DEVON JUNIOR CHESS ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
15th July 2025 Bovey Tracey (1 year after 2024 meeting)
Attendees: D. Regis, T. Onions, V. Cross, J.C. Bacon, N. Butland
Apologies: A. Ashenhurst, S. Keay
Minutes (not confirmed)
Note that most of the discussions revolved around the schedule for the coming year – and due to Steve Keay’s absence, finances weren’t discussed.
1. Chair’s report
Last year's events:
- 6/10/2024 Riviera -- went well
- 16/11/2024 Training day -- very happy to be able to rotate players between three coaches -- many thanks to Julian and Nicky B for their support
- 7/12/2024 Championships -- the day of the Great Wind -- sad to say a red weather warning (for N. Devon only, but broadcast to all mobile phones in Devon) deterred many from attending -- otherwise a good event
- 1/3/2025 Spring Open -- experiment in West Buckland, N Devon -- modest attendance but all OK -- run by DR/Matt G
- 6/4/2025 Bovey Tracey -- new venue with expanded entry -- run by DR/Freddie
Other events -- congrats to Tim on all his many events supporting other junior chess events in the County -- I hope all junior successes in adult events have been noted on our blog
- 31/10/2024 Torbay Congress
- 9/2/2025 6th TBGS Junior
- 14/2/2025 ECF team event @ TBGS
- 9/3/2025 Dorset Junior
- 21/5/2025 East Devon -- had some junior successes (notable Shreyas Pasupulety in Minor (Newton Abbot/Colyton GS))
- 5/4/2025 Bovey Tracey 12+/adult rapidplay -- we provided prizes for junior players
- 5/7/2025 3rd Plymouth Junior Event
2. Treasurer’s report
delayed as Steve Keay unavailable for meeting
3. Committee members – all stay in situ – nem con
- President: Victor Cross
- Chair/Safeguarding: Dave Regis
- Treasurer: Steve Keay
- Secretary: Julian Bacon
- Database wrangler: Andrew Ashenhurst
- U18 Manager: Dave Regis; U14Manager: Dave Regis; U11 Manager: Julian Bacon
- Co-opted: Tim Onions, Nick Butland
- NB U Under-9 Team Manager, Girls' Under-11 Team Manager, two delegates to the EPSCA AGM -- posts left unfilled
4. Next Season’s events – proposed dates -- all to be confirmed and venues booked:
- Riviera 5th October 2025
- TBGS end Jan 2026
- Training 8th November 2025
- Devon Championships 29th November 2025
- Junior Jamboree Jan 2026 tba
- Spring 1st Feb 2026
- North Devon event (maybe Bude/Holsworthy?) tba 14th March 2026
- Sugden event maybe April 2026
- Fun event May 16th 2026 -- suggested 6 round mixed fun game competition (exploding square, duck chess, 3 checks, etc.)
- Plymouth event (June 2026?)
N.B 2026 East Devon will be 50th anniversary – need dates etc. from DCCA Tim Paulden·
5. AOB
- DR surveyed parents for suggestions – requests for more Summer events and more locations. This is not easy!
- 2026 AGM to be earlier – planned date 9th June 2026
- Use West Buckland again as a venue for North Devon?
- Award Bloodworth Trophy at schools' event (TBGS) – to agree with Tim Paulden and trophy needs locating
- DR reflected that as more of our admin has moved online, more of it gets done by him. If we had some parents/volunteers with computer expertise, that would help
- We now get secondary sections rated -- some extra work after an event
- Nice to cover more of the County – difficult due to density of players based in Exeter/Torbay so events may not be well-supported by players or volunteers -- just about worked last season
- Avoid event clashes (Simon Bartlett event was an example last year -- some events seem to be held in secret)
- Thanks to Dave for another successful year!