SCCU ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Saturday 14th July 2012 (start 2.15 pm) at the Fountains Abbey, Praed St, London W2
12 attended, plus the Auditor as an observer. (1) Grading. Julie Denning said the SCCU grading was nearly done and would be completed on schedule. She urged everyone to check their games as listed in the ECF online database (you know, http://www.ecfgrading.org.uk/) and report any errors. (2) SCCU County Matches
(a) Grades. Which grade should a captain quote in the second half of the season: August or January? Some solve the problem by quoting both (and on this website we have displayed the January one, since we don't have room for two). Some give just one without saying which it is (and we do say, where we can tell: sometimes it seems to be a mixture). It was agreed that giving both was best.
(b) U185/U150 Jamborees. Not for the first time, the viability of these was questioned. This year's events with two entries each - even fewer than the year before - might have been cancelled except that the venue was already paid for (and still we lost £60). Perhaps non-SCCU (eg Chiltern) Counties could be invited to play. The Executive was asked to consider. (3) SCCU Website. The Webmaster apologised for not having caught up with the County Final results yet. "Yes, but you could have been a bit more effusive than 'The world and his dog knows the SCCU came away with 6 titles out of 7'." Sorry!
Someone else, or it may have been some two or three else, thought the site was old fashioned. No quarrel there, it's the most old fashioned website we know. But it seems that this causes some things - the County league tables were specifically mentioned - to be less than user friendly for some people. This had never occurred to us. The frankly crude way in which the site is coded certainly has its disadvantages, but we had supposed they impacted mostly on the editor. Views, anyone? No one's using Open Forum at the moment. (4) Money
(a) Accounts. The Treasurer's Accounts showed a surplus of £124 and liquid assets of £3804. They were adopted. There was some discussion of unpaid junior entry fees. Two Counties (Surrey and Middx) had still not paid their £20 fee for the U14/130. Yes, they were named in the Accounts and why not, though one person thought it objectionable. We believe arrangements for payment are in hand. One problem is that it isn't always clear who invoices should go to, since the junior organisations are often independent of the adult County associations.
(b) Budget. The proposed Budget 2012-13 envisaged a deficit of £70, including a deficit of £150 on junior activities. The Treasurer commented that it was hard to budget without knowing whether there would be any junior activities, but you won't know why he was in doubt about that unless you've been reading ahead. (There will be.) On the assumption that junior activities were to continue, the Treasurer recommended that their entry fee be increased to £30. In the absence of any proposal to change the Membership subscriptions or County Championship entry fees, they remain the same as before: County Membership £50; Non-County Membership £25, or £20 if paid promptly by 31st October; County Championship entry fee £20 per team.
The Budget was adopted.
(c) New ECF Membership/Game Fee setup. The meeting spent some time on this. Not on its merits, thankfully, but on its practical application. No one was proposing that we should require players to be ECF Members; we would leave that decision to the individual Counties. Game Fee, for any non-Members, would continue to be the Counties' responsibility. The ECF would bill the Union for it, and the Union in turn would bill the Counties. As the rules currently stood, the Union would have to make an estimated payment in December (with adjustment in the following year, or maybe sooner if the discrepancy was large).* However, we would not bill the Counties till the end of the season. "That's what we have reserves for."
Would the ECF provide a detailed breakdown of non-Members' games, making it easy for us to bill each County for the correct amount? Yes. Something very much along these lines goes to the graders now, every time they submit an event for grading. Exactly when the final figures will come isn't too clear. It needs to be as late as possible, or players will mess up your work by sneakily taking out subscriptions in August, backdated to 1st September.
How will we make our December estimate? Guess. The grader's return at the halfyear might help, if it were available by 15th December. It won't be.
The County Match Controller was asked to write to all the Counties making the point that, while ECF Membership is not required for the SCCU stage, it almost certainly will be required in the national stage.
* It was suggested, at the meeting, that the requirement for a December payment might soon be dropped. We'll believe that when we see it. It would mean a change to the Game Fee Bye Laws, at the ECF AGM presumably and that isn't till October. (5) Elections and appointment. Neill Cooper, through pressure of other things, felt unable to continue either as Deputy President or as (unofficial) Junior Organiser. Tyrone Jefferies of Kent was elected Deputy President, and Angela Eyton of Middlesex was elected Junior Organiser. All others were re-elected (or re-appointed) unopposed. Everyone is in Who's Who. (6) Election of Non-County Member. Oxfordshire Juniors were elected nem con. This was lucky, because they have already played in the U14/130 in the season just concluded. Membership is a condition of playing in the U14/130. (7) Rule Change. Rule 3(a) of the General Rules was amended to permit the election of NCMs at any general meeting, rather than just AGMs. Oxfordshire's position could have been regularised last autumn if the new version of the rule had been in place. (8) Defaulted matches and the National Stage. The meeting spent an amazing amount of time on this. It started with the three matches defaulted by SCCU teams this year in the first round of the national stage. Clearly we should take steps to minimise the risk of a repetition, and it was agreed that the Controller would seek explicit acceptance of nomination in future, rather than asking the Counties and taking silence for consent. It isn't always an easy question for a County. If you qualify in five adjacent divisions, should you sacrifice a couple and go all out to win the others? Maybe Counties (not only in the SCCU) need to consider this well in advance to avoid hasty last-minute decisions.
It has to be remembered that the rules change in the national stage. Adjacent teams, protected against the need to play simultaneously in the SCCU stage, suddenly lose that protection in the national stage. It can still be avoided with the opponents' consent - until Finals Day, so long as that institution prevails. But Finals day comes up later.
At this point (actually we've jumped to Any Other Business, but it ought to have been this point) someone suggested that the national-stage default dates should be on alternate weeks, keeping adjacent divisions apart. It was objected that this was only postponing the problem till Finals Day; also that it gave other events one more set of dates to avoid. However, on a straw poll (by something like 6 votes to 4, no one seemed very sure) the meeting favoured alternate weeks. It was a straw poll, and no decision was taken to actually do anything about it.
Back in the main body of the meeting, it was time to talk about Finals Day. This time, funnily enough, a straw poll favoured use of a central venue. Should it move around? The question was raised but not answered. However, there was some feeling that we could do better than an unattractive venue in Leicester. (We think the objection was to one particular venue, not to Leicester in general. We should add that the venue objcted to was much cheaper than others on offer.) (9) Chess in Schools and Communities. The meeting noted the CSC's recent Highly Commended award from the Sport and Recreation Alliance. David Sedgwick would convey our congratulations to Malcolm Pein and the CSC. (10) SCCU U14/130. The outgoing organiser had mooted a number of modifications, and two of them would require rule changes. One was an increase of the grading limit to U140. (It has already been there once and come down again.) The other was a restriction on the use of U11 players. The incoming Junior Organiser said she was content to continue with the existing rules till she got a feel for people's wishes. She could always bring rule changes to Council in the Autumn if she wanted. (11) Insurance of Trophies. Council referred this to the Executive.
The meeting closed at 6.16 pm, and was seamlessly followed by the traditional
SCCU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
14.7.12
which did routine things. (1) Date of Next Meeting Friday 5th October 2012. Dates of other meetings to be fixed at this meeting. (2) Appointment of BCF and ECF Reps. DJ Howes in both cases. (3) Appointment of Rules and Appeals Sub-Committee. DJ Howes, J Denning, K Elder, RJ Haddrell, JA Philpott (4) Insurance of Trophies. All right, one non-routine thing. Renewal was due at the end of September, before the Executive next met, and on a straw poll (yes, another one) no one was going to argue against renewal even if we left the decision till after the expiry date. So, Trophies to be insured. This does not preclude discussion for future years.
The meeting closed at 6.39 pm.
rjh 22.7.12
3.5.12 SCCU OPEN FIXTURES 2012-13
County Match Controller David Smith davidandjanesmith@ntlworld.com writes:
Here are the fixtures for the Open Division of the SCCU Counties Championship for next season 20012-13. Still six entries, same as the season just ended.
Oct 6
Nov 17
Jan 19
Feb 16
Mar 16
HE KM SxSy
EK SyH MSx
ME KSy HSx
SyE SxK HM
ESx MSy KH
May I emphasise that at this stage the fixtures are provisional only and can be changed by mutual agreement between the Counties and Match Captains concerned. If changes are made however please ensure that the following points are observed:
(a) Ensure that both myself and the SCCU Webmaster Richard Haddrell are advised.
(b) Please do not re-arrange matches for the weekend of 30th March or later, as these dates are too late to ensure timely nominations for the 2013 ECF National Stages.
Sussex have a new Open Match Captain: Dix Roberts, 6 Foxleigh Close, Horsham, W Sussex RH12 4AX 01403 260933 dix@foxleigh.globalnet.co.uk. Or, on the day, contact Paul Batchelor (see current U180). I understand that all other County Open Match Captains remain the same as in 2011-12.
If there are any queries or problems please advise me as soon as possible.
SCCU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Friday 30th March 2012 (start 7 pm) at the Exmouth Arms, London NW1
8 attended. (1) A Matter Arising (see item 7 in the next meeting down). This season's Counties Rapidplay in the MCCU now appeared to be in some doubt. (2) SCCU County Matches. Question to Controller: "Have you adopted a more stringent policy this year on ungraded players who have not been cleared to play?" CMC: "No. I would still exercise discretion for a player inserted at the last minute to fill an unexpected gap." The question may or may not have been prompted by this year's introduction of a Players Cleared page. (3) SCCU U185 & U150 Jamborees 14.4.12. It was agreed to go ahead with these despite the very low entry (2 teams in each). This decision was fairly easy to make, since we were committed to paying for the venue. (4) Juniors. The U14/130 Organiser was toying with the idea of a reduced grading limit for U11s, to encourage participation by weaker secondary-age players who have less opportunity for competitive chess. He will consult, and may propose rule changes at the AGM 14.7.12.
The U18 and U14 Jamborees at Burgess Hill had attracted larger entries than last year (not to mention having an extra round). The Treasurer said they had made a loss of £50 "but so what?". (5) SCCU Individual Championship 2012-13 and British Championship qualifying places 2013. The Executive awarded the Union Championship to the Hastings International Congress 2012-13; and BCQ places to the London Classic (December 2012) and the Weald Congress (July 2013). "Hold on," you say, "that's only two BCQ places." Yes, we ran out of applicants. The third place has been re-advertised with a deadline of 30th April (and, as we write, has attracted one further applicant). (6) British Chess Educational Trust Award. The Executive decided on a nomination for a 2012 Award. As always we're not saying who the nominee is until the winners are announced, and we may forget then if not reminded. (7) ECF Finance Meeting 14.4.12. The Executive could scarcely do justice to the meeting's packed programme, but found time to look briefly at the proposed (mooted? floated?) new County Match rules. There was some surprise that they would not be formally put to Council. At all events we would speak against the introduction of a 4NCL-style 10-point rule for team order. Someone said Codes of Conduct are a minefield, and someone else said never mind, no one takes any notice of them*, and that is about as far as discussion of the Finance meeting went. Beyond this, "SCCU rep to use his best judgment."
*We can't resist a quote, though: "Standards of dress appropriate to the occasion should be maintained, including compliance with any applicable dress code. Official events or functions are not to be used for the promotion of a non-chess related organisation, business or cause without the prior agreement of the ECF Board." (8) So what do we do about this Membership Scheme? There seemed to be three options. We could (1) require all players in SCCU events to be Direct Members; (2) Leave it to the Counties and bill them for any (inflated) Game Fee incurred; (3) stop sending our events, or some of them, for grading.
As far as adult events were concerned, the Executive quickly decided on (2). We had to assume the ECF would bill us at the end of the season. Paying an estimated amount mid way, as we do at present, would be well nigh impossible because there's no way of working the charge out in advance. (The Grading Secretary justly remarked that graders can't possibly keep track of ECF Membership.) In fact the ECF's Game Fee Bye Laws still require payment mid term, presumably because they forgot to change that bit when they changed everything else in October, but there's no way they'll expect to enforce it. Is there?
Juniors aren't so easy, as the ECF has noticed. We might require Membership in (say) Open but not Minor Jamborees. Neill Cooper was not sure we should grade the Junior events at all in the first year. He was asked to come up with proposals for the AGM.
What else needs to go to the AGM? On the face of it there's nothing about the adult proposal that needs to. Options (1) and (3) might have - well, would have - but option (2) seems immune. (9) Availability of Officers for next year. All seem to be available. Neill Cooper said he would be willing to resume the Junior Organiser's position he relinquished a year ago, but would then feel bound to resign as Deputy President. (10) Money. The Executive passed a motion, in due bank-approved form, bringing our list of signatories up to date. There were four, including two people who are no longer SCCU officers, and the two are now replaced. We thought you'd be reassured to know that.
The meeting closed at 10 pm.
rjh 13.4.12
12.4.12 BCQ UPDATE
A rather belated update to item 8 in the meeting below. The place has been awarded to the Weald Congress 7-8 July 2012 at Worth School (West Sussex), and may be taken up in either 2012 or 2013.
SCCU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Friday 7th October 2011 (start 7 pm) at the Exmouth Arms, London NW1
8 attended. (1) Money. The Treasurer said the invoices for entry and Membership fees had gone out, and he hoped to have money coming in soon. We'll do the other Money things further down. (2) County Matches. There was some comment about the two late entries accepted after the fixture list was published. In one case it had turned a double-round competition into a single-round one, meaning two matches fewer. The Controller had agreed, after consulting the other counties concerned and finding that none objected. He said he might not be so obliging another time.
Someone remarked that the match captains' job was harder these days because the old 25-point grading bands had come down to 20 points with correspondingly fewer players in them. Another rep said his County had had the same problem. But it was pointed out that the change in grading bands merely reflected the new distribution of grades when the ECF introduced New Grades in 2009. The number of players per band will, on average, be the same as before. Presumably some captains are just luckier than others.
The U185 and U150 Jamborees were fixed for Saturday 14th April at Wanstead House. (3) Grading. "Does the Grading Secretary intend to submit County matches, senior as well as junior, in two instalments now to accommodate the new twice-yearly grading lists?" Grading Secretary: Yes. (4) Juniors. It was noted that Neill Cooper, having stood down as Junior Organiser at the AGM, had offered to go on running the U14/130 when no successor emerged. His offer has been accepted.
Oxon have entered the U14/130, for the first time since 2006-7. Oxfordshire are not affiliated to the Union. Did this mean Oxfordshire would now affiliate, or that Oxon Juniors would follow the Hampshire and Berkshire juniors in taking out Non-County Membership? The latter. NCMs can only be elected at AGMs, so we would have to take their money now and get it ratified next year. The rules are ridiculously inflexible [this is your Webmaster talking], and could probably do with a re-write. An organisation can't be expected to know, in advance of the AGM, that it will need NC Membership months later when it wishes to play in a Union competition. Or to host one of the SCCU's BCQ places for that matter, and see item (8) on that point. (5) ECF Matters. The Executive discussed some things from the agenda of the forthcoming ECF AGM.
(a) Election of Directors. The meeting discussed a contested election and two uncontested ones. You will know the outcomes by now. On Junior Director the Executive was broadly in favour of the candidate who got elected, but left the decision to our rep who would no doubt have the opportunity to hear the candidates before making up his mind. (No, we haven't asked him how he voted.) On Marketing Director, None of the Above seemed a strong candidate but, again, we would leave it to the rep (same remark). The Executive also discussed Election of President. This is not usual, with an unopposed incumbent, but it was impossible to ignore T-shirt-gate. (Oh, come on. Of course you have.) The consensus, if there was one, was probably something like "on balance we'd elect him".
(b) Future Funding of ECF. The consensus was generally in support of the new Membership proposals. (We don't think there was a vote, but it wouldn't have been nem con.) One concern was that the mechanics of it hadn't been worked out.
(c) Money. The Executive had serious concerns about the ECF Accounts. Things seemed a lot worse than the April forecast, for reasons not always obvious. The late appearance of the Accounts was not reassuring, and the Finance Director's report, eight days before the meeting, was still not available. (6) Insurance. Of Trophies, that is. The AGM, a few inches further down, had asked us to look at this. The Trophies are currently insured for full replacement value, though on valuations at least five or six years old. There was something to be said for self-insurance. Or, perhaps, partial insurance. Did we need to insure Trophies (the obvious example being the Fleming) which are no longer in use? Discussion might have been protracted, but was cut short by the Treasurer's remark that we can afford to insure, so why not go on doing so till we no longer can, then stop? The Executive went along with this.
We said the Trophies are "currently" insured and it's true, but it wasn't at the time of the meeting. Renewal falls due on 1st October but had been delayed pending the meeting. The renewal date falls inconveniently for SCCU Executive meetings. (7) ECF Counties Team Rapidplay. September's event had been enjoyed, but by rather few. It was felt that we should not offer to host the Championship next year. But an offer from the MCCU has been accepted. The MCCU or someone operating in the MCCU area, not sure which. Next year's date is not yet known. (Some SCCU Counties have said September is too early for them.)
It appears that some players at this year's event were listening to football on the radio (while at the board, we think). The Executive's conversation turned to music at the board, then to people who read newspapers and novels at the board and what if anything you should do about them. Your Webmaster's notes do not record that the Executive took a view on this question. (8) British Championship Qualifying Place 2012. The 2012 places, originally awarded in April 2011, have suffered more reversals of fortune than we've reported so far. One place went in April to the Essex congress 2012. But the Essex organisers, who not long afterwards had to cancel their 2011 BCQ congress at short notice, were not condident of running the 2012 one either. So their 2012 qualifying place was up for grabs. The Executive agreed to invite applications, and this was done via the website (see What's New) on 9th October. We've had an inquiry, but no firm applications yet. There's still time! Closing date for applications: 15th November 2011. (9) Bruce Birchall. The Executive noted the recent death of Bruce Birchall, SCCU Junior Organiser 1991-96 and again in 2003-4. Bruce was a noted champion of girls' chess and chess for the disabled.
The meeting closed at 11.10 pm, perhaps an all-time record.
rjh 27.10.11
SCCU ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Saturday 25th June 2011 (start 2.15 pm) at the Exmouth Arms, London NW1
10 attended, plus the Auditor who came along to see what we look like. (1) Insurance. Only a Matter Arising, but it occupied some time. Should we go on insuring our trophies? Last year's AGM touched on the point and suggested the Executive might have a look at it during the year, but that hadn't happened. Anyway, premiums are costing something like £350 a year. No one offered a guess at the number of years we've been paying it without claims, but £350 is maybe a thirtieth of the combined insured values of our trophies. Someone said, what if we set aside a certain annual amount and self-insured instead? Someone else said, if we lost a £3,000 trophy would we really spend the insurance money on a new one of that value? The AGM was in no position to make a decision now, but it asked the Treasurer and President to come up with proposals before the renewal date (1st October). (2) County matches. "Could we have the fixture list earlier in future?" County Match Controller: Not really, because Counties can't decide what teams to enter till the grading list appears in late July. (3) BCET Award. It was announced that the SCCU's 2011 nominee, Wilson's School, has been accepted for an Award. (4) SCCU Bulletin. Digitisation of old copies has not progressed yet, but the Editor said he had arranged for a single issue to be reproduced, on a trial basis, by a firm that does that sort of thing. If the attempt was successful they would be able to do the whole job at a reasonable rate.
For the future, the Editor said he saw no future for the annual omnibus edition unless demand increased. The three copies sold last year did not justify the work involved. (5) Accounts 2010-11. The Treasurer presented the "audited" Accounts, showing a deficit of £191. But still our cash reserves were more than £3600. The Accounts were adopted. (6) Budget 2011-12. The Treasurer said it had been hard to budget without knowing whether we would have a Junior Organiser. (Neill Cooper had made it known well in advance that he would stand down.) The Budget, pessimistically one hopes, assumed no income from the junior NCMs. The Treasurer proposed no change in fees (so County affiliation still £50; NCM affiliation half of that but with a £5 discount for prompt payment; and Counties Championship entry fees £20 per team). The Budget, with a projected deficit of £115, was adopted. (7) Presentation of Trophies. You know who won the trophies. They weren't all presented, but it wasn't for want of being there. Being at AGMs is a thing that SCCU trophies are quite good at these days. The same can't always be said of the winners' reps, but they were all there too. It just happened that a number of the winning teams were due to appear at the ECF Finals a week later, as was the CMC; and he retained them for presentation there. (8) Election of Officers. Some changes this time. Mike Gunn stood down after two years in office and was succeeded by David Howes. The Deputy's slot, twelve months vacant, was filled by retiring Junior Organiser Neill Cooper. Howard Grist, Grading Secretary for the last twelve years, is succeeded by the Sussex Grader Julie Denning. Oh, and the Bulletin Editor declined to stand, for reasons suggested under (4), and was not replaced. That leaves Junior Organiser. No takers so far. Don't be shy if interested. The job could be split. The most urgent part is the U14/130 competition.
The SCCU Officers page is updated. (9) Non-County Member. Council elected a new NCM: the London Chess Classic. Some related information appears in the Executive Report immediately following. (10) Rule Changes Tournament Rule 12. The Executive proposed modifying the order of tie-break rules in such a way that Overall Game Points would stand a sporting chance of being used sometimes. Or if you want to be technical, move 12(b)(6) up so it becomes 12(b)(4). This was agreed by 7 votes to 1. Tournament Rule 19. The Executive proposed relaxing the Mobile Phone rule so that a player merely receives a warning on his first offence in a game (but two strikes and you're out). An amendment to change the warning to "warning, and time is deducted from your clock" was rejected on the ground that the last thing we want is unforced adjustment of clocks. (Specially if they're DGTs, someone said.) The original proposal was then agreed by 5 votes to 3.
The Rules page is updated to reflect both changes. (11) Twice-yearly Standardplay Grades. How is the Union to treat January grades for eligibility purposes? Council decided that it will ignore them, for competitions already in progress (which effectively means the Counties Championships). This is in line with the ECF's announced intention for its own competitions, and with our existing (Rapidplay) rule in the U14/130.
What about previously ungraded players who acquire a grade in January? It was decided to leave this to the Controller's discretion. He may already have granted permission for them to play as ungraded, but he is entitled to withdraw it if no longer satisfied that their strength is below the limit. (12) ECF Counties Team Rapidplay Championship. This remains more or less where we left it (see Exec 8.4.11 below, item 6). The Executive will pursue. (13) ECF Counties Championships: Central Venue. There had been the usual mutterings about going to Leicester to play the County next door to you. Was it time to resurrect our proposal that "will" in the rules be replaced by "may", so that the Home Director doesn't actually have to impose a central venue? It's five years since we unsuccessfully proposed that; which seems a respectable time to wait, and the AGM decided (but only by 5 votes to 3) to propose it again.
Someone said he had worked out, some years ago, what the optimum central venue would be in terms of overall travelling, taking into account the teams that had actually reached the finals over the previous 12 years or so. Any guesses? Milton Keynes. (14) Football Scores. Someone mentioned, à propos of something or other, the possibility of scoring 3 for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss. No proposal was made. (15) ECF Funding. You're winding us up. Of course you know what it's about. There was general discussion of the new proposals, but it did not lead anywhere in particular.
The meeting closed at 5.00 pm, to be followed by the traditional post-AGM Executive meeting.
rjh 18.7.11
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
whose attendance was 9. (1) Appointments. The Executive appointed, or re-appointed, the ECF and BCF reps and the Rules & Appeals Sub-Committee (see Who's Who) (2) BCQ Place 2012. We allocated these at the April meeting below (see item 4). But one recipient, the Hastings Masters, had since discovered that it was unable to take up its place. So we had one going spare. What we didn't tell you in April is that there were five applicants for the four places and one of them generously stood aside. It was the London Classic, as you've guessed. The Executive awarded its spare place to the London Classic.
How does this relate to item 9 of the meeting above? Well, another thing we didn't say in April is that the Executive decided you had to be an SCCU Member (County or NCM) in order to host the SCCU Championship or get a BCQ place. There had never been any rule about it, though it was probably more or less always taken for granted. We know the London Classic was poised to apply for Membership anyway. (3) Money. It was agreed to transfer £3000 (most of our reserves) into a Scottish Widows "Club and Association" 7-day notice deposit account. Its interest rate of 1.6% compared well with the 0.05% we seemed to be getting at the moment. (4) Insurance. This is not item 1 from the meeting above. It's an item from the October 2010 Executive meeting which we didn't report then because we couldn't quite make out what it was about. Not that we're much wiser now. The October meeting, with renewal looming (or actually a week overdue) discovered that the policy suddenly had a fresh clause, added scrappily to the reverse of the back page and containing at least two typos, to the effect that we had to meet all sorts of "vulnerable group protection" criteria on pain of invalidating our cover. Training for new personnel having unsupervised access etc is one thing, but annual refresher courses for everyone? Records kept for 30 years? But what struck your Webmaster was not so much the over-the-topness of this as the vagueness of the wording: a vagueness still unresolved months later after correspondence with the insurance company. Oh. Yes, we renewed in October. It's the standard ECF-brokered club policy.
(5) Next Executive Committee meeting: Friday 7th October 2011.
The meeting closed at 5.37 pm.
rjh 18.7.11, amended 19.8.11. Please tell us of errors or omissions.