AGM   

Minutes of Telepost Chess Club AGM
Held on Monday 23rd August 2021, 7.30pm at the Clubhouse

Present: Martin Ayres, John Bashall, Fred Bench, Paul Billington, Dennis Bonner, John Casewell (via Zoom), Matthew Clark, Oliver Elphick, David Hodge, Nick Holmes, James Holyhead, Graham Shepherd, Shane Sweeney, Keith Tabner, Kate Walker, Steve Wilson

Apologies: John Westhead, Phil Zabrocki

1. Acceptance of the Minutes of the AGM on 29/7/19 - accepted

2. “A” Team Summary - Matthew reported on a very successful, possibly the most successful ever, season for the A team, winning the Shropshire Online League and the Rapid Play League and runners up in the Cox Trophy and the Summer Cup. The team secured the top two targeted trophies for the season and came very close to a Treble. The whole club can be proud of these achievements. We have a very strong pyramid. Matthew thanked Nat Paul for his superb play throughout the season and his remarkable recruitment work for the rapidplay, enlisting Grandmaster and current British Champion Keith Arkell. The team also won the 2nd Division in our first season in the 5 Counties League and came a respectable 6th (only 3 points behind 2nd) in the top Division of the Five Counties League.  

It was fantastic to have Nat Paul and Richard Archer as regular players for the First team. Their performances together with Phil Zabrocki have been outstanding. Will Bates also scored very well and Matthew was delighted to play alongside such talented team mates. Nigel Ferrington did very well in the Rapid Play League.   Matthew really enjoyed playing alongside his old school friend Mark Nightall. Many thanks to all other players who played for the A team in any competition, such as John Westhead, Rob Nield, Kate Walker and Steve Rooney. Many Thanks as well to everyone who played in the 5 Counties.  

Matthew is delighted to welcome back Nigel and John Bashall for OTB Chess. His plan is to nominate Nigel, Phil, Matthew and John for the OTB A team.

Graham questioned whether the Telepost Club requirement that people be members of the club to represent it had any bearing on last year’s team. Dennis pointed out that since there was effectively no club to be a member of during lockdown the issue had not been raised.

3. “B” Team Summary- Division 2 / Minor KO - Dennis read John W’s report. The nominated players were JW and Kate Walker, supported by Paul Officer, Steve Rooney, James Holyhead and Keith Tabner, amounting to a reasonably strong team. The team started well and briefly topped the division before dropping down - the opposition had much higher grades than in previous years. But it was an enjoyable season and John cured his phobia of online play. He is happy to remain as B team captain or stand down if someone else fancies it.

(NH noted that we had glossed over the B team’s Minor experience to save Kate reliving a tortuous episode in which the B team was effectively deprived of the trophy by a Lichess server fail.)

4. “C” Team Summary- Division 2/ 5 Counties (B) - Dennis reported that the only players used for the 3-person online team were Rob Nield, Nick Holmes and Dennis Bonner. Although we had some very exciting and close games the majority of opponents were much higher graded and the team finished with one win and the wooden spoon. In the 5 Counties Division 2 we played against teams in Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Surrey and Oswestry. It was definitely advantageous playing online and no travelling! The team of six had good support from KW, JH, RN, JW, NH, MA, JW and DB and finished joint 3rd out of 10 teams, just missing promotion by one point.

5. “D” Team Summary - Division 3 - John Casewell reported that the stable team of three players ended up in second place behind Shrewsbury C, who were of second division strength - their team for the first match included Peter Kitchen, a first division strength player. James Holyhead scored 60%, John 55% and Shane Sweeney 35% out of 10 games each. In the Minor, the team was hammered in the first round by Wellington. John is happy to be an online captain next season but not OTB, for fairly obvious reasons.

6. “E” Team Summary - Division 3 - Martin reported that the team started the season with Bill Clarke, based in Paris, on board 1, Martin on 2 and Mark Randell, based in Crewe, on 3. Bill is a founder member of Telepost. He played until February but had to retire owing to ill health and Martin was grateful that Nick was able to take over as board 1 for the rest of the season. He is also grateful to Peter Crean and Paul Billington for stepping in as reserves. The team won one match, with the team for the win comprising Peter, Nick and Paul. In the Minor, the team had a bye in round 1 and then lost to Telepost B in round 2. Notable successes included Martin’s win against the much higher graded Jim Wilkinson of Shrewsbury C and Mark Randell securing his first draw in a competitive team event.

7. 4NCL Online/ Shropshire Minor Individual - Dennis reported that in 4NCL online across 7 divisions our players were against higher graded players. Nat Paul and Phil Zabrocki in the first division finished 8th, playing against teams including IMs. Matthew and Steve Rooney’s team finished 7th out of 8 in division 3; Kate’s team 5th out of 8 in division 5; Rob Nield and Nick 3rd out of 8 in division 6; John C, James and Dennis 37th out of 72 (!) in division 7. A new 4NCL season is starting with Matthew as vice captain and Charles Higgie of Oswestry as captain.

The County Minor Individual had 15 players and 7 rounds. The winner was Nick Holmes (6/7) - all rested on the last round which Nick won and previous leader Richard Thompson of Telford lost to Phil Love of Newport. James was 3rd (5/7), Dennis 5th (4/7) and John C scored 2.5/7 and Martin 2/7.

8. Club and Shropshire websites - Nick reported that he had taken over the website from Keith after a remarkable stint of 17 years. He redesigned it as a bit of a lockdown project, aiming to update the look, make it mobile friendly, keep it up-to-date and provide info/attract new members. The new members present confirmed that they had used the site to find out about the club. Nick aimed to keep the News/Diary sections updated roughly every two weeks and the majority of members present said they were regular readers. The site proved useful for running Telepost Dark Knights competitions and Nick was grateful for contributions including Bill’s report from Paris, Kate reporting on the national online championships, a number of radio interviews, Rob’s Game of the Week, season reports from Matthew and a match report from Martin. He welcomes further contributions, especially match reports as we return to OTB.

The follow-on project was redesigning the Shropshire site, with similar aims plus a move to Wordpress software which allows more people to contribute easily and is simpler to update. The major headache was getting the existing results database to marry with Wordpress and Nick is very grateful to Vinnie Crean and Graham Ives for all their work on the site. Again, contributions are welcomed. DB thanked Nick for his work on the sites.

9. New Member’s report - Paul Billington reported that 11 people had made enquiries during the lockdown. We have three confirmed new members - Fred, Oliver and Ben, plus Mark Randell and Foley Stocks playing online, and a number of others who may join. His assessment of the new players was that C and B team players should watch their backs! Steve W noted that we had also lost Paul Officer, who has moved away with his work, Charles Micallef and Dean Pinnington. Dennis thanked Paul for his work in welcoming new members. We have 27 current signed up members and three online members.

10. Treasurer’s Report - John Westhead sent a written report with the accounts:

Please accept my apologies for not being able to present my report in person. I have included the accounts for the last 2 years as we did not have an AGM last year due to Covid 19.

At the last AGM in 2019 we had a total of £105.50 in the club funds, which was lower than in previous years, so we agreed to increase the club subscriptions to £8 per year. This led to a substantial profit for the 2019-20 as we did not buy any trophies for that year mainly because we did not have an AGM in 2020 to present them. This gave us £243.60 in club funds. Normally we buy trophies for any league or cup winners, so Telepost C members would have been eligible for a trophy that year as division 2 champions.

Due to the surplus and the lack of over the board chess, we reduced the fees for 2020-21 back to £5. However, we still made a profit of £63.02 because again so far, we have bought any trophies, though Telepost A won the Division 1 championship and would be eligible for trophies. This now gives us £306.62 in club funds, though if we bought the outstanding trophies this would be reduced considerably. The last time we bought trophies which were engraved glass tumblers we paid £6.10 + VAT per glass. As that was a couple of years ago, I suspect we would need to pay at least £80 for 10 engraved glasses. However, even so this would still leave us with over £200 in club funds. I’m not sure if we won any other online competitions that would require trophy purchases.

Given that the club’s finances remain healthy even, if we purchased the outstanding trophies, I would recommend that we keep the club fees at £5 per annum.

This year, I moved the club finances online and this has proved to make them easier to manage and to keep a record of who has paid. I would ask that members continue to pay their subs online, though of course I will still accept cash. For information the sort code is 55-50-05 and the account number is 78572185. Subscriptions for 2021-22 are due now.

Subscriptions were discussed further in AOB below. Keith explained that the whisky glasses that we used to present were obtained by him at a very favourable rate from contacts at Powys Trophies. The firm has since been taken over by Welshpool Printing Group and it may not now be economical to provide the same trophies. Keith and Dennis will explore this further.

11. Election of Officers and Captains for 2021/22 : The following were all agreed:

Secretary - Dennis Bonner
Treasurer - John Westhead
Website Editor - Nick Holmes
New Member’s/EQ Officer - Paul Billington

A Team Captain - Matthew Clark
B “ “ - John Westhead
C “ “ - Dennis Bonner
D “ “ - Steve Wilson
E “ “ - Martin Ayres

12. Any Other Business

Discussion Points:

1. Telepost Dark Knights - John C reported that the various events had run smoothly and he had enjoyed co-ordinating. He thanked Nick for help in setting things up. John had planned to start a new competition in September, a two-league format with promotion and relegation, but had decided to wait and see the volume of games arising from the possible Shropshire online league, 4NCL and Five Counties. Matthew noted that the TDK spring league had produced the game between Will Bates and Nat Paul which won the Colin Roberts memorial brilliancy prize. Nick commented that John was being modest as it was the efforts and enthusiasm of people like him that had kept the club thriving rather than collapsing during the lockdown. The meeting thanked John for all his work.

2. National Grading System - Nick reported that although the ECF had now moved to monthly ratings and the four-digit system, the Shropshire League had decided to continue with their system of using the summer grades to determine board orders. (There will be an opportunity in January for clubs to ask the league controller to move players whose grade is clearly inaccurate.) Dennis reminded members that everyone needed to join the ECF in order to play in the league, at a minimum of bronze level. Graham noted that grades were now referred to as ratings and that the grades referred to in the league rules needed to be updated to reflect this. Dennis agreed to follow this up with the general secretary.

3. Summer Simultaneous with Nat Paul - Dennis reported that this will take place at the clubhouse on 6th September. It is a fun free event in which Nat Paul will take on all comers. It is also a chance for us to thank Nat for all he has contributed to the club in the last 18 months before he takes a chess sabbatical. Please let Dennis know if you intend to play so he can ensure we have enough sets etc.

4. OTB/Online Members’ fees - Dennis proposed that the fees should be raised from £8 to £10 for the season to cover both OTB and online. This was in part to ensure we have cover for the cost of electronic clocks. Matthew seconded the proposal and it was unanimously carried. Matthew proposed and Shane seconded a proposal that the fees for online only should be £5 and this was also unanimously carried,

5. Steve Wilson’s new book - Steve showed the proof of his new book which is soon to be printed. It has 33 games, a number of puzzles and profiles of players from 1851 to the present day. Paul commented that the book was particularly good for someone wanting to know what club chess was like. The book, which costs £8.99, can be ordered directly from Steve.

6. OTB/Online availability - Dennis had collated a survey of which members were available for the new season ,OTB, online or both, and this was circulated. Matthew reported that the Shropshire AGM had agreed that Blue Badge holders would be able to play their matches online, with the agreement of both captains. David Hodge pointed out that this might have to involve some flexibility over grade order and that arrangements would be needed for the OTB players to be aware of the situation in the online match. Matthew suggested that we should reciprocate any requests from other clubs since the new ruling would affect John C in particular.

Matthew submitted a proposal:

“Captains should be free to nominate and select whichever members of the club they choose with the approval of the club secretary”.

He explained that the rationale for this was that there were now many sources of grade/rating information and that some ECF OTB ratings would not be the most accurate representation of a player’s strength. Nick noted that this had been discussed at the last AGM and there had been strong arguments in favour of deciding teams by strict grade order. James suggested that players could nominate their own grades based on available evidence. There was discussion of whether members of a promoted team should play in the higher league if other higher graded players were available. Martin asked why the promoted players would not play in the promoted team; Steve W said some people wouldn’t want to play in a higher division. Keith explained the system that had been used at the club up until now, with teams selected on grade order and then allowances made for travel arrangements etc. John C said he played as a member of a club and would expect the club to put out the strongest possible teams.

The proposal, seconded by Kate, was amended to read:

“Captains should be free to nominate whichever members of the club they choose with the approval of the club secretary and the player concerned.” (Nominate here refers to the official nominations required by Shropshire League.).

The proposal was carried with 11 for, 1 against and 4 abstentions. Team selections would be further discussed by the captains.

7. Shropshire 4NCL - Matthew explained that Shropshire and Oswestry/Malpas had combined into Shropshire and Friends. We have seven teams in the new 4NCL online league which starts this week. Anyone wishing to play should contact Matthew. Players need to be ECF members and to have completed the 4NCL Fair Play form. (Last season’s forms carry over, no need to redo.)

8. AOB - John C asked about Five Counties - Matthew said he had contacted organisers but it was unclear at present what this season’s arrangements would be. He thought we could probably field two teams. David Hodge asked about the club championships and whether this would be online or OTB or both. A show of hands suggested support for both formats. Nick suggested we could have both formats and then a “Charity Shield” playoff between the respective winners.

As is traditional, Keith suggested it was time to go to the bar, and the meeting closed at 9pm.

NH. 24/8/21

Minutes of Telepost Zoom Meeting
Held Monday 15th March 2021 at lots of houses.

People present: Matthew Clark(MC), Nat Paul(NP), Nick Holmes(NH), Mark Nightall , Kate Walker(KW), John Casewell(JC) , Shane Sweeney, Paul Billington (PB), Rob Nield(RN) , Martin Ayres, Bill Bates, Mark Randell, Dennis Bonner(DB)

Apologies: John Westhead, Steve Rooney, Keith Tabner

Meeting started at 7.30pm

Points discussed:

a) Each person introduced themselves for the benefit of our "new " external members, - Rob Nield, Mark Nightall and Mark Randell, to match a face to a name.

b) The general point of our strategy going forward, with the re-introduction of OTB in the coming months was discussed. The general consensus from the questionnaire issued by DB,2 weeks ago, was that the majority of current online members wanted to continue online alongside OTB:

1) JC stated that he will be starting 2 all- play- all divisions in April, following the completion of the current Swiss Individual tournament. The winner of each division will then play in a Grand Final, there have been 14 entries, so far, for this tournament. Anyone else interested to play must mail JC asap. JC said that we could also consider playing online friendlies with other clubs. In general there is a good club appetite for more online games from the members.

2) MC agreed with the above point and said that he wanted to continue with the 5 Counties league, where we have 2 teams and the 4NCL County games.MC said that there will be a proposal, for more online competitions, in the Shropshire AGM, which will be held in July. All members are encouraged to mail MC with their suggestions for this proposal.

3) NH made the point that Chris Lewis will be stepping down from the 4NCL organisation when the current season finishes as he wants to concentrate on the introduction and training of a Shropshire Juniors team.

4) We discussed the pros and cons of holding an internal Rapidplay tournament with the general consensus being to hold a 10/5 tournament in the near future. Due to time constraints DB agreed to discuss this further with our committee and issue a mail with all the details to the members when agreed.

5) RN suggested that we hold a regular game analysis online. The meeting agreed that they would send a copy of any interesting game that they had played and RN agreed to video and issue a selection of interesting games with comments on a regular basis.

6) The proposed Simul with Keith Arkell GM was discussed and NP said that he would talk to Keith and give us a feedback asap.

7) The recent mail from Keith Tabner was discussed concerning the fact that he wanted to hand over the reins of the Cox, inor and Shrewsbury Town competitions. No volunteer came forward and Keith is encouraged to now write to the Shropshire secretaries to ask for volunteers.

8) JC asked PB about his reticence at playing online and KW suggested that she would help PB with some online games with a view to PB playing online in the near future.

DB thanked everybody for their contributions and attendance and the meeting finished at 8.45pm

Dennis Bonner 14/3/21

Minutes of Telepost Chess Club AGM
Held Monday 29th July 2019 at the Clubhouse.

PRESENT: Martin Ayres, John Bashall, Paul Billington, Dennis Bonner, John Casewell, Nick Holmes, Charles Micallef, Graham Shepherd, Shane Sweeney, Keith Tabner, John Westhead, Steve Wilson, Phil Zabrocki

APOLOGIES: Matthew Clark, Paul Officer

1. Acceptance of Minutes of AGM on 13/8/18 – agreed.

2. A team summary – Matthew sent a report:
The A team enjoyed another successful season, but we didn’t win a trophy this year. Our most successful competition this year was the Rapid Play League, where we came 2nd. This was a big improvement from last year. We ended up coming 3rd in the Classical League. Newport were clearly the strongest team, but Maddocks also just came ahead of us. We reached the semi-finals of both the Cox Trophy and the Summer Rapid Play Cup. Nigel enjoyed another magnificent season. He was unbeaten in the League for the 2nd year in a row, scoring 8/10. He scored a total of 20/27 in all competitions, including 2 wins over an International Master. He would be my clear nominee for player of the year, not just for our club, but across the entire league. Phil Zabrocki was our next most successful player with 13.5/22. Our aim for next year should be to finish in the top two in the League and to win a trophy. We probably need better results on boards 4 and 5 to achieve this.

3. B team summary – John W reported that the team had struggled this year mainly due to problems getting a full team out because of holidays and illness. One match was defaulted. The team finished second from bottom but we have recently heard that they will remain in the second division as the League Controller needs to even up the divisions. Steve Kempsell is aiming to return to playing next season and all wished him well.

4. C team summary – Dennis reported that the team finished fifth out of seven teams, with 11 points. Kate was the most successful player but didn't play all the matches. Newport B won the league, with Maddocks B second, and all agreed that there were some very strong teams in the division this season.

5. D team summary – Steve W reported that he didn't have high expectations and they were met! But the team beat Oswestry in avoiding the wooden spoon, with five draws and one win. Steve hoped to be able to convert more draws to wins next season with a stronger team. Shane had an excellent season on board one and David Neale continues to improve. Optimistic for next season, especially with a second Telepost team in the division, from whom he hoped to get four points! John C pointed out that it was a very good achievement for the D team to avoid the bottom place, but, as E team captain, noted the challenge in Steve's final comment!

6. B team rapidplay summary – Nick reported in Paul O's place since he was rather a long way away in the Falklands. Headline news was that the team avoided the wooden spoon. Paul introduced some innovative captaincy tactics including first to lose misses the next game, and dropping the strongest player, himself! We fielded a full team for all five fixture nights, but, as with the previous season, we could do with a couple more stronger players for boards one and two to avoid being the whipping boys (and girl). The league ran very smoothly this year.

7. Shrewsbury Town Champs 2019/Cox and Minor Trophies/Club Championships   - Keith reported that the Shrewsbury Town champs had a healthy entry of 14 players this year and was progressing smoothly (Phil was encouraged to continue catching up...). For the Cox and Minor, Keith was persuaded to introduce a new rule regarding players being cup tied (following an incident last year where Charles ended up playing the same player twice). The new rule meant that players were cup tied once they had played once, but its effect in practice was that a number of teams had to withdraw or default, including our own B team. Keith intends to withdraw the new rule next season. Telepost weren't among the trophies, with Shrewsbury C the surprise winners on the Minor – good to see an underdog come through. Keith reported that the Club Champs only had 7 players this year and 6 the previous year and asked whether it was still worth running it. He felt that 8 players was a minimum viable number. On a show of hands there were 6 people in the meeting interested in entering and it was agreed that Keith would email the whole membership nearer the time to gauge numbers before making a final decision. An alternative would be to have some individual events in gaps in the league schedule.

8. National Team Championships – Dennis reported that this competition, in which Telepost B won and Telepost A came second in their division in 2018, was no longer being run by the ECF, meaning we are reigning champions until the powers that be decide otherwise.

9. Club members at congresses – Dennis reported that a number of members had attended congresses during the season, including a good Telepost turnout at Blackpool, which all agreed had been an enjoyable event. Highlights included two section wins for Kate, at Warwickshire and North Wales.

10. Shropshire Minor Individual U125 – Nick reported that three Telepost players had entered the second year of this competition. John W went into an early lead, nearly got caught at the end, but held on to win the tournament with an impressive 5.5/7, receiving a very smart rose bowl trophy and £50. Nick was fourth on 4.5/7 and Dennis won the U100 grading prize with 3.5/7, so a good showing by the club. The competition ran very smoothly and members were encouraged to enter next year.

11. Treasurer's report – John W presented the accounts. There has been a drop in the balance of club funds, mainly due to equipment purchases totalling £145 over the last two years (slightly offset this year by not needing to buy any trophies since we didn't win anything!) John estimated a minimum expenditure on clock batteries, league fees (for 5 teams) and scoresheets of £80, before any additional expenditure on trophies or equipment. If we have three teams playing on one night (a possibility with 5 teams next season), or two teams playing and individual matches, we might need more clocks. In view of all the above, John raised the question whether we should raise the club fees from the current level of £5. After some discussion it was proposed and agreed that the fees should rise to £8 for adults and £4 for juniors. The meeting also discussed options for obtaining sponsorship or grants, including approaching the council (Steve W had seen this work in Wolverhampton league) and asking any suppliers that we use if they could sponsor us. Dennis also asked for anyone who knew of a company that might be interested in sponsorship to let him know, and thanked John for his work. New fees to be paid to John W asap please.

12. Club website – John C reported that he was working on updating the noticeboard but needed some help from Keith to publish the fetching photo of John W and his rose bowl. Dennis thanked John C for his work on the site. There was some discussion of the need for the Shropshire AGM minutes to appear on the county website in advance of the new season.

13. Teams for 2018/19 season – Dennis circulated membership lists with new and previous grades. There had been a Captains' meeting to discuss teams. There was initially some discussion of juniors – we have one new junior member and Chris Lewis intends to resuscitate the Shropshire junior programme in the new year. Keith noted that we needed to be careful about legislation regarding juniors in the club and Dennis explained that junior players always had a guardian with them when they attended. John C noted that Alan Brannen of Maddocks was intending to introduce chess into the curriculum at his school. Returning to the teams, Dennis noted that we had a number of new members, including Graham moving from Church Stretton, Paul B returning to the club after many years, and James Holyhead, who is based in Birmingham but will be playing for our teams. It was good for the club that we were able to field 5 teams next season. The main decision to be made was whether to return to deciding teams on grade order. After some discussion, it was proposed and agreed that this should be the case, allowing for availability of drivers. (Paul B very generously offered to help out with transport for any teams that were struggling with this, and the meeting thanked him.) Captains would liaise again to finalise the teams in line with grade order now the new grades were confirmed.

14. Election of Officers and Captains – there were no changes to officers – Secretary - Dennis, Treasurer – John W, Honorary President - Keith, Equipment Secretary – Steve W. Captains are as follows:
A team – Matthew
B team – John W
C team – Dennis
D team – Steve W
E team = John C
A team rapidplay – Matthew
B team rapidplay – Nick will captain if Paul O is in Matthew's team

15. Discussion points:

Shropshire AGM – the main changes arising were a new requirement for Division One nominated players to play 50% of matches, and a new rule that matches must start at 7.30pm with the right for a team to start the clocks if their opponents are not all present (if a home team is not ready to start at 7.30, the away team can insist that the time between 7.30 and the actual start of the match is deducted from the home team's time.) All of this can be disregarded if both team captains are happy for a later start. Dennis also reported that it had been confirmed that Shropshire would once again enter a county open team, captained by Matthew, and an U120 team captained by Dennis. Plans for this were progressing well, and Roger Brown had also expressed an interest in forming an U140 team. Val had agreed that we can use Telepost for some of the home matches and Matthew was investigating using Shrewsbury School.

Mentoring system – this had been discussed last year but had not yet got off the ground and the meeting discussed various options. Paul B proposed an interesting idea of having sessions using some of the excellent tutoring resources that are now available online. It was felt that this would need to be on targeted nights of gaps in the league schedule because of pressure on space. Paul suggested that another approach would be for captains to discuss these resources with their teams. John C and Steve W said they were not keen to mentor, but happy to encourage, and John W noted that he was the lowest graded player on his team. Keith noted that there were links to resources on the club website and asked that people let him know of any additional ones. Dennis pointed out that the key problem was a willingness for people to act as mentors. Nick noted that playing in club championships and Shrewsbury Town champs was a good way for lower graded players to get advice from higher graded players, through post-game analysis.

Chess equipment – Steve W reported that it was all in the cupboard! He reiterated that it was important that the flexible boards are put away properly otherwise they are difficult to get flat. John W has spared no expense and made another custom bespoke board holder to address this.

Pre-season friendly with Shrewsbury – Dennis reported there had been less players for this in the last couple of years and asked whether it should continue. Meeting agreed that Dennis would gauge interest from Shrewsbury before a final decision.

Rapidplay Swiss - Steve W agreed to run another rapidplay event, possibly handicapped, during the season. Phil was prepared to host another simul if Nigel can't be persuaded.

AOB - Steve W presented some matchcards to be used to record results, which were well received and will be left in the cupboard and given to captains. Graham advertised the MCCU Championships to be held at the Ramada in Telford on 9-11 August.

Keith proposed it was past time to go to the bar and the meeting closed at 9.40pm.

Nick Holmes 30/7/19

Present: John Bashall, Dennis Bonner(DB), John Casewell(JC), Matthew Clark(MC), Peter Crean(PC), Trevor Everall, Nick Holmes(NH), Steve Kempsell(SK), Graham Shepherd(GS),Steve Wilson (SW), Shane Sweeney(SS), Keith Tabner(KT), John Westhead(JW)

Also present as prospective new members: Geoff Coram, Guy Holmes

Apologies: Martin Ayres, David Neale, Charles Micallef

Agenda items:

1. Minutes of the AGM of 17/7/17 were approved.

2. A team summary – MC reported that the A team had a pretty good season overall in the face of very strong opposition, especially from Oswestry and Newport. The team finished third in division one. There were some limits on availability and MC expressed his gratitude to players from lower divisions who had played up. Nigel had a particularly good season. The Rapidplay A team fared not so well, just managing to avoid relegation. However, in the Team Rapidplay, Telepost won the event, aided by Trevor Brotherton and ex Telepost stalwart Richard Bryant. In the Cox Trophy the team had a good win against Wellington but lost in the semis to eventual winners Newport. With Trevor B joining the team on board two next season, we have a squad who can challenge for more silverware.

3. B team summary – PC reported that for once the B team were concerned to avoid relegation rather than avoid promotion! Again, thanks were given to players who played up after the loss of two regular players early in the season. In all, 10 players were used, and the team finished fourth. S K is taking over the captaincy next season. 4. C team summary – DB reported a reasonable season, with the team finishing third in the third division. However, we have subsequently heard that the C team are to be promoted to division two, following Church Stretton requesting to drop to division three, and Telford B declining promotion (in both cases because of lack of player availability).

5. D team summary – JC thanked Martin Ayres for taking over the captaincy after JC was forced to miss the majority of the season following his knee operation, though he played two league matches literally at home, at his house. Martin sent in a report. The D team finished two points behind the C team, benefitting from appearances by Josh Cockburn at the start of the season and Kate towards the end. Shane and Steve made 12 appearances each. The high points were beating Telepost C at home and Newport C away and the low point was the infamous “Waller” match at Oswestry, where Shane had to put up with some undue gamesmanship. Martin enjoyed being captain for the year and is sure SW will make a very good replacement.

6. B team Rapidplay summary – NH reported that the team had been largely minnows against giants, with our regular players graded around 90-100 against players 140 and above. We were fine on board four, but we had four board four players! A star appearance from PC garnered our only win and we finished an unsurprising last. However, we put up a full team for all matches and next season is looking more promising with two strong players enlisted to the cause ,see Point 14 below.

7. Shrewsbury Town Championships, Cox and Minor Cups, Telepost Championships – KT outlined the format of these competitions for the benefit of new/prospective members. The Town championships in 2017 were won by Trevor Brotherton (with SK and SS taking the U140 and U100 titles). This year's competition is well under way and due to finish in September. Keith reported that a highlight of the season is the live internet broadcast of the Cox and Minor Cup finals played at Wrekin Housing Trust and his disappointment that the Minor Cup final remained unplayed after Church Stretton were forced to default. The Cox was won by Newport, the Minor by Shrewsbury. The Telepost championship saw a fine performance by John Westhead, with 4.5 out of 5, who was presented with the winner's trophy by KT. All members were encouraged to enter the competition this season. (Five matches played under Swiss system, September to Aprilish.)

8. National Club Championships – DB reported on a remarkable performance by Telepost at the Telford Park Inn hotel, with the A team coming second against very strong opposition,in their Category,supported by Nigel,Phil,MC and John Bashall. The B team, with an average grade of around 100, winning the under 125 category,supported by GS,SW,SS and DB.The trophies were displayed and MC commented that we should aim to defend these national trophies in the coming season,which was agreed by the meeting.

9. Club members at congresses – DB reported that a number of Telepost members had attended congresses at venues including Blackpool, Llandudno, Shropshire, London and others. A number of prizes had been won and, most recently, Nigel had secured a superb draw against grandmaster Mark Hebden at the Midlands Club congress.

10. Shropshire Minor Individual – NH reported that the inaugural season of the seven-round Swiss competition for Shropshire players had been very successful and well run. DB, NH and JW had entered from Telepost and others were encouraged to sign up this coming season.

11. Shropshire Individual – the long-standing senior version of the Minor was won by Nick Rutter, with Nigel second.

12. Treasurer's report – JW presented the accounts. Although there was a slight deficit for the year due to unexpected trophy costs, the overall situation remains healthy and JW saw no reason to increase the £5 club fee unless an exceptional expenditure was envisaged. The meeting agreed with this and JW was deluged with fivers. All members are asked to pay JW, either directly or through their team captain or the secretary. Captains are asked to check that all players are ECF members. Telepost Club fees are paid direct to the club.

13. Club website – JC has taken over the noticeboard element of this. It was agreed that it was not necessary for a report on each match since the results are available on the Shropshire website but any matches of particular incident or excitement should be reported to JC, preferably in Word format, for inclusion on the site. JC is also preparing a history of the club from 2003 onwards, following on from the articles provided by founder member Bill Clarke and Keith Tabner. KT suggested it would be useful to have a diary on the noticeboard and he and JC will meet to set this up. There was some discussion of a Telepost Facebook page but this was not felt to be necessary. DB thanked JC for taking on this task during what had been a very difficult year for JC.

14. Teams for 2018/19 season – a Captains' meeting was held recently to discuss the number and make-up of teams for next season. Although it had been hoped to enter five teams it was concluded that realistically this was not possible without considerable stress and an unenviable task for a captain of the fifth team. Using the grades available at the meeting, the following teams were determined (nominated players shown (n)):
A – Nigel Ferrington (n), Trevor Brotherton (n), Phil Zabrocki (n), Matthew Clark (n, captain), John Bashall B – Peter Crean (n), Steve Kempsell (n, captain), Keith Tabner (n), John Westhead (n), Charles Micallef
C – Paul Officer (n), Andy Lewis (n), Nick Holmes (n), Dennis Bonner (n, captain), AN Others – Vinnie only wishes to play as reserve.
G S has sought clarification from the league controller as to his position as he will be playing for Church Stretton in division three. The Controller has said that GS will be allowed to play for our B and C team up to 3 times during the season. David Hodge,ex Church Stretton, may be available occasionally in January 2019 and hopefully Kate can play a number of games. B and C can also draw on the D team pool below. D – SW is captain with a pool of players including JC, SS, Dean Pinnington, David Neale, Martin Ayres. No nominations needed for this team.
Rapidplay A is strengthened by the return of Trevor Brotherton. MC remains captain. Paul Officer will captain Rapidplay B, with J B joining the team as well.

15. Election of officers – Keith Tabner, President, proposed SW, seconded SS. Dennis Bonner Secretary, proposed JC, seconded SW, John Westhead Treasurer, proposed MC, seconded KT.

16. Discussion points:

1. Shropshire AGM – MC reported on the AGM, minutes of which are on the Shropshire Chess website. Main changes are a clarification as to what constitutes a junior team (new rule states there must be three juniors, but an adult substitution can be made on three occasions per season) and a change to the time control to be used – where digital clocks are available the new time is one hour 25 mins, with 10 seconds increment per move. (Moves still don't have to be recorded after the clock first goes under 5 minutes.) This change was carried by one vote at the AGM, and GS pointed out that it would not have been carried if some people had not had to leave early. Some discussion of how many clocks will be needed. Agreed it should be all or nothing – ie all boards in a match to use the same time control. KT said best not to invest in new equipment until the rule beds in, in case it is changed back. We will need to work out how to programme our clocks for this.
PC asked whether matter of declined promotion was put forward. Telepost didn't make a formal proposal at the meeting, but it was discussed at some length, with the league controller arguing declined promotion should be allowed in exceptional circumstances. KT commented that a precedent had been set with the non promotion of Church Stretton and Telford B for next season.
PC suggested a flow chart clarification of elements of the rules on players/teams. MC, who is now general secretary for the league, and KT, who looks after aspects of the website, to look at this alongside sorting out the publication of the new rules.
2. MC proposed a mentoring system where experienced players will work with new members and lower graded players. This was generally agreed to be a good idea and MC will email details and ask for interested mentors and mentees.
3. Equipment – DB proposed Steve Wilson as Equipment Secretary to review and keep tabs on equipment. KT seconded.
4. Pre-season friendly against Shrewsbury to be held Mon 20 Aug. Shrewsbury are bringing up to 8 players, all Telepost players welcome. Match is played to league rules but not graded.
5. Rapidplay Swiss, five rounds of 15 minutes per player, to be held on 3 September – please let the organiser,SW, know if you'd like to play. Just for fun!
6. AOB: JC reported that he and Dean Pinnington would once again be running a chess club at Condover school. He also suggested that we might have a presence at the "try a new sport "event held at Attingham in May – MC suggested that this be raised again nearer the time.
NH proposed a vote of thanks to Peter Crean, as he stepped down from 30 years of being a team captain. All agreed.
The meeting closed at 9.20pm.
Nick Holmes 14/08/2018

Minutes of Telepost Chess Club Annual General Meeting

Held at Telepost Club on Monday 17th July 2017

Present:- Keith Tabner (Chairman), John Westhead (Treasurer), Peter Crean, , Shane Sweeney, Charles Micallef, John Bashall, , Quentin Mills, Dennis Bonner. Nick Holmes, Trevor Everall, Graham Shepherd, Martin Ayres, Josh Cockburn.

Apologies:- Matthew Clark, John Casewell, Vinny Crean, Nigel Ferrington, Tony Jones.

Review of Last Year

Last season for the first time we entered five teams in the Shropshire League aided by the arrival of 5 players from Church Stretton following the closure of their chess club. However this stretched our resources to the limit and we did not win any of the trophies on offer during the winter season.
Our A team were runners up in Div 1 and Quickplay, C team relegated to Div 3 and D team narrowly missed out on promotion to Div 2.
The summer cups were an entirely different matter. Although outgraded in the finals, with games broadcast via internet, Telepost A won the Cox Trophy and Telepost B won the Minor KO.
The Cox Trophy (shield) and the KO Cup will now be on display in our clubhouse and the winning team members were presented with engraved whisky glasses.

Treasurer's Report

JW presented accounts for 2016-17
Although there was a net loss of £67.61 for the year, this included a one off purchase of clocks (£50). Nevertheless club funds at £177.81 remain healthy prior to purchase of trophies.
It remains the responsibility of each player to ensure that he is a paid-up ECF member before playing any game to be submitted for grading.
Chess club fees for 2016-17 will remain at £5-00 per member, to cover running costs. Team captains will again be responsible for collecting subs on behalf of the treasurer.

All players must of course join Telepost Club .

The meeting thanked JW for his 10 years of service in the role of treasurer.

2017-18 County League Teams
Agreed that we will field four teams in the county league this season – A in Div 1, B in Div 2, and both and D in Div 3. The club officers and captains will finalise teams and nominated players once the new grading list becomes available.

Rapidplay Teams
As last year, MC and DB will captain A and B teams in the rapidplay league.
DB advised that the competition is now better organised following a somewhat chaotic first season which may persuade more of our members to take part.

Officers / Captains - For the 2017-18 season :-
The meeting thanked KT for some 20 years service as Secretary and agreed that he move to a new position as Club President. DB agreed to take on the role as secretary.
KT and DB to agree duties and to complete the handover in due course.

President – Keith Tabner
Secretary – Dennis Bonner
Treasurer – John Westhead
A Team Captain - Matthew Clark.
B Team Captain – Peter Crean - (Rapidplay– Dennis Bonner)
C Team Captain – Dennis Bonner
D Team Captain – John Casewell

League AGM Matters Arising
DB detailed rule changes agreed at the league AGM (see Shropshire Chess website for details). It is no longer possible for players graded above 125 to play for more than one club in the league. Thus those players who will now return to Church Stretton for league chess cannot double up for Telepost in the league or summer cups. However they are welcome to remain members of Telepost club if they wish as they can play in club competitions, Shrewsbury Town championships, and other county competitions (possibly rapidplay, quickplay etc if Church Stretton don't enter) as well as social chess.

Club Championship
KT reported a record entry of 18 players -
Congratulations to last year winners -
NF champion 5 / 5, SK U140 winner 3.5 / 5, and NH U100 winner 2 / 5.

Shrewsbury Town Championship
Only 11 entries this year - Agreed that it should continue as at present – KT to organise a five round Swiss during summer months.

Social Events
Agreed that we ask KW to once again arrange a pre-season curry night.
CM – to continue the Xmas event that proved so popular last year.

Chess Equipment
DB to put notice on notice board explaining digital clock use, and to organise an equipment stock check.

Club Website
KT – to discuss with DB possible handover – may need tech support from VC.

Dates for the Diary
25th July 17 – Grading List Due.
6th August – notify league controller of any no go match dates.
31st August ECF annual fees due.
4th Sept (provisionally)- Pre-season friendly v Shrewsbury
11th September League Season starts.
October – club championship begins.

Other Business
NH – Broken Heater – Val has promised KT that it will be repaired
Reminder - visitors to Brian Holford at Coton Hill House residential care home
are welcome other than mealtimes.
Only disabled parking (limited) is available on site.
The Div 3 cup – Neal Allen Trophy – is found – DB to liaise with Priorslee for a handover.
KT to arrange pre-season friendly with Shrewsbury

Keith Tabner 20/07/2017