Therefore, we will be raising the table money by 50p from the first of April, 2010.

On Saturdays the premises are rented out to a music school and this has allowed us to keep our table money low. In the past the rent was not always paid on time which caused endless annoyance but the business has now been sold on. The new owner, Chris Sudworth, is much more reliable.

However, presumably because of the recession, the number of people attending the music school has dropped and as a result the number of hours for which the club is rented has been reduced. This has resulted in a drop in the rental charge from about £80 to about £50 per week.

AJ mentioned that a drawback of the music school rental is that the group rearrange the room when they are using it, and tend to drag the tables and chairs about rather carelessly. This can cause damage to the furniture. Harold Hulmes and Norman Southern check the chairs and tables on a regular basis to make sure that they are safe.

Harold Hulmes complained that when he comes in on Mondays he finds the radiators have been turned off, presumably by the music school. Jean Roberts corroborated this and said that she had been using the back room on Monday mornings as a consequence. AJ said that he would ring Chris Sudworth to ask that the radiators be turned back on when they leave.

There is a problem with parking in the area just outside the bridge club during the day. The staff at Tiny Toes arrive work at 8.00am and take many of the spaces. The owner of Tiny Toes has bought the house on Mellor Road opposite the bridge club and has requested that there be no parking on the driveway past those premises. The lack of immediate car spaces is a worry because it reduces the attraction of the Bridge Club during the day; this particularly affects Pauline Lang who rents the premises on Thursday mornings.

John Sayers was voted in as Secretary last year but unfortunately, early in the New Year, became too ill to continue in the post. AJ wished to thank John for everything that he had done; this included the putting up and taking down of the Xmas decorations as well as his secretarial work.

When John resigned a new Secretary was needed; AJ thanked Pat Buxton for taking over the position.

AJ wished to thank David Pennington for acting as the M.C. for the bridge at the Xmas party. Ron Steedman had organised the play for many years but in 2008 had asked to be relieved of that responsibility.

This is the CHBC rubber bridge competition. There had been a complaint that on one evening a round went on far too long. A survey on the format of the event was filled in by participating pairs and this suggested that most were happy with the present set up (of 7 rubbers a round). However, to respond to the complaint the Committee decided that the early rounds would next year consist of 6 rubbers, but with the option of playing 7 rubbers if both pairs agree beforehand. The final round is to remain at 11 rubbers.

Rod Franks said that he had not been included in the survey. Jean Roberts, who conducted the survey, explained that his partner had been approached and that she had promised to consult Rod; clearly she had forgotten to do this.

Ron had been a stalwart member of the Committee for many years and, although not a currently serving member, he had done a lot of work for the Club over the years. Only last year he had committed a huge amount of his time doing a major rewrite of the Club constitution. He was popular with the Club members and trusted by everybody. He had been a major asset to the club and would be greatly missed.

There are innumerable small things that have to be dealt with for the club to function, apart from the normal Committee work. The dishwasher had to be selected, purchased, delivered and installed; the lighting needs constant attention; the insurance polices have to be checked; refreshments have to be bought; break-ins at 3.00am in the morning have to be attended; and so on. AJ wanted to thank all those club members who contributed to making the club run smoothly. This included everybody on the Committee, and also Pat Burrows for her partnership finding and prize-giving services and Steve Wilshere for running Tuesday evening.

DB thanked Rod Franks for standing in as director, Christine Barton (his wife) for the doing the scoring and all the work that she puts into the website and Pat Buxton for looking after the cards and the stationery. He also thanked Mary Costagliola for doing the scoring before her illness and expressed his hope that she would be completely recovered soon.

Mondays and Tuesdays are still functioning more than adequately but attendance on Fridays has drifted downwards, quite often to less than four tables. This matter has been considered at length but the Committee has not been able to come up with a way of returning to a regular seven or eight tables. The Friday players enjoy their evening but it is teetering on a knife edge at the moment.

John Currie asked if club members could be asked why they don’t come on Fridays. DB replied that quite a few members prefer to play at Bramhall Village Club where it is less competitive and that some members don’t like a Howell movement and/or don’t like sitting out for four boards when there is a half table. David was afraid that the Friday duplicate had entered a vicious circle (where people attend less because they expect the duplicate to be small).

A suggestion was made that players who have played over the past months could be asked why they don’t come on a more regular basis.