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HEREFORDSHIRE CHESS ASSSOCIATION

Minutes of meeting held on Wednesday August 21st 2024

 at 7.30pm

The Herdsman, Widemarsh Street, HEREFORD

In Attendance:

Laura Friedlander (LF) Lee Davis (LD) Keiran Lappin (KL) Richard Croot (RC)

Evelina Racheva (ER) Alexander Adarski (AA) Ben Powis (BP) Liam Drew (LiD)

Paul Barber (PB) Manuel Gonzalez (MG) William Slater (WS) Les Collard (LC)

Roger Aris (RA) Jack Clark (JC) Henry Spedding (HS)

Apologies: Alan Leary

Minutes of the meeting held on 12th of August 2019 were accepted. No matters arising.

1.      The Election of Officers:

Chair: Keiran Lappin

Vice Chair: Ben Powis

Secretary: Laura Friedlander

Treasurer: Evelina Racheva

Grading Officer: Lee Davis

The above-named persons were duly elected to the committee. Proposed by Roger Aris, seconded by Jack Clark.

2.      Treasurers Report:

As of 21/08/2024 there is a balance of £3, 515. 64 in the association’s account.

There has been very little expenditure in recent months owing to the committee not having access to said account.

Les Collard (LC) reminded those in attendance that a substantial portion of the current funds had been built up by former club member Peter Johnston.

3.      Grading + Competitions

Lee Davis (LD) spoke to the meeting about grading and ideas for future competitions and sought clarification as to which clubs are currently members. Hereford and Leominster are members and RC said he would seek clarification regarding Cathedral School.

Henry Spedding (HS) asked if there are any more clubs that we might not be aware of in the county, and the meeting was advised that if there were, other clubs could join at a future date.

ECF League Management System:

LD explained that the clarification above would enable him to make use of the ECF League Management System for county and internal club competitions. 

Individual County Championship:

The meeting agreed that LD would design and conduct the Individual County Championship on the principle that the title of County Champion should be decided via a contest between players who qualify from the championships of the individual member clubs.

Marches League:

The meeting expressed its general support for the re-establishment of the Marches League and asked LD to consider whether that could be launched this season.

4.      Any Other Business:

Keiran Lappin (KL) suggested that with the transfer of funds to the Association, in future all transactions would require two signatures. This was put to a vote and was unanimously agreed.

Midlands County Chess:

The meeting was asked its view on whether Herefordshire should establish one or more county teams to participate in MCCU and ECF events.  The meeting expressed an interest in this and asked KL to investigate further.

LD stated that the Executive Committee should review the constitution of the Association with a view to whether amendments should be presented to a future General Meeting of the Association.  This was agreed.

RC said that he is currently drawing up a safeguarding document and expressed that a safeguarding policy should be in place within the Association for the protection of young people and vulnerable adults. The committee agreed that this is important, and RC will complete the document and bring it to the Executive Committee for considefation.

KL reminded all in attendance to sign the attendance sheet before leaving.

There being no further business, the meeting ended at 19.55.

The time and date of the next meeting will be set by the Executive Committee.