Now, where was I? It seems like an age since Part 10 of this epic was published, but its only just over a month ago. And in that time a miracle has occurred, as - somewhat on a par, as far as historical significance is concerned, with the discovery of the Hitler Diaries - several more years' worth of AGM minutes have come to light, and we will get to them next time. Thanks to our Chairman for delving into the depths of his own archives to make sure these once more saw the light of day. So, with more material to hand, its off we go again.
Sep 1996 - It's AGM time, but one critical issue is left off the Agenda. The apparent disappearance of the Club Secretary's hole punch. Suddenly all our documents are unfiled, loose and out of sequence. (Or missing.) At least we didn't waste club funds buying a third ring binder, as with the loss of the hole punch this would have been as much use as a chocolate teapot. Although at this point I should own up to the fact that I have just spent £1 of KCC funds on a third ring binder. However, I must stress that while I am happy to donate the holes which my own personal hole punch has made in said historic club documents, I am not donating the hole punch itself, and the club must remain entirely dependent upon my good will for the continued punching of holes in any club papers. Moreover, whereas the club ran on a 4 hole punch up to 1995, all subsequent documentation will adopt the new Eco-friendly standard of 2 holes only. I cannot in all conscience advocate producing more holes than are necessary at this critical time for the environment. As long as all this is understood, I am sure we can manage the situation amicably going forward.
So, onto the 1996 AGM. But distressingly the minutes have seemingly been lost, as indeed have those of the 1995 meeting. But there is a slight compensation in as much as the 1994 minutes, which I couldn't previously find, have now turned up! (The loss of that hole punch has a lot to answer for!) And a very boring set of minutes they are indeed - by some distance the least informative of any in the archives. 16 members had turned up on September 8th 1994, and 4 had apologised for not turning up. There were no matters arising from the previous minutes. The Secretary (B. Rogers) had nothing to report. There were no matters arising from the League AGM minutes. And the only item raised under AOB was the possibility of a summer internal cup competition, for which there was "little enthusiasm". At least the club officials and match captains (all 5 of them!) were elected and the accounts approved. In keeping with the general tenor of the meeting, there was to be no change in subs!
If we leap forwards again to 1996, there may be no minutes, but there are accounts, which record that we had 20 adult (£7.50 pa) and 3 junior (£3.00 pa) members, and that the purchase of 4 clocks had pushed us into a deficit on the year of £50.93. We were still sitting on a reserve of £118.59, though, so the bailiffs were not yet banging at our door.
In the file there is a copy of the August 1, 1996 newsletter of Kenilworth Chess Club in New Jersey - the Kenilworth Kibbitzer. A 5 page densely typed bulletin which inter alia records that our namesakes had just recorded their best ever finish in the 6 team North Jersey League, finishing 2nd on 4/5 behind Rutherford Chess Club who scored 100%. I am struck by the following sentence: "Richard Falcetano did a fine job getting 4 players each month to play in the League. Sometimes Rich had to make a lot of phone calls trying to get a team together for the 5 matches." So apparently its the same the whole world over! Only sometimes its 14 matches. Plus cup ties! And another 12 in another league!! The club met every Thursday (snap!) and had 20 participants in its ladder tournaments, so was presumably very similar in size to us. Emblazoned across the front age is the statement that "We will write or call the Kenilworth Chess Club in England to try and get a postal match with them for September." My inherited archives do not record what became of this initiative. Someone out there presumably knows?!
1996-97 - The Club Membership List records 26 names, resident as follows:-
Kenilworth 14
Coventry 5
Leamington 5
Warwick 1
Balsall Common 1
So very nearly half our members lived outside Kenilworth. (A percentage that is only slightly lower in 2019!) While not wishing to run foul of GDPR diktats, it is interesting to note that one of our Coventry based members, Geoff King, lived in the same road where Paul now lives, while back in Kenilworth, Bernard and Tom Swallow lived at nos 3 and 4 in the same road. Very cosy!
This list also records match captains for our A, B, C, D, E and F teams. Yes, we apparently were running 6 teams in the Leamington League! And even more amazingly had found 6 volunteers to run them!!
That'll do for now, and in fact next time we will take a giant leap forwards to 2002, due to a complete black hole in the club's archive. I don't want to point the finger at anyone, but all I will say is that the last recorded club secretary in 1997 was a certain R. Watson Esq!!
No comments:
Post a Comment