S Constable President

M Fletcher Chairman

P Rhodes-Fisher Secretary

P Belton Treasurer

J Squires Membership Secretary

B Harris Publicity Officer

B Claridge Wessex League Secretary

B McCarthy Tournament Secretary

A Nicolson Education Officer

P Baxter EBU Delegate

M Brown Summer League Secretary

N Nicolson (Blewbury) I Merriman (Witney) S Coltman, N Cundy (University) K Kennedy (Bicester)

N Perceval-Price (Menagerie) E Alden, W Ling (Oxford)

S Brown M Day N Bresler R Brown J Barlow A Parker P Bowen G Nicholas

Minutes of previous meeting were agreed and signed, proposed by N Perceval-Price seconded by

S Constable, carried unanimously

The Chairman has still to arrange a meeting with the Education Officer

The Chairman has written to Mr Badiani but has not had a reply

There has not been any progress with the County Constitution . The Secretary will write to the EBU enclosing a copy of the Costitution to enquire if it will be approved.

The American system of stratifying has not been discussed but there will be a separate group in the

Chester Cup for beginners.

The President had nothing to report

The Chairman had nothing to report not covered by an Agenda item

The Secretary has written to the EBU regarding Data Protection

The Treasurer apologised that he had not printed draft accounts but will ensure they are published on the web-site when audited.

He reported a balance of £566 in the bank,£15903 in the Coventry Building Society and £5 in cash. This was a surplus on last year of approximately £900. There has been a reduction in the Tuesday duplicate

income of £631.

The Treasurer did not propose any changes in Subscriptions for 2003/4 neither did he propose any changes in table money for Tuesday duplicate.

Any changes in other competitions would be dependent on #6 on the agenda "Prize Money"

The Treasurer proposed an increase of 50p per head for refreshments. This was seconded by

N Perceval-Price and carried unanimously.

In response to a question from B Harris the Treasurer confirmed that non OBA members pay an extra 50p

for Tuesday duplicate.

The Membership Secretary reported a total membership last year of 816 which included 121 Bridge for All

students.

The Publicity Officer reported that she had pointed out to the EBU on three occasions that the photograph of the President was in the wrong column.

She hoped there would be a photograph of the Bridge for All event and noted that N Smith had mentioned it in his column in the Oxford Times.

The Education Officer presented a draft advert for a "friendly" bridge event which she proposed to run on

22^nd September 2002. Alison pointed out that Bridge for All students have to be members of the EBU and at present there are no events to encourage their continued membership. She would like to see a "novice"

event following on from the student event and in the long term a follow–on from this before players compete in other county events.

There was also a suggestion of perhaps a "Pro-Am" competition in the long term. After discussion Alison agreed to contact Sandra Landy regarding presenting the Prizes at the September event.

Alison continued her report by outlining the training opportunities offered at Wallingford, I Merriman described those at Charlbury and W Ling and E Alden commented on those at Oxford.

The Chairman asked delegates to publicise the sections in County events specifically for beginners.

N Perceval-Price on behalf of the Match Secretary reported that Oxfordshire had finished third in both

The Dawes and Porter Leagues.

M Day also apologised to E Alden for the cancellation of a Dawes league match without notice.

Marion has also indicated that she will not be seeking re-election.

R Brown reported that both the Presidents Cup and Chester Cup had reached the finals stage.

Presidents Cup final is Claridge v Smith, Chester Cup final is Smith v Jackson

The Wessex League reported that the league had gone smoothly this year with only 7 matches outstanding.

Division 1 won by Menagerie A runners-up Aylesbury A

Division 2 won by Menagerie B runners-up University

Division 3 won by Frilford A runners-up Aylesbury C

Division 4 won by Wallingford C runners-up Frilford B

P Baxter presented the EBU report.

The EBU are sponsoring the European Junior Championships in Torquay and The Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship2002 and the Consolation Teams event.

Subscriptions will be increased by 50p to £14.50 for 2003/4

He also reported that there had been discussion about Membership. Suffolk were keen to experiment with levels of membership but no decision had been made.

P Mason outlined several suggestions relating to tournaments eg reducing the Portland Pairs to one day.

He had received adverse comments regarding the reduction in the numbers of boards but B Claridge who helps run this competition said most people preferred fewer boards

Peter concluded by stating that agenda items are sought for the Secretaries’ meeting and the Membership

Secretaries meeting.

The Tournament Secretary proposed, seconded by P Belton that for the County Pairs competition there should be two separate semi-finals, three weeks apart the top half of each to qualify for the final.

This was carried.

Discussion ensued and it was agreed that it was the decision of the organiser as to the composition of the semi-finals.

M Brown reported that to date there were 15 entries for The Summer League.

He had written to all club secretaries and had even made two levels of entry.

The Bicester delegate had felt that last year there had been a great disparity in the abilities of teams.

N Perceval –Price was sorry that Bicester felt that way but attempts had been made to grade the teams.

The Chairman explained that more entries were needed for teams to be graded successfully. He urged all delegates to explain the situation to their clubs. There will be a section for newcomers and the closing date was extended to 1^st May 2002.

P Baxter suggested to encourage participation perhaps matches could be played in clubs where all the equipment was readily available.

The chairman invited comments on the proposed changes. Discussion ensued.

With regard to #5 (iv) B Claridge proposed seconded by B McCarthy this be increased to three times rather than twice. This change was defeated.

The proposed changes by M Brown were seconded by N Cundy and carried.

#5xviia proposed by M Brown seconded by P Belton carried

#5xviib proposed by M Brown seconded by P Belton carried

#5xxv proposed by M Brown seconded by P Belton carried

Discussion ensued as to the composition of the leagues if the number of competing teams increased to 40.

This was deferred to a later date if the numbers did increase.

The voting was as follows 3 in favour of a cash prize 8 in favour of a memento

Memento or nothing 2 in favour of nothing 10 in favour of a memento

The value and nature of a memento was deferred to the next meeting

A Nicolson suggested that for future meetings tables should be arranged so that everyone could sit around . There was no objection and she undertook to arrange the seating accordingly

M Brown asked for clarification as to the representation and whether there was a minimum number of members before a delegate could be appointed. It had been agreed previously that 12 members was the minimum requirement for entitlement to a delegate.

The Chairman asked for all trophies to be returned for the Annual General Meeting