Present::

A Taylor, M Clark, M Hadley, M Hunt, A Ambrose, G Wyle, D Jackson, J Asbury, D Curry, P Evans, P Banks, W Peck, A Leech, J Edge, C Haddon, M Bethel, J Evans, S Fishburne (Chairman), R Grimes, J Southcote (Secretary), M Vile, F Freshwater (non-voting)

Received from D Digger (Treasurer), D Martin and J Llewelyn.

Agreed.

It was noted that the Worcester County rapid play proposal was defeated. Voting was open to all club members and was not on a one vote per club basis.

The suggestion to seek council funding has not yet been acted on. The Chairman apologized for this and said it would be taken forward by the Committee.

Secretary: The year began very badly with two moves of venue and forced change of club night necessitating re-arrangement of all home fixtures. However once this was done things settled down. It was a great credit to the commitment of club members that everyone stuck together to see the club through a very uncertain period. Despite the disruption, not a single fixture was defaulted.

Treasurer (report given by Chairman): Accounts £614 in surplus compared to £680 in the previous year. However £130 in rent for Apr-Jun 2009 has already been accounted for so the year actually saw a small increase in funds. Overall rent for 2009/10 was likely to be slightly higher if we stay at current weekly cost. The Reg Beasley fund had now been spent on a trophy.

Webmaster: The club now has a new address at its own site.

BDCL 1: Mid table finish with 5-2-5 record despite players missing. Consistently strong scores by Malcolm, Dale and Mark. Malcolm played in all games. Particular thanks to the 7 reserves who stepped into the breach.

BDCL 3: A "funny" season ended in relegation, but all enjoyed their chess. Again thanks to those who stepped in as reserves.

BDCL 5: A pleasing season, considering most players had to step up from the previous season’s Div 6 team and relegation was avoided. The team also reached the cup semi final, defeating South Birmingham in the QF.

WDCL 2: Promotion to Div 1 was secured as runners-up. The team performed strongly to reach the Pittaway Cup final but lost disappointingly to Wolverhampton.

WDCL 3: Relegated but suffered from losing players to higher teams.

WDCL 4: Not great in terms of results, 2-2-8 record. But avoided propping entire league up and introduced new players to league chess. Dave Etheridge came in with 3 wins out of 4 and Joyce Evans managed 3.5/6.

DDCL 1: Mixed season, finishing joint 2^nd.

DDCL 2: Mixed season having to use a lot of different players as other leagues took priority.

DDCL 3: Very pleasing. The division was won with 10 points from 12 and no defeats.

Worcs 1: Average season with 2-2-2 record and 14 different players.

Worcs 2: Moved into 2^nd place with last match win, and have option to play in Div 1 next season.

4NCL: 25^th out of 32, with 8 points from 22. Three players from Halesowen in team (Jon A, John L and Windsor) and could do with more players. Next season with one exception all fixtures are in the Midlands (Daventry or Hinckley). Let Windsor know if you want to play.

Summer KO: John Edge

Quick win (in 13 moves): Mike Hadley

Best at Monmouth: Maureen Clark

Player of Season: John Southcote

Kevin Ryder Trophy (Best team performance): Dudley 3 winning team captained by Joyce Evans.

Reg Beasley Trophy (Best individual performance): Stewart reported 595 games played and only 4 defaulted (0.67%) – a fantastic performance. Final top positions:

1. Jon Asbury
2. Malcolm Hunt
3. Dale Jackson

Jon Asbury was undefeated with an 11-10-0 record.

Paul Evans topped the "addicts’ league" with 52 games, playing for every team in every league.

7. Change of Club Night (proposed by John Southcote)

John explained that Tuesday nights would be more convenient for several members, and as far as he knew, no-one would be inconvenienced by a reversion to the club’s traditional night.

The proposal to revert to Tuesday night as from 2 June 09 was carried.

It was decided to keep the same teams as last season. Taking account of promotion/relegation, this means teams will be entered for 09/10 season as follows:

BDCL Divs 1, 4 and 5.

WDCL Divs 1, 4 (or 3 subject to league approval) and 4.

DDCL Divs 1, 2 and 3

Worcester County Divs 1 and 2.

4NCL.

The current officials were re-elected unopposed.

Team captains were agreed as follows:

Stewart explained that if we stayed at the current venue fees could be held. He had approached the Hasbury Conservative Club about the prospects for a return and the matter had been discussed at their recent committee meeting. Their response was that the room at the club would not be available for less than £25 per night (ie no move on their previous position). This would put £25-30 onto individual subscriptions.

After discussion of the pros and cons of the current venue compared to the Conservative Club, the chair put the matter to the vote, proposing that the club should remain at the current venue with individual subs unchanged. This proposal was carried by 16 – 5.

11. Club Ladder (proposed by Pete Banks)

Pete explained that club had had a ladder competition whereby players started in reverse grade order and could challenge opponents up to 3 places higher in ladder. This gave an alternative through the year to playing pure friendlies.The ladder had been updated manually on the noticeboard. He proposed this competition be re-instated, but updated on the website. He was prepared to keep a file updated and send it to the webmaster for publication.

The motion to re-instate the ladder comp. on this basis was carried.

John S distributed a list of proposed Summer events. He invited entries for the Summer KO and the Tony Evers memorial game, to be played at Stourbridge on 17 June. He also asked members to note the awards evening on 30 June for the Kevin Ryder and Reg Beasley trophies and appealed for a good turn out as the Ryder and Beasley families would be invited to see and present the trophies which their generosity had provided.

Pete Banks asked people to let him know if they wanted to play in the Wolves Summer League.

Dale Jackson proposed that individuals opinion be canvassed as to which teams they wished to play in. The Chair agreed that this would be done immediately after the meeting.

The meeting closed at 21:30.