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Last update: Wednesday May 28, 2008 10:44
In the absence of the President, officiating overseas, CEO Martin Regan was elected to take the Chair.
Before the meeting began, Council stood in silence in memory of John Dunleavy who had died on 10th April. The CEO recorded the Federation’s debt to a man whom he numbered among the most honest of his acquaintance.
The following list gives names only. The full Attendance document recording the capacities in which people attended, together with apologies for absence, is held in the ECF Office with the official copy of these Minutes.
| MJ Adams (MJA) | RJ Haddrell (RJH) | S Reuben (SR) | T Thurstan (TT) |
| N Belinfante (NB) | SD Hewitt (SDH) | RJ Richmond (RJR) | MC Truran |
| FJ Bowers | GN Jepps (GNJ) | M Regan (MR) | D Welch |
| RA Collett | AT Leadbetter (ATL) | DR Sedgwick (DRS) | JD Wheeler |
| D Farley | CE Majer (CEM) | D Smith | RTF Williams |
| C Fewtrell | AC Martin (ACM) | PJ Sowray (PJS) | PJB Wilson |
| SN Gilmore | CR Moore | CE Summerscale | CW Wood (CWW) |
| H Grist | JL Paines (JLP) | DR Thomas (DRT) | Total: 31 |
Also present: S Hare, G Masters (ECF Office); M McDermott
In these Minutes, people may be designated by their initials as shown above.
MJA and ATL were appointed tellers.
15 Amend second paragraph to “The Governance Committee was asked to
look at this.”
17 Insert hyphens so: “even-numbered” and “odd-numbered”.
With these amendments the Minutes were agreed.
7.4.1 Grading. The Home Director (CEM) had given a progress report on the
forthcoming grading adjustments. He now, as Grading Manager, gave another. Things
had gone more slowly than he had hoped but we were on track for the 2008 list.
The bulk of the work had been done by Howard Grist, the author of the ECF’s
central grading software. The revisions, when in place, would make statistical
analysis more meaningful.
CEM then answered questions.
7.4.1 (5) ECF Website & County matches. It had been suggested at the October meeting that County match results might be sent more regularly to the ECF Office for publication. RJH now remarked that it didn’t work because the ECF webmaster lacked the time. One SCCU captain had sent 13 matches to the ECF Office this year and, up until late in the season, only 4 had been published. Would it not make better sense for the ECF site to link to the Union pages that published results? The meeting took this point on board.
On a proposal of the President and Board, Council elected Chris Majer. CEM
said he owed much to his supporting officers, especially in the Grading team.
DRS, while fully supporting this honour, observed that the list of HVPs included
relatively few people from more than about 15 years ago. He thought this might
be worth attention. His point was sympathetically received.
GW mentioned the remarkable Holloid Plastics Sets for Schools project, in
which 250,000 sets and boards are being made available to schools free of charge.
(It was noted at the meeting that the equipment is not now restricted to state
schools as his Report suggested.) The President noted the contributions of CWW
and thanked the Office staff for their extra work involved in processing applications
from schools.
The President also mentioned some of the items further down the agenda. His
Report was adopted.
MJA said the Committee had just met by telephone. He had little to add to
the Report of the Finance Director(RJR); nor to his own circulated Report. The
latter summarised the ECF’s position as “stable but stagnant”.
The number of MOs had not increased as much as had been hoped, perhaps because
of the continued hybrid schemes. A contingency fund in the budget (of maybe
£5K) would be nice if our situation allowed it. Recent reports that the
ECF had reserves of almost £1M (with reference to the John Robinson Trust)
were, in the Finance Committee’s opinion, unhelpful and misleading.
The Report was adopted.
The Board proposed “That Council approves the plans of the Board
to work with the Trustees of the PIF and the Directors of CCL to bring CCL within
the day-to-day control of the ECF”.
Some explanation is required. The Finance Director’s paper said that the
2006 Charities Act makes it possible for the ECF to achieve charitable status,
with the earliest possible date looking to be 1st May 2009. But professional
chess is not a charitable activity. Some of the Federation’s activities
- Olympiad entry, say, or the British Championship - involve payments to professional
players, or prizes of sufficient value to attract professional players; and
these would need to find a home outside the charitable ECF. A possibility that
sprang to mind was the Chess Centre Ltd.
The paper continues: Chess Centre Ltd was set up in 1939 for the purpose of
creating a national Chess Centre (a purpose never achieved and no longer aspired
to). Its funds today, including accumulated interest and dividends, amount to
some £7000 associated with the Golombek book fund and £24,000 from
the sale of BCM. The Chess Centre is controlled by two Directors who are answerable
to the Trustees of the Permanent Invested Fund. Who, in turn, are the legal
owners of the Chess Centre’s assets. The Board’s contention, in
the words of the Finance Director, was that the Centre was “a Company
with investments but no function”. Its proposal would give the Centre
a function as repository of funds for the ECF’s non-charitable activities.
In practice the Trustees would appoint additional CCL Directors from the current
ECF Board, with a view to the eventual identity of both boards. There seemed
grounds for hoping the trustees would agree to this.
The ECF Finance Committee, which includes both CCL Directors, expressed reservations.
MJA said the Committee would not support a big drain on the funds, and the original
destinations of the money must be respected. ACM (a CCL Director) said that
he saw the proposal as an attempted raid on PIF money, which he would rather
see invested than frittered away. ACM said, when asked, that by “frittering”
he meant long-term deficit budgets.
After discussion SDH proposed the following amendment. To the Board’s
proposal add a comma, followed by the words “provided that the assets
of CCL have first been transferred to the PIF”. SR expressed reservations.
The amendment was carried by 20 votes to 4, and ACM asked that the minutes record
his abstention as a CCL Director. The motion as amended was then carried 23
- 1, with ACM again abstaining.
The Finance Director expected to come back to Council in October with more detail.
He said he would ring-fence the book fund and not fritter.
MR and SR, in a historical aside, recalled how impossible it had been to gain
recognition for chess as a sport.
The Board asked Council to agree that Clause 4 of the Schedule to the Direct Members Bye Laws (“Either party may terminate this Agreement on or before 1st March in any year effective as at 31st August following”) be amended by replacing “1st March” by “31st May”. The reason was that fees are not set until April. Council agreed the change unanimously.
DRT observed that the Aims were more discursive in International than elsewhere. There was some feeling that very short and bland Aims were to be avoided. But the Business Plan was approved nem con.
The Director’s forecast deficit for 2007-8 was £9000, an improvement
on the budgeted £12,000. The British Championship had come in £2000
under budget.
The Director updated some figures under Home Chess and British Championship.
Further points:
The Board proposed increasing Basic Members' fees (Junior included) by 50p.
TT: Why just Basic Members? RJR: Because it is felt that the differential between
Basic and the rest is excessive. SR: Why are we faffing around with 50p increases?
“But it is of a piece with 2p increases in Game Fee.”
The proposal was carried heavily, with 1 dissenting vote.
The Board proposed it remain at £50. Carried heavily, with 1 dissenting vote.
The Board recommended 48p. On a card vote the voting figures were:
| 100p | 4 |
| 50p | 5 |
| 48p | 111 |
| 47p | 4 |
| 46p | 20 |
| 45p | 9 |
The median vote was for 48p, which is thus Game Fee from 1st September 2008.
The rates for Rapid, Junior and Club Internal were not discussed so follow the
rule laid down in the Articles.
Note: While the counting of votes was in progress, Council proceeded to agenda
Item 17.
(Taken after Item 17)
The Finance Director’s proposed budget 2008-9 was for a smaller deficit
of £2800. International and the British Championship Congress remained
the problem areas. The Congress has used up all but £4000 of its accumulated
surplus from previous years, and £2800 of that is earmarked for this year.
It is not planned to pay attendance money unless sponsorship is obtained.
Discussion centred on International. International, at £25,000 is much
the biggest net spender after Management Services. ACM: will we be on budget
in 2008-9? PJS: I think so, but there are long-term concerns. It was noted that
expenditure was likely to go up in 2009-10 as the European Championship would
cost perhaps £5K - £6K more than the 2008 Olympiad. SDH: How do
we justify subsidising International so much more heavily than in the past?
RJR: Previous years benefited from hidden subsidies, not now available, which
did not go through the ECF's books. PJS added that international expenditure
was largely forced on us, because our DCMS grant is more or less dependent on
our competing as best we can in international events.
The Budget was agreed nem con.
The Board proposed an amendment to the Directors and Officers Responsibilities
Regulations. Under President’s responsibilities delete “Provides
overall management and direction of the ECF Office at Battle”; and to
CEO’s responsibilities add Ensures that the ECF Office at Battle works
in partnership with directors to deliver Board objectives and that the Office
Manager participates, when available, in all Board meetings.
JLP: Was the Board’s decision to propose this taken amicably? MR: Yes,
in the main. ACM: What do the Office staff think about it? MR: They are happy
so long as the new enlarged personnel committee we are setting up goes ahead.
(This will include Board members and others, but not the CEO.)
It was remarked that the Business Plan ought to have a section devoted to Business
Continuity. It was then noted that the printing of the ECF Yearbook had been
done at favourable rates thanks to contacts of Martin Regan (an arrangement
which MR thought likely to continue). People recalled a time, nine years ago,
when outsourcing to Coulsdon had been proposed and rejected. It was not suggested
that the case was similar. But it was remarked that hidden subsidies ought to
go through the books, if only as donations.
The Board’s proposal was carried heavily with 1 dissenting vote.
The thrust of this item is best captured by quoting the printed Agenda:
“The Board has become convinced that the future of the ECF depends on
a Universal Membership Scheme and gives Council notice that it will present
such a scheme for consideration to the AGM in October. The Board also believes
that such a scheme should carry some element of direct empowerment - ie an element
of One Man One Vote. Both clearly carry major policy issues so the CEO takes
the opportunity to give Council the chance to discuss the principles behind
the concept and for members to take soundings from their constituents.”
It was made clear at the meeting that the intention would be to abolish Game
Fee.
Two different ways of applying Universal Membership were mentioned at the outset:
(1) to prohibit non-Members from playing in graded events; and (2) to allow
all to play, and grade all the games, but withhold publication of non-Members’
grades. MR declared himself indifferent between the two. No other opinions were
expressed, and the distinction was afterwards ignored.
MJA: We need to decide which bit of the hybrid to keep. A compulsory Membership
scheme could be financially viable if fees were set at a realistic level, which
would need to be significantly higher than the current Standard fee of £16
(and some of the current Members were paying much less). Numbers would need
to go up substantially.
Strong views were expressed both for and against Membership schemes. Merseyside
and the Wirral League were happy with their MO agreement. SDH: Game Fee is a
chess prevention tax. NB, perhaps neutral: It would be possible to pay clubs
a commission for recruiting Members. CEM: I have asked the graders, and they
have misgivings about the practicality of a Membership scheme. There would be
a serious risk of people breaking away and doing their own thing. ACM: the London
League would not accept compulsory membership. GNJ: Suppressing grades would
wreck congresses.
RJR, while expressing no preference for or against Membership schemes, said
he had always seen them as a minefield.
On a straw poll a large number of people (perhaps a majority, but no count was
taken) preferred Game Fee.
One Man (or Member) One Vote was little discussed. DRT: The grass-roots player
will not always take the widest view. ATL: How would you operate OMOV? MR: We
must not get lost in practicalities.
But MR felt that the ECF had to ask the players what they wanted. Council briefly
mentioned some of the things it wanted. RJR: We must bring in more juniors.
My County is devoting much attention to junior players, with considerable success.
DRT: We need chess in the national news. CWW: We need a salesman.
No venue was mentioned, saving Birmingham.
(a) Counties Championship Draw. MR apologised to Council for the unacceptable
conduct of this year’s draw. The Board had discussed it that morning,
in its preparatory meeting, and measures had been put in place to prevent a
recurrence.
(b) World Youth Championships 2012. SR raised the possibility of hosting the
Championships in London in 2012 (but not actually clashing with the Olympics,
for obvious reasons). It would be very expensive - perhaps £1M or £1.5M
- and would require a major sponsor. There should be something on the ECF website
shortly.
The meeting closed at 5.55 pm.
RJH 11.05.08