^{TROON CHESS CLUB}

^{MINUTES OF 2000/2001 AGM}

 ^{Date 2nd May 2001}

^{Meeting opened at 8.05pm}

^{Venue:- Hopkins Coffee House, Troon.}                                 

^{Members Present.       Len Weir           Mike Chapman     Vincent Bennis       Ian Sloan}

                                   ^{George Allen      Joe Bradley          Gary Weir              Norman Jackson}

                                   ^{Chris King         Mark Gibson         Alex Smith            Jack Dryburgh}

                                   ^{John Calder        Hugh Cameron      Clive Baird.}                                     

^{Apologies from Duncan Malcolm, Paul Stevens, Tom Mitchell, Ross Stewart and Jim Wainwright.}

^{1  Presidents opening remarks.}

^{Norman Jackson (the Vice President) opened the meeting by thanking the members for attending. He was pleased to announce that the club enjoyed a successful season and gained 5 new members, namely Jack Dryburgh, Alex Smith, Mark Gibson, Ross Stewart and Chris King with Stewart Hunt and Gerry McDermott leaving the club. An E.O.G.M was held in April to discuss any possible celebratory events for T.C.C.’s 25 year.}

^{2  Minutes from the last AGM}                                                                                                         

^{Mike Chapman Presented the Minutes from the last AGM, which were read by the members present.}

^{3  Adoption of the minutes}    

^{The minutes were duly adopted. Proposed by Ian Sloan, seconded by Joe Bradley.}

^{4  Secretaries Report}

^{The annual prize giving was again held in the Ardniel Hotel. It was well attended and a friendly but, highly competitive knockout tournament was played afterwards. The eventual winner was Ian Sloan. Jim McCormack visited the club, but felt he was not good enough. It was also rumoured that Frank Park might return to the club next season.}

^{The club now Permanently meets in The Hopkins Coffee shop. Thanks to Mr & Mrs White.}

^{To help the clubs funds Jim Wainwright tested our knowledge by presenting a quiz. This did not prove as successful as last year. The winner was Anne Bradley and raised £10 for the club.}

^{Again some Troon players supported the Ayrshire Championship with a good tournament had by all.}

^{The season kicked off with a historic match between TCC and Marr College Chess Club. Well-matched teams of 4 players were fielded and the result was a ‘2 all’ draw.}

^{The Web-site is up and running with lots of information displayed. (Ian will give an update later).}

^{Troon ‘A’ played well in the league this year.}

^{An EGM was held to discuss the clubs 25th year celebrations. A steering committee has been set up. The members are:- Len Weir, Mike Chapman, Duncan Malcolm, Chris King, Ian Sloan and Joe Bradley.}

^{There are books and magazines available for those who wish to borrow them. Joe Bradley is the keeper.}

^{5   Team Captains report (Team ‘A’)}

^{Duncan Malcolm expressed that the ‘A’ Team had got off to a great start, beating Ayr 5-1 and from there on in, just kept on going, gaining 7 wins, 2 draws and recording only one loss. Consequently, with this fine effort, history was made, with Troon ‘A’ winning the Ayrshire league for the first time in 25 years. The best team player was Mike Chapman with 7 wins out of a possible nine. Well done to all members of the team. (All we have to do is win it again next season!)}

^{6  Team Captains report (Team ‘B’)}

^{Joe Bradley stated that the ‘B’ team finished in the second half of the league, but easily avoided relegation. He thanked the players for making themselves available and noted that some fine wins had been recorded. This year the best team player was Vincent Bennis.}

^{7  Report from the Junior club}

^{We had a vibrant, slightly boisterous junior section with membership restricted to 12 members. The junior championship was contested between September and January, with a final game decider between defending champion, Andrew Coll and Manreek Basi. With time running out on his clock, Manreek delivered a checkmate, leaving Andrew with the runner’s up trophy. Third place went to Alan Walsh and fourth Rebecca Edge.}

^{In January we started a triples tournament with four teams of three competing with the title going to team of Manreek Basi, Mark Hopkins and Mathew Murchie.}

^{I am proposing that Manreek Basi, Alan Welsh and Daniel Couttie move on to the senior club to allow them to improve to a higher level.}

^{Troon entered two teams in the junior league and they had to generally play against older opposition. The two teams finished third and sixth in a six-team league.} 

^{8  Tournament Convenors report.}

^{The Champion-ship was again won by Gary Weir with an outstanding performance. Gary had a perfect  score of 9/9. Runners up were Clive Baird and Len Weir with a score of 7/9.}

^{In the Gardner cup, long time leader George Allen was eventually caught and pipped at the post by newcomer Jack Dryburgh.}

^{The Coronelli :- Club Champion Gary Weir has made it to the final and faces the winner of the semi final clash between Clive Baird and John Calder. (Clive beat John and eventually went on to win the trophy).}

^{The Radford :- This competition is managed by Joe Bradley. The winner of this year’s trophy was Duncan Malcolm with the runner up being Joe Bradley. I still think this competition need changed to save it (Len Weir).}

^{I wish to congratulate all those who won, but more importantly, to thank all those who competed. I would also single out Joe Bradley for his excellent work with the chess boxes.}

^{The Pre-season lightning chess match was won by Ian Sloan.}

^{9  Treasurers report***********}

^{Gary Weir reported that the club was still in the ‘black’, which was helped by Jim Wainwright’s quiz, which raised £10.00 for the club. Gary recommended that the club fees remain as they were for the last season. Adult £17, Associate £15, Unemployed /Junior £10. (see section 11 of these minutes)}

^{See attached financial report.}

^{10  Venue of Troon Chess Club}

^{Again we are indebted to Mr. & Mrs. White for the use of ‘Hopkins Coffee House’ as a club meeting place. This has been extended for the 2001/2002 season as well. Thanks to Len Weir for being instrumental in arranging this excellent venue. Again the annual rent is £100 and will be paid mid-season.}

^{11  Membership Fees}

^{Those present discussed the cost of Adult membership fee. The majority felt it was too low compared with other clubs (11 for change 2 for status quo) and it has been decided to raise the fee to £20. (Adult £20, Associate £15, Unemployed /Junior £10.) . ***Note £5 penalty incurred if membership not paid by the end of October 2001.****}

^{12  Election of office Bearers for the coming season}

^{Norman Jackson, who is now club president, starts his first year in office. Alex Smith elected as Vice president for two years and will take over the President’s role at the end of this term.}

                                                                                               ^{Proposed               Seconded.}

^{Alex Smith was elected as ‘Vice President’                         J. Bradley             D. Malcolm}

^{Joe Bradley was elected as ‘Equipment Convenor’              G. Allen                Len Weir}

^{Len Weir was elected as ‘Press Corespondent’                    J. Bradley              C. Baird}

^{Mike Chapman was elected as ‘Club Secretary’                  Len Weir               J. Bradley}

^{Gary Weir was elected as ‘Treasurer’                                   J. Bradley             C. Baird}

^{Ian sloan was elected as the ‘Tournament Convenor’           M. Chapman         D. Malcolm}

^{(with assistance from Len Weir)}

^{Ian Sloan was elected as ‘Web-site Controller’.                   D. Malcolm           J. Bradley}

^{(with assistance from Chris King)}

^{Elected Committee members}  

^{Vincent Bennis                                                                   Mark Gibson             I. Sloan}

^{John Calder                                                                        M. Chapman              L. Weir}

^{Clive Baird                                                                         Len Weir                   M. Chapman}

^{Duncan Malcolm                                                               M. Chapman              V. Bennis}

^{George Allen                                                                      L. Weir                     G. Weir}            

^{The league team captains will be decided at the next Committee meeting.}

^{13  Adoption of new members}

^{This year there are 3 junior members ready to be promoted to the senior club. These are Manreek Basi, Alan Welsh and Daniel Couttie.}

^{14  Internet Website}

^{Web-site address:-   www.TroonChessClub.co.uk}

^{Ian Sloan reported that 1357 total visitors had viewed the TCC web-site since it became live during the summer of 1999. Again most visited page was the Club Championship. I am looking for suggestions for change, enhancements etc. What you like or dislike about the site. Please let me know of any ideas.}

^{Table 1. Visitors per month.}

^{The site is registered with www.Ayrshire-Online.net , www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/libraries/lin_on.htm , www.scotland.org , www.scotfind.com , www.redallaboutit.co.uk , www.intaynet.com as well as 10 of the major search engines.}

 ^{15  Any other Business}

^{Troon chess club will again invite Marr chess club to a match during the month of September 2001. (The exact date TBA).}

 ^{Len Weir asked if anyone new anything regarding a chess cup (trophy) had been found during the clear-out of a watch repair shop in church street? This would have belonged to a former Chess Club in Troon?}

 ^{Gary Weir agreed to action all results for grading purposes.}

 ^{The meeting closed at 9.23pm.} 

^{Minutes compiled by Mike Chapman}