Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the CICBA

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the CICBA

held on Sunday, 23^rd April 2006 at the Portelet<= /span> Hotel

<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Apologies for Absence were received from C Harrison, J Panter, J Seymour, M &= amp; M Allen, B Walker, B Lihou, J Dorey and S Ranki= n.

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T= he minutes of the previous me= eting were read and approved, proposed by R Brouard and seconded by P Pitcher.

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Chairman’s Report=

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H= arold Walden reported that it seems to be a struggle getting more players for Mon= day nights in Jersey and felt there was a gr= eat need to encourage participation by younger and less experienced players.

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T= he Chairman thanked all his committee for their hard work during the year and mentioned that Sue Griffiths and Chris Blackstone had taken over the bookin= gs for this year’s congress. He congratulated on them on their organisation and thanked them for their effo= rts.

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T= hanks were given to the teams from Jersey and Guernsey who travelled to Australia (at their own expen= se) to play in the Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship and congratulated them= on their efforts.

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H= arold said how pleased he was to see Gwyneth Fauvel playing bridge fairly regularly at= Springfield and Pe= rry Darwen who was looking extremely well and was playing in the congress. He hoped that they would both cont= inue in better health.

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O= n a sad note however he had to report the death of Laurie Dorey and Margaret Peters= on, both long-standing members of the CICBA.

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Treasurer’s Report

N= orman Le Cocq reported that the Jersey District had made a profit this year of £464.53, but the membership was down by 9.

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A= ttendance was slightly down but this is mainly due to the fact that there were additi= onal Bank Holidays this year.

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P= ublic Liability Insurance was paid this year for the first time, this has been pa= id by Highfield Club in previous years but it was agreed that it would be paid every other year by the CICBA.

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G= uernsey District had made a profit of £554.87, much the same as last year and= were in a fairly healthy position.

T= he joint account of the two Islands shows a surpl= us of £1,019.40 for the year.

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Special Fund

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T= he Special Fund stands at £6,375.78 with a deficit of £1,147.55 for this year. Last year there was a s= urplus of £2,518.10 which means that this year is over £3,600 down on = last year. The main reasons for th= is are due to the Lambourne Congress being down by £1,359.78 on the previous year, the £1,050 grant from= the districts which was received the previous year was just a “one off= 221; payment. Travel expenses were increased by £900 due to a total of 8 players attending the Corwen and Pachabo compar= ed with 2 last year. In addition= the Tournament Director’s fee and expenses for the Inter-Insular showed an increase of £150 and Room Hire for the County Finals was up £180.

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T= he Jersey Congress still produces a healthy profit and whilst this continues the acco= unt should remain healthy. It was pointed out however that the hotel would not take bookings for the weekends only and gave preference to people booking for the whole congress until aft= er the beginning of March. This has = proved good for the hotel but it remains to be seen whether is has been detrimenta= l to the numbers coming to the congress. Linda Mildon pointed out that rooms at t= he Hotel were expensive, particularly for single occupancy. She also said that she felt it was= more expensive coming from Guernsey than it w= as from the Mainland. The Commit= tee agreed to look into this.

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Election of Officers

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T= he Committee were re-elected en bloc.

I= n the absence of the newly elected Chairman (John Seymour), Harold Walden continu= ed in the Chair.

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Prize Giving

Teams	C Harrison, H Walden, D Romain, K Johns, R Brouard & D Hole
Open Pairs	D Hole & D Friswell
Mixed Pairs	P Merriman & D Trestain
Restricted Pairs Upper	R Bavin & C Harrison
Restricted Pairs Lower	C Bott & S Shaw
Mens Pairs	M Allen & A Hall
Ladies Pairs	M Case & R Pallot
Individual (shared)	C Hill, S Rankin, C Rynd
Inter-Island Sim Pairs	V Babbe & G Jones

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Any Other Business<= /b>

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T= he venue for the Inter-Island Match has been changed to the Ambassador Hotel in St Clement and will be held from 3^rd – 5^th November. Harold informed the meeting that he thought that everyone would find it very suitable and extre= mely reasonable.

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B= rian Youd suggested that it might be possible to hold a Green Pointed One Day Joint Venture Swiss Teams on the Saturday of the Inter Island teams weekend.&= nbsp; This would involve changing the match to Friday evening and Sunday w= ith the other competitions re-arranged. Jane Wakeham suggested that the Men̵= 7;s and Ladies Pairs could be played on the Friday evening preceding the Guerns= ey Congress. This is obviously n= ot a matter to be decided without consultation and it was agreed that both Islands would take the suggestion back to their respective committees.

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I= t was further suggested that some of the District Competitions could be played on= a different evening with the suggestion that the Lower Restricted Pairs could= be played on Tuesday at the Highfield Club in the hope of attracting more contestants.

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D= avid Friswell asked if the Committee could look into the Swiss Pairs scoring met= hod as used in other countries, notably Australia, because he felt it= was fairer.

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D= avid Friswell also mentioned that Patrick Jourdain h= ad suggested that the Channel Islands might= like to apply for a place in the Camrose Trophy. Apparently there are five teams at present competing and it is possible that a sixth team would be accepted.

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T= he Committee agreed to discuss this at the Management Meeting and to look into= the feasibility.

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F= inally Brian Youd requested that the team for the Tollemache be chosen early in order to= make it possible to book hotels and flights.&nb= sp; It was agreed that we would set a closing date of 30^th Au= gust for players wishing to be considered.

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T= here being no other business the meeting closed at 10.25 am.

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