Minutes of the Newport Chess Club AGM – 10 August 2017
Minutes taken by: Nick Rutter
In attendance; Nathanael Paul, Chris Lewis, Danny Griffiths, Nick Rutter, Malcolm Price, Dave Lovegrove, Willie Gormley, Mike Moore , Chris Paul, Ian Jamieson, Simon Maydew (joined the meeting at 8:20)
Item 1: Apologies for absence
Athar Ansari, Stuart Ross, Tony Holdford.
Items 2: Last years minutes
The minutes of last year’s meeting were agreed as a true record.
Item 3: Overview of 2017 Shropshire AGM
Nathanael summarised the main points of the AGM. Explaining the main rule changes and the rationale behind them.
Item 4: New Grades
Nick distributed copies of the new grades, it was noted that the rapid grades will be corrected at the end of August.
Item 5: Officers’ Reports
Captains’ reports
Willie reported on Newport C teams (Standard and Rapid).The team struggled a bit with only 5 players although there were a couple of good results in the rapid play.
Danny reported that the B team finished in division 1 with no points, but there were a number of close (2-3) matches. The B team beat a strong Church Stretton early on, but when Church Stretton withdrew the result was removed.
Nathanael reported that the A team won both leagues. The standard league was very close and we won on goal difference after drawing the final match against second place Telepost. In the Rapid league we walked it and were virtually champions before the last matches. We came second in the cox trophy with the final 2-2 but we lost on bottom board elimination.
We also won the team quickplay, winning every match.
(see Team photo)
Nathanael reported that both Keith and Nick Arkell will be joining the club. Keith is expected to play around 5 times and Nick may be available for most matches.
Newport Juniors did well, finishing 4th and were contenders for promotion at one stage. With only 3 juniors they did need the help of two adults each match. Dominic had scored well and even mated Richard Thompson in one of his games. Edison was now top 5 in the country for his age and Dominic top 40. Zac has risen 17 points in the latest half year list.
Other Newport events
Chris Lewis reported that he had organised 3 blitz events and various crazy events at Newport Chess Club; these have been very successful.
Nathanael was running the club championship and said it was very close with Tony and Ian leading and Chris Lewis had just beaten Nick.
Nick Rutter was congratulated on winning the Shropshire Individual Championship for a record 11th time.
Chris Lewis mentioned that he was running a U125 and under Minor individual.
Item 6: Treasurer’s report
Chris reported that the membership was stable and we had made a profit of £43.99 with a healthy cash balance of £396.83. He recommended the fees remained at £20 (£5 for juniors), but there is likely to be scope to reduce the fees next year.
Item 7: Website and publicity
Chris Lewis reported on the website which is working well, although there are some difficulties in setting up the password access for members.
Item 8: Election of officers
The following were elected:
Chairman: Nathanael Paul
Secretary: Nick Rutter
Treasurer: Chris Lewis
Webmaster: Chris Lewis
Events’ Organisers: Chris Lewis, Nathanael Paul
A Team: Nathanael Paul
B Team: Chris Paul
C Team: Dave Lovegrove
Junior Team: Chris Lewis
Rapidplay A: Nathanael Paul
Rapidplay B: Chris Lewis
Publicity Officers: Danny and Chris L
Item 9: Any other business
There was no other business and the meeting closed at 10:00pm