Held Wednesday 23rd August 2023 at Hopwood Unionist Club
Members Present :
Bill O’Rourke, Steve Flaherty, Tony Jinks, Con Carey, Dave Almond, Matthew Poon, George Turner, Donna Chadwick, Bailey Bradshaw, Ian Mitchell.
Apologies for Absence :
Thisimi and Tarini Jayawarna, Peter Hurn and Paul Curran.
Matters Arising from last year’s AGM
Bill had tried to interest any Ukrainian refugees in the Rochdale area to come to the club. He had also got an advert into the local library (and an updated notice will be displayed shortly). Also he had put us in the local Red Rose booklet but this publication seems to have stopped.
President’s report
Bill said that we had started the year off on a small scale but with the purpose of gradually returning the club to pre- covid levels. Our finances were in a sound position. Bill thanked Steve, Dave, Peter and Donna for all the hard work they have done for the club. On a personal note Bill explained that work commitments this last year have made it hard for him to do well for the teams making mistakes in decent positions (not the only one there Bill!).
Secretary’s Report
Steve said that we now had 16-17 active members which was an increase from last year when we were down to 12 members. It was good to see our junior members improving their chess and getting experience in league matches. We needed to keep trying to build our membership and to use social media, such as Donna’s use of Facebook, to our advantage and to advertise the fact that we have such a good venue.
Competitions Secretary Report/Presentation of any relevant trophies
Peter Hurn had sent in his report from his villa in Anglesey.
Peter had taken over the captaincy of the Manchester League team from Con. They finished 6 out of 11 teams with a W5, L4. D1 record. In all 13 members played in the league. He thanked all those that played but would like to give up this captaincy (see below re 2023-4 captains).
The 2022 Club KO had 8 players in it and George Turner was the winner beating Paul Curran in the final.
Once the KO was over the 2022-3 Club Championship began. Dave Almond decided not to defend his title. There are still several games to be played but we already have a winner with George winning all 8 of his games so far. So George was duly presented with the trophy by Bill. The Club championship has now been extended until 27th September and Steve urged people to keep playing as there are mementoes for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the event.
Regarding the 2023-4 internal competitions Peter has indicated that he would like to hand them over to someone else. The new club Championship would begin 4th October and last until September 2024.
Regarding the club website Peter is looking for new ideas and someone else to run it. He would carry out a major update on his return from Anglesey.
Regarding the role of Fixtures Secretary, Peter would like to continue in that role.
Treasurer’s Report
Dave Almond distributed the latest accounts which showed we had £1312.87 in club funds. We had made a surplus of nearly £50 last year. And he and Bill had spent a lot of time trying to change one or two simple things with Barclays Bank! This led onto the next much anticipated agenda item……
Fees for 2023-4 season as proposed by the Treasurer
Dave proposed that the fees should be reduced to £20 (from £28) for adults !
After everyone resumed their seats, Dave explained we as a club were in a financially good position. For clarification all juniors and any full time students at university could join for free. This brought a smile to university bound Bailey’s face. All adults needed to pay £20 preferably using online payments to sort code 20-72-67, acct no. 20223441. Beginning of October is the normal time for paying.
Those wishing to play in league and cup matches including any internal club events needed to be ECF members to at least Bronze level. Otherwise the club could be held liable for game fees once a player had played three graded matches in any one competition. Most of our members’ ECF memberships end on 31st August namely Dave, George, Ian, Steve, Donna, Matthew, Peter. Paul and Tony. Thisumi and Tarini’s expires at end of September. Bill end of October. Bailey and John P end of December, Remi end of January and Jake end of March. Some have automatic renewal. Everyone gets a timely reminder from the ECF.
Auditor’s Report
Dave Thorp to be asked by Bill and/or Dave to check our accounts.
Election of Officers :
President- Bill O’Rourke
Secretary - Steve Flaherty
Treasurer – Dave Almond
Competitions Secretary – Matthew Poon
Fixtures Secretary – Peter Hurn
Website/Publicity Officer – Paul Curran
League Teams for 2023-4
After discussion it was agreed to have two teams in the Manchester League, one in the Central Lancs league and one in the East Lancs League. That would mean four teams rather than the three teams we had last year. Entry in the Central Lancashire League will be dependent on the League allowing us to stay in the same division as the one we won in 2022-3.
Captains for 2023-4 season
Manchester League 1 - Steve Flaherty (with Tony Jinks as reserve captain).
Manchester League 2 – Donna Chadwick.
Central Lancs - Dave Almond
East Lancs – Donna Chadwick.
Social Chess and future events
Steve to run the Christmas Countdown event again. Date to be Wednesday 20th December. Budget of £25 for any goodies on the night!
Any Other Business
The East Lancashire League AGM was to be held in Clitheroe on Tuesday 5th September from 8.00pm. Steve was hoping to attend as he had put forward a couple of proposals regarding the use of electronic clocks and incremental time.
Dave Almond to find out when the Central Lancashire league was going to have its AGM.
The Blackpool Congress would be held 9-11th February 2024.
Bill was looking into reviving the Heywood Chess Congress in June/July 2024 and possibly inviting Peine Chess Club, Germany players to visit and stay.
Donna raised an issue about the club steward wanting to close the club when we still had players on site playing competitive games. This was a tricky area as we did not want to jeopardise such a good venue. Steve said it was important to try and start competitive matches by 7.30pm.
New club diary was needed. Steve to purchase.
More scoresheets were needed. Bill/Dave to purchase/ procure.
Meeting close at 8.45pm