Barry's Blog 21

We are fast approaching that time of year when we look back on the current one and forward to the next. For the EBU and me it has been a year of discovery….

I have discovered that working for a membership organization can be very difficult. My staff, the Board and I have tried very hard to improve things – with a reasonable measure of success. However, there are huge numbers of things that remain to be done in order to make our organization sleek, efficient and worthy of the 21st Century. Naturally that requires change; unfortunately, change in any area of our workings seems to be anathema to many people.

Of course, for the latter half of the year many of us have found ourselves immersed in the proposals for changing the way that the EBU funds itself. After seventy seven years it was no surprise that there is resistance to change from some, especially the noisy minority. Whatever happens next year our members should remember that this is the first time EVER that the EBU has consulted its membership, has listened to what they have said and absorbed as many of their suggestions as possible.

The shareholders who are representatives of the counties will eventually determine the way forward after they have consulted their county’s membership. What is sure is that whatever they agree for us to do, we will not please everyone; but it will be the shareholders that make the decision, not the Board but the shareholders. This is why we have embarked on another round of consultation and enquiry with our clubs, through our counties, and this will result in a decision being made on June 4th 2008 at an Extraordinary General Meeting that will be held specifically for that purpose.

So next year promises to be full of discussions and decisions that will affect the future of the English Bridge Union and to a large extent organized bridge in England. With all of the emotion that this will create I want to say please remember that everyone does care, each in their own way, each for their own reason, but we all want to improve things for all of us.

At this point in the calendar I would like to wish season’s greetings to all of our members, to all of my staff and especially to all of the volunteers who work at all levels of bridge administration and without whom not much would happen.

I look forward to a happy and healthy new year for all, and above all, I wish for harmony and tolerance in our decision making.

Barry's Blog 20

The Sunday Telegraph decided to write an article around our Best Behaviour at Bridge policy. This was picked up by the BBC Today programme and they chose Tony Forrester who WAS NOT representing the EBU to be on one side of the discussion and a bridge player from Hertfordshire (not an EBU member) to argue the other.

Those of you who heard the Today programme will have reached your own conclusion about the merits of the discussion; later on in the day an item appeared on the BBC web site which engendered further activity.

We produced a press release for all published media and our own web site, to correct some factual errors.

I then received a request to be interviewed on air on BBC Radio Solent; later on (how I do not know!) I was asked for an interview by ABC Radio in Australia, which I also did.

Our Best Behaviour policy is now firmly in place and, is having a beneficial effect at our congresses. This was particularly evident at the 2007 Brighton Congress where very many players commented positively on what appeared to be new attitudes engendered by this policy.

There is no doubt from our club research that bad behaviour is very off putting to newcomers to club and tournament play; thus improving player attitudes and behaviour is considered by many to be one of the keys to increasing the number of people flowing into the organized activities of bridge.

The benefits of playing bridge are legion. We want more people to take part in this wonderful game of ours. We hope that the recent media activity will encourage more people to become involved and we will continue to work to create a higher profile for bridge in this country and develop the game for all.

Click here to find out more about bridge.

Barry's Blog 19

My days are so full currently that I don’t get a chance to play much face to face bridge. When I do I am finding, more and more, that people are approaching me with questions, mostly nicely, but sometimes not, which tends to spoil my next few boards. My usual partner, Mrs. C, has got rather used to this now….

So it is as well that I am very happy to play online bridge. I have been a member of a UK based online club for around three years. During that time my TV watching has gone down dramatically, but at the expense of wearing out my cordless mouse! Internet bridge will never replace face to face bridge; the socialisation aspects are naturally huge when playing at a club or in a tournament. However, in the 21st Century, online bridge has a major role to play in bringing people into the game. I recently played with a sometime online partner of mine at the Young Chelsea bridge club in London.

This man, self taught online, was playing in only his second face to face situation, so at least he was not quite so terrified by the complexities of bidding boxes and was not so put off by the general hubbub that surrounds playing bridge in the real world as he was the first time! After consulting with the club, I picked a strong night of the week to play, as my partner needed the challenge. It was a “butler scored” session, which was a first for me; needless to say it proved challenging enough!

We ended up in a position where my partner was able to pick up his very first EBU master points! He was delighted - as was I because finishing in a scoring position is not that common for me…… I was also interested that the “Young Chelsea” was, in fact, quite young on that evening, certainly younger than the average club nights that I attend, which is very pleasant to see.

He and I had a great time and the fact that we were there can be put down entirely to the fact that an internet bridge club exists. My friend would not be playing at all but for the existence of it. I am reasonably hopeful that he will shortly become an EBU member and a bridge club member.

My friend is relatively young; but that does not apply to everyone that plays bridge online. Indeed, along with face to face bridge, many internet players are also in the golden years of their lives. For some, age and infirmity means that the online club is literally a connection with the outside world and a continuity with a hobby that has kept their minds active for years, all without leaving the safe and comfortable surroundings of their home.

I am aware that some club members consider the internet a threat. I see it as the exact opposite. Encouraging people to play online and get better, especially in a club that has an active ethics policy (e.g. quitters get thrown out, unethical behaviour is tracked down and the perpetrators removed) and active coaching and supervised play, such as in my online club, can only help bring people of all ages into the game. Playing thousands of online boards has definitely helped my game improve (no emails thank you) and can only help develop newcomers and improvers to bridge.

Getting new players into bridge is proving a challenge to everyone, the world over. We must not allow prejudices over the use of the internet to override the potential benefits that online bridge brings to us all.

Barry's Blog 18

I was recently invited to visit the Stroud Bridge Club which has tried something different to boost their membership, with a lot of success; twice a year they run a "newcomers" evening. It was organised as a team event, with around eight newcomers to duplicate bridge playing East/West. When we played against these people only very basic systems were allowed, so as not to "scare" newcomers. We could do as we wished against "regulars"; that was interesting adding and deleting things, table by table! The pace of the game was much slower than on a usual club night, to give time to people who may have been unused to just about everything they were experiencing.

It was an extremely pleasant evening, with everyone behaving brilliantly and the newcomers had a great time. My team consisted of an English junior international who partnered one of the oldest club members, and my partner was a relatively young man who told me that he has been playing for 36 years since he retired aged 55! We came fourth, which was fine, but the experience was the interesting part.

The club has a couple of active juniors who were taught locally and are now ultra keen players. The club also feeds its new players in on nights such as this; this is very similar to the Partner Teacher / Partner Club programme that we are now running, with increasing success. Good luck Stroud Bridge Club, keep it up!

On another subject, as a result of national legislative changes I have been investigating the possibility of the EBU becoming a charitable body, and also for the possibility of many of our affiliated clubs achieving charitable status. The Board has approved an investigation into the possibility by a specialist law firm and I have now kicked off the process. They believe that it is quite possible for this to happen; if it does it will save the EBU and its members a lot of money in the future and could save clubs money as well. I will provide more details as soon as I can, but the process is complex and it is not possible to give any more details at this time.

Finally, our team of Lady Internationals have left for China where they are competing in the Venice Cup, having qualified for this event by winning a bronze medal in the last European Championships. I am sure that you will all join me in wishing them the best of good fortune in Shanghai. We will provide up to date information as best we can on this website.

Barry's Blog 17

I am recently back from Brighton, having spent both weekends and a few weekdays there. This year the Hilton Metropole seemed to be trying very hard. I have had a number of complimentary emails and broadly speaking people seemed to have a good time. Interestingly, especially bearing in mind that numbers seem to be dropping every year, the numbers at Brighton have held up very well indeed. A number of people have commented on the excellent atmosphere at the Congress this year.

It was good to have many visitors from overseas, including many Irish players who were using the tough competition in Brighton as a warm up for the upcoming World Championships. They also took away a lot of prizes!

Our competition staff and tournament directors run a logistically difficult event over ten days, with consummate skill. Not many people will know that our major events at Brighton are the largest "single field" events run anywhere in the bridge world (according to the world's number one tournament director); something to be proud of for all that help run and organise it.

I was particularly happy that we ran the Really Easy Congress during the midweek; around twenty tables played over two days; in some cases people were playing in their first Congress after only having played for six months, which I think is great for them and pretty good for the future of Bridge, but we need lots more of them, that's for sure. The feedback as the people were leaving was excellent: "I had a wonderful time, will be back next year"; "I can't wait for the next time"; "Perhaps we can try the not-so-easy Congress!".
To follow this up we will be running a "Really Easy Weekend" next April and we will soon have a website for newcomers called "ReallyEasyBridge" which should be very helpful for those concerned.

During the period in Brighton we ran another Partner Teacher training course and it is pleasing to see this programme gaining traction, with many more courses planned for the next twelve months.

The consultation over the Board's proposals continues and is now producing some very constructive input. The consultation period has been extended to allow for revised proposals (yet to be provided) to be given enough time for sensible comment. I know some people were upset at the tone of my last blog, but frankly it was necessary. Things are much better now, I am pleased to say.

There is an online survey in progress at the moment regarding Announcements and Alerts, but that closes on August 31st. Please try and complete it before it disappears.

Barry's Blog 15

By now most of you who take the time to read my blog efforts will also have seen the Board's proposals for the future of the Union. I am delighted that many members have responded positively but, of course, some have not.

What I am going to try to do in this blog is to explain some facts, from my perspective, which is wider than most because I see things from both sides of life - as an EBU member and an EBU employee involved with the people who are determining the future policy of our 77 year old organisation.

As a member; I am on a good day an average club player; time permitting I play at a few different clubs. The major problems that I see are the behaviour of players and the ageing of the membership. At the ripe old age of 56 I am frequently one of the youngest people in the room. This is, I am often told by our members, because there are not enough young people entering the game. At the time of writing we have just 243 members under the age of 25 on our books, that is less than 1% of our membership.

So I ask why that is? I learned to play card games from my parents and grandparents. It was thus not a big stretch to learn the rudiments of bridge at a relatively young age. I did little with that for many years until I was no longer working, when doing something taxing with my brain became very important. I will pose a question to all of those parents and grandparents out there; how many of you have taught your offspring to play bridge or something similar? I was astonished to discover only recently that many (perhaps 30% of) EBU affiliated clubs proudly announce on our web site that junior players are "not welcome"!!!

As a manager and employee of the EBU; what does the EBU do to encourage new entrants to our game? The answer is, not enough. We just do not have the staff resources or the funds, so we are reliant, in the main, on volunteers. Guess what? Getting volunteers is not as easy as it used to be. There are some wonderful examples for us all; for example, Dave Bessant (who was recently presented with an EBU award) from the Isle of Wight has, totally as a volunteer, put bridge onto the curriculum for all schools on the Island. There are many others too, who do a great job in their local areas.

However, as the work is voluntary, and volunteers come and go, the results are patchy. What we need is more money so that we can spend it on developing our game for future generations. As things stand at present if you are under the age of 50 it is hard to see who you will have available to play against at a club in twenty years!

As an EBU employee, apart from my staff in Aylesbury, I work very closely with many people who give their time, for no remuneration, to carry out remarkable work for bridge. They spend time ensuring that competitions are provided, that the game in England is ruled well (yes, I know you will not all agree with that, please don't email me!), that Tournament Directors are trained; teachers are trained and so on. Some of these people work much longer hours than I do and receive nothing back for it - except frequent and ill informed criticism from a small minority of members who think they know better, yet only infrequently do these people offer constructive comments.

What the Board is attempting with its new strategic proposals is a root and branch change to the manner in which the EBU engages with its members and its clubs; in order to do that they have proposed that all members who play in EBU clubs will be EBU members. This is the way that the most successful bridge organisations in Europe work. They are all increasing their membership numbers - ours steadily decline year after year. The status quo is defunct.

If every player who currently plays at EBU affiliated clubs were to continue to do so, as an EBU member after the changes, it would mean that the EBU would have something like 75,000-90,000 members. At that level of membership it is highly likely that the additional table fee we are presently estimating would be very significantly less than 30 pence per session. Please remember this is not a major fund raising exercise. Extra revenue raised will be used for immediate investment in support of members, clubs, teachers and students; not for the payment of exotic expenses or bottles of wine - just for the development and promotion of bridge in England.

What I am asking every bridge player who plays in our clubs to do is to look beyond themselves and ask, "Can I help the future of this game that I enjoy so much?" If the answer is yes, then I beg you to consider the Board's proposal positively. If the answer is no, then I doubt there is much that I or the Board can say or do to change your mind. If you have some constructive comments to make this would be a great time to pass them on, so that the Board can consider them before it is too late.

Please, please, please "look to the future, or there will not be one"...

Barry's Blog 16

The last few weeks have been a time of huge interaction between members, clubs and counties of and in the English Bridge Union - due, of course, to the proposals for change put forward by the EBU in June.

This has been a very stressful time for me and others involved in responding to the very many requests for clarification and to the small, but vociferous, number of people who feel that it is necessary - for reasons I just cannot understand - to attack personally the motives and integrity of the people involved within the Union in this process.

These proposals for change come out of a process that was put into place in 2005, well before I arrived in Aylesbury to take up my position. During the time from 2005 until the proposals were made to the Union's Shareholders on June 6th, 2007 many people were involved in researching the wants and needs of members and clubs. Various clubs, up and down the country were visited to ascertain what they needed to grow; many people not connected directly to the Board of the Union participated in the many discussions that took place during that period.

This culminated in the proposals being placed before the membership in June. Please remember these are proposals; they are not being foisted upon the members without any opportunity to consult in the widest sense possible. Even though the consultation is only seven weeks old we have had numerous constructive suggestions for improving the proposals. The process of consulting Counties has now begun and we hope that by the AGM in October, or shortly afterwards, we will have had enough time to consult with everybody, absorb the suggestions for change and put the measure to a vote.

This brings me back to those people who feel it necessary to doubt the motives of those involved in the production of these proposals. I have rarely seen such bad mannered, ill-informed and potentially libellous statements as those made by some of these people. I wish I could publish the emails concerned; I know that most of you would be outraged.

Apart from me, as a paid employee and Company Secretary of the Union, all of those involved in the development, production and follow up on the proposals are volunteers, many of whom work as long hours as I do for the sake of the Union. These proposals may not be to everybody's liking, (although I must say that very many members have expressed that they are acceptable to them) but they were proposed for discussion and to engender a new culture for the EBU. It is necessary to bring the organisation into the 21st Century, to learn the lessons from those bridge organisations around the world that are so much more successful than we are, at all levels, and to elevate and maintain the game of bridge in England.

So, before another member suggests financial benefits for the Officers of the EBU being a motivation, before another member suggests that there is some hidden secret reason for these proposals, before another member writes an abusive email attacking the veracity of an individual, please remember that these are just PROPOSALS, proposals that have been made for the benefit of bridge in England and for no one's personal gain.

Indeed, we could all just let each day roll on, one after the other, as has happened for years with the EBU without consideration for the future. We could report at each successive AGM that the numbers are down again and return back to preside over another year of the same.

Or, and it is a big "or", we can listen to our members, act upon their wise comments when provided and then change the EBU for the better. No one is being "coerced" no one is blackmailing anybody. These are just two of the crimes that we are being accused of.

Listening to our members is the uncharted territory I would like us to conquer, not the previously uncharted territory of abuse that causes people such distress.

Barry's Blog 14

I am not going to dwell on what has happened in a year, mainly because it is never enough, but June 5th will be my first anniversary with the EBU. For me, the time has gone very quickly; quite honestly, I believe it has taken me most of this time to get to grips with an organisation that is somewhat calendar driven: Year End Congress, Easter Festival, Schapiro Spring Fours, Brighton Summer Congress etc. Now that I have been through a cycle I have no more excuses!

The year has seen some changes, hopefully for the better, but it has just been a start.The next twelve months will certainly see more changes being suggested and implemented.

Continuing the seasonal theme, if you were a club standard tennis player and someone offered you the chance to play Roger Federer in the first round at Wimbledon you might think that would be you out in the first round. Well, because of the unusual, but extremely clever format of the Schapiro Spring Fours, probably the only tournament of its type in the world, you have to lose TWICE before you are out. Thus you could play the equivalent of Federer in the first round and Murray in the second. Even then, you don't go home, instead there are two further tournaments!

This year's Schapiro Spring Fours (named after the late Boris Schapiro, one of England's best ever players, and sponsored by his wife, Helen), attracted around 48 teams over the Spring Bank holiday. The reason that I have mentioned it is that I believe that it is a tournament that should be frequented by many more players who are not in the top category. At this event it really is possible to play world class players in a great environment in Stratford upon Avon and is one where everyone can enjoy top class bridge and even enjoy getting thrashed! Watch out for it next year.

As I have mentioned before, we are considering how we can increase competitions available for lower ranked players. The Bracketed Teams in Kent in March was our first, and very successful attempt at something new. Watch out for future innovations, which we will, of course, advertise here on the website.

Coming up during the midweek of the Brighton Summer Congress we will again be running the "Really Easy Congress" and I strongly recommend newcomers to congress bridge to come and try a session or two at this thoroughly easy going event. Details are available on our web site.

I am still receiving a lot of communications from members of all levels on the subject of bad behaviour at the table ranging from North/South pairs not welcoming their visiting opponents to partners arguing with each other while opponents are around. This type of behaviour problem is now so endemic that we really must do something about it as newcomers are being lost to the duplicate game when they experience this type of behaviour. In the June edition of English Bridge you will find an article about BB@B one year on. The article will also list the penalties that will be applied for breaking the best behaviour policy. As happens in other countries with "zero tolerance" policies, I would very much like to see clubs adopt the policy as well, although in England this is, of course, a matter for each club to consider.

June 6th will see the next Shareholders meeting; at this meeting the Board will be placing a new strategic proposal before them for consideration at the AGM in October, prior to making it available to all members via the web site the same day. There will be wide consultations on these proposals between June and October.

To quote the motto of my favourite football club - "To Dare is to Do".

Barry's Blog 13

In my brief time here at the EBU it has become clear that the EBU has, over the years, provided too little to its core membership, and its clubs. We have spent much of our time developing our good reputation for running tournaments and congresses.

We are, therefore, concentrating our attentions on the delivery of meaningful and helpful services to our clubs and the mass of the members of the EBU that are not regular tournament players. As a result, it was decided by the Board a few months ago that we should create two new posts - these are a Club Liaison Officer and a Communications Officer.

We are well advanced in the hiring for both positions and I would expect them to be filled within the next three weeks.

The duties of the Club Liaison Officer will include the fundamental task of being an accessible and visible face of the EBU to its affiliated clubs; most of whom have never seen anyone from the EBU at their club. The CLO will visit as many clubs as is practicable and will be available for consultation with club committees or management and its members, before hopefully playing and thus meeting many of those present at that session. This will help the CLO cultivate a wealth of knowledge about clubs and their needs, helping them overcome any problems they may face. The CLO will also work with our County colleagues to get as much coverage within the country as possible. The CLO will also be working with our Communications Officer to help us increase the visibility of bridge clubs in the community. Together they will compile a new electronic club newsletter and web forum, to allow interaction of the EBU membership online.

The CLO will help us develop valued services especially helping clubs develop through the Focus on Value education project and the Partner Teacher scheme.

Partner Teachers and Partner clubs are beginning to move forward and the first Learn and Play clubs are now being formed. Indeed next month a new club is being launched in Kent with some novel publicity. I expect that this will feature in a future article in English Bridge, so more later.

We have now run two courses for Partner Teachers, and have trained some brand new EBUTA teachers as well as adding to the skills of a number of existing teachers who are considering becoming full Partner Teachers. The next course is due to be run during the week of the Brighton Summer Congress. We have room for more attendees; please contact click here for more information or click here to email Lisa Miller who will be pleased to help you.

More "new beginnings" include our new Editor for English Bridge, Elena Jeronimidis, who brings many years of experience in the Bridge magazine field to us. She is full of ideas and contacts that will help onward development of our members' magazine and build on the excellent work done by our departing Editor, Brian Cook, who we wish well in the future. Elena's first issue will be in August.

We are keeping a watchful eye on new technology developments in the bridge market and we are beginning the redevelopment of software used in our own congresses so that we can make increasing use of current technologies such as Bridgemate.

Lots of activity, lots to do...

Barry's Blog 12

At the end of March I got my first taste of representative Bridge. The Corn Cairdis ("The Cup of Friendship") is played for annually between a team from England and a team from Ireland. The competition was started to fill a gap back in the days when the Irish never participated in the Camrose home internationals - these days they win it!

Anyway, the team consists of a team from a club, a team from a county and an "officials" team - which is, of course, the only way that I could possibly creep into a representative team. The English team is picked by the EBU Chairman and he cast his net widely.

Being a "friendly" the arrangements for playing are, of course, very convivial. All visiting players are accommodated in private houses. The match itself was played in the University of Ireland, Galway so it was very nice indeed and served to make us feel important!

Each team plays its counterpart twice and the others once. At the end of the first day we had a lead of just four victory points which was VERY close. The second day started with all three of our teams winning their matches and we took what proved to be an unassailable lead, though it got severely trimmed by the end! The English now lead 9-6 in the series, breaking a string of three consecutive wins by our Irish counterparts. There will be a more detailed article in due course in English Bridge - there were several superb hands which are worthy of comment, though not by me!

Before we got to Galway my team, the Officials, first went to Dublin for a chat with the management team there and of course we played bridge in the evening in the superb surroundings of the Templeogue Bridge centre, which is part of the CBAI complex. Again, great fun; I was partnered with a very bubbly Irish International who was VERY tolerant of my overall play. Thanks Gilda - great experience for me!

I can confirm my overall experience of playing bridge in Ireland - something mentioned in a previous blog, as excellent. Everything just happens - without much ado about anything. Not one director call that I can remember in 80 hands of bridge!

Closer to home, we are again working on improving the implementation of the Best Behaviour @ Bridge policy brought in last year. We are trying to get standardised penalties published so that all players will be aware of what they are letting themselves in for if the “red mist” rises! It would also be nice if BB@B was adopted for use in all of our clubs but that is a matter for each club to consider.

I am pleased to say that the Bracketed Teams in Canterbury in March was a success. This first ever EBU "bracketed" tournament was run by the Kent Association as an attempt to vary their programme from the traditional Swiss Team/Swiss Pairs formula. Of course, not everyone was happy but most seemed to be, with the responses to a post tournament survey being conclusively in favour, at least of trying more. Forty six teams took part, with about a dozen people either brand new or fairly new to Green Point events participating, which was one of the main points of the new formula. I am fairly confident that the trial of such events will continue.

Finally, I have been given the green light by the EBU Board to do some more detailed work on a national player rating system to run alongside the well established master point scheme. This will be a long term project as it requires several things to be in place before it can come into being.

I will, of course, keep you updated on progress.

Barry's Blog 11

There are very many activities going on within the EBU, all intended to drive the organisation forward, and to explain to our members (and non members for that matter) what we are doing and why. I hear the word "communicate" many times a day. It is important to realise that we are doing things, not just talking about doing things as may well have happened in the past.

For example, we have run the first ever survey of EBU members; almost 20% of the membership responded, which is an incredible response. We will be utilising the responses received in many different ways. We will be running another online survey shortly to ask members for some (belated) views on Announcement and Alerts, the Orange Book, and the application of our Best Behaviour policy in clubs as well as in EBU events.

One of the activities that has been running for a long time in the background is the endeavours of one of our hard working, volunteer Board members who has been working, together with other mind sport organisations, for many years to try and get bridge accepted as a sport so that we can get access to government and lottery money and other financial benefits. It now seems that a recent Act passed by parliament means that, very shortly, mind sports clubs will be able to register as charities, giving many financial breaks to clubs in the area of VAT and council tax. When this all springs in to life we will work together with our clubs to ensure that we all benefit as fully as possible.

We were recently at the European Bridge League's seminar for all of the National Bridge Organisations in Europe. At this meeting we received presentations from the more "successful" organisations that have spent the last five years delivering the goods. As a result, the French have a membership of around 135,000 and it is growing and the Dutch has a membership of around 85,000. In Poland, where bridge is virtually the national sport, they get around 400,000 Euros each year from their Government.The Government money is usually forthcoming because of a measure of recognition given to Bridge in their countries that is only given to UK organisations that are recognised by the IOC as Olympic sports. That is why those organisations are flush with cash while we, relatively speaking, struggle. If we can get bridge recognised as a sport by the British Olympic Committee this would open the door to funding from areas such as the Lottery, something that has been available to the Olympic sports for many years.

I have been interested for some time in trying to find a way for the EBU to introduce a national rating system for Bridge players, in order to satisfy the demands of many members, who believe that while master points are fine for measuring  "lifetime achievement" they do not reflect current abilities. Once again, many European bridge organisations are there already with nationwide systems in place that rank their players. We are fortunate in having among our membership people with a variety of top ranking skills, including IT. I am having discussions with one of our members at present that could result in a National Rating System being run alongside the present master point scheme. While most of this is still in the early days of consideration, the basic method of working would be for all results to be fed through interface software, allowing the use of more or less any scoring programs, into rating software which would result in the players rating being adjusted according to the rating of all players at the table. The rating could easily be used for handicapping purposes as well as purely for interest. These updates would be made available overnight. A sub committee of the board is working on development at the moment and while it is far too early to determine exactly how this aspect would work, the current working hypothesis is that it would be a service provided free to EBU affiliated clubs for their EBU members; however in order to provide a ranking for those many players who may not be EBU members, perhaps we can have a strata of membership just to allow rating for the player/member. This group is also addressing membership management, allowing for different types of member in the future (e.g. Single/Household/Rating etc.). I will hopefully be able to expand on this initiative later in the year.

I have been fortunate enough to be invited to a number of clubs around the country where I am able to speak with ordinary members and the clubs officers. In the recent past I visited an unaffiliated club which was very interesting. While the club is unaffiliated, it is much more successful than many of the EBU affiliates nearby, and a number of EBU members play there. A substantial reason why this happens is behaviour, as it is often the case that these clubs are set up as a direct response to being confronted with aggressive experienced players in the affiliated club. The local teacher in this case, has taught, and is teaching hundreds of new bridge players and makes very sure that when they ask which club they should visit, they are guided to a club that will welcome them with open arms, rather than one that will make their first ever visit to a duplicate club their last. Surely there is a lesson to be learned by clubs with dwindling table numbers - speak to your local teaching fraternity and understand why clubs around you are succeeding.

I also visited an affiliated club set up and run by another hugely enthusiastic teacher; while it runs pretty much under the auspices of the EBU, they do not award master points; they seemed very interested in the rating concept so perhaps that may well be the way forward.

Finally, I am off this forthcoming weekend to play in the first "Bracketed Teams" green pointer that has been run in England. In this event, groups of 7 or 8 similarly ranked teams play a round robin format against all of the teams in their bracket. This inaugural event was expected to be of great interest to those many players who have never tried a green pointed event. I am delighted to say that quite a large number of team members registered to play have no green points to their name.

I suppose, following my usual practice, they will have after playing us on Sunday! I hope they enjoy it - I will, win or lose.

Barry's Blog 10

...and the Survey says

I have never worked for a members organisation before. I have to say, it is a tough job. You lot are very demanding people; what one person finds they are totally happy with, another hates. If we change something somewhere, you can be sure that somewhere else, someone will complain; it is a conundrum without end.

So, on January 15th we closed the EBU's first ever attempt at a membership survey, at least as far as anyone can remember. Was it perfect? No, of course not. Was it worth it? Yes, for sure. Ironic really, that a number of members missed the point completely and complained about the structure and content of the survey!

Around 4,400 members responded which is hugely helpful, unfortunately, more than half on paper, which has made our job more difficult in wading through the results. This figure is interesting because the current status of the survey informs us that 76% of respondents said they have internet access at home but most did not use it to respond!!!

68% of those that responded said that they played in tournaments though many of these not in EBU congresses, which is interesting - because that means that 32% of non tournament players bothered to respond, for which we are very grateful.

In the April issue of English Bridge we will publish the results of the survey. In this blog I want to address some of the "written in" comments which I feel need some correction or for which I can provide an immediate answer.

To give you an idea of the polarisation of opinions I quote as follows:-

1) "I think the EBU does a good job and gets too much stick".
2) "My experience of the EBU organisation very poor, to say the least"
3) "It is a very well organised entity – cannot fault it"
4) "A load of rubbish"

This is the same organisation, four different members, opposite attitudes. I ask myself, how can we deal with these two views and keep them both happy? The answer is we cannot do that.

For the record; I and my staff are administrators responsible for daily operations at the EBU. We do not set ANY policy for the EBU. All policy matters are considered and made by the Board of Directors, who are themselves elected by the Shareholders, on behalf of the membership. So by all means address your criticisms of policy to me, and I can report them to the Directors, as I attend Board meetings, but please don't criticise the employees of the EBU for simply doing what they are told.

Many people, and I mean many, commented that the EBU spends too much time and effort on the elite of our membership. The Shareholders have already asked the Selection Committee to make a presentation at their next meeting on 23 February, which will allow for a full and frank discussion on some of -these issues. There will be minutes on the EBU web site in due course.

Many people added comments about Kettering. By now you should have noticed that after this season all of the events held there will be moved to a new hotel venue in Leicestershire. I hope this does prove that we do indeed listen to members comments and act accordingly.

Lots of comments made were about the new Alerts and Announcements procedures. The negatives certainly outweigh the positives, but there is far from unanimity in what people think. It is worth reminding people that clubs DO NOT (repeat DO NOT) have to use the announcement procedures, though most do. It is only EBU events that are required to stick to Orange Book rules.

Many people asked why we couldn't follow the examples of France and Holland who have quadrupled their membership, while ours is falling. There is a very simple reason for this; in those countries membership of their national bridge organisation is mandatory, like it is in England for the English Golf Union and many other similar organisations. It so happens that an increasing number of members, some of the policy makers and I think that this should be spread to all EBU affiliated clubs; I know that not everyone agrees with that view, but the pendulum appears to be swinging towards that system for the EBU. If every non-EBU member of an affiliated club became a member, our numbers would probably triple, and our subscription amount, and other charges too, could remain stable whilst allowing us to invest in promoting duplicate bridge across all age ranges in England, something that our members appear to want us to do as 60% of you believe there are not enough new faces in our game.

English Bridge magazine comes in for its share of praise and condemnation

"The magazine is dire. It is poorly written, disjointed and unfocussed. It lacks human interest."

"Magazine fantastic but too big either 3 pages or 1/2 size, no time to read it all"

How on earth are we to satisfy both ends of this spectrum?

A lot of people commented on the web site. As ever, views at either ends of the scale.

Members also commented that the EBU does not do enough for or engage enough with its clubs. This particular area of concern is about to be addressed.

A few other quick points

• To the person that asked us to change the scoring system for duplicate bridge, sorry we can't do that.
• EBU Officials are elected - not selected.
• For the record; the EBU does not run any online bridge clubs. Bridgclublive is an affiliated EBU club, but we exercise no more control over it than we do any other EBU affiliate.
• We cannot pick out specific responses from over 4,200 responders for specific emails. If you have a specific question, please email me and I will do what I can.
• We are doing our absolute best to get Bridge into schools. Please pressurise the Education people in your own towns, not us. That is where the blockage tends to be.
• We would love to have a rating system for all players as happens in France and some other European countries. However, as mentioned above, they all have universal membership and all use one scoring program. How do members feel about that?
  

Well, to finish, times they are a changing! Due to research undertaken by our policy makers, in the very near future we will be advertising for two new positions; a Communications Officer and a Club Services Officer. Please lookout for the adverts which will be placed on our web site and if you want to apply, or think you know somebody that should apply please let me know.

These two new members of staff will help turn the EBU into a better organisation - something we all are striving for on a daily basis. Oh, and by the way, we will still have three less staff than we had last year.

Barry's Blog 9

In this Blog I write again, unashamedly, but perhaps slightly repetitively, about the future of duplicate bridge in England and why the EBU believes so wholeheartedly, in its new education initiative Focus on Value.

My last "official" event of 2006 was to visit a very exhilarating bridge club, having been invited to their Christmas party. The club is the Aylesbury Vale Bridge Club, nice and convenient to the EBU office. The club is run by Sue Maxwell, who has been teaching bridge for many years and who has developed her own methods for doing this, of course based 100% on Bridge for All, and so successfully that over 200 new members of the EBU have been taught by her in the last four years and almost all of them remain EBU members, and active members at that!

I was joined at the party by the EBU Chairman, Peter Stocken, who has presented a trophy for their Teams tournament, while I was charged with presenting a trophy donated by Helen Schapiro. At the same time, Sue announced a list of other prize winners and members who had made notable advances. So why have I gone into all of this detail, you may ask? Well, my visit confirmed to me that what I saw was the future of duplicate bridge in England; the only future that makes sense.

These players, almost none of whom have been playing bridge for more than a couple of years, now play in the local Leagues and have begun to do very well, they have started up the ladder of achievement by winning master points, so derided by many of our more established members. It was quite something to hear people applauding new County Masters! We have received many comments on our recent survey which have been rather dismissive of the Master Point system. I defy anyone who criticises the system to come along to Aylesbury Vale, see the benefits in action and then inform us that MPs are a waste of time. Only a total cynic would say that the obvious pleasure gained by a newcomer to Bridge on receiving their first official ranking was not worthwhile.

I believe that this is the ONLY way that the EBU and duplicate bridge in England has the faintest chance of existing into the next two decades. Sue teaches delightful people, mostly in their middle age or later, who have come to bridge for reasons that are perhaps beyond Bridge itself. At the end of the evening, one of their "senior" members, Tony Schaffner, gave a short speech of thanks to Sue for what she does and included a quite emotional comment about how many of the members of the club had taken up bridge to help replace a major loss in their lives.

We have all heard descriptions of how bridge players form a community. Even the dourest competitive tournament player is part of that community, known to many thousands of people across the country. Some of us, who are fortunate to have played in other countries, or online, form communities that span the globe. It is far more than just a game - it is a way of life to many people, one that transcends master points, rankings and behaviour at the table. It is simply about community. The ability to meet in convivial company with people who have similar desires to add more to their lives, to keep their brains active and to add a wider meaning to their lives that may have well been blighted by the loss of a job or a life partner. What better thing can we contribute to the wider community?

All of this was visible to us at Aylesbury Vale Bridge club. I have seen it too at other clubs I have been able to visit in my early days in my job with the EBU, as did our membership development group on their visits last year. These clubs are always run by people who want to give something back to the game that has provided them with such enjoyment. Nearly always it relies on volunteers, the lifeblood of bridge. While at Aylesbury Vale I was introduced to one of the younger members who, having been first taught four years ago, is now a qualified Director and runs league teams. Wow! How can we replicate this level of success across the country? Should we not be concerning ourselves about this at least as much as we worry about who and how someone won the Tollemache or the Gold Cup?

If we don't worry about the future of bridge who will be competing in our tournaments in twenty years time? At the moment, I would say there is a very good chance that competitive bridge, as we presently know it, will not be around in twenty years. Our numbers are dropping year on year as our membership ages, and as fewer new people come into the game. We entered some years ago into a spiral of decline that we have not yet escaped from; now I believe our escape route is visible.

We must embrace the community that we are part of, and work towards enriching and enlarging that community. This is why the EBU have collaborated with Sue to formulate our new "Focus on Value" project. Whatever else we do, we must learn from Aylesbury Vale and similar clubs, the lessons for developing new members of our community.

Please consider joining our new way of doing things and whether you can sign up to become a partner teacher and make a big difference to your bridge community. Click here for further information.

But don't forget, you can make a difference every time you play by being welcoming and understanding to our newer less experienced players.

Aylesbury Vale and similar clubs are the future of bridge. Let's hope they can produce many more County Masters in the next twelve months. If they don't there will surely be many fewer Grand Masters in 2027.