2010 Annual General Meeting

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Indeed I live in Twickenham, Middlesex. But I can see the Thames and Richmond, Surrey from my office window in my home, even at this time of night. I do not live close enough to be able to fish from any of my windows.
I live north of the Thames in 3 ways and South in two others.The real test is that I do not need to cross the Thames to get to Northern London or Britain. Most people at New Scotland Yard would not be able to answer correctly whether they work North or South of the Thames.

For those not aware of the geography involved here, the reason for all the above is that the River Thames meanders quite a lot, not just in Central London but also in the western regions of London as well (more specifically, at Richmond that part of the bend of the river flows from south-east to north-west, so when crossing it from south to north, you are going from the 'north' side of London to the 'south' side, though being out in the south-western suburbs, north and south don't really mean anything).

I was only fortunate enough to live on the banks of the Thames for a few years. If you cross it frequently when journeying across London it can be confusing to remember which side of it you are on. I do cross it twice on my way to work, and hence twice on my way back, and also every day there and back when I went to primary school and also when I went to secondary school (in both cases, crossing from Middlesex to Surrey). Er, that means every school/work day for 25 years, which means I've crossed the Thames some 7000 times. Which must be one of the most useless facts ever calculated.

Stewart, when you say "north of the Thames in 3 ways and South in two others", I can work out some of what you mean but not all of it. Do you mean compass directions, or more than that?

[None of this is about chess, is it? Goodness, this tiny font size is very small!]

[Stewart Reuben]

Christopher >Stewart, when you say "north of the Thames in 3 ways and South in two others", I can work out some of what you mean but not all of it. Do you mean compass directions, or more than that?<

I didn't realise this would be of even passing interest to most people. What I wrote was basically a joke. But you have already expressed it. If one looks at the Thames, it turns direction so much that along its whole stretch I am North of it in 3 places and South in 2, although my home does not shift in its position.

I am puzzled and flattered this has so much hijacked the discussion about the ECF AGM. Perhaps because it was largely so anodyne. I wondered what some of the people were doing there. Somebody earlier in this thread (I haven't read all 13 pages) pontificated on the way in which I voted about Malcolm. Of course that person wasn't actually at the meeting and got it completely wrong. Again I never shifted in my position.

Stewart Reuben

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I didn't realise this would be of even passing interest to most people.

Oh, it is probably only of interest to those who live in or around London. Everyone else is looking daggers at us for waffling on on so far off the topic. But hopefully someone will come along soon and resume discussion of what happened at the AGM. But apart from the vote on Malcolm Pein and the NED position, it sounds like it was fairly routine.

Did anything else interesting happen? Any long reports or speeches?

[Alex Holowczak]

Did anything else interesting happen? Any long reports or speeches?

There were reports and long speeches. Whether or not these were interesting is both a relative, and subjective, question.

[Matthew Turner]

Stewart,
We were told that the Directors vote was 5 - 2 with one abstention. I (and I'm sure others) would be interested to know how the voting went. I take it from what you have said that you voted for Malcolm. Can you tell us who voted against Malcolm and who abstained?

[Stewart Reuben]

Carl Hibbard >so perhaps the Marketing role would have been better than the NED one?<

I did ask Malcolm Pein about the whole matter of marketing before the matter of his becoming a NED surfaced. I did not think he would be able to contemplate it for himself due to lack of time and was more interested in whether he could think of a candidate to replace me. I had no fears concerning the certainty of there being a conflict of interests. Sadly he did not have any ideas, but this is exactly a way in which an NED could be valuable.

Stewart Reuben ECF Marketing Director

[Angus French]

I did ask Malcolm Pein about the whole matter of marketing before the matter of his becoming a NED surfaced. I did not think he would be able to contemplate it for himself due to lack of time and was more interested in whether he could think of a candidate to replace me. I had no fears concerning the certainty of there being a conflict of interests. Sadly he did not have any ideas, but this is exactly a way in which an NED could be valuable.

Stewart Reuben ECF Marketing Director

I don't understand any of the above.

[Roger de Coverly]

]
I don't understand any of the above.

I think what Stewart is saying is that the role of being an ECF Director isn't (or shouldn't be) a job for life. Therefore part of the job description should be to find your successor. Evidently Malcolm was sounded out as to whether he could see himself in the post (not apparently) or whether he could suggest a alternative possibility (no candidates came to mind).

[Richard Thursby]

I'm sticking the list of names in here so I don't get too much more confused: ...Goatcher Chandler.

To avoid making you even more confused, Goatcher Chandler is the name of an accountancy firm, not a person. I had the pleasure some years ago of receiving a cheque sent from their office (although not from them) as reimbursement for a train fare to a county match where my opponent didn't turn up.

[Alistair Campbell]

Goatcher Chandler is the name of an accountancy firm, not a person.

Thanks for the clarification - I thought he might be related to "Gotcha!" Chandler, the well-known swindler...

[Mick Norris]

It doesn't sound to me that Malcolm has time to be an ECF Director, but I hope there is some suitable role within the ECF for him

I hope the ECF Directors (and indeed managers) positions can be filled by the best people, I really don't care where they live

Logically, I can't be the only person in the North thinking the geographical location of the meetings is not ideal for me - however, it would be stupid to change the locations unless you are sure there will be a benefit (and no, I don't think appointing me as NED or Chairman would qualify!)

I was impressed with the quality of some of the people at the meeting, accordingly it seems to me more likely that better quality people can come forward to fill the vacant posts

The logical thing to me would be to identify the crucial roles and see who could best fill them e.g. if you had 3 excellent trustees of the Permanent Invested Fund based in Manchester, meeting of the trustees could be held in Manchester, with one of the trustees attending BCF/ECF meetings to report as required

[Sean Hewitt]

Logically, I can't be the only person in the North thinking the geographical location of the meetings is not ideal for me - however, it would be stupid to change the locations unless you are sure there will be a benefit (and no, I don't think appointing me as NED or Chairman would qualify!)

From Manchester, Birmingham is 1 hour 25 mins away, and London only 2 hours, both by train. I don't think that's too bad. It's not like you have to do it every week.

So that wouldn't put me off at all. However.....

[John Philpott]

Council meetings used to rotate between all five Unions. The current policy of London and Birmingham only results from changes to the Procedural Bye Laws which were passed with five votes against at the October 2007 AGM held in Sheffield. While this matter could be reopened and the Bye Laws further amended if there was a strong groundswell of opinion, I personally have very little enthusiasm for revisiting issues where Council has previously taken a clear decision.

[Keith Arkell]

Mick Norris wrote:
''Ask Keith Arkell or Sean Hewitt about my last 18 months personally, and look at the MCF website and see what I do

I was chairman of Bury Chess Club for many years, secretary and team captain before that, and arranged for Keith Arkell to play for Bury, organising many simuls for Keith and accommodating him within my home''.

Just noticed this.
I can confirm that Mick Norris organised things very proficiently where I was concerned.This wasn't by throwing a heap of spondoolicks at me.In fact he persuaded me to play for his club for free,even though I lived 4 or 5 hours away from Bury.Meanwhile he managed to set up a whole network of annual simuls for me over a number of years in schools in the North of Manchester.

[Stewart Reuben]

Concerning the rotation of Council Meetings.
We decided on that in the 5 unions some years ago with the admirable idea that this might attract newcomers to become officers of the federation. Sadly that proved unsuccessful. So we reverted to alternating between Birmingham and London. That costs less money in total, not for the federation, but the total sum spent by people on the meetings.
Early than that there was a fares equalisation scheme. That was dropped on my suggestion because the money collected was partly being paid over in VAT before it was redistributed.

Stewart Reuben