MCCA AGM Minutes 9th July 2012
Held at 7pm at The Exmouth Arms, hosted by the Middlesex County Chess Association
http://middlesexchess.Those present: Adam Raoof (Hendon, AR), Robert Mumford (KIngs Head RM), Anthony Fulton (Willesden, AF), Graham Snow (Harrow, GS), Colin Mackenzie (Kings Head, CM), Kyriacos Evangelos (Enfield, KE), Tony Clarke (Enfield, TC), Nick Collacott (Ealing, NC), Charles McAleenan (Athenaeum, CMc), Nevil Chan (Drunken Knights, NCh), John White (President and Chairman, Hammersmith, JW), Frank Chin (Hackney, FC), Alan Marshall (Harrow, AM), John Macdonald (KIngs Head, JM), Michael Bennett (Hendon, MB), Angela Eyton (Hendon, AE).
1. Apologies for absence: Dave Ebbett (Ealing, DE), Phil Makepeace (Muswell Hill, PM), Andrew Chamberlain (Harow, AC)
2. Minutes of the previous meeting were approved.
3. Matters arising from and approval of the minutes - there were none.
4. Items for discussion:
a. ECF Membership: the MCCA made it clear that it would not impose regulations on clubs; it would be up to clubs to ‘encourage’ membership in whichever way suited their needs. However it was pointed out that the eventual cost of games played by non-members would be passed on to the clubs by the MCCA and at £2 a game this could be expensive. It was therefore in the interest of clubs to ensure membership was as wide as possible, or to make financial provision for a game fee bill. Various representatives explained the approach their club would take, and several commented on how easy the ECF Office was to deal with.
b. Approval of Fees for 2012-2013 season; remain unchanged
c. approval of changes to rules and constitution; approved nem con as follows;
- that the date 30th April shall be replaced by the 15th May and the other 14th May replaced by the 29th of May, carried with one opposed (JW). It was noted by the meeting that the success of the London Classic has consequences for the scheduling of matches in December, but NC pointed out that this effect was mitigated this year, the event falling over two weekends and affecting just one week.
- that the references in the rules to the special time controls related to Endell Street be deleted, carried nem con.
- that the following be added to the league rules: “Team captains or their deputy should be in a position to exchange team lists and/or perform the coin toss 10 minutes before play and if only one captain is present then that team has the right to choose colours.” carried nem con.
d. SCCU proposal: from the SCCU AGM papers for the 14th July: “Proposed by David Sedgwick: That the SCCU notes with concern that three teams from the SCCU defaulted their first match in the National Stages of the Counties Championships. We urge all counties to consider carefully whether their teams can fulfil their obligations in the National Stages before accepting nomination thereto. We request the SCCU County Match Controller henceforth to obtain explicit confirmation from the Secretary or other senior officer of a county that each nominee of that county expects to be able to field a team on the scheduled date of its first match.” This was discussed and the representative to the SCCU AGM (AF) was fully briefed. It was felt that whilst desirable to avoid defaults it was not practical to expect any team captain to formally commit to fielding a team. AF also reported that the controller Alex Holowczak was being consistent in enforcing the fines for teams that defaulted, and that he felt this was a good thing.
5. President’s Report: The President said that he had enjoyed an easy first term, wholly due to the efforts of all those who gave their time voluntarily to manage the various offices of the MCCA, and all the representatives of the clubs who gave their time to attend meetings. This had been a very successful year, and he hoped that the trend would continue.
6. Officers’ Reports:
a. Treasurer’s Report: was accepted with one abstention, from the Treasurer himself, who was stepping down as soon as a replacement could be found. MKB asked why the interest earned was so low, and the answer was because banks were not paying very much interest at all, and we were lucky not to live in Denmark, where the interest rates were actually negative.
b. League Secretary’s report: GS reported that the League had received more entries for the Third Division, from Hendon Barnet Knights, and from Hayes and Harlington. The draw for this division would be conducted at the fixtures meeting.
c. Graders report: CM tabled a report that demonstrated that the number of players and games played was on the rise. He was thanked for his hard work on grading the league and other events from all present.
d. Match Captains’ reports: thanks were expressed to each Captain for all their work over the season.
Open and U180: AF had successfully captained both teams to victory and had brought with him the trophy from the Counties Championships Open for everyone to enjoy, and described himself as being in ‘a fairly good mood’! He said that his aim was to spread the ethos of a club across the county teams, and described the U180 team (his first captaincy role) as ‘invincible’.
U160: Nick had done a good job (see the notes) in the face of problems with venues and fielding away teams. As he was moving away from London this would mean that he would have to step down from the role.
U140: Angela had a good season, and whilst she was no longer able to take on the role of U140 Captain next season, she would be coordinating the U120 team and looking to integrate her other roles by fielding ambitious juniors.
e. Middlesex Individual Summer Tournament (MIST): Peter Ackley had run a profitable event last year, and although no event was held in 2012, Bob Kane was willing to run it in 2013 with the support of the committee.
f. Correspondence Chess (AC): There had been no activity this season, the usual competition having been cancelled. However the ECF had made alternative arrangements for the next season, and the competition would be run in the season October 2012 onwards.
g. Junior Chess (AE) - g. Junior Chess (AE) - fixtures calendar, John White's iniative at Hammersmith Chess Club had made the press, and photos would be made available to put on the website.
h. Winters Trophy
i. Ralph Barnet
The Winters Trophy and Ralph Barnett Trophy competitions were not held this year. A note had been added to the EC Forum asking for a history of the competitions to add to the website in the hope of reviving these events.
j. Committee: A committee meeting had been held at the Hampstead Festival on 23 June 2012 and the notes from that meeting would be available on the MCCA website. It was noted that committee members had not been receiving emails about meetings, and it was resolved to ensure that they were all included on the circulation list in future.
k. Delegate to ECF/SCCU: please see here for a report from Richard Haddrell - http://www.sccu.ndo.co.uk/sccu.htm AR reported that he had attended recent SCCU meetings, and these were not the most exciting meetings that he had ever attended. AR had also attended ECF meetings in his role as Director of Home Chess, and would keep the committee informed of developments.
l. Webmaster - AR reported that the website was a simple blog that provided information but needed more news items to make it interesting, and he was willing to collaborate with any willing contributors to publicise their clubs. AF was already a contributor to Foxy Fiddler and enthusiastic, and was made an author of the MCCA site.
7. Presentation of Trophies - AF had prepared a useful table which is summarised here.
Martin Blaine Trophy: Awarded to AF, collected by AF
Martin Blaine Best Performance Cup +£20.00: Awarded to NC, Trophy missing (believed to be with Peter Ackley)
Division 1 Trophy (board): Won by Hendon 1, collected by MB
Division 2 Trophy: Won by Hendon 2, missing (with Willesden)
Division 3 Trophy: won by Kings Head 2, missing (with Albany)
Formula 4 Trophy: won by Enfield 2, missing (with Muswell Hill)
This is an unacceptable situation, and I will be recommending that clubs that have not returned their trophies by the fixtures meeting on 10th September or paid for a replacement should not be readmitted to the Middlesex League.
8. Election of Officers: all nem con
a. President (AR)
b. Vice-President (PG-R)
c. Treasurer (RM is standing down, but agreed to cover the post until a appointment was made)
d. League Secretary (GS)
e. Match Captains
i. Open (AF)
ii. U180 (AF)
iii. U160 (NC is standing down, but John Kaye would be asked if he were willing to cover this role on a temporary basis)
iv. U140 (PG-R would take over from AE)
v. U120 (AE would coordinate this role)
f. Tournament Officers
i. Team (vacant)
ii. Individual (Bob Kane)
iii. Winters (vacant)
iv. Correspondence (AC)
v. Ralph Barnett (vacant)
vi. Junior (AE)
vii. Auditor (RM would step into this role as soon as someone was appointed officially as MCCA Treasurer)
viii. Webmaster (AR)
9. Any Other Business: It was noted that Muswell Hill owed the league a sum of money, and the treasurer would be writing officially to them to request payment before the fixtures meeting on 10th September. Enfield would be forced to move venue soon, and would keep the Secretary and the webmaster informed.
10. Dates of Future Meetings: committee meetings as appropriate, AGM to be held on the Monday following the Counties Championships finals in July 2013.
NOTES
Report from Nick Collacott - “Just a quick note to summarise last season's U160 efforts and a word about next season. Overall it was a pretty successful season. Of the 4 matches we played we won two and lost two. The highlight was definitely the commanding 13-3 victory against Essex. The late postponement of the Surrey match was perhaps not such a highlight, but these things happen!
I'd like to thanks everyone who played this year. Overall 22 players played for the team. Players who played in all the matches were Ray Harper, Greg Breed, John Woolley, Mike Price, David Razzell, Frank Zurstiege, Richard Thursby, Keith Jones and Peter Morton. In terms of results David Razzell dropped only half a point (87.5%) and he was followed by Richard Dunn and Peter Morton who both scored 75%. (Apologies if I've miscalculated and missed you off this list)
Unfortunately we weren't able to raise sufficient players to play the ECF-stage match. I think it points to needing a larger pool of players generally, so if you know of anyone who might want to play, they'd be very welcome!
As far as the 2012-13 season is concerned, I've moved out of the area so won't be standing to be captain for next season. If any of you would like to take on the role let me know. The task is not very onerous and we have a good band of players and a strong esprit de corps. Obviously I'd be willing to help out get the new captain started.”