Summary of the Chess Scotland Annual General Meeting and Council meeting held in the Birds & Bees restaurant, Stirling

Monday 8 July 2002

PRESENT
President & Strategy Director (Chairperson) John Glendinning Executive Director(Minutes) Bill Boyd
Finance Director L. R. (Mac) McKenzie Technical Director Ken Stewart
Home Chess Director Alex McFarlane Grading Director Douglas Bryson
Schools Project Director Rod Tweedie Director Hugh Flockhart
Membership Services Director Sam Collins

Individual Representatives: Allan Plato Donald Wilson
Affiliate Representatives: George Clarke (Stirling)

Members & Guests Graeme Plato Graeme Nolan David Gillespie
Scott Fraser David Grant

APOLOGIES Alastair Maxwell (Cathcart) Donald Grassie (Congress Director) John Montgomery (Ayrshire Chess Association)
Fiona Petrie (Promotions Director) Ashby McGowan, Hillpark Chess Club Liz Boyd (Individual)
Anthony Laceby David Leslie Dave Smith
Andrew MacQueen Mark Russell Bill Marshall (Edinburgh)
Alan Minnican (International Director) Joe McAdam

Annual General Meeting

J. Glendinning took the Chair, opening the meeting at 20:05 and welcoming everyone present.
1 ANNUAL REPORTS
The Annual Reports of the Directors were distributed and reviewed. See Reports

2 STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS
The Statement of Accounts for the year to April 2002 was presented by L. R. McKenzie.

· SJCA Debtors have now been concluded;
· SJCA Accounts will be closed by end of 2002;
· The thanks of Council were extended to Renfrewshire League for its welcome donation.

The Accounts were proposed for adoption by L. R. McKenzie, seconded by R. Tweedie, with no objections.

3 ELECTION OF DIRECTORS
For practical purposes, attendees at the meeting agreed to incorporate the Council appointments during the AGM.

J. Glendinning was returned as President unopposed (proposed B. Boyd, seconded A. McFarlane).

D. Grassie and L. Boyd had informed the Executive Director of their decisions to stand down.

The following Directors and Council members were appointed en bloc, unopposed (proposed J. Glendinning, seconded D. Wilson):

Home Chess Director Alex McFarlane
International Director Alan Minnican
Executive Director Bill Boyd
Grading Director Douglas Bryson
Promotions Director Fiona Petrie
Director Hugh Flockhart
Strategy Director John Glendinning
Junior Auditor Joe McAdam
Technical Director Ken Stewart
Finance Director L. R. (Mac) McKenzie
Schools Project Director Rod Tweedie
Membership Services Director Sam Collins
Individual Representative Allan Plato
Individual Representative Donald Wilson
Affiliate Representative, Edinburgh CC Bill Marshall
Affiliate Representative, Crowwood CC David Gillespie
Affiliate Representative, Stirling CC George Clarke

The following offices were left unfilled for the time being:

Honorary President;
Regional Director;
Publications Director;
Congress Director;
Individual (under 18);
Individual (female);
Affiliate (School Club).

4 APPOINTMENT OF AUDITOR
Keith Oswald was proposed as Auditor by K. Stewart, seconded by A McFarlane, unopposed.

Council Meeting

5 BUDGET FOR YEAR TO 30 APRIL 2003
L. McKenzie noted that, as agreed at the Council meeting in February, the budget had been amended to reflect the lower Government grant.

6 SCHOOLS CHESS
Encouragement of Chess in Schools is a key priority for Chess Scotland. As far of its promotion, it's intended that school contacts will be encouraged to participate in games on the internet. ChessBase was the favoured option in view of the generous terms they were offering but there were two issues which might require further consideration:

· Proxy Servers: The IT security systems used by many schools can prevent participation in the ChessBase environment.
· Apple computers: The ChessBase software is not compatible with these computers;

A. McFarlane will investigate the possibility of including some Chess Scotland publicity material (Junior Events) in the British Land Megafinal mailings. Current thoughts include: Copies of Ah Wun! and entry forms for forthcoming events.

R. Tweedie summarised his Director's Report for the Council members present. In addition, he noted that David Leslie (Aberdeen) had a very good initial year of his groundbreaking project; and that the possibility of a grant for Stirling from the New Opportunities Fund was being pursued.

S. Collins stated that active organisers in Glasgow have been brought together into a group, with administrative help provided by himself.

7 CHESS CALENDAR
Consideration will be given to having four tournaments per year targeted for selection of the Under-12 and Under-14 Scottish teams.

It was agreed that the idea put forward by Alan Minnican that the Glorney Cup team should play a training match with one of the leading adult teams was a good one.

J. Glendinning expressed concern that the schedule of production for the calendar was too tight. S. Collins agreed to publish the Calendar as soon as practicable.

A. McFarlane and G. Clarke will discuss the date clash around the Stirling Congress.

8 SCOTTISH CHESS MAGAZINE
B. Boyd formally appointed S. Collins as interim Scottish Chess Magazine Editor, pending the report of the Membership Services Group.

9 INTERNET ENHANCEMENTS
A new Membership Services group has been formed, chaired by J. Glendinning, together with B. Boyd, Iain Mackintosh and Richard Heathwood. This group will investigate the future possibilities of the internet for membership services, and shall report back in time for the next Council meeting.

There was a discussion on whether ChessBase should be made available to members before it was clear it would be feasible for its use in schools. It was decided that the ChessBase facility for members should be advertised. B. Boyd shall advertise and administrate the ChessBase internet facility for existing Chess Scotland members.

10 A.O.B.
a. Next Council meeting shall be in late October, details will be circulated nearer the time.
b. It was agreed that it was appropriate for Chess Scotland to express condolences to the recent Scottish Congress venue, Largs Academy, following their student deaths on a trip abroad. J. Glendinning shall arrange a suitable letter to Largs Academy for early next week.
c. F. Petrie shall contact G. Clarke to discuss local sponsorship needs, and coordinate publicity material.
d. K. Stewart shall ensure that potential resurrection of the 'concerns list' is discussed at the next Arbiters meeting.

11 CLOSE
There being no further business, the meeting was closed at 22:30.