Essex Chess Association
The AGM - 26th June 2003
www.essexchess.org.uk
Went the AGM well?
The success of this year's meeting would be guaged by only one yardstick: whether the positions up for election were all filled. Earlier in the season, alarm bells had been sounded with as many as five posts either already vacant or expected to be vacant at the time of the AGM.
That all of these posts were filled at the meeting allows the question of the heading to be answered with a resounding "YES!!".
The principal positions causing concern were those of Congress Secretary and Tournament Secretary. These have been vacant for a couple of years with the consequence that the Essex Championship had to be incorporated into the Ilford Congress which itself is under threat with dwindling numbers.
Since no new names have come forward, the conundrum was solved by Ivor Smith playing one of his finest combinations: casting off his Publicity Officer cloak, he assumed the posts of both Tournament Secretary and Congress Secretary, in exchange for Ian Hunnable becoming Publicity Officer, since this is a natural fit with Webmaster. (This does not, however, sound the death knell for Chessex as the new Publicity Officer intends to carry on Ivor's good work and keep the journal going. Furture plans and an appreciation of Ivor's contribution with Chessex over seven years, will appear shortly in another Features page.)
Roy Watts and Ian MacLachlan have swapped places, Ian now being General Secretary and Roy becoming Assistant General Secretary. One other change sees David Smith taking over as Assistant Match Captain from Richard Joyce. All other Officers were re-elected to their existing posts.
The other important business of the evening was the approval of proposals for subs increases; never popular, but necessary. The levels of subs and fees are now:
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Charge |
New Level |
Change |
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Club affiliation fee |
£15.00 |
up from £10.00 |
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Fee for affiliated leagues |
£20.00 |
up from £15.00 |
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Game Fee |
52p per player per game, |
adopting the BCF increase from 32p to 36p plus the ECA component 16p (unchanged) |
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Individual subs |
£2.00 for adults, £1.00 for juniors |
up from £1.00 and 50p respectively |
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Vice-Presidents subs |
£12.00 minimum |
unchanged |
Three new Vice-Presidents were elected: Roy Heppinstall, Ian Hunnable and David Millward.
The Trophies were awarded to the winning League teams and Roy Heppinstall displayed the County Championship trophy, shortly before having to return it. Tom Allen was on hand to record the presentations:
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Click on a thumbnail to view an enlargement. |
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Roy Heppinstall with John Philpott and the County Championship Trophy |
Tom Allen receives Div 3 trophy for Powdermill |
Colin Ramage accepts Div 2 trophy for Barking |
Ivor Smith with 1st Div trophy won by Writtle. |
Footnote: As reported in the News page, things just got better for the Association. While the above elections filled the Executive posts, we were still lacking two match captains for the County's U150 and U125 teams - positions to be filled by the Executive. Fortunately, two excellent candiates stepped forward in the shape of David Payne of Shell for the U150 job and Mike Cresswell of Barking for the U125 position. Both these candidates were confirmed by the Executive in its meeting of 24th July.
