NCCU AGM Minutes 2010

[Mick Norris]

I assume that as you play for them in the MCCU County Championships, Worcs is your county - it was certainly one of the Worcs delegates who put your name forward

[Alex Holowczak]

I assume that as you play for them in the MCCU County Championships, Worcs is your county - it was certainly one of the Worcs delegates who put your name forward

Well, since the Minutes suggest that only one person from Worcestershire attended the meeting, that clears that up.

[Neill Cooper]

Your name was mentioned at the AGM as a possible replacement, as well as a couple of others who also were not present and therefore we felt we couldn't appoint someone who hadn't been asked if they were interested - hopefully, the MCCU will appoint someone soon

The SCCU appointed me in my absence! (though I had agreed to run the U14/U90 tournament).

[Sean Hewitt]

The MCCU has had a Junior Director, but for health reasons he has been inactive, and stood down at this AGM

The problem with the MCCU is that it doesn't actually do anything apart from run the union stage of the county championships.

[Alex Holowczak]

The MCCU has had a Junior Director, but for health reasons he has been inactive, and stood down at this AGM

The problem with the MCCU is that it doesn't actually do anything apart from run the union stage of the county championships.

Well, quite.

If all I have to do is run a Junior equivalent of the County Championship (I get to trial my format!), then it's not much to do at all. Cyril even has a venue lined up in the Minutes, so all I have to do is create entry form, e-mail the relevant junior secretaries, hire equipment and arbiting staff, done. Easy.

I don't think any of the Unions do anything, other than organise the union stage of the County Championship. It's a pretty redundant tier of organisation, really.

Reading the minutes, they even banned digital clocks in the County Championship, unless both captains agree. It seems they confuse Greater Manchester people. This would explain David Pardoe's previous question about them on this forum.

[Scott Freeman]

Alex

I totally agree with you - in the past the unions did a job, but with modern technology taking over, I believe they are a tier of organisation we can do without now with just a small bit of lateral thinking and a central coordination of the county championships. Financially I believe this would be advantageous to the chess scene; as I said on another page on the forum, the money paid to the unions should be re-directed to the ECF.

[Sean Hewitt]

Reading the minutes, they even banned digital clocks in the County Championship, unless both captains agree. It seems they confuse Greater Manchester people.

Well, that could be interesting. Leicestershire CA only have digital clocks now!

[Mike Truran]

Carl, perhaps we need a new thread - "something like "What are the unions for anyway?". May be a short thread though on the basis that they don't seem to do much at all - and maybe nothing that other organisers couldn't cover off.

You can only bask in the glory of being founder members of the BCF for so long. 106 years and two and a half months is probably long enough.

Still, the purpose of the existence of quite a few entities is to maintain their own existence (somewhat like Bill Bryson's lichen example), so we probably shouldn't hold our breath.

[Alex Holowczak]

Reading the minutes, they even banned digital clocks in the County Championship, unless both captains agree. It seems they confuse Greater Manchester people.

Well, that could be interesting. Leicestershire CA only have digital clocks now!

Then you may have to insist that if your opposing team don't like it, they can supply their own clocks.

[Roger de Coverly]

Carl, perhaps we need a new thread - "something like "What are the unions for anyway?". May be a short thread though on the basis that they don't seem to do much at all - and maybe nothing that other organisers couldn't cover off.

This came up not so long ago in an SCCU context

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 1&start=23

What came up as the reasons why counties are members of the unions (or otherwise) were

(1) inter-county regional competitions
(2) individual titles
(3) BCET awards
(4) Supporting the regional union.

[Sean Hewitt]

Carl, perhaps we need a new thread - "something like "What are the unions for anyway?".

"What did the unions ever do for us?"

[Richard Haddrell]

The SCCU appointed me in my absence! (though I had agreed to run the U14/U90 tournament).

It appointed you subject to your agreement, Neill. Not quite the same thing!

I don't think any of the Unions do anything, other than organise the union stage of the County Championship.

Doesn’t the quote from Neill Cooper give the lie to this? The SCCU runs a grading-limited junior league, as well as annual junior and adult jamborees. I’m sure there’s the odd Union event elsewhere too. I’ve always supposed the EACU and WECU Congresses to be run by Unions, though I could be wrong. How about the NCCU Club Championship?

[Alex Holowczak]

I don't think any of the Unions do anything, other than organise the union stage of the County Championship.

Doesn’t the quote from Neill Cooper give the lie to this? The SCCU runs a grading-limited junior league, as well as annual junior and adult jamborees. I’m sure there’s the odd Union event elsewhere too. I’ve always supposed the EACU and WECU Congresses to be run by Unions, though I could be wrong. How about the NCCU Club Championship?

OK, the SCCU does lots of stuff. The EACU and WECU run congresses; the MCCU runs a series of them on a county-by-county basis (Worcs, Staffs, Notts, Warks for example). So there's no need for an MCCU one. The NCCU Club Championship is apparently badly supported in their minutes (at least, the Open section was).

The MCCU is expanding its events: They're attempting to run a club rapidplay championship for some reason, and they're attempting to run a Rapidplay MCCU Grand Prix (despite noting the Congress MCCU Grand Prix was unsuccessful). Still, whatever keeps them occupied...

[Neill Cooper]

The SCCU appointed me in my absence! (though I had agreed to run the U14/U90 tournament).

It appointed you subject to your agreement, Neill. Not quite the same thing!

Indeed Richard,I was being rather brief in my description.

I don't think any of the Unions do anything, other than organise the union stage of the County Championship.

Doesn’t the quote from Neill Cooper give the lie to this? The SCCU runs a grading-limited junior league, as well as annual junior and adult jamborees. I’m sure there’s the odd Union event elsewhere too. I’ve always supposed the EACU and WECU Congresses to be run by Unions, though I could be wrong. How about the NCCU Club Championship?

Additionally, wIthout my experience of running the SCCU U18 Jamborees I would not have been willing to offer to run the ECF U18 Jamboree.
Also, as the SCCU have an active Junior orgainser we are the one union to regularly nominate schools for BCET awards.

[David Pardoe]

Well, I see the boot boys are in town again..slagging off the Unions..
I agree the Unions seem at times to be a bit haphazard and directionless...maybe.
And one problem is the sheer size of these bodies...and keeping in touch with the relevant parties.
And I do think they need to urgently sort out the MOs structures. The NCCU scheme should have a much higher level of buyin, I think...and contribute more to the ECF kitty...as indeed should other MOs.
And the MCCU, I would have thought, ought to have such a scheme...but without understanding the ins & outs, it appears that the ECF has blocked various initiatives.
But, ...as the regional element in the UK chess scene, ....they have an important role in co-ordinating regional activities. One of the problems is lack of suitable volunteers to actually organise & run things effectively.
Last year I heard the accounts of the MCCU jokingly described as `a work of fiction`. Whatever that meant, lets hope the numbers are making more sense this year. The same has been said of the ECF of course.
Another issue is `in-fighting`, where various bodies jealously guard territory, much of which lays dormant anyway, it appears.
The critical point I think is a lack of connectivity between Unions and relevant county bodies, and relevant other bodies, congresses, leagues, Junior sections, county captains/organisors, etc. This network(s) could be very useful in two-way distribution of information/ideas..etc.
Too much reliance on the web for message distribution, perhaps. Consultation that is too remote...hoping from answers to appear out of the ether...? But some of these Forum threads do provide interesting ideas `out of the ether`.... Are we harnessing these to best effect.
So, information is generated and much then disappears down the black hole of weblands.....a deafening silence can sometimes result from a well intended initiative.
What you need is real people, who are switched on and interested in doing things (if they have time after the day job & domestics). So, our Unions need stronger contact networks of key people at all levels who can drive things forward.
In short, we need key people in all the counties who are actually talking to each other. Unfortunately the chess world doesnt seem to do `talking`...not conducive to the playing of the game...
Then of course, we have the trusty `email`, thats assuming of course `they` will let you talk on the web....?
Some, it appears, are intent on silencing other voices, so they can play out private agendas unopposed... and some are somewhat heavyhanded in trying to assert there personal `will` over others... such suppressive actions are not good, we need more open dialogue to resolve issues & find common ground. I digress
Suffice it to say that the email option can be an effective tool if used with care......
My basic point is that this part of the jigsaw doesnt work very well because communications are not really effective enough...and too much lands on the laps of `the few`.... plenty to work on for all our Union bodies....
not least in finding suitable central venues for AGMs, where delegates can get to with reasonable ease.

Regarding Digital clocks...I have it on good authority that these digital clocks, approved by FIDE, are usable at all events conducted under FIDE conditions... by which I mean that all bodies may use these unconditionally.
However, as we are in a phase where players are still getting used to these, it is reasonable to expect some forwarning, and that some instruction on there use is provided before play commences. It might even be worth issueing leaflets with some basic guidance notes to visiting teams/groups/players.