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13/08/2023 NCCU AGM 2023 - Report
This meeting was duly held, face to face, at the West Riding pub, 38 Wellington Street, Leeds, LS1 2D, on Saturday 12th August, starting at 1 p.m. and ending at 4.08 p.m. Yorkshire, who managed to field only one delegate, was represented by Richard Holliday. The present writer was there as NCCU Webmaster.
Official draft minutes are expected within a week’s time, so no attempt to detail matters seems necessary here and now. The mood of the meeting was “up-beat”. It has to be said that aspirations expressed at such meetings can exceed eventual outcomes, but 2023-24 nevertheless looks like being a better season than recent ones in various ways, and all ten attenders of the meeting seem to have left with justified optimism.
On a few specific points:
1) Tim Wall was (re-)elected to the post of President as Yorkshire’s nominee, he previously having held post as Northumberland’s nominee! (Andrew Wainwright had e-mailed the NCCU secretary earlier on this point.)
2) Rupert Jones (Leeds) was elected, albeit as an interim measure (he will think!), to the post of General Secretary, in absentio, or in absentia, depending in whether your style of Latin prefers use of a participle in an elliptic “time when” expression or else simply a noun - both mean he wasn’t there at the time! (He had acquiesced to this in advance.)
3) Retiring Gen. Sec. Dave Cole (Cumbria) was thanked for his years of service to the Union, and he will support Tim and Rupert unofficially from the wings.
4) The post of Grading (should now be Rating) Officer was left unfilled on the assumption that none would be needed due to results going through the ECF’s League Management System, though one idea which surfaced in the meeting might yet mean a Rating Officer may end up being needed, though they haven’t worked that one out yet! (The present writer would have filled the post if necessary and can still assist in the slightly possible event that somebody ends up being needed.)
5) David Kilmartin (Gr. Manchester) took over Dave Cole’s other relinquished post, that of Trophies Officer, a key qualification being he knows the address of the person currently possessing three of the trophies and so can collect them!
6) Other Officers remain unchanged.
7) Cleveland County CA, currently not actually affiliated, was admitted to the NCCU, assuming they get round to actually applying (in writing, for the records) as believed is intended. (The Cleveland CA’s 2017 AGM had voted 14:0 not to renew membership of the NCCU. In 2022 a team was entered in the NCCU Under-2050 event, with the Cleveland CA executives approving the attendant expenditure, this evidently having been after the AGM which might otherwise have considered the matter. Accordingly, there was some difference of opinion within Cleveland, and a formal application for formal renewal of NCCU membership is being sought.)
8) The opportunity falls to Yorkshire, on a rota system, to put submit to the NCCU a nomination for a school or junior chess organisation to be the NCCU’s nomination for a 2023-24 British Chess Education Trust award. ACTION point for YORKSHIRE.
9) An indication of what teams counties were likely to be entering in the NCCU inter-county competitions was requested. The Yorkshire representative mentioned there had been doubt over a Yorkshire Open team due to lack of a captain, but the writer said he understood someone (Randy Donahue) had taken on that job, so Yorkshire are at present expected to be entering one team in each section (unless Steve Westmorland enters a 2nd team somewhere, a point which got mentioned).
Northumberland, Cleveland, Yorkshire, Merseyside, Gr. Manchester and Cumbria are expected to enter teams again.
You might wonder whether Durham might enter at least one team this season, but there is a problem in that there is a lot of overlap between those playing in the Cleveland league and those playing in the Co. Durham leagues. This means one county entering a team might mean the other might then be unable to do so.
Lancashire CA has apparently regained access to its funds, so that is another county which could re-enter NCCU events. (Lancashire was not represented at the meeting as one usual representative was in Weymouth at the time). As for Cheshire & North Wales, there seems too great a shortage of people stepping forward to take on the necessary work.
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