Stockport and District Chess League AGM 2018 Minutes

The 2018 Annual General Meeting of Stockport and District Chess League was held on Wednesday May 16th. 2018 at the Ladybrook Hotel, Fir Lane, Bramhall 


1. Attendance and apologies (2017-18 Offices in brackets)


Present (20) were:


Officers and Officials:


Chorlton: David Kierman, Denis Owen

East Cheshire: Keith Hodgson

Holmes Chapel: Ian Bates

Marple and District: Terry Cowling

Sale John Hennessy, Eddie Hunt, Neil Oddie

Stockport: Peter Taylor, Andy Reeve, Alex Longson,

Glenn Trueman, Dave Pardoe

Urmston: John Reyes

Wilmslow: Colin Mills


Apologies were received from Ian Bates (Holmes Chapel) and Jeff Mason (Stockport).


2. Minutes of the 2017 AGM

These were taken as read and accepted.


3. Matters arising

3.1 John Hennessy informed the meeting that Sale were likely to change their name to Northenden Chess Club. He would confirm this following the Sale AGM.


3.2 John Turner reminded everyone of the importance of Child Welfare which he had raised at the Fixtures Meeting. All clubs must have a policy and policy statement. Transport provided to junior and appropriate adults must include someone with a certificate from the Disclosure and Barring Service. Andy Reeve asked if the League were responsible or only the clubs. There was no definitive answer to this only the consensus was that clubs must surely bear the responsibility.


The Secretary was instructed to write to club secretaries to ascertain the position at each club.


3.3 Colin Mills asked for an update on ECF League Management software. Reg Clucas replied that no changes had been made that resolve our problem and it could not yet be used to produce our fixtures. Geoff Laurence confirmed that and added he thought lots of Leagues had signed up, as we had, but few appear to be using it.




4. Officers' reports

4.1 President (J Turner)

It had been an uneventful year with no upsets and he praised the harmonious working of the committee. It said it had been a privilege to serve as President but it was time for someone else to take over.


4.2 Website and Grading Officer

Reg said that there was nothing to report regarding the website – business as usual. As Grading Officer he would be keeping watch on players without ECF membership to see if they reached three games.


4.3 Treasurer

Income and Expenditure were pretty consistent year on year with an income of £125 from subscriptions and a similar amount on trophies and engraving. He recommended that team and player fees remain unchanged and this was agreed. A copy of the accounts is attached.


4.4 ECF representative

John Reyes reported that there had been a motion at the ECF AGM to merge silver and bronze memberships which was defeated with a large majority. Junior fees have been reduced to £5 to encourage new members.


4.5 Fixtures Secretary


This has been a season of 3 halves. (Now you know why I retired as a Maths Teacher!)

The experiment of producing provisional fixtures, in view of the unsuitability of the ECF league management software which couldn’t cope with the fact that our clubs have existing fixtures in both Manchester and North Staffs leagues) seemed to work well. The fixtures meeting enabled clubs to make some changes, but overall the time needed was significantly reduced. Unfortunately, the withdrawal of Marple A and East Cheshire A after this meeting left us with an unbalanced 6,6,8 format in the main divisions. It was suggested that a team be moved from div 3 to div 2, but to have to make significant changes to fixtures did not appeal to me – so I chose to disregard the suggestion – arguably exceeding my authority!!

The main part of the season then ran quite smoothly – there were few defaults, results came in promptly from most captains and I must thank them greatly for this as it makes my task much easier if I don’t have to chase results. I even got a couple of results from Denton in div 3 before they reverted to type!

The only blemish was really the season end when Chorlton A, Marple B and Marple C all defaulted matches. The Urmston v Denton game postponed earlier was not rearranged – Denton had also failed to take a team to Holmes Chapel in the 1st round of the Charnley Cup; and also defaulted 3 boards in one game when their players apparently went to Marple rather than Stockport!

Stockport collected the Div 1 title, and both cups. Div 2 was won by East Cheshire B and Div 3 by Denton. A special note on Limit League teams – no defaults, and all results in promptly – Denton taking the title.

Some 5 or 6 years ago, I was attending this AGM when it became clear there was no-one willing to take on the role of President nor of Fixtures Secretary. Although we had both done these “jobs” before, John and I agreed to fill the roles for a year just so the league could function in the next season. It was a long year! I have been fortunate to work under John’s Presidency twice and witnessed at first hand his diplomacy and tact in running meetings, his desire that the league should flourish and in particular his insistence that the game should be played in the correct spirit. He has always valued the contributions of the other “officers” of the league and this encouragement is much appreciated. It is fair to say that as he stands down he leaves the league in a strong position. I am sure that we will would all like to thank him for his efforts, and, of course, we hope we will continue to meet up in matches (although it’s about time he let me win one!!)


5. Team and player fees for 2018

The Treasurer recommended that team fees for 2018 be unchanged at £5 per team and this was agreed.

6. Presentation of trophies


Trophies were presented to:

Division 1 Champions: Stockport A

Division 2 Champions: East Cheshire

Division 3 Champions: Denton

Limit League Champions: Denton

Charnley Cup Winners: Stockport A

President’s Cup: Stockport

Vic Knox Trophy: Sarah Longson (100%, P6, W6, L0) – .

Eric Harrison Cup: James Neve, Urmston


7. Election of Officers and Auditor

Neil Dainty proposed Glenn Trueman for President and this was agreed unanimously. Phil Cattermole resigned as Treasurer, Mike Tunstall offered to stand and was elected. Sean Hewitt did not stand for re-election as ECF representative and was replaced by John Reyes (nominated by Dave Kierman). The work of a Grading Officer has been considerably reduced by computerisation and Reg agreed to integrate it with his other duties (nominated John Reyes, seconded Geoff Laurence).



8. Election of Disputes Committee.

The current committee was re-elected en bloc.


9. Proposal to amend Rule 21 submitted by Geoff Laurence

Geoff Laurence proposed an amendment to rule 21 (seconded Neil Dainty):

Current Wording:

21 Entries for the Playing Season
Entries of Teams for the playing season, and Club details to be included on the Website, should be made to the League Secretary as soon as possible, preferably before the Annual Fixtures Meeting and by email. Clubs may enter any number of teams. Each team shall have six players unless agreed otherwise at the Annual Fixtures Meeting

Proposed Wording:

Entries of Teams for the playing season, and Club details to be included on the Website, should be made to the League Secretary by September 1st. by email. Clubs may enter any number of teams. Each team shall have six players in the higher divisions, five in the bottom division and four in the Limit League.

Rule 21 was amended as proposed. Geoff said he will circulate his proposal for the composition of divisions to the committee in the first week of September before compiling fixture proposals.

The members complimented Geoff on these changes and thanked him for making a big improvement in the compilation of fixtures,

Summer Rapidplay

Peter Taylor said the Summer Rapidplay would continue in 2018 and he was also thanked enthusiastically for his contribution


10. Data Protection

The League Secretary told members about imminent legislation about Data Protection and emphasised that the Committee would ensure that the League records, mainly the website, would comply but that clubs must also be aware of their responsibilities. See attachment.

The meeting closed at 8.50 p.m. at which point many of the delegates thanked John for his dedication and service to the League and the game of chess.

Data Protection – The New Rules

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on 25th May

2018. The GDPR applies to all clubs and counties as separate organisations,

regardless of their size. Further information is available on the website of the

Information Commissioner’s Office at ICO - GDPR .

Please note that the following guidance does not constitute legal advice

and if you are concerned about any of these matters you should seek

advice from the ICO or other specialists.

General information:

All information you collect relating to your members is “personal data”.

Keep it secure and only use if for the purpose for which it was collected.

Do not pass it on to anyone unless that was explicitly part of the reason

for collecting it – e.g. passing on membership details to the ECF to

facilitate membership renewals or grading are both purposes for which

the data was collected.

Information relating to guests is also “personal data” and covered by the

same requirements as that of members, though likely to be more limited

in scope.

If you keep paper records they should be secure – if on club premises

they should be locked, with a note taken of who are key-holders.

If you keep your records on a computer, they should only be accessible

by appropriate people – the computer and/or the folders in which they are

contained should be locked and/or encrypted. There is more information

about this available from the ICO – see - ICO - Encryption

Only appropriately authorised people should have access to members’

records. Passwords should be changed whenever these roles are filled by

new people.

Emails should not be sent to groups of people in a way that makes their

email addresses visible. To avoid this, either use a mailshot program or

blind copy (bcc) all the recipients.

For committees where you would like them to be able to reply to all

recipients to continue a discussion, it is acceptable to copy them all in the

usual fashion provided they give their consent. Similarly, personal

contact details should only be displayed on websites if specific

consent has been obtained. It may be sensible for this information, if

it must be available, to be in a password-protected area of the website,

only available to members.

Clubs should not issue lists of members' contact details

(telephone number and email address) to all their members

without the specific consent of the members concerned. Any clubs

that currently publish such a list should contact all members on it to ask

whether they wish to remain on the list. They should be asked to “opt in”

to this - it is not permissible for the default to be to include them unless

they opt out.

Do not keep data in more places than necessary – not only does this

weaken your security, it also increases the possibility that the data will

get out of sync and will not be consistent in different places. It is however

sensible to have a backup of your data providing that you have a system

to ensure it is backed up regularly and kept in a secure place.

Not all clubs and counties will need to register with the ICO but you can

check on your particular circumstances at - ICO - self assessment.

Specific information relating to the GDPR

The legal basis on which you collect most of your data is likely be that it

is in the organisation’s “legitimate interest” to do so. In order to rely on

there being a “legitimate interest”, this should be supported by a

“legitimate interest assessment” – for further details, refer to the ICO –

see ICO - Legitimate Interests.

You must inform everyone from whom you collect data:

o The legal basis for doing so;

o What data you collect;

o How it is stored;

o To whom you pass it on and for what

purpose;

o For how long you keep the data;

o What they can do to limit how you use

your data.

This will usually be achieved via a Privacy Notice, which may be on

your club’s website, but a printed copy should also be available in the

club and be sent to those who request it. Your members should be

directed to this Privacy Notice on every occasion when you collect data,

so it should be referred to on your membership application forms.

You need to take all reasonable measures to ensure that your members

are aware of this, so you do need to contact them one way or another.

While email is convenient, you should also contact those members for

whom you do not have valid email addresses, if necessary

by post.

Clubs act as Data Controllers with regard to their own data. They also act

as Data Processors on behalf of the ECF, to whom they send members’

data and results for grading.

We intend to implement as much of the rest of our GDPR strategy as

possible as soon as we can, rather than waiting until the ICO contracts

are ready, and we advise clubs and counties to do likewise. The sooner

we all start to implement this, the more time we will have to deal with unforeseen circumstances and work to resolve problems that may arise.