Chief Executives Report

[Steve Rooney]

Adam, I am quite happy to be wrong on that point, although I find it difficult to believe that there are very many who can earn a 'decent living' from coaching, even though it may be preferable to the variable income from tournament winnings.

[andrew martin]

I think many people are now making a good living from chess coaching in the UK and long may that continue. I definitely want to increase that number. The qualification that can be obtained from COM is only to teach very basic chess, but that's what was required if you could imagine 23000 of the 25000 schools not having a coach.

Now,with the goalposts changed, we are having to rethink the way COM will develop. Hopefully that will include better and wider coaching schemes. But we will advertise and push very hard for that basic qualification to be taken up. Just give us a little more time to get everything into order; we only launched a couple of weeks ago.

Further coaching schemes will require an enormous amount of work to construct which will have to be paid for and so we are looking 5 years down the line on that one.

I'm not sure pumping money at the coaching budget would help at all right now. I dont mind operating on zero; it reminds me of my divorce.

[Steve Rooney]

I stand corrected, although I'm still not sure what "many" means, or how it compares to other sports.

[Adam Raoof]

Adam, I am quite happy to be wrong on that point, although I find it difficult to believe that there are very many who can earn a 'decent living' from coaching, even though it may be preferable to the variable income from tournament winnings.

I think it also depends how one defines a 'decent living' - a lot more than playing for prizes, probably less than working in an administrative role in a University or a bank!

[Kirstie Lapworth]

Hello all,

Here are a few points for you to consider:

1) Holloid Plastics has been in continuous production of chess pieces. The sets are not produced as sets per se but as individual pieces in batches. There are 3 moulding tools used to produce 1 sets of pieces. The first makes the Pawns, the second Kings and Queens and the third Rooks, Knights and Bishops. Each mould produces a bulk amount of pieces before being switched out for another. Only 1 colour can be produced at a time.
Each mould needs to go through the machine twice (once for each colour), to produce black and white sets.
In essence, 6 moulding tools are required to produce one chess set.
In addition to this, pieces are produced en masse to cut down on waste, i.e. Black Pawns are produced en masse, followed by Black Kings and Queens, followed by Black Rooks, Knights and Bishops.
The pieces are not produced in equal numbers either. As you are all well aware there are 8 black Pawns on a chess board but only 1 black King. To manufacture just 1 King and Queen at a time would be an inefficient use of a machine, so more Black Kings and Queens are produced per cycle than pawns.
Once production of black pieces is ceased, the machine needs to be flushed through and cleaned, removing any residual waste before white pieces can be produced.

2) Holloid Plastics is a business first and foremost. Without paying customers it will not be a successful one. If HP does not suceed as a business, then there will be no company to produce free chess sets. So PAYING customers must come first.

3) A vast upturn in customer orders - NO, this is not just spin.

I have chosen to post here, as I thought I would share everything I could about CFS or CoM.
I belive that information should be freely available and I wanted to share as much as I am able to.
I am a little tired of all the pessimism and I am trying to stay as positive as I can.
I am also very aware that CFS has dragged on for longer than it should have, but at the end of the day free chess sets are free chess sets!
Chris Majer is in discussions with Holloid's about future production, and I am anticipating (rightly ir wrongly we will see) that production will come back on track.
To deliver sets to Somerset (Matthew Turner) for instance, I only need 1 run of the machine on Black Kings and Queens.
I will be looking to contact as many chess clubs, organisations and associations as possible to include them in the distribution of sets (see, I am STILL being positive!) once distribution resumes.
If I miss any clubs of any kind out I apologise in advance, I only have a yearbook to work with and I have only been with the ECF for a short time.

Just out of interest, how many chess clubs and associations etc... are out there? Am I expected to contact all of them, and if so, are all chess clubs created equally, or are some more equal than others?

Kirstie

[Alex Holowczak]

Just out of interest, how many chess clubs and associations etc... are out there? Am I expected to contact all of them, and if so, are all chess clubs created equally, or are some more equal than others?

That question doesn't have a simple answer!

Working from the top down:
ECF
7 constituent elements (MCCU, NCCU, SCCU, EACU, WECU, London League, Manchester Federation)
For each of the five CUs, there are several counties within each CU. There are 37 county associations in total.
For each County Association, there could be several Leagues and Congresses affiliated to them.
For each League, there could be as many as 25 clubs affiliated to them.

Then you can have clubs that miss out steps, e.g. affiliate directly to the County Association, Union or ECF.

[Steve Rooney]

Kirstie, you are clearly trying to do the best job you can and your participation in the forum is much appreciated since up to date information has been absent throughout the life of the project.

Notwithstanding that, the "pessimism" about CfS has gained ground because of the huge disparity between the original promises made to schools and the actual deliveries to date. This is why there are many voices arguing that the long term interests of ECF would be better served by calling time on the project now and focusing efforts and what limited funds there are on CoM etc.

[Mick Norris]

Kirstie

I would have thought the simplest way is to establish a point of contact with each of the 5 Unions and let them take it from there

Alternatively, you might want to try the county associations, although that's a much bigger job for you

If you ever get any sets up to Greater Manchester, let me know and I'll get someone at the MCF to be your contact

[Carl Hibbard]

We should thank Kirstie for providing more information in the last post than has been received in the last year!

[William Metcalfe]

Thanks for all the imformation Kirstie its sad that it has taken so long for this imfo to become available but it is really good to see that you see the advantages of using the forum to help you with your job.
The easiest route is to contact the 5 unions Manchester chess federation and the london league they all have a network of contacts that will save you a lot of time and trouble

[John Philpott]

The Chess for Schools Report has now been uploaded to the website, together with the reports by the President and the Chairman of the Finance Committee which were not there last time I looked.

[Carl Hibbard]

Added in:

Free Chess Sets for Schools

In discussions with the DCMS last year, the DCMS stated that they see this as a very important project.

I am in continuing discussions with Holloid Plastics on production. These have been delayed due to a combination of my limited availability in recent months and the holiday of their production manager. In recent months Holloid have been expanding their business and so the utilisation of their machines for their business needs has been very high. A situation made worse by the European shortage of plastics raw material. About 7000 boxes of sets could be produced by the end of July by utilising three machines. However, this is probably an impractical target given the need to sort pieces into sets and then distribute the boxes to LEAs. There is a need to do some detailed planning for what practically can be achieved by the end of July when the current MoU with Holloid runs out. At that time it will be appropriate to jointly review with them the way ahead on the remainder of the free chess sets. Holloid are in the process of expanding their production capacity. When this has been done it will be much easier for them to schedule the set manufacture.

Manager of Chess for Schools

It has always been intended that a key element of the CfS initiative would be the setting up of chess academies. The recent success of Charles Wood in obtaining grants shows what is achievable if junior chess organisations model themselves in the way that local authorities want. It is disappointing that we still do not have a volunteer to cover this key area. It will be difficult to progress CfS as a whole without a dedicated officer to manage it.

Chris Majer
Chief Executive ECF
14th April 2010

[Sean Hewitt]

Free Chess Sets for Schools

In discussions with the DCMS last year, the DCMS stated that they see this as a very important project.

There's a surprise. Whenever something has been under threat - the office, the international budget, the junior budget and now chess for schools - the board trot out the maxim that we would lose the DCMS grant if we didn't do whatever it was that the board were trying to protect.

What's more surprising (or perhaps it isn't) is that council fall for it every time!

Added in:

Free Chess Sets for Schools

...the end of July when the current MoU with Holloid runs out. At that time it will be appropriate to jointly review with them the way ahead on the remainder of the free chess sets.

Lets hope that the way ahead is not to sign another MoU and leave Holloid to their own devices.

[David Shepherd]

Added in:

Free Chess Sets for Schools

In discussions with the DCMS last year, the DCMS stated that they see this as a very important project.

It would seem logical that the DCMS like this project, I wonder if there is any scope for getting more money out of them in the form of a one off payment?

Part of this money could then be passed to Holloid if production targets were met, to cover part of the cost to disruption to their normal production, the remainder could be used to fund coaching and the COM, with all the money used for that if the targets were not met. Although the DCMS will be looking to cut cost the amounts involved would be peanuts compared to its overall budget. The fact that the expenditure was not incurred in a subsequent year would clearly then be a cost saving for them

[Matthew Turner]

I would suggest that the DCMS questioned why all the ECF funds were spent on the Office. The Directors response was that the Office staff were required to administer the exciting new CfS and CoM scheme. If those schemes don't begin to bear fruit then the DCMS will again question the ECF's budget.
It seems like the ECF has bought some time, but Adam Raoof commented elewhere
"Realistically the ECF has to face a future without a DCMS grant, no matter what the outcome of the elections"

Add to that, the ECF has required a £20,000 infusion from the JRT and then another from Chess Centre Limited in the past two years to balance the books. I take that to mean that the ECF is facing an £80,000 (per annum) black hole in funding. I think things are definitely changing for the better, but we have to be honest about the massive challenges the ECF faces and wishful thinking ahout the CfS will not help.