Council Meeting Highlights: 2011-03-13

This summarises the major discussions and actions from the BGA Council meeting 13th March 2011 and preceding discussions

• Pentangle Puzzles and Game were appointed as the BGA's Preferred Supplier of Books and Equipment and the Booksellers Committee was disbanded. A volunteer for a tournament "box of books" would be sought
• A £250 budget was approved for a future Strong Players Weekend
• Paul Smith was appointed Team Leader for the European Youth Go Championship and Alex Selby our representative at the World Amateur
• A club survey questionnaire was approved for distribution in the BGJ, website, Gotalk etc
• A new system for Club changes was now in operation on the website, so whether the BGJ would continue to publish a list was referred to the BGJ Editor and changes would continue to appear in the Newsletter
• It was noted that the website was now taking online membership forms and payments
• Proposals for changes to the EGF Championship were approved
• Newsletter costs were highlighted (forecast at about £1500 this year). It was agreed that the paper newsletter should be phased out if possible, but the future of the Newsletter would be discussed at the AGM.
• Geoff Kaniuk was retiring from organising the Challengers and London Open Tournaments and a new organiser would be advertised for
• The future and organisation of the London Open was discussed. Better marketing was required. It was noted that some radical proposals were being circulated and Council would discuss reaction to these at a later meeting
• Durham would be the location for the 2012 Congress
• It was agreed to have regular Skype Council conference calls monthly in future, to reduce the number of face to face meetings (with associated costs) and improve action progressing