AGM 2011: Minutes

Held at: Malmesbury Town Hall, 9th April 2011

The meeting opened at 7:34pm and those present (22 in number) signed the attendance sheet.

[1] Election of tellers

Steve Bailey and Jenny Radcliffe were appointed tellers.

[2] Reading of the minutes of the previous AGM and EGM

Minutes of the 2010 AGM and EGM were distributed and approved with one spelling correction.

[3] Discussion of matters arising from the minutes

There were no matters arising.

[4] Receipt of and consideration of Officers', Membership Secretary's and Auditor's written reports

Written reports were received from the President, Secretary and Treasurer, and the Membership Secretary.

Accounts were not available, and so there was no Auditor's Report. They are expected to be presented for approval at an EGM later in the year.

However, the Auditor, Alison Bexfield, presented a verbal report. Although she appreciated that new work commitments of the Treasurer Simon Mader had made it difficult for him to complete Accounts in time for the AGM, she noted that the Association required a Treasurer who was able to produce timely accounts. She had raised with Council the need for adequate controls (such as dual signatures and duplicates statements) as the Association holds substantial cash balances.

Council member Toby Manning, who was standing for Treasurer, stated that he intended if elected to address the issue of controls. Council member Jenny Radcliffe noted that Council was investigating dual signatories for the savings account. Geoff Kaniuk suggested that an "evote" of Council could be taken to authorise withdraws but Alison said this would not address her concerns. Tony Atkins commented that with Internet banking, multiple people should be able to view the balances without the need for duplicate statements.

[5] Election of officers and auditor

position candidate proposer seconder
President Jon Diamond Jonathan Chin Andrew Kay
Treasurer Toby Manning Jon Diamond Sandy Taylor
Secretary Jonathan Chin Jon Diamond Andrew Kay
Hon. Auditor Alison Bexfield Jenny Radcliffe Andrew Kay

All candidates were elected unopposed.

[6] Election of ordinary council members

council member proposer seconder
Brian Brunswick Jenny Radcliffe Steve Bailey
John Collins Toby Manning Jenny Radcliffe
Jenny Radcliffe Jonathan Chin Sandy Taylor
Colin Maclennan Steve Bailey Toby Manning
Paul Smith Tony Atkins Mike Lynn

All candidates were elected unopposed.

New Council member Colin Maclennan introduced himself. Paul Smith was not able to attend.

[7] Consideration of and voting upon any proposals received

No proposals had been received from members. Council had no proposals.

[8] Any other business

[8a] World Mind Sports Games

Jon Diamond reported that he, Toby Manning and Tony Atkins had met with representatives of the International Go Federation and the International Mind Sports Association in London. Proposals from various locations, including the city of Manchester, were currently being considered.

Toby Manning noted that resources the BGA contributed would be directly Go-related.

Jon Diamond noted that they had made suggestions for activities that could take place during the Games to help develop Go in the UK.

Plans were being made to hold an event in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.

Any further news will be announced in the Journal and newsletter. Newsletter items will almost always have already appeared on the website. A forthcoming article in the Journal will discuss options for accessing news on the website (RSS feeds).

[8b] Newsletter costs

Jon Diamond noted that the paper newsletter was expensive to produce (over £1000 this year). A major factor was the cost of the included flyers.

About 170 members still receive the paper newsletter although only about 30 of them appeared not to have email addresses. About 70% of renewals/joining is done online now.

If the paper newsletter were discontinued the money saved would pay for several teaching sessions each year with professionals or could be put into recruitment and teaching people about Go.

Andrew Kay wondered if charging a nominal fee to receive the newsletter would encourage people to switch to receiving it electronically. Jon Diamond had informally surveyed members who had not yet switched. Some had indicated they would be willing to pay around £5 per year to continue to receive the paper version.

Alison Bexfield was concerned that tournaments were not costing themselves appropriately - although tournament levy covers publicity many tournaments were running at a loss and so the Association was wasting a substantial amount of money by producing their flyers.

Jenny Radcliffe said that her experience as a tournament director was that sending out flyers did not affect attendance. She suggested tournament directors should be asked if they really needed a flyer to be sent out.

The majority of the members present no longer received the paper newsletter and thought it would be acceptable not to send out flyers with the newsletter, but 3 wanted them to continue. Edmund Stephen-Smith pointed out that this opinion might not be representative of the people receiving the paper version.

Francis Roads asked if flyers could be sent as email attachments. Tony Atkins explained that the electronic newsletter was currently sent as plain text and without attachments because some people were worried about viruses. However web links are already included.

Richard Hunter suggested that the costs should be mentioned in the newsletter to encourage people to switch.

Steve Bailey asked how notices would be sent if the newsletter ceased. Jon pointed out that notices are not usually urgent and that the Journal is being produced regularly. Steve Bailey led the meeting in thanking the Journal Editor.

[8c] Notification of membership expiry

Luke Humphreys and Alison Bexfield suggested that more notice be given when membership was expiring and that reminders be sent.

[8d] Back-numbers of Journal

Tony Atkins announced that although old journals were no longer being sold, the remaining copies are available for a nominal donation to the Castledine-Barnes Trust.

[8e] Castledine-Barnes Trust

Francis Roads informed the meeting that although the Trust had spent some money recently on equipment, he would welcome requests for financial support for under-eighteen players as the Trust had not received any for quite a long time.

Toby Manning showed the meeting a sample of the 9x9 sets for schools that Castledine-Barnes Trust is subsidising.

[8f] 2012 British Congress

Next year's Congress is to be held in Durham (20th-22nd April 2012).

[8g] Tournament scheduling

Alison Bexfield asked if there was any central coordination of tournaments as she found the British Open, the Candidates and the Challengers tournaments were too close together and she wondered if this deterred some strong players from taking part. Richard Hunter agreed. Tony Atkins explained the historical reasons why these events happen when they do. The members present were evenly divided on whether it was a concern. Toby Manning noted that the dates could be changed if it was a problem and invited concrete proposals for a new calendar schedule. Alison Bexfield offered to write an article for the Journal.

[8h] Gerry Mills - lifetime membership

Jon Diamond informed the meeting that Council had decided to award Gerry Mills lifetime membership. The meeting applauded the announcement.

Toby Manning and Tony Atkins called a vote of thanks to Paul Barnard and Elinor Brooks and others from Swindon Go club for organising the Congress.

The meeting closed at 8:22pm.

Last updated Fri May 12 2017.
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