Minutes 30 May 2024
2024-09-03
Minutes of the Chess Edinburgh Council Meeting
held at the Edinburgh Chess Club, 1 Alva Street, Edinburgh on Thursday 30th May 2024 at 19.30.
Present: David Stewart (Chair), Calum McGillivray, Dave Watson, Martin Robinson,
Peter Woollven, Stewart Good and Crawford Macnab.
1. Apologies for Absence: Jim O’Neil and Jenny Wilson,
2. Minutes of Last Meeting
Stewart Good proposed two amendments to the minutes of the previous meeting, held on 29th February 2023, and these were approved: in Item 6.Henry Marron was changed to Harry Marron and in Item 10(b) the reference to an increase in secondary numbers was removed. The minutes were then approved: proposed by Stewart Good and seconded by Peter Woollven.
3. Matters Arising
3. Child Safety Policy. Stewart Good reported that Chess Scotland are urgently looking for new PVG Lead and Deputy Lead Officers.
There was discussion regarding the need for clubs to have someone present who has a PVG certificate when there are unaccompanied juniors present. Dave Watson agreed to raise this with his club, Corstorphine, and that they would approach Chess Scotland for guidance. Following this he will write to all clubs with ad-vice on the procedures to be followed.
Council members were asked to think of other people who might be asked to act as Contact Person. This will be discussed at the next meeting.
4. Edinburgh Chess League
The League Secretary, Calum McGillivray, reported that
(a) the Leagues have been completed:
Winners Relegated Play-off
Premier Edinburgh West 1 Edinburgh University 1 Badgers Brook 1 of the Premier defeated Edinburgh 4 from Division 1
Division 1 Edinburgh 2 Bank of Scotland 2 Pentland Hills 1 of Division 1 defeated Corstorphine1
Division 2 Wandering Dragons 2 Civil Service 2 Musselburgh1 from Division 2 defeated Edinburgh West Juniors Division 3 Edinburgh West 2
(b) there have been a few defaulted matches and a lot of late score cards, with Edinburgh University teams a
frequent offender for the latter. Callum will send a reminder to clubs explaining the procedures to be
followed.
(c) discussion of the suggested introduction of time increments for league matches was deferred to the next
meeting when we should have Jim O’Neil’s suggestions as to how this could run.
(d) Martin Robinson has done a lot of work to track down the names missing from the trophies. He now has
the trophies for Divisions 1 and 2, the Allegro League and the Lothians Allegro Congress. Some of the
trophies need repairs. Calum McGillivray will check if the Edinburgh Club can help with names missing
from the Division 1 Trophy.
5. Edinburgh Allegro Chess League
(a) Peter Woollven reported that the league has been completed without any problems and that It was won by
Civil Service 1.
(b) he will continue as the Tournament Organiser next season which will start on the 10th of Oct.
6. Lothians Allegro Congress
The junior event that clashed with the 2024 Congress will be on 18th January next year and so 12th January 2025 was confirmed as the date of the Congress and Martin Robinson will book Slateford Bowling Club.
7. Summer Cup/Plate
Calum McGillivray reported that
(a) thirteen teams from 10 clubs have entered and the competition is underway.
(b) Tiger Cubs defaulted and are not going into the Plate.
(c) Gerry Brown (Civil Service) has the Trophy which needs repaired or replaced. Martin Robinson will collect it and get a quote for repairing it.
8. Edinburgh Congress
Calum McGillivray, Martin Robinson and Jim O’Neil met. As to run the Congress at either of the proposed venues would have incurred a loss of several thousand pounds unless entry fees were increased substantially, it was decided not to proceed with the Congress this year.
David Stewart reported that he had visited the Hibernian Supporters’ Club premises at Sunnyside Lane, off Easter Road and that he felt that they could be a suitable venue. They would only be available outside the football season, basically June, but he believed that the cost of hiring the facilities would be £800.(compared with the £3-4,000 cost of other venues) and it was agreed that David Stewart and Martin Robinson would visit the site to assess its suitability.
9. Lothians Championship
Callum McGillivray was the winner of the Lothians Championship and he was presented with the trophy.
10. Lothians Junior Chess
Stewart Good reported that
(a) 26 teams entered the team event on 2nd March: an increase of 6.
James Gillespie's won the Secondary event, Dalry won the Primary6/7 event and the Edinburgh Chess
Academy won the Primary 5 and under event.
(b) there were 131 competitors in the UK Chess Challenge East of Scotland Mega Final on 23rd March: a
slight drop from previous years.
They will be hosting the Giga Final on 22nd/23rd June.
11. Website
Crawford Macnab is discussing how to overcome issues showing team orders for the League with Bill Mar-shall.
12. Treasurer’s Report
(a) The Treasurer, Jim O’Neil, had circulated reports prior to the meeting which showed that at the end of
May our income in the current financial year had exceeded expenditure by £706.
(b) Martin Robinson hopes to have the valuation of the trophies completed shortly.
{c} The training of Martin Robinson in the online banking system is ongoing.
13. President’s Report
David Stewart reported that
(a) Chess in the Park: The previous venue at the café in Princes Street Gardens is no longer suitable: there are only nine tables and no indoor café and so no facility to store equipment. A few players are playing with their own sets.
He is looking at Leith Links as a possible venue.
The Council discussed Chess Edinburgh’s relationship with Chess in the Park and agreed to continue with the current position where Chess Edinburgh has no involvement. As a result the £500 Chess in the Park received from the insurance should not be part of Chess Edinburgh’s accounts. David Stewart to deal with this.
14. AOCB
The following dates were decided:
AGM Thursday 19th September
Fixtures Meeting Monday 30th September
David Stewart will book Slateford Bowling Club for both meetings and the Allegro League.
Date of Next Meeting
Thursday 29th August 2024 at 7.30pm at the Edinburgh Chess Club. Calum McGillivray to book