The era of Universal Membership started less than nine months ago. The changes for us all at our Aylesbury headquarters have been very substantial and we have got this far with minimal disruption to our clubs and our members. There are a few areas where we could have done better and we are working hard to make the necessary changes to improve our services to everybody and to deliver the best possible services to our membership. All of our staff have worked incredibly hard to undertake theses changes and are still doing so; I thank them for their past efforts and for what is still to come.
In the next couple of months we will be introducing our brand new stratified game results to our clubs that wish to use this new facility. The final round of testing is under way at the present time at about a dozen clubs and I would hope to be able to release the software for more general use in January.
At the same time the testing of the National Grading Scheme is taking place and I also hope to provide a substantial news release on this exciting new facility early in the new year.
Due to the very generous donations received by our Youth and Education Trust our programme of introducing bridge into schools with minibridge continues apace and with growing success.
Most of what I have mentioned relies on incredible efforts from many volunteers at all levels; without this input from our volunteers we could not be doing much of what we are doing today and we are very grateful for what they do for us all.
Finally, in these turbulent and difficult times, on behalf of all of my staff and myself, I would like to wish the very best seasonal greetings to all of our members and the very best wishes for a happy and healthy 2011.
