Minutes of Macclesfield Chess Club AGM 2024

Held at The Silk Trader, Macclesfield 19:35

Present: Ant Brough, Geoff Laurence, Joachim Trier, Calvin Hodkinson, Chris Riley, Adrian Green, John-Paul Taylor, Tom Moitie, Marcus Fothergill, Roy Gray, Denzil Lobo, Tom Buckley

Apologies: Jake Darlington

2023 Minutes: These were taken as correct and there were no matters arising

Officer’s Reports:

The Chairman had nothing to report.

The Secretary had attended the Stockport League Fixtures Meeting in 2023 and the AGM in 2024. A late change to the date of the North Staffs League AGM meant he was unable to attend the latter. The main points were: All electronic devices must now be turned off during league matches. Score books are not permitted for the recording of games. Home teams are responsible for the provision of digital clocks (which must be used) and that they are working.

The Treasurer and Membership Secretary commented on the state of the finances etc and has subsequently provided the following:

Treasurer report Sept 2024 

I managed to check my figures against the bank’s and I had missed a payment and double counted 

another. So we have £879.44 in the bank to start this season. 

If anyone wishes to pay direct into the bank we have account # 96656891 at Natwest, Macc. Sort 

code 01-05-41, but please let me know ( roy1gray@yahoo.co.uk ) if you do

Macclesfield Chess Club Account 

Balance carried over from July 2023   £932.94 

Donation £9.00  (£941.94 )

Rent/Charity £30.00 (£911.94)

Engraving £26.50 (£885.44) 

League Fees £6 (£879.44)

 Thus we currently have £879.44

Website Manager

The website look and feel has been revamped, with an emphasis on a tidy professional look wrapped around a brand mark. Attention has been paid to the mobile site making sure it contains the same information and the same level of tidiness that the desktop site has.I have spent time trying to improve content for new members who haven’t interacted with a chess club before, and help track local Congresses. Hopefully this will have a net positive effect on new joiners amongst local online chess players. To that end I have also set up an online club page on Chess.com, and have created an official Facebook Business Page.Thank you to Geoff for helping maintain the content of the news section throughout the season. In order to add interest, I would love to post interesting matches you may have had throughout the season. If you have a particularly good match (win or loss) that you don’t mind sharing, please send me a PGN and a couple of notes about critical moments which I can embed in the blog.In addition to the website improvements, a new Google Spreadsheet system for recording club competition results has been created and has been in use for the Standardplay and Quickplay competitions last year.

Tom was thanked for his impressive work on the site.

Tournament Directors

Denzil reported that the 3 handicapped quickplays had attracted 11,13 and 10 entries respectively. The Pollard Cup for the best 2 quickplays total was won by Dan Barnes.

Geoff reported that the Club Championship and Pomeroy Cup competitions had been successful and completed. The Secretary’s Quickplay however is still not completed.

Presentation Of Trophies: The Secretary explained these were still at Olympus Trophies for engraving. The club champion is Ant Brough; the Pomeroy Cup was won by Marcus Fothergill and the Pollard Cup by Dan Barnes

Number of Teams for 2024 and election of captains: it was decided to enter 2 teams in the Stockport League. The secretary has already had to enter a team into the North Staffs League. The Stockport A team captain is John-Paul Taylor and B team captain is Tom Moitie. Regrettably no-one offered to take on the North Staffs League team captaincy, so the secretary will do it for one season only.

Election of Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Membership Secretary, Tournament Directors and Website Manager: The current holders of these positions were re-elected en bloc.

Club Competitions: Following discussion it was decided that to complete the Secretary’s Quickplay, Geoff the winner of group A would play Ant who has the highest total in group B.

The new season would see invitations go out soon for the Club Championship and Pomeroy Cup. Tom outlined plans for a new Blitz ladder with the intention of enabling players turning up at a club night to play a meaningful game. There is also the intention to enable these to be graded. He is drawing up rules etc.

Subscriptions for 2024-25: The room is currently free but the stand-in landlord has indicated that it might be necessary to ask the club for something towards heating etc later. The meeting felt we should offer something even if this doesn’t come about – similar to what we did at the Queens Hotel. The sub was fixed at £10 (new members free in their first year).

AOB: Our supply of scoresheets might just about last this season. The Secretary has discovered that very few places now sell them and they are ridiculously more expensive that was the case. He has been advised that we should put together a template and then use a local printer to create our own. Tom kindly undertook to create a template.  Some concern was expressed about the state of the boards, a couple of the newest ones are slightly damaged on the spine, and they become sticky at times!

Meeting Closed 9:05 pm