Present: Cathy Macnaughton, Maureen Walker, John Stimson, Peter Rogers

Committee meeting Waltham Forest Bridge Club 18th of June 2017

Present: Cathy Macnaughton, Maureen Walker, John Stimson, Peter Rogers.

Agenda:

1. Finances

2. Temporary premises

3 Handydup

4. Essex EBUscoring and Directing. Workshops

5. Play it again

6. Host

Matters Arising.

Date of next meeting

1. Finances Maureen produced a copy of the position of the club’s current finances. (See below). The club is losing money but this is a planned aspect of the finances. There has been a decrease in revenue due mostly to the reduction in table money. Although a fluctuation in numbers of people attending has meant also a decrease in revenue. Numbers now appear to have stabilised. And a slight increase has been observed during June. Cathy indicated that depending on the financial position there was always the option of increasing table money from £3-£4.

2. Premises In response to John’s suggestion that a leaflet could be produced regarding the change of venue Cathy went through the information provided for members. There is an item on the website and links to information on the address with a map for the temporary premises at the Community Centre, Orford Road.

Cathy has advised people to arrive early initially. Two parking places are available to the rear of the building which might eventually be reserved for those with mobility needs, though there often seems to be a car parked there and we should see how things go with using the parking spaces at the front of the building. Although local people do park in these places the caretaker of the Community Centre has stated that they will always move when he requests them to do so.

There would be a need to trim the resources the club uses for club nights as these would be stored at Cathy’s home and would need to be taken to the premises on the day. There was a possibility that the tables could be stored at the temporary premises. John will produce a notice to be displayed at the Quakers Meeting House should any one coming to play bridge arrive not aware of the move.

3. Handydup It was accepted that this software as a means of providing printed handouts of hands played in a particular session was too time consuming.

4. EBUscoring and Directing. Workshops

The EBU now offers all affiliated clubs scoring software. John stated that he had looked at the EBU information on their website and that it would be worth the club looking to see if it was suitable for WLF. The Essex Scoring workshop could be attended by Cathy and by John. The Director’s workshop was for regular directors only and John said that he would check with Val Mollison of Essex Bridge to see if it was necessary for directors to be formally trained. The Director’s course will look at the new rules which come into force in August of this year.

5. Play it Again

Play it Again is offered on Bridgewebs (Although Cathy pointed out it is not a feature Waltham Forest has available at the moment) Feeding information on curtain cards so that hand information is saved in Bridgewebs allows players to see hands they have played. Cathy has said she will look into this and that she would be prepared to feed in such hands if this was feasible in terms of time. John pointed out that writing out hands on curtain cards also eats into playing time and would be difficult in our current premises particularly as with Howell movements cards would not all be written at the start of the movement as they would in a Mitchell movement. It was felt however that as more time was available at the temporary premises it would be a good idea to have a look at how such a system might operate.

6. Host

Peter Hatton is not available at present as host. It was necessary therefore to find a new host for the third Monday of the month. Phil Mattacks and Winnie Godber were suggested. John said that he would speak to Winnie initially to see if she was willing to host.

7. Matters arising: there were no matters arising

8. Date of next meeting.

9. Update on the Essex courses and on hosting.

10. John has spoken to Val Mollison (19 June 2017). The courses will be on the same day and currently that is earmarked – but not confirmed – for 17 September- at Barleylands. She will check with the Essex committee to see whether experienced directors who are not formally trained would be appropriate for the Director’s course. For the EBU scoring course she noted that Waltham Forest would like two people to attend.

Winnie has agreed to host but cannot do the third Monday. John has therefore agreed to host on the third Monday and Winnie will host on the second Monday –starting July.

Minutes compiled by John Stimson 22nd of June 2017.