April Finance Council

[Carl Hibbard]

Please let us know what occurs for people who are going - some of them even have mobile access

[Sean Hewitt]

Have no fear

[John Philpott]

I cannot help in that regard but I will be able to provide updates on the Essex v Greater Manchester Open match if anybody is interested (0 - 0 after the first hour of play).

[Sean Hewitt]

It has been claimed that Holloid are buying "several more machines" to produce chess sets!

They'll need them. Apparently they signed up to produce 70,000 sets by July 2010 and given that no more than 5,000 have been produced thus far they'll need to get busy!!

[Carl Hibbard]

They'll need them. Apparently they signed up to produce 70,000 sets by July 2010 and given that no more than 5,000 have been produced thus far they'll need to get busy!!

The official statement from the ECF quotes this as an "impractical target" though doesn't it

[Sean Hewitt]

The muppets at council voted through the game fee increase of 8%

[John Philpott]

Meanwhile at Syston, Essex have recovered from an early 3 1/2 - 1/2 deficit to defeat Greater Manchester by 11 1/2 - 4 1/2.

[Sean Hewitt]

Following the ECF finance council meeting today an incompetent board succeeded in getting an impotent council to agree the following:-

To spend more money on administration and the office
To increase membership fees by 25%
To increase game fee by 8%
To spend another £10k on Chess for Schools
To hope that Holloid would produce 60,000 chess sets by July 2010

The ECF CEO told us that we must expect further game fee increases at similar levels in future years as costs (i.e. the office) will continue to increase at such levels in future years! I can only assume that most of council have been asleep during the last 2 years or were on drugs to approve all of this.

The Chairman of the finance committee reacted angrily to a suggestion that the admin budget should be cut by 4% by suggesting that such a proposal was "irresponsible".

Another informed source of mine said last week

Sean,

The report on the CfS project is indeed bunkum. It was described as a 'diversionary tactic' to steer people into talking about other things. The lie it perpetuates makes Holloid Plastics look like an interested party, which they are not.

The ECF is run under the auspices of chubby little fellows with more interest in their own CVs than in the truth about a failing project.

It's clear that the ECF is run by w**kers for w**kers, and I will have no further part in it. I've therefore stood down as acting county championship controller and as an ECF rep today, with immediate effect.

[Matthew Turner]

Sean,
I find this very depressing. We have some new voices in the upper echelons of the ECF. I have a lot of respect for Adam Raoof, Lawrence Cooper, C.J. and others, but this seems like more of the same. It would be very interesting to get their reaction

[David Lettington]

It's clear that the ECF is run by w**kers for w**nkers, and I will have no further part in it.

Obviously the first word is intended to be "workers", but I can't work out the second one.....

On a serious note, it's a great shame that you don't wish to be involved as you are obviously a voice who is prepared to put contrary views. Of course that does mean that often you don't things going the way that you would prefer, but to my mind that's even more reason to stay and argue your corner.

[Angus French]

It's clear that the ECF is run by w**kers for w**nkers, and I will have no further part in it.

Obviously the first word is intended to be "workers", but I can't work out the second one.....

On a serious note, it's a great shame that you don't wish to be involved as you are obviously a voice who is prepared to put contrary views. Of course that does mean that often you don't things going the way that you would prefer, but to my mind that's even more reason to stay and argue your corner.

Well said, David. I agree.

[Sean Hewitt]

David / Angus,

When you've spent 11 hours of a gorgeous day travelling and taking part in a meeting that has been a complete and utter waste of time you realise how futile ECF council is.

There's only so much banging your head against a brick wall someone can take - even me.

Sean

[William Metcalfe]

Sean is that 25% om Mo membership also or just direct membership.If it is why the hell is game fee only going up 8% that is screwing members over.
Also so much for the so called office revue obv the decisions have already been taken.
Maybe its time to look at breaking the ECF cartel on grades we get nothing else off them for our money.

[Alex Holowczak]

Well, I attended my first ECF Council meeting today. My observations were that there were a surprising range of opinions presented. I also noticed that several council members were completely unaware of the facts. One Council member who spoke at one point said "We're not spending money on Chess for Schools".

Taking Sean's points:

To spend more money on administration and the office - Sean made a proposal to reduce the spending on management services by £5,000, as a means of boosting reserves that may be required if the DCMS Grant was pulled (which we were told was a likely possibility). This was declined.

To increase membership fees by 25% - Personally, if membership is increasing rapidly (which it is), I can't blame the ECF for this one. I'm not a member anyway...

To increase game fee by 8% - I voted to keep it at 50p. Some people voted for 55p, even though the proposal clearly stated the recommended increase was from 50p to 54p. I will be seeking who voted for 55p so that they can pay some of my Game Fee for me, they clearly have money to spend!

To spend another £10k on Chess for Schools - Seemed like we're tied in and unable to get out... We're spending £6,000 (not £10,000?) on Management Services for this position, regardless of whether anything happens with Chess for Schools or not.

To hope that Holloid would produce 60,000 chess sets by July 2010 - I thought this figure was 70,000? Either way, it was made clear by the CEO that there is no requirement at all from the DCMS to keep the project going to keep the grant. Indeed, the grant may be lost regardless.

[Matthew Turner]

Alex
"I also noticed that several council members were completely unaware of the facts"

Nothing is happening with the Chess for Schools Project
We have an Office that we cannot afford
We set up the John Robinson Trust to save money on inheritance tax. It can only spend money on junior chess

Step 1 pretend CfS is still going.
Step 2 appoint someone to the Office to administer it
Step 3 use JRT money to pay their salary

That is a quick summary of what is happening.