2023-12-31-accounts - Bath Bridge Club

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

Bath Bridge Club

Chair’s Report

Trying to identify the major aspects of club life and summarise 2023 into my first chairman’s report for Bath Bridge Club is a bit of a challenge. Much has changed in the three long years since Covid made its cruel presence felt. We have recovered to a new era with a mixed programme. I believe the club is flourishing in many ways but is still facing some challenges.

The club administration has been revamped, with a major update of our Rules to reflect the online and cashless era. I am grateful for the work of our secretary, Marion, and new treasurer, new Paul, to make this happen - it has been a lot of work. We have also had to sort out our membership records. Many members had been left on our books while we waited to see who returned and who had moved on. The membership database now reflects those who play face-to-face or online club bridge. Thanks to membership secretary Susie for working hard on this.

We have also produced a safeguarding policy to help to protect the more vulnerable in our midst. While we don’t have children and young persons, we do have vulnerable adults, through mental or physical frailty or illness. They can be affected by people’s actions intentional or otherwise. There will be a link to the policy on the website, with contact details for the safeguarding and welfare officer, Liz Butler. Our directors will receive some guidelines of what to look out for and what action to take. The policy will be reviewed annually. Concerns should be referred to Liz or a committee member.

We now have 368 members, of whom 44 are students in their 1[st] or 2[nd] year of training led by Stuart and Tina. 18 have graduated from our teaching programme and many now play regularly at the club. It is good to know that around 20% of our membership are new bridge players forming the future of the club. There is a more detailed statement from our teachers Stuart and Tina further down in this report. As you will see, there is a lot going on. Our Assisted Play sessions, led by Chris, are now reaching six or more tables. Some play only this session while others also play in social or relaxed sessions. It is a very friendly, positive session.

Face-to-face numbers have steadily risen over the year. Daytime bridge is increasingly popular and giving us a headache over exceeding safe number limits (14½ tables). Thank you for observing the protocols in place to manage this limit. We do explore expansion options and have funds in reserve to realise them, but increasing capacity is difficult when we rent the premises.

Evening bridge numbers are improving but haven’t returned to anywhere near pre-Covid levels.

While RealBridge is popular with students and for competitions it has not taken off for mainstream members. At present we won’t pursue this platform further.

I am happy to be able to report that several members are training to be directors to help ease the burden on our existing team. Many thanks to Richard for organising the training. We have tried to train new scorers to cover for Neil when he takes leave, although this is proving more difficult to achieve.

On the technology front we have concerns about the performance and reliability of our scoring system. A lot of effort has been put into stabilising the system. Lack of technical insight into how the various parts of the software interact is limiting progress, and we are now hoping to use the services of a consultant to help. We could still do with a technical lead and assistants to help manage the system from within our membership – don’t be shy!

As tenants of the rugby club, we can use the premises only from Monday lunchtime to Friday lunchtime, and are also constrained by the size of the room. This gives rise to the question of what

direction to we should take moving forward. Are we content with what we currently do or should we seek to improve our offering and if so in what direction?

I would like to hold a further more advanced session but we have failed to achieve this so far.
Is there demand for a further social offering?
What would encourage more players to come in the evening, eg improved carpark lighting?

On your behalf I offer many thanks to the retiring committee, most of whom are standing for reelection, and a huge thanks to the work of our steward Neil for all the work he does to help the club run smoothly.

Our students

In the last 12 months our first group of 20 students completed the two year EBED course. 15 of the graduates now play in Bath Bridge Club Sessions. They have also formed three teams and take part in the Wiltshire Novice Teams league. Three of the graduates have trained to be RealBridge session managers and now self-manage the Gentle Pairs on RealBridge and one has trained to be a Club Scorer. The Graduates also occasionally help out with the Beginners RealBridge Practice sessions.

We have been running an Improvers session on Monday afternoons that has a mixture of revision topics and new topics to help these players continue to improve their game. These sessions are also open to any members of the Club who find the topic of interest.

Of our second cohort of students, 12 have continued with the course for the second year. Six of this group have already started to play in Gentle Pairs between terms and will soon be in the position to attend other club sessions. They have also formed a Novice Team for the Wilts league.

We plan to continue with the Improver sessions and Novice Teams league to give them the same opportunities once they have completed the course. Finally we have a large group of 28 first year students on Thursday afternoons who are halfway through the first year of the Course. Hopefully many of them will continue into Year 2 in September.

Tina and Stuart would like to thank everyone, there is a list of 15 - you know who you are - who have helped us run these lessons and the online Real Bridge sessions with the students.

Back to me …

And we must of course reciprocate by thanking Tina and Stuart for all they do for the club.

Sriram has been a stalwart of the club for many years and a director, scorer and committee member. He was a key part of the team that got us going on online bridge and the return to face-to-face bridge during Covid. He has decided to relocate to Ireland. We wish him and his family well. Thank you, Sriram.

Trevor

February 2024

•i•VTre•surer5 Report Treasurerfs Report 2023 When Paul Hatvany retlred as Ireasurer Sn late March 2023, 1 dld not appredate Just how much work he did for the club, and how his 8Utom8ted systems require a huge amount of m8nual inputs. I do nowl Thankyou Paul you have been a hard act to follow. Flrst 80rne key Sndicators: Membernhlp: 368 Indudlng 62 students Playorn: F2F 7,219 up frorn 5.289 in 2022 and online 2.127 down from 2,958 in 2022, and a further 848 players 13me to Assisted Play. We stlll have not manged to achieve our pre covid levels of 12,000. We o)ntinue to see a steady growih in daytirne attendance at the expense of online and evening sessions. Tea¢hlng contlnues to go from strength to strength with the offer now induding fornial leaching sessions. seminars and wBekly Assisted Play. These activities are not only bringing new people to bridge but also making a signifÈcant contrlbution to the club's coffers. The £50,000 one year bond Investment made in 2022 produced a healthy £1,000 of Inter85t In 2023. The original £50.000 has been reinvested In two bonds.. a £30,000 one year bond wilh Cambrldge and Counties Bank paying 5% and £25.000 In a 3 year bond with United Trust Bank paying 5.01 %. For 2024 annual subscriptions we Introducd a new payment system and thank you all for embracing ihe change so wllllngly. HOUl1Y It 11 make Ilfe slrnpler lor us In future year8. In lerms of these accounts the balance of players, floats (£10,605) indudas approximately £4,500 of 2024 subs pald In advance. Paul Hatvany wamed me that dalrning Glft Aid Is. for sorne reason. Inexplicably dlfficult. It rtainly 15 and to date I have failed. I shall continue in my efft)rts to daim for 2023 arKI 2024 and HMRC wllling these will b6 ft)rthcorning before nexl yearfs AGM. Our oVertad5 have rlsen sharply, arKI wlll need to be Monitored carefully: Rent up 28% Wages up 15%, which reflects the addltional hours done by Nell and inllationl Refreshments up 209k, reflectlng the incn)as8 in table numbers! Miscellaneous expenses lincluding leaving gsfts. xmas parties and licences for brldgetsbs and brldgewebs) up 38°kn. In t8rns of future plann5ng, It Cannot be long before we need to conslder sorne seTlous capltal expendlture, bul we have sufficient funds to meet these demands Indeed. to end on 8 posrtion wtth a £6,000. tlv note. l am happy to report that the dub finances are Sn 8 very healthy rating surplus for 2023. Treasurer Slgnature... . Audltors Signature. .(P8uI Cooper) ,~... ..(Chris Chaffield)..5. f....(dat8) ILr....(date) •pifTre•surers Report 2023

Bath Brldge Club Accounts Ytr•r Ended 31$1 December 2023 Income T•bh Mon•y 103J F2F 29,4CO.SO S,65J.SQ 774.r)) I.123.) R•1 Bridle J6,957.( Mondtytwqd & Thurnlrl 7,473.83 5•min• 7A9&8J 4,325.OD 39.53 4,105.4Y TotilirKorn• 49.141.Xl Expendlture F1•ykni F••b E8U UM5 J,899,04 1,741.20 441,40 RMI Dlr•aors F• 7.168.64 ÉIU IDwr•n¢• e8U Fq 221,99 28,00 12,6Cfj,IJO W•s•J Ilthc P•fiiknn 1 tr4KI 17,726,61 qulpffl•ni 622.29 2.35J.44 16,00 955.$2 141CKQ I• 14.591.95 trrblV Et4ti l•tirkn4 Mmb•rs 1.137 l301,50 4J,062.C• 49,141.)0 079 Movement ol Funds In21 Op•nthi k lIn 26,252.80 5,J90.OD H•p•ld Ihi•rmt so,ff¢ 11.N2,JP Ckn>in¢èaTrk b•l•n¢• Ctrdi• & C•unfi•• 33,547AO 30,(W.(X) 25,C(•J.LYI 6,079.21