For possibly the first time, the Club starts to look very like our modern day incarnation. Of course, my own glorious entry on to the stage is still some years away, but other than that nearly all our current key players are already on the scene.
May 2005 - Its AGM time again, though we have to guess that the venue is the Sports and Social Club as the Secretary is keeping his cards close his chest on this matter. On the 5th of the month some 15 members are in attendance, and the cast list comprises mainly names that would be very familiar to anyone joining the Club today. The only people not still either members or Thursday night attendees are Rob Olley, Frank Holmes, Tom Swallow, Nigel Morris and the late John Skinner. Five more people sent apologies, but - pointedly - the Secretary tells us that Adam Sykes did not. I think that constitutes a rap across the knuckles!
Rod is still the Chairman (for the next couple of hours at least!) and reports that the A team had finished 5th in Division 1, with the B team 3rd in Division 2, and the C team a lowly 8th (though never in danger of relegation) in the same division. The D Team would finish mid-table (some matches unfinished) in Division 3, while in Division 4 the E and F teams had finished 4th and 7th respectively. From across the years, considerable congratulations are in order to all those who enabled the Club to field 6 teams. A tremendous effort.
Three of our Cup teams had lost in Round 1 of their respective competitions, but Kenilworth 1 had reached the final of the Under-100 event (for a 4th consecutive year) where they lost to Rugby. Meanwhile, in the League individual competitions, Carl had lost his title to Steve Burnell, but no-one else managed to reach a Final.
On the domestic front, we seemed to be a year in arrears, as it is reported that Rod had won the 2003-04 Tilley Trophy and Phil the 2003-04 Plate. At least the Club Lightning Championship was up to date, and Paul had won with a 100% score, while John Skinner won the grading prize.
Rod ended his report by announcing that he was standing down as Chairman due to "other commitments" (watching TV? making model aircraft? walking the dog? work? - who knows?!), which prompted our ever-effusive secretary to give a stirring eulogy to the glories of the "Webb years". Bernard noted that Rod had (1) taken on responsibility for organising the Club Tournaments; (2) overseen an increase to six in the number of club teams; (3) raised club night attendances to their highest for many years; (4) overseen our award of BCF Club of the Year; (5) introduced the successful Chairman's Night; and (6) introduced Curry Nights. Wow! Now if only our current Chairman could similarly stir himself to such levels of devoted club service...…..
The accounts have not survived, but in the absence (yet again) of the Treasurer, Geoff King, it was reported that we had made a small surplus for the year, so subscription levels were left unchanged.
On the LDCL front we once again had people in key positions of power - Phil was taking over as Individual Tournaments organiser and Carl had (foolishly?) volunteered to act as Trophies Officer. The meeting voted on the proposed change to the LDCL time limit to 90 minutes for the whole game, and with 6 in favour and 8 against (plus one wishy-washy abstainer), the Club decided it would vote against the resolution at the League AGM. There was clearly an under-current of radicalism within the League, as there was also a proposal to automatically give the home player the black pieces in individual tournaments. The dyed-in-the-wool conservatives of KCC, though, were having none of this and decided we would vote against this, too. Computer says "No", and so does KCC!
Rod's successor as Chairman would be John Skinner, who was elected unopposed after being nominated by Carl. The Secretary and Treasurer retained their positions without a vote.
Ahead of a proposed Team Formation Meeting, the AGM decided to run 6 teams again - and once again found 6 volunteers to captain them:-
A - Carl Pickering
B - Phil Wood
C - Nigel Morris
D - Chris Aldridge
E - Mike Whatson
F - Frank Holmes
The Club tournament had made "disappointing progress", so the AGM decided to revert to three all play all sections for 2005-06. Everyone in the Club wanted to play, except for Paul and Mark Lam, and Nigel Morris. So, the strong players basically.
In an unexpected burst of enthusiasm, the meeting decided that we should obtain a stall at the carnival if possible.
Big Brother was alive and well, and knew that neither Len Krombeen nor Nick Waterman had coughed up their subs at the Sports and Social Club. Having been named and shamed, the meeting closed at 9.00pm.
September 2005 - 20 people attend a team formation meeting on the 1st of the month and sort out player allocations, but there are also big organisational matters to discuss. The Club has moved to the Royal British Legion Club (why?), though initially on a temporary basis. But what will that do to Club nights, as it seems the Legion cannot always provide the upstairs room on a Thursday?
Fascinatingly we learn that Chris would not be able to make Monday evenings; Nick Waterman and Nigel Morris can't do Tuesdays; and Nick M and Rod can't do Wednesdays. Bernard is strongly in favour of keeping club night on a Thursday, and Chris wants club nights and match nights to be kept together. But Geoff King is in favour of Monday nights.
Problems, problems. However, when Tom Swallow proposes that we move permanently to the RBL and rearrange league matches for those weeks when we can't have the upstairs room, it seems as though a light bulb has been switched on, since the meeting then votes in favour of this by 14 to 3, with another 3 mysteriously either abstaining or disappearing. Maybe they had realised they couldn't make Thursdays and shouldn't have turned up in the first place?
The Chairman and the Secretary were mandated to meet with the RBL Chairman and Steward to negotiate the terms of our transfer.
This is all very interesting, but what I really want to know is, who on earth are D and N Ardebili who attended this meeting and presumably played in our teams that season? I'm pretty sure I've never heard them mentioned before … and I think I would have remembered!
So there you have it. There is now only one more year of AGM minutes to review. The Club records are almost exhausted. As indeed am I. But hopefully I can just about summon up enough energy to complete this 31 year walk down memory lane in the next, and final, instalment of From the Archives.
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