Report: ECF Board meeting @ Hinckley Island 16th January
Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 12:59 pm
There will be an official update for the website written by John Paines, and then the abridged report of the meeting will go on the ECF site in due course. These are my very brief comments. I won't go into further details here about topics not in my Directorate as it should really be down to the Directors concerned to elaborate. I am happy to answer questions about anything, but can probably talk more sensibly about anything related to Home Chess.
Thanks to Mike Truran and Barcelo for their hospitality; the Board agreed that we should meet as often as practical alongside the 4NCL. I would be happy, in that event, to be on the panel the next day for the Captain's meeting to answer questions. Having the meeting at the 4NCL was a huge plus; it meant that assorted personalities popped in when there was a break in their arbiting duties / playing commitments and contributed to specific discussions; David Welch, Ray Ryan-Foster (International Ratings Officer), Andrew Martin, Ben Edgell. Present were John Wickham, Adam Raoof, John Paines, Andrew Farthing, Chris Majer, Gareth Caller, Lawrence Cooper. Thanks to all of them for giving their time.
The meeting started 11am, and finished at 6pm with a half-hour break for lunch. This is the second epic Board meeting I have been to, and my feeling is that they are simply too long by about two hours. [Some would say by about six hours.] It means in practice that some important items at the end of the agenda don't get the attention from me they might otherwise get if my brain were still able to function.
Most importantly we had a briefing from our new Finance Director, Gareth Caller, on the current financial position of the ECF (healthy), and later in the meeting he talked us through what he expects from all Directors in order to implement his budgeting and financial monitoring plans. His appointment is the most significant development, and means that not only did we save the DCMS grant, but that we now have an active Finance Director who will ensure we are on a good footing for the future.
When David Welch was able to be present, we discussed plans for and and the Board approved the budget for the 2010 British Championships in Canterbury and ways in which we could promote the event more effectively.
Then Andrew Martin joined the meeting and we talked about Certificate of Merit, and the trials currently being undertaken in schools.
There was some discussion about general principles about eligibility for and selection for international events at senior and junior levels.
The Directors present gave an update to the meeting about developments, and as my Directorate has quite a long list of responsibilities my update took a while! Here is a summary.
Jack Rudd was appointed National Controller for the Counties Championships. The web page had been updated with his contact details and the Union contacts had been asked for their nominations in order to do the draw before the end of the month. A set of up-to-date rules were to be posted this week.
A good candidate for Officer responsible for Chess in Prisons had been found and, subject to CRB clearance, would be appointed soon.
A report from Gerry Walsh about Chess for the Disabled was tabled. I mentioned plans to hold a tournament for the disabled in Dorset in November 2010 which have almost been finalised.
Alex Holowczak had organised the first British Universities' Chess Association Championships for 27/28 February in Oxford. I offered my congratulations to Alex and to Mike Truran for arranging the venue, and encouraged everyone to look at http://www.buca.org.uk for details of the event.
There had been no response to various emails regarding chess for Senior Citizens to interested parties. I invite anyone with an interest in this subject to email me.
I put forward a proposal to put out to tender various Counties events that are currently in need of some energetic promotion; rapidplay and handicap events and any other ideas. One organiser and one Union were currently considering the various options.
I proposed organising the first ECF Championships on a play-by-email site like http://www.letsplaychess.com / http://www.chessworld.net and was encouraged to follow this through.
The Grand Prix rules had been rewritten and simplified to incorporate more events. Sponsorship was being actively sought for an enhanced Grand Prix and plans were in hand to add a new Open section.
I pointed out that the list of ECF Officials on our own website was out of date, and encouraged other Directors to check the areas that they were responsible for and report the errors and omissions to the Office for correction.
The Board approved plans to adopt officially and add links to the ECF Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/English-C ... 0811323641) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/ecfchess) pages. The Board discussed my proposal to re-establish a link to the EC Forum to the ECF website, but this would require the approval of Council. We took a straw poll and the decision went against the idea of presenting the proposal before Council in April. If all the Directors had been present I think it would have made no difference. I will bring it up again! Of course, someone else could propose it to Council?
The possibility of an ECF Organiser title, to be tested online and backed by practical experience, was mooted.
The Board approved my paper on switching the production of the grading list to Print on Demand from August.
A range of methods by which we could enhance the Direct Membership scheme by Grading enhancements were discussed and a firm preference was established for a system by which DMs would be provided with the ability to log in to the grading database and access their own game-by-game grading calculations (currently the Grading Printout) and other information online.
There was a lot more besides, but I am still recovering!
Thanks to Mike Truran and Barcelo for their hospitality; the Board agreed that we should meet as often as practical alongside the 4NCL. I would be happy, in that event, to be on the panel the next day for the Captain's meeting to answer questions. Having the meeting at the 4NCL was a huge plus; it meant that assorted personalities popped in when there was a break in their arbiting duties / playing commitments and contributed to specific discussions; David Welch, Ray Ryan-Foster (International Ratings Officer), Andrew Martin, Ben Edgell. Present were John Wickham, Adam Raoof, John Paines, Andrew Farthing, Chris Majer, Gareth Caller, Lawrence Cooper. Thanks to all of them for giving their time.
The meeting started 11am, and finished at 6pm with a half-hour break for lunch. This is the second epic Board meeting I have been to, and my feeling is that they are simply too long by about two hours. [Some would say by about six hours.] It means in practice that some important items at the end of the agenda don't get the attention from me they might otherwise get if my brain were still able to function.
Most importantly we had a briefing from our new Finance Director, Gareth Caller, on the current financial position of the ECF (healthy), and later in the meeting he talked us through what he expects from all Directors in order to implement his budgeting and financial monitoring plans. His appointment is the most significant development, and means that not only did we save the DCMS grant, but that we now have an active Finance Director who will ensure we are on a good footing for the future.
When David Welch was able to be present, we discussed plans for and and the Board approved the budget for the 2010 British Championships in Canterbury and ways in which we could promote the event more effectively.
Then Andrew Martin joined the meeting and we talked about Certificate of Merit, and the trials currently being undertaken in schools.
There was some discussion about general principles about eligibility for and selection for international events at senior and junior levels.
The Directors present gave an update to the meeting about developments, and as my Directorate has quite a long list of responsibilities my update took a while! Here is a summary.
Jack Rudd was appointed National Controller for the Counties Championships. The web page had been updated with his contact details and the Union contacts had been asked for their nominations in order to do the draw before the end of the month. A set of up-to-date rules were to be posted this week.
A good candidate for Officer responsible for Chess in Prisons had been found and, subject to CRB clearance, would be appointed soon.
A report from Gerry Walsh about Chess for the Disabled was tabled. I mentioned plans to hold a tournament for the disabled in Dorset in November 2010 which have almost been finalised.
Alex Holowczak had organised the first British Universities' Chess Association Championships for 27/28 February in Oxford. I offered my congratulations to Alex and to Mike Truran for arranging the venue, and encouraged everyone to look at http://www.buca.org.uk for details of the event.
There had been no response to various emails regarding chess for Senior Citizens to interested parties. I invite anyone with an interest in this subject to email me.
I put forward a proposal to put out to tender various Counties events that are currently in need of some energetic promotion; rapidplay and handicap events and any other ideas. One organiser and one Union were currently considering the various options.
I proposed organising the first ECF Championships on a play-by-email site like http://www.letsplaychess.com / http://www.chessworld.net and was encouraged to follow this through.
The Grand Prix rules had been rewritten and simplified to incorporate more events. Sponsorship was being actively sought for an enhanced Grand Prix and plans were in hand to add a new Open section.
I pointed out that the list of ECF Officials on our own website was out of date, and encouraged other Directors to check the areas that they were responsible for and report the errors and omissions to the Office for correction.
The Board approved plans to adopt officially and add links to the ECF Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/English-C ... 0811323641) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/ecfchess) pages. The Board discussed my proposal to re-establish a link to the EC Forum to the ECF website, but this would require the approval of Council. We took a straw poll and the decision went against the idea of presenting the proposal before Council in April. If all the Directors had been present I think it would have made no difference. I will bring it up again! Of course, someone else could propose it to Council?
The possibility of an ECF Organiser title, to be tested online and backed by practical experience, was mooted.
The Board approved my paper on switching the production of the grading list to Print on Demand from August.
A range of methods by which we could enhance the Direct Membership scheme by Grading enhancements were discussed and a firm preference was established for a system by which DMs would be provided with the ability to log in to the grading database and access their own game-by-game grading calculations (currently the Grading Printout) and other information online.
There was a lot more besides, but I am still recovering!