Gerry Walsh (President), Keith Smith (Secretary), Steve Dauber (Treasurer), Ray Pallister (League Organiser), Dave Richards (Grader), Brian Myers (Individual Championship Organiser), Phil Whittingham (County U100 Captain), Les Boxx (Hartlepool), Jeremy Burnett (Synthonia), B.L. Clarke (Upper Eskdale), Mike Closs (Middlesbrough), N. Cole (Stokesley), Geoff Garnett (Teesside Blind), Bob Hammond (Hartlepool), Keith Hatton (Darlington), Stephen Henderson (Ladle), Ernie Lazenby (Middlesbrough), Graham Matthews (Hartlepool), B. M^cGregor (Peterlee), Brian M^cKie (Darlington), Richard Moore (Redcar), Stuart Morgan (Guisborough), M. Mossom (Redcar), André Pasztor (Middlesbrough), Bernard Price (Hartlepool), David Richardson (Middlesbrough), D. Sawdon (Upper Eskdale), Norman Stephenson (Ladle), Alan Trotter (Elmwood), P. Weightman (Synthonia), M. Welch (Middlesbrough).

DC Baillie, P.Douglas, G.Dickenson, T.Kiddle, G.Marshall.

These had been circulated before the meeting and were accepted as a true record except for the following point:

It was pointed out by Mr Myers that Synthonia A had shown fine spirit of competition but in Division A and not in Division D as reported under ‘League Organiser’.

Proposed Mr. G. Matthews Seconded Mr. R. Pallister

Reference to the late cancellation of county matches – Merseyside had promised to look into the compensation issue.

NCCU Centenary Club – 3 teams had entered from Cleveland and Elmwood did well by reaching the Final of the Major section. However they were beaten 2½-1½ by Crusaders of Blackburn and had to settle for the Runners Up spot.

British Championships – these were being held at Scarborough in the first two weeks of August.

No smoking rule – this rule seems to be working well and is generally observed over the board.

Last year’s Presentation evening went smoothly.

Coaching course – attended by 12 and went well. The coach was Bob Wade, National Junior Coach of the BCF and the funding came from the lottery.

BCF and NCCU matters

Mr Walsh reported that the NCCU were to hold a centenary dinner on Saturday 7^th August and that each county would have a table of about 10. It was expected to cost £20 for a carvery and interested people were asked to contact him as soon as possible to book their seat.

He also reported that the West of England Union had nominated him for Chairman of the BCF and he had agreed to stand – his term of office would start in September.

The BCF have increased the Game Fee from 27p to 29p as they need to reduce a £20,000 overspend on the year.

The Redcar Congress is doubtful for next year – this year saw the entries down to 120.

The Chess as a Sport campaign is getting a huge amount of publicity and the minister responsible, Tony Banks, says it will be put through Parliament eventually.

A local player, Bret Addison, has been selected to play for England. Congratulations to him and to Sean Marsh who has been appointed a BCF arbiter. The Cleveland web site is up and running. Finally FIDE are to celebrate their 75^th anniversary in Paris.

The Secretary brought to the meeting’s attention a verbal request for money that had been made to him. Mr Wheeler, the North-east Quickplay co-ordinator, requested £50 from each county that participates in the circuit in order to boost the final circuit fund.

The Treasurer commented that the finances could stand it and it was voted through unanimously by the meeting – request granted.

Mr Dauber issued a written report to the meeting. The registrations had remained virtually the same as last year at 236 players and a deficit of £100 was anticipated for the year. He proposed an increase in fees to take this into account plus the fact that, as has been reported already, the game fee is to be increased to 29p. The proposed increase would take the fees for the A division to £27, B division - £25, C division - £22 and the D division - £20. In addition the K.O. Cup entry was proposed to increase to £7 per team, the Cleveland Individual to £6 per adult and £3.50 per junior. Finally the adult registration fee would increase to £6 with juniors and seniors both paying £3.50, but BCF direct members would only pay £3.

The meeting discussed the proposed increases and Mr Pallister recommended that the K.O. Cup entry fee be increased further to £8 to take into account of the cost of the venues used last year. This was acceptable to the Treasurer and the meeting agreed unanimously to accept the Treasurer’s new League fees for the coming season.

The accounts were circulated around the meeting and there was some query as to why the Association had spent £82.50 on grading lists bearing in mind that there weren’t many Cleveland players in the list due to the technical problems last year! Mr Walsh thought that a rebate would probably be given in the form of some free lists this coming year.

The accounts were approved by the meeting.

Mr Pallister suggested that, in order to attract sponsors, the A division could be called the Premier division. The idea of playing each round of the K.O. Cup at a different venue was successful and he suggested that this could be extended to the last two rounds of the League.

There was much discussion as to whether this was a proposed rule change and would fall foul of the 28 day rule in the Constitution (see section 11 on page 27 of the Handbook).

Eventually it was decided that it was a proposed rule change and the President ruled against the suggestion proceeding.

Continuing with his report on the K.O. Cup Mr Pallister went on to say that for the first time there was a Plate competition for clubs that were knocked out in the opening rounds. This was won by Synthonia A. The main competition was won by Guisborough ‘A’.

Next year it was proposed to fix at the start of the season which nights and which venues would host the K.O. Cup – at the present time Teesside Hungs., Hartlepool, Synthonia and Guisborough have all offered the use of their venue for a round. Mr Pallister requested that club secretaries indicate to him what nights were free at the September meeting.

Mr Richards confirmed that all the grades were going down to Head Office on CD. He requested that an ID code be entered onto the score card for the next season to help the grader. There was a club championship deadline of 31 May otherwise all the games would be put forward for the January list and not the July one.

He reported that the web site had recorded 630 hits and that this was better than anticipated.

The meeting showed their thanks for the grader’s efforts after a difficult start last season with the customary round of applause.

Mr Myers issued a written report to the meeting.

In the Open there was a two-way tie with Norman Stephenson and Mike Closs scoring 6/7. There was a third prize for the first time this year which was kindly donated by Mr R. Moore and this was won by Ernie Lazenby and Sean Marsh both scoring 4/7. Ernie Lazenby also won a grading prize as did Alan Trotter. There is to be a 4 game playoff between the top two to decide who will be the Cleveland Champion.

In the Minor again there was a two-way tie between Les Brown and Gordon Middlemiss who each scored 6/7. Paul Weightman won a grading prize and the other was won by Martin Curry. Gordon Middlemiss won the playoff 2-0 and becomes the Cleveland Minor Champion.

Mr Whittingham reported that the County fixtures had been late and that both Yorkshire and Cumbria had dropped out to leave 4 teams. Unfortunately Cleveland came bottom, drawing one match 6-6 but losing two others 6½-5½ and 10½-1½. He indicated that there was a problem in playing every match effectively away and in future he intends to insist that home matches ARE actually played at home, not in Halifax or Leeds.

There was also some discussion as to whether the Association could afford a U150 team next year.

Finally there were no reports from the County U125 captain or the Junior Organiser.

It was proposed by the meeting to elect all the officers en bloc except for the County U125 Match captain and a NCCU delegate as both Mr Marshall and Mr Watts wanted to stand down and all officers apart from these two were re-elected. Mr Richards kindly offered to replace Mr Watts as a NCCU delegate and this was accepted by the meeting. The County U125 post was left vacant.*see below

This had already been dealt with by the Treasurer under Reports of Officers.

Much comment was made that this had come up before the AGM before (see the 1992 AGM) and it was felt that it deprived some people of playing chess. Upper Eskdale commented that they were getting promoted but would struggle to get 5 out let alone 6 in the B division.

In favour 3 Against 21 Motion failed

Similar opinions were voiced for this proposal.

In favour 8 Against 13 Motion failed

There wasn’t any real support for this proposal either though some suggested that it should be amended to read the AWAY team shall have WHITE on ALL Boards. However at the vote:

In favour 1 Against 20 Motion failed

Mr Pallister called for clubs to support the event this year even if they didn’t win anything. It was to be held at Westgarth Social Club on Thursday 10^th June. He said that there were 110 at last year’s event but without the raffle it would have run at a loss.

This year it was hoped that Ashok Kumar MP would present the prizes.

The League Organiser requested that clubs let him know as soon as possible how many teams they would be entering into the League for the next season. There was some confusion as to whether Norton Hall had a venue anymore since the news was that it was to be sold off.

Finally the meeting was informed that Mike Closs of Middlesbrough Rooks had scored 14/14 in Division A and an award was to made in recognition of that achievement at the Presentation evening.