Bawburgh Bridge Club

 

I   Chairman’s  Summary.

 

March 31^st 2007 marked the end of the second year for Bawburgh Bridge Club. It has been another year of considerable development, in the membership of the club, in the range of bridge activities provided and in the use of modern technology to improve bridge services.  

 

The year has seen the consolidation of our second day’s bridge sessions, and whilst the running of bridge on Wednesday afternoon was postponed during the summer months last year, the attendance since we resumed in September has been such that we intend to keep operating on Wednesdays this year.

 

The more social activities provided by the club, the all day events and the Christmas parties were again very successful and well attended.  In providing these services your committee never loses sight of the basic ethos of the club to provide superior member services, in support of a good club standard of bridge played in a really friendly atmosphere.

 

We look forward to our third year, and discuss our plans for the club’s development in the rest of the report. We would emphasise that we are extremely keen to receive  member feedback on the material in the Annual Report (and other matters) as a  referendum on our plans. We are guided by your views in making them.

 

II   Membership Matters

The membership  for most of last year was 156, making us, we think, the largest Bridge Club in Norfolk.! In February a further 20 people who had been on the Waiting List were admitted. We believe that we will begin 2007/8 season with around 160 members when the renewal process is finalised.

Attendance on Thursday sessions was often around 16 tables and on one occasion reached 19½.  Wednesday numbers were lower but still ‘healthy’.  The three Bridge Days and the two Christmas Parties were enthusiastically supported with 16-18.  Based on  these ratios  between membership and attendance, we expect to operate without a waiting list in 2007-8 . Our normal practices for visitors will also be reinstated on both days.

In order to reduce the work of both committee and club members,  we are planning to  make greater use of external catering for Bridge Days. We believe  this can be achieved  within our current prices and without lowering our standards.

 

Our forward practice for the management of Master Points will be as follows:-
-   Local Master Points for all EBU members , club members or not, will be forwarded  to the EBU  automatically, monthly.
-  The automatic printing of Local Master Point Certificates  for all  non EBU members will cease. Club members who are not EBU members can however still opt to receive these certificates on specific application to the Competitions Secretary, Roger  Stenson.
-  The club will continue to take responsibility for the distribution of paper certificates issued for Sim Pairs Events.

 

 III   Finance

A  Financial Highlights for the Year

The club ended the year with a bank balance of £1091, having begun with £1848, an operating deficit of £756. The main reason is the purchase of  Bridgemate equipment which cost  £3800 with all the add-ons,  printers’ computers, furniture etc.

We have changed our financial year end from our foundation day at the end February to the end of March, synchronizing our financial and operational calendars.  A summary of income and expenditure for the 13 month period is attached.

 

For 2008, membership subscriptions have been raised to £8.  The objective is that member subscriptions cover our general operating expenses including a much enlarged insurance bill for equipment and member liabilities. Given that the fee provides access to two sessions per week we believe it is in line with local practice

 

In line with the guidance we received at our last member survey, we have had our second year accounts independently audited by one of our members, Robert Cooper. The committee thanks Robert for this service.

 

B Financial Strategy

We believe the club needs permanent reserves of a minimum of £6,000 to cover the cost of replacing the club’s existing and planned assets.  We aim to spread the financial burden of accumulation over the next few years, achieving this goal by the end of 2010. This approach will leave resources for continued improvement of member and operational services during this period.

 

IV   Bridge Operations

A Bridgemate

We have now completed our Bridgemate implementation, including both training of Bridgemate operators and the development of tailored bridge movements. The service is now stable and well-adjusted to our member requirements. 

We will upgrade the club’s computer during 2007 so that amongst other things, it has the capacity to connect to the Broadband facilities being installed in the village hall. This will enable us to dispatch results to members' homes at the end of the playing session.

 

B Dealing Machine.

In 2007/8 we plan to purchase a club dealing machine. The aim is to offer our members pre-dealt hands, together with printouts of the hands and an analysis of makeable contracts for every session played at the club.  This purchase will remove the committee’s long term concerns about the security of the Duplimate service provided by the county and also reduce the cost and inconvenience of hiring Duplimate boards. 

C  Support Services

A key issue in running a sustainable operation is to ensure that helping at the club does not involve an undue burden on individuals.   We aim that volunteer Directors or Bridgemate operators should not have to service much more than about one meeting in six.

We would like to recruit two more Bridgemate operators, to allow for holidays and potential retirements. The only requirement is passable domestic-level computer skills. 
We are also on the look-out for a couple of experienced bridge players who would like to join our directing team.

Full training is provided for both positions, financed by the club, where necessary. Three to four training sessions cover the training for both jobs

 

D  Competitions

1 Wednesdays

In the 2007 our Wednesday sessions will become a permanent part of our calendar, with no summer intermission.  We plan to introduce the following features to the Wednesday competitions:-

a. A Championship Pairs competition, for which the only disbarring qualification will be having won the Thursday Pairs competition - (and vice versa)

b. A Rising Player competition, where the winner will be the player(s) whose average score improves the most, as between the autumn and the spring ladders

c. Two trial Sims Pairs competitions.
d. We have agreed to act as joint hosts with the county for the Barbara Dick Cleland trophy. The first event on the new basis will take place at our Wednesday event on 24th October 2007.  This will be our first all-day Wednesday event.
The competition will take the form of a Swiss Teams event. Entries will be open to teams comprising players with less than 10, 000 master points across the county.  For many of us, Swiss Teams is the most enjoyable type of bridge event especially when the efficiency of the operation is facilitated by Bridgemate equipment. We hope that a successful event will presage further use of this competition format in club operations.

2   Competition Awards

 We have had a lot of debate both in the committee and with our members regarding competition awards.  Two themes have emerged:- 

Prizes. Members don’t like large cash prizes. They represent a subsidy of the better by the less good player.  Your committee wants nothing to do with ironmongery. It is a lot of trouble for no member benefit.
We will honour our 2006/7 prospectus by awarding cash prizes at the end of this season.  We have resolved to proceed in 2007/8 with a uniform prize for all winners, a bottle of Champagne (or an alternative, for the temperate.)

Who do we reward?  The issue is that pairs and teams competitions usually result in the best players getting together and winning everything. At the same time, quite reasonably, if they are not allowed to play with partners of their choosing, they don’t want to play.

The committee’s ongoing solution to this problem is the handicapping system. We plan to continue having only one open Competition, the Championship Pairs. All the other competitions, the seasonal Ladders and the Teams competitions are handicapped.  

 

Bawburgh Bridge Club Accounts Summary 2006-7
Expenditure				Income
Item	Sub Total		Total	Item	Sub Total	Total
				Opening Cash Balance		1848.40
General Expense
Affiliations		29.50		Member Income		1,236.00
Bridgemate Cap		3,823.67
Bridgemate    Rev		81.90
County  Fees		51.85		Thursday Net Income i.e. less Hall Hire, Duplimate etc)	3115.40
Insurance		358.86
Internet		105.75		Wednesday Net Income (i.e. less Hall Hire, Duplimate etc)	1078.40
Master Points		515.20
Equipment		446.36		Special Events Net Income (i.e. less Hall Hire, Catering etc	548.53
Teas		713.49		Net Event Income		4742.33
Printing		158.89
Software		60.00		Sundry Income (Equipment Hire)		10.00
Stationery		199.09
Sundry Expense		51.93
TD Training		148.50
Total Expense			6,744.99	Total Income		5988.33
				Operating Deficit		766.66
				C/F Cash Balance		1091.44