once we have bedded in the BridgePal handsets, must be recruitment and succession. He did not believe a £3 price tag would put off new members. At this point, the committee embarked on a general discussion of the factors that would attract and retain new members. The entire committee agreed that the fundamental factor affecting the retention of potential new members is the reception they get at each table on their first visits to the club.
Jeremy Dhondy, in his chairman's forward in a recent issue of English Bridge wrote that the key to each club's survival is to offer tuition. Claygate cannot do that, because we lack our own premises.
It was noted, in passing, that Oxshott seems a friendlier club, and one factor in this may be that refreshments are still served from a hatch at the interval. One player from each table goes up to the hatch to collect the foursome's orders, and for the duration of the interval, each four is obliged to be social towards each other. There is no such obligation at clubs such as Claygate where refreshments are available for most of the evening on a self-service basis. (Perhaps Claygate could have an interval without incurring the expense of hiring a hatch-person?)
Another suggestion was that Claygate could have a New Members Recruiting evening.
Another suggestion was that a member would have a free evening's bridge if they coax a friend to join the club.
This will be a recurrent theme of 2018.
- 18-1Ⓐ1 GW/KW to pay their 2018 subs.
- 18-1Ⓐ2 GW to send an email broadcast to all members, and to put up an item on the website, about paying their 2018 subs.
5. Treasurer's Report
PH projects that the club's total cash holdings fell to around £4.7K at the end of 2018. The club incurred some major expenses in 2017 which will last us for several years: electronic scoring handsets and customised stationery. No major new expenses are foreseen for 2018. The club can continue for the foreseeable future, even at current table money prices and attendance rates.
The committee agreed not to put a proposal, at the March AGM, to increase table money from £2 to £3 for members.
- 18-1Ⓐ3 PH to finalise the 2017 numbers and then forward the accounts to John McKimmie for review.
6. The Christmas Party
It was widely felt that the Xmas Party had gone very well. There was less wastage, because the purchasing department was aware of likely numbers before descending upon M&S. Many members helped out, both before the start and after the end of the evening, for which the committee is very grateful.
7. Computerised Scoring
The kick-off has been slightly slower than desired, due to the holiday bookings of the key participants in this process. It is hoped that the proper roll-out can begin in March (2018, probably).
8. The Annual General Meeting — 12th March
There is not much to be discussed, and some felt that we could suggest a 1915 start. It may be that members feel otherwise.
All the current members of the committee are prepared to stay in their current roles, on their existing salaries and benefit schemes, for another year.
However we would welcome anyone who wants to join the committee, and responsibilities can be shuffled around to accommodate the skills of interests of any new joiner. The officer positions — Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer — are subject to election, and we would encourage any member who wants to stand for any of these positions.
GW said he would bring along a microphone and loudspeaker as a trial.
PH said she cannot attend the AGM, due to a prior commitment. GW urged the early publication of the 2017 accounts, so that PH could answer any questions by email, and MH would face a minimum of tough questions at the AGM.
9. Data Privacy
The EBU is having a big push on the General Data Protection Regulation which comes into force in May. The Club must comply, although we have conducted a self-assessment which indicates that the club need not register with the ICO. There is not much that needs to change in our processes, although we need to ensure passwords are changed whenever a committee member or scorer retires. Our membership application form and renewal form need to be tweaked a little so that members have to opt in to allow their telephone number to be published on the 2018-19 Calendar. Every club must contend with workload imposed by any Subject Access Request that comes in, but so long as the committee, scorer and director teams continue the policy of not discussing individual members by email, the burden should not be great for Claygate.
- 18-1Ⓐ4 GW to place a Privacy Notice on the club's website.
- 18-1Ⓐ5 GW to modify the website version of the new member application form.
- 18-1Ⓐ6 GW to modify the website version of the member renewal form.
See our draft response to the EBU's Data Protection points in Exhibit One appended to these minutes.
10. Any Other Business
While the chairman and secretary are away on holiday in February, Yvette volunteered to be the on-site committee representative for the evenings affected. Pauline volunteered to look after the hosting. GW hoped to be available by email during this period.
11. Date of Next Meeting
The committee agreed that the next meeting should take place at 1000 on Monday 16th April at Torrington Close.
|