Council Meeting - February 2010

This note summarises the most significant discussions and decisions at the Council meeting on 22nd February.

Gerry Mills has announced that he plans to retire as Book Seller in November. Council would like to thank Gerry for the many years of outstanding service he has given to the British Go community.

Council spent some time discussing the future of the Book Shop, accepting that it is unlikely that any individual will be able to replace Gerry. Several ideas were suggested, including distributing or outsourcing the mail order operation, or transporting the books between tournaments in a similar way to the equipment. However, Council recognised that any decision would be best left to whoever takes over co-ordination of the Book Shop. Anyone who is willing and able to help in some way is invited to contact the President, or the Chair of the Book Seller's Committee (Simon Mader).

The first season of the online league is now almost over, and has been widely regarded as a success. Joss Wright will be soliciting feedback from the participants, as well as gotalk and other online fora, to decide how the league can be improved in future seasons. Council noted that the majority of the participants were people who already play in clubs and over-the-board tournaments, and that it would be good if in future we could attract those who only play online. There are tentative plans for further online tournaments, including an individual league and a Pair Go league.

A training plan for the year and various updates to the website about Teaching is being organised by Toby Manning. The introductory events being organised by Peter Wendes are slowly being scheduled. Kirsty Healey was given a small budget to focus on raising the strength of our top players, as we seemed not to be improving as fast as the rest of Europe.

The Play Go booklet is in the last throws of editing and 2000 copies would be printed. In addition A4 and A3 versions of the cover would be printed as posters, available particularly to clubs.

The three month trial membership scheme has been terminated. Council decided that it would be more effective and more valuable if Council members and other BGA representatives were available at tournaments (during registration) to promote the BGA and to collect membership subscriptions. Some changes to membership categories and rates were discussed, resulting in some AGM proposals.

Council also discussed plans for the 2010 AGM and agreed an agenda, which has been distributed to members. The agenda is also published on the bga-policy mailing list, and members who are unable to attend are invited to send comments on the proposals.

The BGA Policies listed on the web-site at http://www.britgo.org/policy/policies were reviewed. They were brought up to date by incorporating recent Council decisions, and making other minor amendments.

Before the Council meeting, there was a meeting of the Membership Project team. This agreed on a draft Project Plan for an online membership system, with a target for the initial implementation of June 2010 and full self-service for members by October 2010. The new membership system would be able to support more online facilities for members.

As ever, members can request copies of the full minutes from the Secretary.