Minutes of the AGM of Rushden Chess Club, held on 16th June, 2025 at Rushden Bowls Club.

Present: Hugh Murphy (chair), Bob McDonald (secretary), Rob Lepley (treasurer), Sean Davison, Jake Round, Antonio Mura,

Richard Ellis, Adam Naglik, Wojciech Augustyniak, James Langley,

Andrew Knight.

The minutes from the previous AGM in 2024 were approved.

Matters arising: the only matter arising was a question as to whether “Wellingborough Chess Club” was still operating. It wasn’t, and it was resolved to reclaim the chess sets from the Hind Hotel.

Reports:

              Chair: Hugh Murphy informed the meeting that he was stepping down as chairman, owing to long-term illness. The meeting thanked Hugh for his service as chairman, and wished him well for the future.

               Secretary: Bob McDonald outlined the club’s performance in the Silver King league. He also mentioned the acquisition of several new members during the course of the year.

               Treasurer: Rob Lepley presented a summary of the accounts, and in the light of a reasonably healthy bank balance, proposed keeping the subscription rates the same as last year, i.e. £50 for adults, £35 for Bowls Club members and £15 for Juniors.

Election of Officers:

               Chair: Sean Davison agreed to stand as candidate to replace Hugh Murphy. He was proposed by Rob Lepley, and this was seconded by Hugh Murphy. He was elected unopposed.

Secretary and Treasurer: Bob McDonald and Rob Lepley were both re-elected to these positions, there being no other candidates.

Jake Round was elected unopposed to the newly created position of “Communications Officer” with responsibility for creating a new website and also overseeing our social media presence.

Richard Ellis agreed to run an internal club championship competition during 2025/26, and Rob Lepley agreed to continue running the Rapidplay competition, now expanded to run across four evenings during the season, with cumulative scores producing an overall winner.

Our participation in the Northants (Silver King) League:

A discussion took place as to whether we should continue to run an A team in League 1 and a B team in League 2, or whether it would be better to run two teams in League 2 (the A team came bottom of League 1 in the season just finished). It was agreed (subject to the League’s approval) to continue with the status quo for now. The two captains (Antonio and Rob) agreed to continue in post.

Website and recruitment:

As previously mentioned, Jake Round agreed to construct a new website, to be up and running by September, since the existing website was largely defunct. Sean was keen for us to improve our recruitment, especially targeting Juniors. It was agreed that we should re-visit the issue of recruitment in the Autumn when the new website would be up and running.

A.O.B.

It was agreed that the club should close in August, but that some people might want to meet informally to play chess in the open air, to be possibly co-ordinated by James Langley.

50th Anniversary of the club in 2027. A preliminary discussion took place on how we might celebrate/mark this milestone. Various options were explored, but most people favoured the idea of a celebratory dinner. To be re-visited.

Chess at the Hind in Wellingborough was reported to be no longer taking place. Bob McDonald agreed to arrange for the reclamation of the chess sets stored there.

Access to the Bowls Club on Monday evenings was discussed, especially when members of the Bowls Club are in their off season. Rob explained that the situation had been partially resolved as the Bowls Club had issued him with a keycard for access.

                                 The meeting closed at 8.30pm.

                                      Bob McDonald: Secretary

                                      Sean Davison: Chair

                                      Robert Lepley: Treasurer

                                      Jake Round: Communications Officer