No. 46 Series 6 August 2017 Annual General Meeting 2017 The Annual General Meeting of Dundee Bridge Club Ltd will be held on Wednesday 27th September 2017 at 7.15 pm. Any proposals for resolutions to be considered for the AGM should be with the Company Secretary in writ- ing (either email or letter) by 1st September 2017. Alice Cowieson Company Secretary [email protected] ******* Thank You Sarah and I would like to thank all the members who contributed to the col- lection for our wedding, we were hum- bled by the generosity shown by you all. We would also like to thank the Board for the additional cheque which again was extremely generous. We had an amazing holiday and wedding. The day was perfect, although a bit cosy in my Kilt. Neil and Sarah. ******* DBC & Gift Aid As mentioned in the membership renewal article (see P3), you can sup- port the club by an extra £10.50 at no cost to yourself. As a charity, DBC can reclaim 25% of your club subscription through the government’s Gift Aid Scheme. Those of you who are tax payers will probably have come across this before and know all about it. But for those who don’t there are full instruc- tions on the membership renewal form. Also any Board member will explain the scheme to you. Please take a few extra moments to fill in the form and help DBC reclaim this extra income. Alice Cowieson Dundee Bridge Club (DBC) Membership Fees, Scottish Bridge Union (SBU) Subscription Fees and 150 Club 2017 - 2018 DBC Membership Fees and SBU Subscription Fees DBC membership fees and SBU subscription fees are due on 1st Sep- tember 2017. This year the DBC annual subscription is £42 and the mandatory SBU levy, if DBC is your home club, is £8 making a total of £50. For juniors (under 25) all rates are halved. Fees should be paid before the 27th September 2017 to ensure your full voting rights at the AGM and to allow you to enter Club, District and National competitions in the 2017 - 2018 season. 150 Club The 150 Club provides our club with a valuable source of income. This year the fund provided the defibrillator. Membership is entirely voluntary and as well as having the opportunity to win some cash, members can suggest ways to spend this additional income. A share in the 150 Club is £10 each for the year and you can purchase up to 3 shares. There are 3 prizes at each of the quarterly prize draws of £100, £25 and £10. The draws take place: 1 October President v Ex-President 2 December Festive Teams 3 March 1st Round of the Mizzi 4 June 1st Round of the Petyrma Please support our 150 Club – you can join or renew your subscription with your membership subscription. Good luck! Payment Payments for DBC membership, SBU subs and the 150 Club can be made by cash, cheque or electronic bank transfer. Please use the membership renewal form provided in the Slam, at the club, or attached to your email Cash or Cheque Please complete the membership renewal form, enclose it in an enve- lope with the cash or cheque and post it in the new Cash Deposit Box situated next to the main noticeboard. Electronic Bank Transfer Please complete the membership renewal form, enclose it in an enve- lope and post it in the new Cash Deposit Box situated next to the main notice board or e-mail Nicki ([email protected]) with the payment break-down. Details required for electronic bank transfer: Account Name: Dundee Bridge Club Ltd Sort Code: 09-01-29 Account Number: 10161098 Reference: Your surname and/or SBU number On payment of DBC subscriptions, members will receive a Club Calen- dar and ‘home’ members will also receive an SBU diary for 2017 - 2018. (cont.) 2 Charity Status and Gift Aid As DBC now has charity status, gift aid can be reclaimed on income received from fees so long as you have paid at least as much in Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax in the tax year you want to claim gift aid. DBC can claim back 25% in gift aid which will provide extra income for the club. All you are required to do is give your permission by completing the Gift Aid Declaration section on the membership renewal form. Nicki & Lynn ******* More Beryl’s Improver Seminars After two successful seminars in July, Beryl has agreed topics and dates for August. The first session will be on Monday 14th August from 2 - 4.15pm. The topic is ‘Weak Two’s & Defence to Weak Twos’. After Beryl's instruction, set hands will be played to practise what has been learned. This class costs £5. The Tuesday session is on 22nd August from 6 - 6.45pm. The topic is ‘Checkback & Puppet Staymen’. This is purely a seminar as there will be no time to play hands. The cost will be £2, payable on the day. This session is in response to members who work (yes, we do have some!), who can’t attend the Monday seminars, but it is of course open to all. Those wishing to stay on for the normal Tuesday evening session, must make sure they register prior to class to assist the TDs on what is a busy night. Entry forms are on the noticeboard so put your name up as soon as pos- sible. Alice Cowieson ******* New Post Box Coming soon to the foyer of DBC is a new post box. Situated beside the main notice board, this will be known as the Cash Deposit Box. The Board decided that it would help in the safe collection of all cash, cheques etc in a more efficient way. Passing cash or cheques to the people taking names at the registration desk can lead to confusion and Neil is far too busy dispens- ing our coffee and drinks to collect what is mostly Board mail. So if you have a letter for the Board with no money in it, you can continue to place that on the letter racks on the Slam table but if there is any money for membership, classes or any other matter, please use the new lockable post box to ensure the safe delivery of your cash. Envelopes will be provided and it would help if you were to write on it the name of the person you wish it to go to. Alice Cowieson ******* 3 Meet the Members 5 Ross and Sheila Herd The Herds are both natives of Kirriemuir, and Ross began playing com- petitive bridge at the now defunct local bridge club in the late 1970s. His regular partner was Douglas Gourlay, who is still a member of DBC, and they played at Kirriemuir, joined the SBU together and entered Central District and national events with some success, both reaching the rank of Scottish Master, though a long break from playing and the recent restructuring of the SBU ranking scheme has resulted in Ross being reclassified as a Regional Master, an anomaly which will no doubt soon be rectified. Amongst their partners in team events in those days were Dundee regulars Peter Spence and George Smith. Sheila played largely social bridge at this time, though her parents were luminaries of the Kirriemuir club, and has only taken up bridge again in recent years, following her retirement. She attended clas- ses at DBC taught by first Liz Hunter and then Beryl Campbell, and now plays regularly on Thursday mornings, usually with Mae Hamilton, and with Ross on Tuesday evenings and Friday afternoons. Sheila and Ross also play together in congresses, and have had some significant success over the past year, particularly at Peebles last October, where they were 2nd in the Consolation Teams Final, playing with non-DBC members Doreen Green and Lee Rosenthal. This was a particularly noteworthy achievement as it was Sheila’s first con- gress, and she was still attending the DBC Improvers class. They have also since played at Aviemore and Strathpeffer, the latter of these in a team with Chris and Grace White, where they again did well in both the Open Pairs and “Play with the Internationals” competitions. Sheila is now a co-opted member of the DBC board, sits on the club’s IT Committee, and also acts as Deputy Secretary, helping Company Secretary Alice Cowieson with the management of meetings. Ross was also invited to join the Board, but declined because of continuing work commitments as a civil engi- neer with Scottish Water, a role which takes him to various parts of Scotland. Sheila, an alumna of Dundee University, has recently retired from her post teaching biology and chemistry at Morgan Academy. They moved from Kirriemuir about thirty years ago, and now live in Broughty Ferry. They have two children in their twenties - a daughter who is a quantity surveyor in Aberdeen, and a son who read anatomy and physiology at Dundee University, and is now studying medicine. Graham Bullock ******* 4 SBU President’s Report - June 2017 One year gone and to be honest due to the resignations a difficult year and my thanks are due to my team for doing the extra work required. I know results, including posting and tournament directing involving start- ing times and lack of Wi-Fi, have spoilt some of our tournaments, these are on our urgent list for improvement. I have to say our web page is not the easiest for finding items. Currently research is proceeding on finding a more user friendly format with a better layout but as my computer knowledge is limited I cannot supply any technical details.