Resignation Rumours

[raycollett]

CRB checks for volunteers are in fact free of charge.

I fear all is not what it seems . Most organisations appear to charge an administration fee and I think an organisation has to be registered to be able to process applications. If you have any further info on free CRB processing, it will be much appreciated.

[Sean Hewitt]

...small number of individuals who collect huge numbers of proxies to force their will on council without consulting the players they supposedly represent.
Bizarrely, I may have to become such a person in October in order to gain enough proxies to have enough votes to ban them!!

Such desperate measures you need not take! Under the present Articles of the ECF, it is possible for a Member of Council who is unable to attend to direct a Proxy to vote for or against a resolution by appointing the Chair of the Meeting as proxy. .

Of course, I already know this. What I dont know is why people dont do this, and instead rely on giving their votes unrestricted to a small number of vote collectors.

By prohibiting proxy votes, members who live far from the venue may be disenfranchised by the costs and time required for travel to the meeting. If I were a player in Cornwall, I am not sure I would want that (depending of course on the policies of the CA representative ). .

Ray, Ray, my dear Ray. Who is suggesting prohibiting proxy voting? No me! Indeed, to prohibit proxy votes would be illegal. In case you didnt get it first time around, what I am suggesting is that it should remain possible to appoint a proxy but that no person may hold more than one "undirected" proxy vote - thus preventing "block" voting. Hope thats clear for you.

[Sean Hewitt]

CRB checks for volunteers are in fact free of charge.

I fear all is not what it seems . Most organisations appear to charge an administration fee and I think an organisation has to be registered to be able to process applications. If you have any further info on free CRB processing, it will be much appreciated.

I said the CRB check is free if you are a volunteer. I never mentioned the processing. If you need a third party to act as your agent to process your application, then only a chess player would expect that to be done for free. It costs about £10-£12. However, the organisation that you are volunteering to help (ie school) would normally process your CRB check for you.

[John McKenna]

GROUNDHOG DAY! Anyone remember the movie?

Today people are calling for resignation(s) within a few months of elections.

Below a 'weatherman' and amateur psychiatrist gave this prognosis on Mon. 28 April 2008.

Edit: You may gain further glimpses of disgruntled grumblings and rumblings by reading from the start of this thread.

Not rumours; true.

CEO, Martin Regan & International Director, Peter Sowray have both definitely resigned. Andrew Martin has confirmed Clare Summerscale has joined them. My initial post on the Atticus forum gives their reasons as I understand them. It is indeed a bleak day.

ECF Council needs to take a long hard look at itself. It is a body unfit for purpose. The crisis in English chess is very serious indeed, but clearly not yet serious enough to stir the bumbling incompetents and self-regarding patzers who clog up ECF Council.

Fundamental reform of how we do business in English chess is long overdue. Alas, prospects for doing what is necessary have receded further with these resignations. Small wonder I have kept the tournaments of the past three years in Liverpool at arm's length from the ECF. I always feared the lunatics would regain control of the asylum.

David Robertson
Atticus CC & Tournament Promoter

[Paul Sanders]

The advice I was given by someone much wiser than I a few years ago, when I was struggling to manage a complex and ungovernable situation, was:

"Do less, and do it better."

As a parent of a chess player who is ambitious and very hard working I have to look wistfully at how much real and practical support other federations provide through better governance, which gives both public and private sponsors the confidence they need to come forward.

Very humbly, I would urge anyone contesting positions of control or influence to consider deeply the huge variety of exciting opportunities that chess offers players around the world these days, with the understanding that the obstacles to English players are largely financial and organisational. It is much better to step aside and let others solve these big problems, rather than volunteer and contribute to them.