Chess Scotland Inaugural Meeting
- Minutes of Inaugural General Meeting of Chess Scotland held in the College Club, University of Glasgow on Sunday 19 August 2001 at 1.45pm.
- 0 Attendance and Apologies
- Present (30): Iain Mackintosh (chair), John M Glendinning (President, SCA), Rod Tweedie (President, SJCA), George Anderson, Neil Berry, Bill Boyd, Liz Boyd, Douglas Bryson, George A Clarke, Sam Collins, Yvonne Enoch, Hugh Flockhart, Donald Grassie, David Hall, Maureen Mathie, Norrie Mathie, Alistair Maxwell, Joe McAdam, Alex McFarlane, LR (Mac) McKenzie, Alan Minnican, Graeme Nolan, Fiona Petrie, Allan Plato, Gavin Saxton, John Shaw, Stephen Smith, Ken Stewart, Stephen Taylor, Donald Wilson.
- Apologies (5): Gerald Bonner, David Leslie, Ronnie Macdonald, Stephen D Mannion, Bill Marshall.
- 1 Introduction and Welcome
- The chairman welcomed those present. He introduced the other members of the Steering Group who were present and described the process which had led to the inaugural meeting. He then explained the procedure of the meeting.
- 2 Constitution and Elections
- 2.1 Constitution: The following amendments (all proposed and seconded by members of the Merger Steering Group) to the published draft constitution were considered:
- 2.1.1 Amendment 1 The first sentence of 5.4 should read: "Where any Individual member is under the age of 16, the parent or guardian of that Individual member is granted an automatic proxy on behalf of the Individual member if the member concerned is not voting in his or her own right." Passed by 21 votes to 3.
- 2.1.2 Amendment 2 In 6.2, replace "six" by "three". Passed by 18 votes to none.
- 2.1.3 Amendment 3 In 12.4, delete the comma before "and only if". Passed by 15 votes to none. The revised draft constitution was then put to the vote.
- 2.1.4 Adoption of the Constitution as amended Draft 10 of the Constitution, as modified by motions 2.1.1-2.1.3 was unanimously approved.
- 2.2 Election of Office Bearers
- The following nominations were proposed and seconded by members of the Merger Steering Group.
- President: John Glendinning
- Executive Director: Bill Boyd
- Strategy Director: John Glendinning
- Schools Project Director: Rod Tweedie
- Technical Director: Ken Stewart
- Home Chess Director: Alex McFarlane
- Finance Director: Mac McKenzie
- International Director: Alan Minnican
- FIDE/ECU Delegate: John Glendinning
- Junior Auditor: Joe McAdam
- All the above were elected unanimously.
- Note 1. The following positions had not received nominations, and would remain vacant until Council or a following AGM incorporated the necessary office-bearers: Honorary President; Promotions Director; Regional Director.
- Note 2. The following positions would be dealt with by Council: Publications Director; Membership Director; Grading Director, Congress Director.
- 2.3 Election of Auditor The following nomination was proposed and seconded by members of the Merger Steering Group: Auditor: Keith Oswald. The Auditor was elected unanimously.
- 3 Motions from the Floor The Chairman invited motions but none were forthcoming.
- 4 Handover to New Office Bearers The President of Chess Scotland, John Glendinning welcomed the new office bearers with the following remarks:
I am delighted that today's meeting has voted in favour of the creation of Chess Scotland resulting from the merger of the SCA and SJCA. As a result of today's decisions, we are now on the home straight of the merger and all that remains is for the assets of both organisations to be transferred to Chess Scotland by 31 August. But we are of course only at the beginning of creating a better focus on the key elements for building chess in Scotland at all ages. I am delighted that such an experienced and committed team will be taking Chess Scotland forward - and I mean here the extended team of enthusiasts who give up their time to help others enjoy chess - whether that help is directed at younger people or the silver surfers at the other end of the age spectrum.
But I would like to make particular mention of the Directors appointed today. I believe it is essential to have blend of experience and new blood to drive Chess Scotland forward and that is what we have put in place today. Some directors have already committed many years to chess. The work across a whole range of activities of Alex McFarlane, Ken Stewart, Sam Collins and Douglas Bryson is well publicised through their appearance at congresses, in chess suppliers and through grading and the Internet. More behind the scenes, Mac McKenzie is perhaps the unsung hero of the SCA. An organisation with certainty in financial dealing has already achieved a key requirement, and Mac has delivered that for the SCA for around 25 years.
But we also need new blood. Rod Tweedie has been enormously helpful in helping to guide the merger of the two associations, as well as being fully committed to a wider range of chess activity across all age ranges. Bill Boyd is an active congress player from Aberdeen whose family is involved in a whole range of activities both local and national. And Alan Minnican is an experienced international player who has previously acted as Scottish captain at the World Olympiad and now moves into the International Director role.
Whether Chess Scotland is a success will, of course, depend not just on the directors but on the extended team which delivers organised chess in Scotland. As I see the increasing energy around today, I am more and more optimistic that we will see the increasing focus on delivering essential development that we need and I look forward to pursuing that over the next year.
- 5 Close The meeting closed at 2.08pm.