EBU Official Blog

Blog 53 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2011-12-21T02:34:00.001Z

The SIMS test run earlier in December was a success, and we are very grateful to those members who took the time to help us identify those aspects of the processes that needed improvement or correction. We will (or already have) acted on that input and we would like to run another test SIM in February, on the 27th, a Monday. As for the last one, it will be free of any extra fees, although normal P2P charges will apply. In addition, this time we will provide paper commentaries and hand records to any club that wants them at a cost of £8 per pack of twenty. We hope as many clubs as last time play and help us get things as near perfect as possible!

The new year will see the National Grading System kicking off after a long period of development. Look out for the next edition of English Bridge which will provide more information.

All of us at the EBU wish our members the very best seasons greetings, and a Happy New Year.

BLOG #52 Sims 2012; Price Reduction confirmed at £2.50

2011-11-30T06:34:00.008Z

I have some good news; it has now been confirmed that when we start running the Sims events from April next year our per player fee for members of our affiliated clubs will be reduced from the current level of £3 per player to £2.50. This will cover provision of commentary booklets electronically, thus saving us all a lot of expense, especially as the Royal Mail are increasing postage rates quite substantially very soon. We will continue to provide paper booklets for those clubs that prefer to get them that way and the cost will be £8 per pack of 20.

We will also be making each event available three sessions per day (but a player may play only once a day!) and five days of the week so all our clubs and their members can take advantage of this new service from the EBU.

For more information about booking your places after April 2012 contact Krys (krys@ebu.co.uk), see the website in due course, or call the office.

We are delighted that on December 6th we will be running a simultaneous event to test our new capability. Around 90 clubs (including some from the Scottish and Welsh Bridge Unions) have signed up to help us and to take part in our event while testing our new system; we are very grateful for that help. Indeed, some web site errors have already been found by a few clubs which is, of course, just what a test is for!

We have produced a slightly different and innovative commentary for this test event, which will become evident when you see them after your game which we hope you will enjoy.

We will be maintaining direct contact with our clubs with updates on the new sims process.

Blog 51 - Simultaneous Pairs

2011-10-01T15:27:00.001+01:00

Some of you may know that after many years of having our simultaneous pairs events run (extremely well!) by ECATS, we are now in a position to bring the running and administration of these events inside the EBU.

We have tested the software "in house" but we wish to do a full "system" test in December so that we can test run every aspect of the event.

We will be inviting all affiliated clubs to participate in this event, at NO COST! We will provide commentary details electronically and local points will be awarded according to the usual scale, but no green points.

The scheduled date for this is Tuesday December 6th.

Please put this in your diary remembering it is FREE, and help us ensure that our in house SIM management gets off to an error free start after April 1st 2012.

It is not too early to book your place. If you wish to participate please send an email to Ian Mitchell at ian@ebu.co.uk.

Please note that by "free" we mean free of a Sim Pairs charge. The sessions will still incur a regular P2P charge.

Blog 50 - Technical update...

2011-06-20T10:19:00.009+01:00

Just a quick message to advise members that a revised "members area" is now live.

Especially good news is that we once again have the facility for members who wish to play in our tournaments to enter online. For the time being we are using PayPal, which is an internationally recognised way of making payments to suppliers. It is NOT necessary to have a PayPal account to use it, as the facility will accept credit cards in the normal way.

The new members facilities will also allow us to make further progress in the implementation of the National Grading System. There will be further details of the NGS and how it will work in due course.

You can see a brief video about how to make online bookings below, or jump in by going to the members area.

Blog 49 - Happy Birthday to us!

2011-05-23T08:00:00.002+01:00

Happy Birthday to us!

The English Bridge Union has been around now for 75 years; there are only a few national bridge organizations around the world that are older.

A few weeks ago I was reading some obituaries of a few of the EBU’s illustrious bridge administrators and early elder statesmen. It is very clear to see how tirelessly these great bridge players worked to set up our Union in those early days. In the minutes of the 12 June 1936 it is possible to see names that now adorn our competitions, such as Lederer and Phillips, as well as seeing the immense detail they covered to set up a national organization, in those days without any technological assistance.

Over the last few years, the organization has gone through many changes – most notably when we changed to Universal Membership last year. It has been a challenging but fulfilling time to be involved in the administration of a venerable institution such as ours.

We are working on a few ideas to involve the membership in our Anniversary celebration year and I hope that as many of you as possible will join in.

I would like to wish all of our members, volunteers and staff a happy 75th Birthday.

Have a look at our special 75th Anniversary area, here.

Blog 48 - Money well spent...

2011-03-30T12:33:00.010+01:00

I thought you might be interested in a few developments.

The EBU created a charitable trust (The EBU Youth and Education Trust) a few years ago. The initial funding was increased when we were fortunate to receive a substantial three year donation from the Milton Damerel Trust which we used for an agreed project, which is the teaching of Minibridge to school teachers and their pupils, predominantly in primary schools.

This has been in progress now for well over two years and during that time we have trained many hundreds of teachers and pupils in the game of Minibridge and have made some headway in convincing education experts of the many benefits of using bridge as a method of making mathematics fun to teach as well as assisting the social development of young people. You may recall the front cover of our February edition of English Bridge which showed some young pupils from Tunbridge Wells outside the Palace of Westminster, before they went inside to play members of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Bridge.

History will record, although sadly not Hansard, that the youngsters won.

While this project continues we are also working, at the other end of the age spectrum, on getting some further evidence on the benefits of bridge playing for older people, especially in the area of warding off dementia. We have a very dedicated volunteer working hard with members of the medical and academic communities to enhance the knowledge that we have already gathered, which has proved sufficient to allow the Charity Commission to allow charitable status to the first bridge club in England, the Hitchin bridge Club.

I think it will be of interest to reproduce some words from the Charity Commission:-

"Bridge is regarded as a game involving a high degree of mental skill, being one of the components in the World Mind Games. Bridge involves logical and lateral thinking skills, planning, memory, sequencing, initiating and other high order functions and therefore, we are satisfied that it is a game which involves mental skill or exertion which, if played regularly, is a game capable of promoting health.

In reaching our conclusion that bridge is a sport or game which promotes health by involving skill or exertion, we looked at a body of research. That research identified the potential health benefits of playing bridge, and other forms of mental activity, among seniors in lowering the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and other dementia by as much as 75%, compared to those who did not exercise their minds".

We are naturally delighted that the level of academic evidence has reached this stage but we believe that more evidence will allow us to further develop the argument that bridge is a healthy and beneficial pastime from (almost) cradle to grave.

Thus the EBU is working hard not only for the future of the game in England but also for the future health of our ageing population.

If you are interested in making a donation to the English Bridge Union Youth and Education Trust please contact the Trust at our Aylesbury office, or visit our dedicated page.

Blog 47 - National Grading System

2011-01-25T09:57:00.004Z

After very significant background work by the NGS working party and testing of software written by one of them, I am pleased that we are now very close to being able to put the system into live use, probably by the middle of the year. We still have work to do in determining how to present the information at various different levels.

We have tested the software with real data from that collected via the Pay to Play process and once we are ready to go live, we will do some more testing with a few clubs, so that they can check the outputs from the system and make sure that they make sense!

If you are interested, please contact me at the first instance (barry@ebu.co.uk) . We are only looking for a few clubs, so it will be very much on a first come first served basis for trialling the software. There will be no impact at club level and no extra work to do, other than to check the results of grade changes to make sure they make sense.

As ever, the EBU would like to record their thanks to the efforts of its volunteers on the working group: Barrie Partridge, Paul Bond, Mike Christie, Peter Lee, Anthony Moon, Paul Habershon and Andy Kittridge. We must especially not forget the contributions of the late Dr John Carter and John Probst, who continues to recover from a stroke.

Please view our NGS Overview document.

Blog 46 - End of year progress report!

2010-12-10T08:13:00.006Z

As we approach the year end it is time to take stock of what has been a year of momentous changes for the English Bridge Union.

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.

Blog 45 - Update on NGS and Stratification

2010-10-10T10:32:00.000+01:00

National Grading System

I am pleased to say that our volunteers are busy working on a "proof of concept" test of the NGS, using test data obtained from our P2P files. While we are still some distance from completing the project, if the tests prove that we are going in the right direction (things are looking positive!) we will be a lot closer to completion of the NGS project.

Stratification

Further testing of these changes is now being carried out by a couple of clubs using Scorebridge. If they are happy with what has been developed and tested so far then a further dozen or so clubs who have offered themselves for "beta" testing will get a chance to test the changes. Once we have passed that test we will advise other scoring software developers of what they will need to do in order to add stratification into their programs.

I would hope that we will have reached this stage by the end of November.

We propose to write an article describing how Stratification for our Clubs will operate so please do not send in lots of emails asking how just yet! One thing to note at this point is that using Stratification at your club will be totally optional.

Barry

Blog 44 - Master Point Updates

2010-06-04T10:06:00.012+01:00

[May 25th: Update - Full Master Point detail now available in your own members area - login to see it]

Many of you are very interested in how the new master point process works, so I thought I would inform you about how the system works now we have Pay to Play up and running.

From Clubs:-

The scoring files from club games are sent to us, preferably immediately after the game, but often not until much later. These files are processed and then the session detail is associated with each members membership record and every member can (after logging in to their personal members area from the EBU home page) see the basic result detail for their session including any master points they have won. However, at this point the master point records are not updated to the members main totals. There a few reasons for this but the main one is that we need to allow time for scores to be adjusted as errors are found and corrected, something that happens frequently. We therefore wait until a week or two into the next month before updating the members actual record.

So any member can see and verify what they have won as soon as their club has submitted their files to us and be certain that they will eventually find their way into their totals.

From County Events:-

These arrive at the EBU office in different ways. Some submit in the same way as clubs and the same process as above is followed. This is by far our preferred route. Some counties are submitting the "old way" which is still direct update but this requires human intervention and is far less slick as a solution and these do NOT appear on the session records in the members area. They will, of course, appear on your Master Point record when we update them in the month following the county event

From Licensed events:-

We are currently receiving these in lots of different ways but will, later this year, be providing a similar service as for clubs for all licensed events.

From Simultaneous Events:-

We have made arrangements with the ECATSBRIDGE organisers for them to provide the EBU with an electronic notification of the points won in the overall ranking list. It is essential that the organisers are provided with your EBU number as otherwise your points will be "lost" as there is no alternative solution available. These points WILL NOT appear in your session record. However, please remember that points won at the club heat of an event will be awarded in the usual way.

Finally, we are aware that there are some changes that people would like in this area and we are working to do these as soon as we can. Some of these changes require ancient software to be modified and it is thus proving a little difficult to achieve, but we will get things done as soon as we can.

Blog #43 - Progress report

2010-04-21T14:39:00.007+01:00

With Pay to Play processing almost four weeks old I thought it was time for a short update.

At the time of writing, around 560 clubs have completed their membership data upload to us in Aylesbury and are now able to submit their result files as they happen. I would like to thank all of those volunteers who have spent a great deal of effort getting this job done; the good news is that it will never need to be done again, plus we will always have an up to date membership database for you to utilise as required.

We have now received over 3000 result submission files; almost all of these have gone through without any issues at all and any issues that we have had have been very small. We have received some suggestions for improving the process which we will consider and implement where and when we can.

Once again, thanks for the hard work and your patience.

Blog 42 - Phew off we go...

2010-03-16T16:15:00.021Z

So after a lot of talk, an unbelievable number of emails, a great deal of hard work by my staff and our incredible volunteers, at all levels, April 1st is the start of the Universal Membership era for the EBU.

At the time of writing we are still awaiting membership data from about 60 clubs who have signed up for affiliation, while we still wait for a decision as to their future from around 30 clubs. This clearly means that we will start the P2P process on April 1st with some clubs not quite ready to go....however we will work with those clubs to get them in a position to catch up - it should not be a problem.

We owe a huge "thank you" to the countless club volunteers who have worked with us to collect the membership data over the last few months. It is (or was) an onerous "one off" requirement; once complete it does mean that the EBU database will be of major use and benefit for clubs for maintaining their membership data. Also, thanks to so many of you for helping us with testing our processes before we go live; your help has been of great importance.

I am sure that many of you have been sitting on a plane waiting to take off and that we have all made rude statements to our travelling companions when the pilot comes on to explain the one hour delay and says "thank you for your patience", as if you have a choice! Well, I am going to ask for your patience in advance. We are embarking on something very new, for all of us, and changing the habits formed over many years. We are almost bound to have made some trivial mistakes in the process, normally because we have no idea that "such and such" does that particular thing - I have already come across my weekly allowance of such things this week and it is just Tuesday!

I hope that those of you who have a need to interact with our computer systems will see and feel that we have made strenuous efforts to make things easy. Once we get going we will be reviewing what we do and how we do it as well as reviewing the whole P2P process so that we can improve on it in year 2, where possible.

Some of you may be wondering what is happening to the "National Grading System". It is still our intention to deliver the NGS as soon as we can. Unfortunately this has been substantially delayed due to the illness and recent unfortunate passing of Dr John Carter, who had been leading this project since it started. He is a hard act to follow but we intend to fill the gap as soon as we can and move forwards. In any event, we always needed a considerable amount of "real data" in order to verify the mathematics that will lie behind the NGS and this will now be provided and available when we are ready to progress.

A reminder about receiving the EBU magazine, English Bridge. Our new members will receive their first magazine in June, as the advanced schedule of printing and distribution meant that we will not have had your details available to us for the April issue, which has already been delivered. All members will receive the June, August and October issues, which includes the EBU diary with the August issue. Thereafter magazine entitlement will follow the rules laid down in this document available on the EBU website - http://www.ebu.co.uk/pay2play/magazine%20points.pdf.

I must thank a number of people and groups for helping us get this far:-

Stephen Bligh (Scorebridge Owner/Author) for a serious amount of work he has contributed, in helping us with the data collection from most of our clubs and in making the necessary changes to his program which is used by the vast majority of our clubs.

Jeff Smith, who has also helped us along the right path with his advice and guidance and also his scoring software (which is extensively used by the EBU for our events).

Chris Stableford (until recently, Chairman of Surrey County) who authored a very comprehensive file structure for use in Bridge Administration (for the nerds among us it is called USEBIO XML), which we have used in our software development.

To the EBU Clubs and their members who have decided to go forward with the EBU into the future, mostly with great patience and understanding, all of which you will need to continue to demonstrate!

My staff in general at our Aylesbury office for coming to terms with a massive change in their working life, answering a serious number of questions posed by our members on the phone and by thousands of emails answered.

Finally to Michael Clark, who is our IT man and the person who has designed and written all of the software that will be in use after April 1st. His quiet, thoughtful way of doing his job has got us to where we are with a minimum of fuss and apparent bother. I know he has lots of other ideas that he will work on in the future, once we are past this watershed moment of "going live" with Universal Membership via Pay to Play.

Blog 41 - Almost there...

2010-02-25T11:43:00.002Z

Here we are in late February and things are going well with our preparation for pay to play and the IT changes that will occur.

As of today we have processed around 250 clubs membership data. Unfortunately, there are still around 350 clubs who have still not sent us any information, which will be required before they can submit result files after April 1st. Please help us and our mutual members by providing us with the information as soon as you can. We do understand that for most clubs this is voluntary work and it is a chore; if you need any help please call our office and we will do our best to assist.

A reminder; after April 1st only paper master points printed before that date will be acceptable for processing as all new points will be supplied electronically. Once again, if you need any help, just let us know.

Blog #40, Busy year coming....

2009-12-10T09:13:00.012Z

Writing these year end blogs seem to be about five minutes apart, not twelve months. I am told this is something to do with my age....

The New Year will usher in the EBU's year of implementing change. The past two or three years have been full of consultation and discussion ABOUT change, now it happens. During the first three months of 2010 we will be collecting Universal Membership information from all of our affiliated clubs so that the new pay to play processes can begin on April 1st.

However, this is just the start. The volunteers working on the EBU's new National Rating System will produce a specification for that new service as soon as they are able and we will implement it as soon as practical, bearing in mind other priorities.

The Tournament Committee have recently approved an innovation for our clubs and our own events. We will be introducing the facility for clubs to stratify their club games.

Clubs will (optionally) be able to separate their games into three stratification levels, A, B and C.

Purely as an example, clubs could choose something like the following stratification levels -

C up to Master
B up to Regional Master
A above Regional Master.

The game will be played and scored in the usual manner, but the resulting master point awards will be made taking into account the stratification levels. For example, this means that if a "strat c" player has a good day they will, of course, win the master points at their highest level of achievement, but if they were not that successful but still able to finish in the top part of their own stratified level there will still be a master point award. When this possibility was considered by the interim Club Committee they were extremely enthusiastic. I would hope that we would be able to introduce this facility into our clubs (and some EBU events) during the 2010-2011 playing year, but it will be dependent upon various software authors being prepared to make the necessary changes to their software. We should be in a position to specify those requirements during the first quarter of 2010.

We will also be introducing new Club teacher training during 2010; keep your eyes open for more information in English Bridge.

May I take this opportunity on behalf of all at Aylesbury to wish everyone a great festive season and a Happy New Year. I look forward to receiving your patience in abundance during 2010!

Blog #39 - Further Pay to play IT progress report

2009-11-20T09:24:00.006Z

Things are progressing well with our development. We have now set up a web based "forum" for providing a place to receive and provide information online about the progress of our development and testing of club downloads. If you wish to participate in this forum, please contact michael@ebu.co.uk and he will advise you how to register.

We are about to open up testing to P2P file submissions from those clubs that have already been testing their data submission with us. If any other club wants to commence their testing of data and file submissions please also contact michael@ebu.co.uk. We are not in a position to take everybody on just yet but would be happy to take a few more. We will be opening up testing to everybody in January.

We have now tested files produced from Scorebridge; it would certainly be a good idea for those clubs who are using other scoring software programs to ensure that their files are tested before too long.

Details of how to test submission files will be provided on the Forum, so watch out for those details appearing as this will indicate that we are ready for you.

However, before doing so, it will be necessary to send us your membership information as otherwise we will not have database entires to test against. Indeed, by doing both of these things clubs will have tested almost everything that will be necessary for them to "go live" with Pay to Play from April 1st.

Blog 38 - P2P Computer Systems update

2009-09-29T11:34:00.008+01:00

I thought it timely that this blog provides an update on the progress of the Pay to Play computer facilities.

The EBU uses a “package” system for managing its membership, known as Enterprise. This system has been in use at Aylesbury for quite a few years and it works well. However, it does not do everything we require it to do when we change over from an annual subscription to a Pay to Play subscription. Our resident IT expert has therefore been hard at work writing an internet based “add on” to Enterprise which will be entirely under our control but will still use Enterprise as required.

Current Position

We have written and tested the software that synchronises the Enterprise package with our Database. As IT people love to label everything this is now called “MUSE”, which stands for “Michael’s Utility for Synchronising Enterprise” – no prizes for who created that name!

We have developed and tested a standard file description for transmitting Pay to Play session data to the EBU. This standard was originally developed by Chris Stableford, the Chairman of Surrey CBA (thanks Chris!) and an IT consultant. We still occasionally liaise with Chris to make minor adjustments but this is becoming rare. Currently more than a dozen scoring system authors (including all the major ones) have responded positively to our contacts saying that they will be updating their programs to cope with Pay to Play and a number of these have sent us test files already.

We have tested “real” membership data from a number of clubs now and this has gone well. This involves checking EBU numbers against our database for accuracy, looking up names and addresses of those without EBU numbers to see if they are or were members, checking postcodes and generating full addresses. There are a number of things that can be wrong with the file, e.g. 10% of the postcodes one club submitted were invalid, and we are developing a way to swiftly and clearly relay these back to the club so that they can correct them and resubmit.

We are now working on the “beautification” of the web site access that clubs and counties will use, modifying it from the very utilitarian way of doing things that IT people are happy with!

We are very grateful to Jeff Smith, who, as a member of the Universal Membership Project Board, provided valuable start up advice to us when we started the development.

Future Schedule

By approximately the end of September we will have completed work on the early version of the website interface. This may still be cosmetically sparse, but functionally complete.

In early October we will start detailed testing with the help of a small number of interested parties.

During the rest of October and November we will commence testing with a group of volunteer clubs using real-life data in real-life situations.

By the end of December we will have completed work on what will be the “go live” version of the website interface. We will then prepare the website database with live data and start synchronising it with Enterprise on a daily basis and release it for public consumption.

From January to March we will undertake large-scale testing of all aspects of the system with both individual members and clubs. Clubs will start to submit their membership data to us and will be able to play around with the system until they’re satisfied with its operation. Obviously, any Pay to Play files submitted during this period will be wiped off towards the end of March in preparation for the launch.

On April 1st 2010 we will “Go live”!

Health Warning

In my previous career my business developed software commercially. I must have been involved in more than 60 system implementations over 20 years. They almost all went live without major problems, but they almost all had minor ones! This is unfortunately normal. The computer can only get it right if we tell it the right things to do. We are working hard to get it right first time, but problems do occur, which is what the testing stages are all about, as we hope to trap most of the issues at that stage.

With the help of the key staff at Aylesbury, and the many willing volunteers who have offered their help and support we expect to get most of it right. However, even after more than three years in my job almost every week throws up another way of doing things that we knew nothing about; this means that we can be pretty certain that we will trip over one of those as we start up the new system!

We have been offered the voluntary services of more than 20 people who will be happy to assist any clubs who need some computer support. So, well in advance of going live, I ask for your patience. With patience and good humour we will get all of the changes through and move forward smoothly!

Blog #37 - ...even Jean will like this one...

2009-07-09T08:57:00.004+01:00

I was recently invited by the Chairman of Exeter Bridge Club (and an EBU TD, Steve Quinn) to visit with them for one of their summer Friday Swiss Pairs evenings, so I went toddling off with Mrs C for a day.

I found a super club, with fantastic facilities, shared with an indoor bowling centre. Interestingly, this facility belongs to the City Council as a benefit of some sort of “planning gain” during a development by a supermarket chain. The resulting facility is a huge benefit to the local population, and it surely must be a wonderful model for clubs around the country, if they can get involved in a similar scheme.

The club has also been successful with Lottery funding and has obtained a dealing machine as a result. Many clubs have now followed the lead set by Alan Boyes at Pershore Bridge Club in obtaining funding and I hope many more can achieve some benefits in this way.

Why the title you may ask? Well, when I arrived at the club one of the members told me that she hated my blog! I enquired as to how she could hate all 36 of them, but she never answered, just smiled. I considered during the return journey how I could ensure that Jean likes at least one of my blogs.

This is the result!

Blog #36 – Bits and Bytes

2009-06-08T12:27:00.002+01:00

In the recent past the subject of the EBU’s results service has arisen at two different meetings I have attended, so I thought I would try to explain the issues that we have and why we cannot easily be compared to the fabulous service now available at some clubs.

As I have been reliably informed by Max Bavin, the EBU was a very early adopter of the use of technology for scoring its events. This has proven to be a real mixed blessing at times as technology has advanced. This is because many of our requirements are extremely unusual and none of the available “everyday” scoring programs will do what we need. Thus we have had to make do with existing (and ancient) code and then take the results of that and translate them into a format that can ultimately be displayed on a web page.

This has frequently required specialist input from EBU staff that is not always available at congress events and have thus had to wait for a working day to be resolved. Over recent years we have been able to do better than that on occasions as one of our staff, Ian Mitchell, is a whiz with Microsoft products and has produced a scheme that automates some of our requirements.

Over the last year or so, we have been very fortunate to start using specialist software developed by one of our members, Jeff Smith. He has, on a purely voluntary basis provided software that enables us to automate all but the most obscure of our congress and tournament events AND to utilise Bridgemates where possible as well, which happened for the first time at Brighton last year.

We are now hoping that Jeff can help us automate the provision of most of our results to our web site, so that we can subsequently report all of our results actually at the event, without specialist involvement. When Jeff has done this for us we will, as we run our events all over the country, still find that some venues provide little or no internet service for us to use. We have acquired mobile broadband “dongles” so that we can hopefully link up that way, but even that sometimes does not work!

We will continue to do our best to provide a contemporaneous results service, but 100% success cannot be guaranteed in the immediate future.

Blog 35 - It has been a while..

2009-05-15T15:27:00.007+01:00

These days finding time to write blogs is more difficult. We are working hard to implement the new systems we have been asked to put in place and I am pleased to say that things are proceeding to plan.

I do find myself still having to deal with the most extraordinary documents that come my way and, I have to take the time to ensure that those of you who receive these documents are informed that they are full of misinformation.

Myths which are being circulated at the moment include that the EBU is requiring a "worm" (a sort of virus) to be installed on all club's computers so that the EBU would know what the clubs are doing and, separately, that the EBU is trying to legally bind clubs to the EBU. These stories and all similar ones are categorically untrue. Those of you who have read the Pay to Play pack of information sent to all our clubs and the club affiliation agreement enclosed with it, will know this to be so.

If any of you have any questions, or want real information on all aspects of Universal Membership via Pay to Play, please contact us by email on paytoplay@ebu.co.uk or on our helpline 01296 317200.

Looking to the future, we have started to introduce various membership benefits that are and will remain available exclusively to EBU members and we hope that this will include all those members in our affiliated clubs. The latest addition to this growing list being a new relationship with HMCA, an organisation that provides medical and other insurances to federations such as ours. If you already have private medical cover I suggest that you take a look via the link on our website at the options available via HMCA. The savings on this type of policy alone, if it suits you, could save considerably more than any money you may spend on membership of the EBU! Have a look at all the membership benefits here.

Blog 34 - England, England

2009-02-26T09:35:00.006Z

I was recently invited to a celebration party for the English teams that were so successful at the World Mind Sports games in Beijing. Just to remind you, our ladies team won a Gold medal, our Open team won Silver as did our U21 Junior team. Speakers at this party pointed out that this was the most successful English team event EVER. We have won world championships before, but the overall performance of all five teams was outstanding.

While I was there I was speaking with one of the Gold medal winning ladies and I had to point out to her the strenuous efforts that we made during the last week of the competition, when it seemed we were poised to win a few medals, to obtain some media coverage. Unfortunately we almost drew a complete blank until, literally at the last minute, we were able to make contact with James Mates, the ITN news presenter (and an enthusiastic EBU member), who managed to insert a thirty second news slot at the end of the 11pm news along with a still photo of our victorious ladies and open teams (full transcript here). As a result we made some national radio news bulletins the next day….still a poor reward for such outstanding achievement.

The same speaker at the party went on to say that this should serve as a springboard for future international success for our English teams, which again led me on to think about what our members (and non members for that matter) think about the success of our international teams. This success is due in no small way to the dedication of the participants themselves to be the best they can be, and the very many volunteers who make up the support staff; the non playing captains, coaches and selectors.

It would be really nice if bridge players throughout the country showed more support for our teams; the publicity that we could get for future success will help develop our game at all levels, and perhaps bring in more money for the game. So, watch out for future events; we always highlight these events on our web site and most of these events have featured games on Bridge Base Online, where you can very easily watch live games and see how it should (hopefully) be done. You can learn from the experts, at no cost, and at the same time support your team! Which brings me to my final point – we are investigating setting up a supporters club for our international teams. Would you be willing to join? If so, how much would you be willing to contribute? Let me know (email: englandsupporter@ebu.co.uk) so we can ensure that we can build on our success.

Blog 33 - Updates

2009-02-04T11:43:00.001Z

In keeping with my new slimmed down blogging profile I just want to update you on three things.

First, at the present time there is a survey running accessible to all from the main web page. This survey is to gauge views from current (and potential) tournament players. The survey results will be used to inform the Tournament Committee in their future discussion. If you have any interest at all please complete this online survey, as the more responses we get the better it is for all concerned. View here.

I can also tell you that the same committee is considering a whole set of new initiatives to involve more players in our events, especially those members who are relative newcomers to our game.

Secondly, we have begun detailed work on updating an online "teach yourself bridge" facility that has been provided to us free of charge by the American Contract Bridge League for which we are very grateful. In addition, our staff is being assisted by Fred Gitelman to update the Standard American lessons to those of our Standard English format. There are a lot of changes in this area, but I would presently expect the revised version to be available in the Summer.

Finally, early in March is the Ranked Masters event; this is a great opportunity for players of all levels to compete only with their peers. In a change from previous Ranked Master events, fractional Green points are being awarded for matches won (as in Swiss events) and there is a scheme to pay half of the regular entry fee to any member who has been promoted recently. Click here for more details.

Blog 32 - Another year older...

2008-12-19T20:30:00.000Z

Last year at this time I wrote...

"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 also wrote...

"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".

So here we are – another twelve months on and what is going on the real world rather dwarfs the changes that are anticipated in the EBU, following the democratic decision making process which resulted in the Shareholders voting for change in June. Since then large numbers of people, most of them volunteers, have started working on the largest changes to affect our organisation since its inception. As predicted, there are some who do not wish to see these changes go through but, for the most part, I sense that most members are prepared to see the changes in, to see how it works and to contribute to the development of bridge in England. The setting up of two key committees – the Club Committee and the Universal Membership Project Board – within two months of the vote being taken, show our commitment to putting our clubs and their players at the hub of our activities.

The next year or two around the world are likely to be very difficult for many of us whatever our situations. What we are fortunate to have in common is the ability to participate in an activity that is relatively inexpensive and is extremely good for those that play, whatever the age of the player. Even during these tough times, the Board of the Union is working hard to develop bridge in England, both now and in the future. Our new Chairman has already begun to promote the benefits that bridge can bring to society to people in Parliament, including the programme we now have in place to try and get bridge on the school curriculum, and to try to gain investment in promoting learning and playing bridge for the over 50s to protect against dementia. We are hopeful that we can get the right people to consider what we are proposing.

In the week in which the "Sports Personality of 2008" was on TV, it is appropriate to remind ourselves that three of our teams arrived back from the Mind Sport Games in Bejiing with well deserved medals. They never got a mention on the BBC’s programme because few people outside of bridge, let alone inside our community, register international success in our chosen activity. Huge credit must go to the players but also, as ever, to the many people who give up their time at all levels to ensure that our players got a chance to shine.

On behalf of the staff at the EBU I would like to wish all of our members and volunteers seasons greetings and a happy new year for 2009.

Blog 31 - Technology

2008-11-19T09:51:00.000Z

These days there are bigger gaps between my blogging efforts. One of the reasons for this is that other people within the EBU are quite rightly communicating much more by using blogs and I see less need to write myself.

We are trying hard to keep ourselves up to date with our use of technology, especially as we have had a number of email issues recently. In a very short while we are moving towards the use of "cloud computing" where much of our data will reside on highly secure servers (indeed, far more secure than the Aylesbury office) remote from our office and available to be accessed by our authorised users from any location with internet access. This means that our staff will have much better access while at EBU events, improving the services we can offer members.

At the same time we are working hard on improving our web site and our internal use of information technology, always for our members benefit, not just for the sake of it!

Some of the clubs I go to are now embarking on the technology ladder, using tabletop technology to improve the bridge experience at club level, something that we certainly wish to encourage. In these internet times, we believe that technology will become central to the bridge playing population in the future, much more so than today, and I fully expect that the EBU will play its part in helping clubs move forward with technology.

Meanwhile, our own move forward may result in a blip or two as we all get to grips with the new facilities. If this affects our services to you, I apologise in advance, although we believe that these changes will benefit all members very quickly.

Blog 30 - Things just keep on changing

2008-10-08T16:36:00.000+01:00

At the AGM on October 2nd the EBU voted in its first female Chairman. Sally Bugden takes over after being Vice-Chairman to Peter Stocken for the last two years. Her Vice-Chairman will be Andrew Petrie. By the way, Sally wishes to be known as Chairman, not "Chair" or Chairlady!

I have, naturally, got to know both of them really well. What the Shareholders have wisely done is to put in place two very talented and incredibly hard working volunteers; people that will use their professionalism and dynamism to move our organisation forward.

Peter remains on the Board so as to continue to provide his inimitable depth of knowledge and experience of the EBU. I very much enjoyed having Peter as my "boss" and I have learned a lot from him. At least he will now have more time to devote to his puzzle making!

Sally unveiled the Board's business strategy roadmap to the Shareholders at the AGM. Rather amusingly called "Bidding for the future" the document (which can be accessed here) provides details of the Board's plans for the next five years and how it intends to move these plans forward. This will involve a a great deal of consultation with the membership and research. A number of working groups will be set up to work on areas in great detail so as to cost the development and implementation of the business strategy.

Among the things that are coming along are our plans to turn the Union into a charity. As is typical with most Government changes (except nationalising banks) the new legislation that we have been waiting for has been delayed again until Spring 2009. We are waiting for a new style of charitable company called a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) to be placed on the statute book. This new style of organisation will be the catalyst for the 21st Century governance procedures that we need to have. I will be learning more about the eventual introduction of the CIO next week at a seminar.

Last weekend we tried something new at one of our events (Great Northern Pairs). The Tournament Committee will review the comments made after this event at its meeting in a couple of weeks.

Our teams are presently in China at the Mindsports Olympiad and doing very well at the time of writing. For those of you that cannot sleep, BBO coverage starts in the early hours - details here.

Blog 29 - It's all over now..

2008-08-20T21:00:00.000+01:00

The Brighton Summer Congress is over for another year. On the bridge front, all went very well. We had larger numbers of top European players coming to the events than for a long time, which shows that the prestige of the events is growing. Some of the events are among the largest of their types in Europe and the World. I am advised that our first weekend event, the fourteen round Swiss Pairs is the largest single field event in the World.

In which case, it is now the largest single field event to be scored electronically, as this year we scored the event with the aid of Bridgemates and some new software developed by one of our members; the fact that this huge event went off without the slightest (apparent!) technical hitch is a testament to the background thinking and rigorous testing by our Competitions staff and the on-site support of Jeff Smith, the software’s author. Many thanks to all involved.

Of course, the event had its logistical problems. Despite a whole year of assurances from the hotel, we still had air conditioning difficulties. Peter Jordan (our Congress Manager) spent hours every day with the staff and management trying to ensure that things were as good as they could be.

Despite that effort, problems still ensued. We will, of course, be taking these problems up with the hotel. Which leaves us with the usual dilemma? The Brighton Summer Congress is now a traditional feature enjoyed by many of our regular tournament players and now, by quite a few members new to our tournaments, as we had 25 midweek tables playing in our Really Easy Congress, an increase of around 20% on 2007. The cost of moving the event to another venue in the city may be prohibitive. Would you like to pay more to stay in Brighton? Or should we attempt to move the congress from Brighton? Or are you happy to pay a similar price and stay at the Metropole, despite the problems because you love the ambience of that City?

Please let me know any ideas you may have.

Blog 28 - Here it comes again...and new things are coming..

2008-07-16T19:30:00.000+01:00

It is that time of year again when many EBU members' minds turn to our major Congress in Brighton. We have the usual events for our more experienced players, ranging from the 14 round Swiss pairs on the first weekend, a variety of mid week events and the final weekends' Swiss Teams.

In addition, following on from the success of last year, the midweek programme features our "Really Easy Congress", for (much) less experienced players! Numbers last year were a record for this event and we have almost overtaken that record already, which is great news.

Other important news; following on from the vote at the EGM in June the Board are setting up a new group to consult with and advise them. The Club Committee, a sub-Committee of the Board, will meet for the first time in early September. This group consists of eight club representatives drawn from different parts of the country and from differing club backgrounds, small, large, members and proprietor owned clubs. This is a radical departure for the EBU; this group will be able to consider and contribute directly to the Board their views on new proposals, regulations and everything else that affects club players. The Chairman of this new committee is Graham Jepson, a Board director who is well known to many as a bridge holiday operator and the founder of a successful bridge club in the Sheffield area.

Our annual Junior Teach-In takes place over the last weekend in August. This is a great fun event for all junior players, whether it is for minibridge, bridge or just youngsters wanting to learn. We normally get over 100 youngsters and I am sure this year will be no different.

I hope to see many of you in Brighton!

Blog 27 - How the game is run...

2008-06-16T15:48:00.000+01:00

I have been involved in two things during the past couple of weeks which have rammed home to me the importance of how our game is run.

A few weeks ago I was at the special meeting of the Union that determined whether or not the Board’s plans for Universal Membership were to be accepted or rejected. I had previously been to six shareholders' meetings in my two years in post (already!) and most of them had been well attended. You may ask who attends. Well, it is full of volunteers, people who give of their time freely for the good of the game they all love; the only people there who are not volunteers being myself and one or two of my staff. The Board are all volunteers who take on onerous legal responsibilities as well as give up days, weeks and months of their lives for the English Bridge Union; the County representatives also spend a great deal of time managing Bridge in their areas.

Unsurprisingly, this particular meeting was the best attended of all of those that I had been at, so full we had to find extra chairs. Remember everyone who was there to vote on the proposals was a volunteer; they all have their perception of the best interests of the game foremost in their minds. Each County was given a brief period to make their views known and then the vote was taken. At the end the vote was not too far short of 2-1 in favour of the Board’s proposals. The meeting resumed its normal agenda and it was delightful to see that its normal good humour was retained throughout the proceedings.

At the end of that meeting the various groups of volunteers went their own way – each to worry about their specific volunteering areas of concern.

Although all our shareholders are club members, the prolific club volunteer group is not specifically represented at the meetings. I very recently was invited to one of the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of the Bristol Bridge Club. Their volunteer committee had quite rightly decided to make this milestone a major celebration of their longevity and success – and successful it is! They have a superb club building, owned now without a mortgage, deep in the heart of Bristol. They have an active membership of over 400 people and teachers who help bring people into the game. My wife and I stayed for two sessions of bridge and we met a lot of friendly and enthused people; a very enjoyable day! This club did not get where it is today without a lot of problems, some disagreements and a lot of hard work; but they reached their current situation anyway and are benefiting from the fruits of many hard days of volunteer effort .

Which brings me back to the first group of volunteers I was discussing; the membership has voted to support the Board’s vision for the future. It will take a lot of hard work and some ups and downs along the way before this vision is achieved. What is needed now is for each group of volunteers to knuckle down and work together to improve the future for all. Every volunteer needs to remember why they are doing what they do – because that is the very reason the other person is doing it as well!

Blog 26 - Duplicate Bridge can't be a sport - can it?

2008-05-14T00:19:00.000+01:00

This seems to be one of the questions of the moment. Most of you probably would conclude in a flash that duplicate bridge is not a sport. However, according to the International Olympic Committee it absolutely IS a sport. I quote here directly from the World Bridge Federation’s web site:-

WBF: a 'Recognized Organization'

In June 1995, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) admitted the World Bridge Federation (WBF) as 'part of the Olympic Movement', awarding it the status of a 'Recognized Sport Organization'. This recognition was accorded under Rule 4 of the Olympic Charter".

The list of recognized sports also includes Chess and Boules! Again, taken from the current WBF website, no less than 44 countries' (e.g. Italy, The Netherlands, Russia, China and many others) own Olympic Committees have recognized their national bridge federation and used this to offer them grant money. For example, the Polish Bridge Federation receives their equivalent of many hundreds of thousands of Euros each year as a result of the recognition they are granted. (By the way, it was 37 countries the last time I looked)!

So, you may ask what difference it makes. A lot! If bridge was recognized by the British Olympic Committee we, as the national governing body for England, would have access to finance that is closed to us, money that would be invested straight back into the game at all levels to develop it for the future. Lottery money that is very hard to get at the moment would be easier for us – basically it would help a lot.

We know that the barriers are dropping in this country; the Charities Act 2006 gave Mind Sports the status it needs to apply for charitable status, for which we have started the process. We need to do as much as we can and so we have joined together with the English governing bodies for Chess, Go and Draughts to form the Mind Sports Council; that group will lobby everyone it can to try to obtain for our respective sports the same rights and privileges now available to others.

Finally, the first World Mind Sports Games are to be held in Beijing from October 3rd to October 18th, using the Olympic facilities. Take a look at the brochure. It is hoped that this will be a step towards eventual inclusion in a future Olympic Games.

Blog 25 - Bringing people in...

2008-04-07T22:10:00.000+01:00

Last year we reviewed our teacher training courses and developed a much more comprehensive programme including strategies to help teachers recruit new students and how to evolve their development from their first lesson to ‘learn and play’ fun duplicate bridge.

A total of 529 new students have embarked on first year partner teacher’s courses this year and over fifty teachers have graduated from the courses and we are now seeing the first ‘Learn and Play’ clubs being formed from those students.

People like Maggie Hadley who attended a teacher training course in August last year, has gone on to recruit over ninety students and in June this year will be starting her own Learn and Play club in Bristol.

Maggie is among many of the new Partner Teachers who have benefited from the new student course work books, comprehensive lesson plans and an array of free resources to help her develop her own teaching programme. When she starts her Partner Club with her second year students in June, the English Bridge Union will further help by giving her free Master Points, all the stationery she needs for the first twelve months and heavily discounted tables and bidding boxes.

Maggie wrote to us and said, “It seems a long time since I attended the Partner teacher course and your help so far has been crucial to us becoming established here in Bristol”

The original "Partner Club", Aylesbury Vale Bridge, which provided a blue print for the Partner Club model has now been in operation for four years. It attracts over twenty tables a week and has 100% EBU membership. They provide two teams for the Wessex league (county league) and the products of their learning academy provide ongoing refreshment to other clubs in the area with competent club players.

AVB Club proprietor Sue Maxwell says, ‘our policy is to provide our students with a development structure from the first lesson to club bridge and beyond. It is a continual process, from student recruitment to county league, with plenty of resting places in between.’

The next EBU Partner Teacher course will be held at West Midland Bridge Club on 11-13 July.

We are undertaking a lot of events to raise the profile of bridge. In mid-April we are involved in a special "Games Day" at the National Railway Museum in York on 13th April. We are using this day as a trial of a planned number of Awareness Days for bridge around the country. Non bridge players and bridge players are very welcome to come, watch and play. Click here for more information.

Very shortly John Pain, our Education Manager and a National Tournament Director, will be visiting the African state of Botswana to train a number of local people as tournament directors, at the request of the Botswana Federation. Quite apart from helping a developing bridge nation (and they apparently have lots of young people learning and playing) we hope to interest the media in what is a quite unique experience for the EBU!

If anyone has anything they think will help promote bridge please do not hesitate to contact Matt Betts at the EBU office (matt@ebu.co.uk) or on 01296 317215.

Website Waffle

2008-03-17T18:00:00.000Z

Blog #24 - Web site waffle……

After the end of March we will no longer have Anna Gudge (of ECATS) as our web master. She has looked after our web site for quite some time, but now that we have capable resources in-house we have decided to have a go at doing it ourselves. Many thanks to Anna for all she has done for us and although this facet of our involvement is over, we have many other areas that we work with together, for example Simultaneous Pairs.

We already have had a fairly large involvement in the day to day updating of our web site, which is extremely active. The site receives a daily average of nearly 59,000 “hits”. A hit is a relatively inaccurate description of volume as a hit can be the act of downloading a photograph as well as text on the same page, but it provides a guide to activities, so you can tell that we have quite a busy web site.

As with most things in life we struggle to please all of the people, all of the time; we do appreciate that there are many things we can do to improve our web offering and Michael Clark, who takes over as our Web Master from April 1st has many ideas for adding to our already busy and informative site. In the recent past Michael has added a new Calendar facility, which utilises Google Calendars, an available utility from Google. We now have in one place all of our events, including county events and there are facilities available for much more.

For example, Michael will be working on a plan to completely revise our events and results service. This will include direct links from the EBU scoring software to our website making it much easier for quick updating of results. Those results will be stored in a new form, so that when wanting to know something about a particular event, or a particular persons results, all will be available with ease.

Michael, who will be aided by Matt Betts, our Communications Officer, has constructed a programme of improvements which he will work on as soon as he can. I am hopeful that these changes will make our site even more useful and more accurate than it is at present.

This blog is the first that has been written (almost without any technical assistance, I am pleased to say) on the new Blog facility that Michael has set up, again using Google facilities. We will be setting up other blog areas for other aspects of our organisation in due course.

We do have lots of ideas for improvements, but if anyone has any suggestions please feel free to email Michael at his usual email address.

P.S. There are some fascinating things happening on the publicity front - I hope to be able to provide more information very soon.

Barry's Blog 23

2008-02-21T16:00:00.000Z

It has become clear to me that not many members understand the way the EBU is structured, so I thought I would take some time to provide that information. I hope I have got my history correct!

During the 1930s a number of national bridge organisations were created to represent bridge players in England and Great Britain. Exasperated by the conflicts between these bodies and by their lack of representation, various counties and groups of counties set up the English Bridge Union in 1936 to look after duplicate and other competition contract bridge in England, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. However it was not until the end of 1946 that the EBU finally achieved complete control of Duplicate Bridge in England. The governing body was its Council, made up of representatives from the counties, the number of votes proportional to the number of members in each county. A different body, the English Bridge Union Limited, was formed in 1940; the Board of this company was also the Executive Committee of the English Bridge Union. Confused? Well, you will be glad to know that the two were merged into one limited company in 2005.

From the beginning the EBU, together with the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Unions, was part of the British Bridge League which was the national bridge organisation for Great Britain. In 2000 the countries split up and each became their own NBO.

The shares are held in the company by the Counties - not quite the same as the geographic versions - of which there are currently 39. There is no financial benefit for the shareholders but the shareholders are now the body to which the Board of Directors are responsible. The profits of the business - if any, and there is rarely a large amount - are not distributed to anyone (we are not allowed to distribute profits under the company’s Articles of Association) but retained within the business for investment into the development of bridge in England.

The shareholders, currently once a year, elect a Board of Directors, and after that election, vote for a Chairman, Vice Chairman and a Treasurer. All of the Directors have the full - and very onerous - legal responsibility of being a Company Director; for this they get paid the incredible sum of £0.00 pounds per annum. Many of them, the officers in particular, do as much as any full time employee for no salary. Along with the rest of our many volunteers, they receive a reimbursement of their out of pocket expenses.

There are also three “Standing Committees” of the Board, also elected annually by the shareholders. These are the Laws and Ethics, Tournament and Selection Committees. Each of these elected members are also volunteers.

Each County has its own constitution which must be approved by the EBU and elects their Chairman and officers each year. These people are all volunteers, and they too work extremely hard for bridge in their areas.

Finally, there is a paid team of staff at EBU headquarters in Aylesbury, who provide all of the services required of a national membership organisation. We work out of an office that a previous Board wisely purchased when property prices were relatively low, more than 20 years ago. Many of the staff are bridge players who love working in the bridge environment, which is why they do not go elsewhere for more money!

Barry's Blog 22

2008-01-21T16:00:00.000Z

I have been asked a couple of times what we are doing at present, so here goes….

I am sure that most of you know that the Board’s proposals for change will ultimately be voted upon at an Extraordinary General Meeting on June 4th. The final document will be released by April. We are still gathering and analysing the data and ask any club that has not returned their form to do so as soon as possible as this information will allow us to create as accurate a figure as possible for the proposed pay to play fee.

However, there are many more areas that we are working on, for example….

We are working on “bridge awareness” days; these events, which will take place around the country during 2008, will be put on with the help and assistance of a willing club (or clubs) in the area we are in. We will be inviting dignitaries, the press and TV to come along and see what we are doing and will attempt to show people who do not play bridge what it is all about and how it helps everyone in many facets of their lives. The first of these days is slightly different, as it is at the National Railway Museum in York and is a “Mind Sports” day and is being put on in association with other mind sports. This will be publicised very soon indeed.

We have been working on plans for a bridge related TV programme, something approaching the Holy Grail to many, and something that is constantly suggested by members. No money has been spent but we have produced a proposal for such a programme, perhaps best paralleled to “Countdown”, and we are now seeking funding for the production of a pilot programme which is necessary for the very hard job of selling the idea to a TV channel. Thus far the work has been done by one of our members, Matthew Baylis a stand-up comedian and Basingstoke Bridge Club member and Matt Betts our Communications Officer. If you know anyone who may wish to fund this pilot programme we would be VERY interested to know about them!

With the Board’s unanimous approval, I am involved in detailed discussions with a specialist legal firm and we are working on plans to turn the English Bridge Union into a Charity. New laws now in place permit such a change and, although there are (as usual) many complexities to over come we hope that we can get there within a year or two. Once it is done it will save the EBU substantial tax costs each year and will allow us to receive legacies and donations for all aspects of our activities without tax implications. At the same time, I hope that we can develop a model constitution for membership owned affiliated bridge clubs to become charities in their own right, which will also provide benefits to those clubs.

We are about to commence work on an online teaching system based on the teaching software available on the ACBL web site (http://www.acbl.org/). This will provide a free and intuitive way for people to self-teach themselves the basics of the way we play in England. We thank the ACBL for granting us permission to use their software for this purpose.

We have just published our first “Club Focus”, which will be a bi-monthly electronic newsletter for clubs around the country. It is available on this website for downloading and we can email it to anyone who wants it. Please let the office know if you wish to be placed on the list to receive it by email.

There are numerous other activities taking place now or will be fairly soon – more news in due course...

Barry's Blog 21

2007-12-19T16:00:00.000Z

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

2007-12-04T16:00:00.000Z

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

2007-10-27T16:00:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-26T16:00:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-24T16:00:00.000+01:00

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

2007-06-25T16:00:00.000+01:00

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.Â 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

2007-06-24T16:00:00.000+01:00

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

2007-05-25T16:00:00.000+01:00

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

2007-04-30T16:00:00.000+01:00

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

2007-04-03T16:00:00.000+01:00

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 â€œred mistâ€ 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

2007-03-08T16:00:00.000Z

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 areÂ fine for measuring Â "lifetime achievement" they do not reflect current abilities.Â 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

2007-02-09T16:00:00.000Z

...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 â€“ 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

2007-01-05T16:00:00.000Z

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.

Barry's Blog 8

2006-12-18T16:00:00.000Z

This year has been fascinating; I started it as a retired person, not expecting to re-enter long term employment again. I end it having been in my second career over six months and just about feeling that I know what is going on. In the same six months I have moved house and had a son get married, so it has been quite hectic.

It has also been a busy time at the office. Personally, after remembering everyone's name, the challenge has been getting to grips with an organisation that has been around for so long; my first Board meeting, first AGM etc. I have tried very hard not to be the typical wielder of a new broom. Any organisation with the history of the EBU deserves to be understood before changes are considered; so after that necessary due consideration, we have made some changes to the way we deal with master points and we are now working on a membership management project, which I am confident will be to the benefit of everyone, removing many historical problems that have plagued Aylesbury/County relationships for a very long time.

I joined the EBU in full knowledge that many of our members have been very critical over a long period. Indeed, I had my own checklist of complaints. So during my first period here it was no surprise to have to field many communications from my fellow members, critical of a wide variety of things

Now that I do understand the organisation from within I have a slightly different view. Some members believe that they pay too much for membership, something I cannot agree with; forty pence per week of anybody's money is not very much. I have heard people say that the EBU offers "jobs for the boys", something else that is quite wrong. People criticise expenditure on our International teams; our next meeting with shareholders in February will be concentrating on this vexatious issue. Of course, changes to playing procedures have been a reason for many a letter or email. These changes will be reviewed in the near future.

The Board has had a sub committee working VERY hard on membership development and the time has now come to decide the future of the English Bridge Union. In my opinion, we are at an absolute crossroads. We must urgently do what we can to arrest what has been a declining membership, in line with the declining demographics of bridge worldwide. The Chairman, Vice-Chairman and all the Board members are very forward looking and intent on ensuring the future of the EBU.

The membership development team's new ideas will help formulate the next steps we are to take in our redevelopment of the Union. I suspect that some very important decisions will be taken in 2007 which will determine our future. It will be necessary for everyone to have an open mind when considering what is presented to them. We must have the vision to look five or ten years forward to safeguard our game for our children and grandchildren.

As a first step, we have started our "Focus on Value" project which places Teachers and Clubs firmly at the centre of the EBU universe. The new initiative has been devised to give bridge teachers the tools to create their own playing communities and to help them structure their courses so that their students can club together and enjoy their game beyond the classroom. There has been a great response to the call for Partner Teachers in the December issue of English Bridge, and we hope that many more of you will apply to join the courses taking place in the Spring. For more information on the courses email Lisa at the office and ask for our info booklet.

A lot of members have indicated interest in a "player rating"; I am quite keen to investigate a scheme (alongside master points) for providing all active players with a rating that is generated from their actual performance. My online club, Bridgeclublive, uses such a scheme and it is very good. The system would necessarily be heavily reliant on technology and this is a potential drawback, as we have a lot of different scoring programs in use around the country. If anyone has a good idea about such a scheme I would certainly like to hear about it.

Our survey (warts and all, it was our first attempt) has produced almost 2,000 responses which is truly excellent, making the results very useful. The survey does not close until January 14th, so if you have not submitted your response yet perhaps you can find some time over the holiday period to do so. Click here for more information and to go to the online version.

As was customary at the start of my blogging life, I need to clarify something from a previous blog. In my last one I mentioned that the EBU's attempt at a scoring and membership system (CASS) was a failure. The project as a whole did prove to be a failure but does not reflect at all on any person involved in developing the software and no criticism of any individual was intended.

I will be at the London end-of-year Congress and will be happy to discuss anything with members in between my miserable attempts at winning green points.

I would like to offer Seasons Greetings to all Members, my staff in Aylesbury, our webmaster(s) Anna and Mark and all of the many volunteers who help keep our organisation running. 2007 is going to be a year of very important change for the English Bridge Union. I do hope it is a happy and healthy New Year for all. I look forward to it with great interest.

Barry's Blog 7

2006-11-22T16:00:00.000Z

Master points, we love them, we hate them, but we always want them on our records 5 seconds after we have won them, don’t we?

Well there are a number of changes happening around master points, so I thought it would be a good idea just to share with you all some stuff…..but first how it is done in the USA.

Over there, the ACBL is fortunate enough to have just ONE scoring program, ACBLSCORE. I believe that this is used for 99.9% of all scoring at clubs and tournaments, whatever the format. All winners of master points have their records updated once a month, automatically. In my own personal experience - somehow I managed to become an ACBL Life Master - they do not make mistakes either. No bits of paper, no worries about what year the points relate to, no phone calls to ACBL staff required.

Back here, we are in a very different place with regard to technology and master points. We have numerous scoring programs in use; some allow direct crediting of master points from clubs, others do not. The number of points being received electronically is growing, but still represents a minority of MP submissions.

None of these programs, unfortunately, can do the whole job for us at the EBU, with regard to the myriad of tournaments that we run. Max Bavin has, for many years, dreamt up scoring methods and movements that are probably unique to us in England - and perhaps the other home Unions; these methods required software to be written a very long time ago and these programs are, what is now called in the IT industry, “legacy software”. This is jargon for obsolete and impossible to change software! None of these programs allow us at the EBU to directly credit our own master points! How stupid does that make me feel you ask? Well………. it did, but now I understand the reasons I am much more tolerant of the situation.

Basically, at the end of each EBU tournament we have to run through many different processes in order to be able to credit master points to the CORRECT record. Unlike the USA, we take the vast majority of our entries before our tournaments. Then people turn up to play without pre-booking and expect us to have all of the information at our fingertips to allow for a speedy entry. Yet most EBU members cannot recall their EBU number, which is the key to everything that we do. There are many members with identical names, yet often that is all we have to go on. So, naturally, we screw up and sometimes allocate points to the wrong Smith or Jones! That is why we take a considerable time after an event to try and get it right first time.

We have been discussing the future of scoring software within the EBU. Unfortunately, the EBU’s own attempt at writing software, CASS, proved to be a failure, so we are busy identifying a market leading product as the “EBU Standard” for clubs. This program, when selected, will have the characteristics of what we believe is needed for EBU clubs, and will have the direct crediting master point functionality needed, as well as integration with Bridgemate technology. At the same time, we are working on a medium term replacement for much of the “legacy” - equals obsolete, remember - software that we use internally. That will, of course, also allow direct crediting. But this will take some time, because of the nature of our own requirements.

So please, could I ask members to be patient. We always try to get these master point updates done quickly, and we do know it can sometimes be done better.

These improvements will happen, but they are just one of a number of tasks and projects that we are undertaking to improve the quality of services that we provide to members. Everyone does their very best and we do know what the problems are and……………….. we WILL get there!

Barry's Blog 6

2006-10-23T16:00:00.000+01:00

At the last meeting of the 2005/2006 EBU Board, they agreed to my proposal to centralise the management of all aspects of membership at Aylesbury. This process is to be eased in over the next eighteen months, and trialled by a couple of Counties, who have now committed to help, so as to ensure that we get it right first time.

I am sure that this change in administration methods will remove many of the problems that have plagued the relationships between HQ and the Counties for many years.

At the recent AGM I must say that these plans were not met by 100% acceptance. In order to allay fears I hope to meet with any interested Membership Secretaries to discuss these issues probably early in 2007. By that time we will have developed our plans to the point of being able to present them to the group and to get their opinions on our suggestions. I know that it is not possible to please all of the people all of the time, but I really believe that this development will improve things dramatically.

I recently spent a long weekend in Galway, Ireland at a “reunion” of the international online bridge club to which I belong, Bridgeclublive. I put “reunion” in quotes as actually I had never met most of the people there, and great fun it was. Present were about 110 members from 23 countries. Although it was primarily a social event we played Bridge over three sessions. We had about 10 hours of Bridge, zero director calls, no arguments and just one director for the lot of us. There were, of course, many EBU members there, so was a great chance to discuss issues with them……..and for some of them to bend my ear, an opportunity that rarely seems to be missed!

When most others had gone, my wife and I stayed on for an extra day and we visited the Galway Bridge Centre for a game. Conventional pairs, but unconventional for a number of reasons; no convention cards (required or available), no director in the room (though one was available upstairs), no score cards. The result was 27 hands with no director calls, no arguments and quite a few laughs. The Galway Bridge Centre is an affiliate of the CBAI, the equivalent of the EBU, so it was a properly organised game, but it differed so much from the majority of ours that it was striking.

Back home, despite the new Best Behaviour @ Bridge policy, we are still struggling at our congresses, within some of our clubs and even online, with less than positive behaviour from some players. This definitely puts off newcomers to duplicate bridge – it happened to me too when we suffered atrocious behaviour at the table some years ago.

We at the EBU and many club committees, owners and managers are rightly concerned about the decline in playing numbers. We are doing many things to address the issues behind the decline, but I am certain that a contributory factor in this situation is the behaviour issue. If we do not get this under control soon we will find ourselves eventually with fewer tournaments each year until the only bridge available will be of the social kind.

BB@B was launched in June. Is it working? If not, why do you think it isn’t? Do you suffer from bad behaviour in your club? Have you asked your club to implement BB@B as a policy? Email me your views so we can assess its first few months.

After the AGM, my congratulations to those elected into office, and commiserations to those that were not. My best wishes to Denis Robson upon his retirement from the Board; after only a short time in my job I find myself working with a new Chairman and Vice-Chairman - Sally has agreed to the use of that title! I am sure that the new Board will continue to move forward at great speed on the changes that we need to make within our organisation.

Finally, look out in the Christmas edition of English Bridge for two things. There will be an article about our new “Focus on Value” project. Also, we are undertaking a membership survey; you will be able to complete it either on the web site or on an insert that will be in the magazine. This survey will help us improve our communications with our members in the future and is very important. It will also offer members the opportunity to take part in further research that we intend to undertake to develop and improve our services. As an encouragement to complete the survey, all respondents may enter into a draw for a £500 Bridge Holiday voucher.

Shame I can’t enter…….

Barry's Blog 5

2006-09-26T16:00:00.000+01:00

First things first……bye, bye M25.

Now the important stuff; last week the EBU board approved a new project which will promote Clubs and Teachers into the place they should always have been, the centre of the EBU universe.

I have always thought that many of the non EBU members in affiliated clubs get the benefits of the organised game without directly contributing towards it. They are likely to have been taught by an EBUTA trained or certified teacher, their weekly session is likely to have been run by an EBU trained director, the club stationery they use are at reasonable prices because of the EBU presence in the market place and, most importantly, their club night is assured in the long term because of the investment the EBU puts into education at all levels. Next time you are at your club maybe you should ask a non EBU member what they are doing to contribute to the future of the game that they enjoy so much, especially as it costs less than 40 pence per week.

The EBU are widely regarded as being the best when it comes to organising tournaments, and we are very fortunate in having the World Bridge Federation’s Chief Tournament Director on our permanent staff. Of course we are proud of any compliments that come our way and we are never complacent, always looking at ways to improve services to our tournament players.

However, while tournaments and congresses are very important to us it only represents a fraction of what the EBU is all about. Take the clubs for example; there are almost 1000 affiliated clubs; I wish we had time to visit them all. You cannot fail to be impressed by the amount of work done by volunteers in the clubs. I call them the unsung heroes! Week in, week out they open up the bridge room, put out all the stuff, collect table money, calculate the result, make the tea, organise competitions, collect subs, stick things on notice boards. These people are the “Real Deal EBU”.

A week or so ago, I went to one of my regular clubs and chatted to one of the Committee. He told me that he had been at work that day, came directly to set up, collect money etc, but as he was the night’s host, was unlikely to play, which he didn’t. So, selflessly, he went home!

But, probably the most undervalued people in the bridge world are the teachers. In fact without the teachers there wouldn’t be an EBU because they are the primary recruiters of new people to bridge. I think that teachers know more about the game than any of us. They know that new people enrolling on courses often do so for reasons other than the game. They know that building a new community is more important than the weakness takeout and if they are to keep their students happy, a glass of wine (or sometimes tea I suppose) is more important than a Ron Klinger flipper. Teachers are the best at spreading the word – that bridge is more than just a game.

The EBU is often accused of being out of touch with ordinary members – being more interested in bridge hands than bridge people and yet during my short experience in bridge administration I’ve found the opposite to be true. Over the summer months, a development committee, commissioned by the Board have been visiting lots of bridge clubs - big city clubs, small village hall clubs, sports centre clubs. Their task has been to find out how the EBU can improve and build on its services to members and clubs. They have listened to what members had to say. Many clubs are worried about falling numbers; some said that the average age in their club was rising every year. This agrees with our own figures – we have the same amount of affiliated clubs as we have had for decades – but membership is gradually falling.

Thanks to our teachers, the numbers of new students to the game remains buoyant and our teacher training courses are very popular. The problem lies with the transition of graduating students into our clubs. We recognise that the solution to this lies with the relationship between the EBU and its teachers. Over the coming months we will invite prospective teachers to help us bridge that vital gap between classroom and club room. We shall be introducing a new category of teacher – the EBU “Partner Teacher” along with new “Partner Teacher” courses. We are sure that our new innovative package for these teachers, with its great new incentives, will inspire ordinary members to become teachers and existing teachers to become even more effective in helping students make the transition into organised bridge.

And that’s not all. Existing clubs, fledgling clubs and even non affiliated clubs need more help in recruiting new members. We shall, in due course, be announcing new packages available to all clubs to help them achieve their aims.

These are very exciting times and I feel privileged to be a part of the EBU at a time of such optimism.

Barry's Blog 4

2006-09-04T16:00:00.000+01:00

It is time to talk about some incredibly positive things. A couple of weekends ago our Women's International Team placed third in the European Championships and thus qualified to play in the premier Women's tournament in 2007, the Venice Cup, which will be held in China. This is a great achievement for the players concerned and I would like to add my congratulations to them.

These ladies are the present. Some of that team have already achieved wonderful success, including a World Championship and a multitude of other achievements. I am sure that there is a lot more to come, but it leads me to the weekend just past.....

During the last weekend our excellent Education team, ably led by John Pain and Alison Nicolson put on a wonderful weekend in Loughborough for our juniors. Along with a group of unsung heroes, both parents of juniors and numerous volunteer EBU members, a group of juniors ranging from 8 to 20+ years old gathered together for teaching and training, to play bridge in many different forms, to bond together as the international teams of the future, and to ensure the future of bridge in England.

What an uplifting experience.

Our new Under 20 squad manager, all of 26 years old himself, Michael Byrne, was there to help our future international stars develop. The superb junior squad management were there in force as well, providing an excellent developmental weekend for our youngest and, in the future, best players.

At the same time these people were doing what we all need to do. They were helping to ensure that the game of bridge has a future in this country. Our wonderful game is assailed on all sides by the very many different things that are available for people to do with their time. Our youngsters are able to participate in a wide variety of activities that should really exclude a card game generally, but wrongly, considered to be an old person's activity; but they don't all do that and with the loving care for the game displayed at Loughborough by our energetic members they have laid the ground work for the future European and World Champions that England will produce.

I am quite sure that this past weekend I met, and perhaps even played against, a future International star for England, including an 8 year old! I am not sure if they will be male or female, if it will be in ten or twenty years time that they will emerge and do it for their country, but do it they will. And, what is more, I also spent the weekend among a group of people who will ensure that our game will live on, despite the problems of the present. Some of the juniors will, unfortunately, not be internationals in the future, but they will all play bridge at a high level. They will run clubs, teach others, work for the EBU and do a myriad of other things; all because of the dedication of a handful of current EBU members and our limited, but highly professional staff.

All EBU members should be justly proud of our juniors and the people who work with them; they are the cutting edge of the future. I challenge our members to be positive for the benefit of all involved in the game in our country - for the future benefit of bridge players in England.

That is why the EBU exists. The future is great. Be positive; help our fellow members, especially our juniors. Watch them grow into future Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup winners, as well as the club committee members of the future.

Thanks so much to everyone involved.

Barry's Blog 3

2006-08-21T16:00:00.000+01:00

Just back from Brighton; I hope that those of you who were there and enjoyed the superbly run Congress will join with me in being very proud of the way it was organised by all our staff. It could not be done better by any other group in the world.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the venue for the Congress. I personally received many complaints about almost every aspect of the service - or lack of it - from the Hilton Metropole. I had already formed a view that this venue had seen its best days many years ago and it was time to consider alternatives, however many people like being in Brighton in August. The level of dissatisfaction this time almost gives us no choice. From before the first event started Peter Jordan and his team attempted to rectify very many problems within the playing areas. By the last day not only were many of these faults still there, but also many more had occurred.

I am sure that many of you will be moved to complain about the venue. My strong suggestion is that if you have any complaints about the hotel you send them directly to the hotel’s General Manager at Hilton Brighton Metropole, Kings Road, Brighton, Sussex, BN1 2FU. As a participant I too was unhappy, so I know how you feel.

If you have any comments on any other aspects of the Congress then please direct them to me as you would normally.

If you have any ideas of where we should consider as an alternative venue, I am listening!

Barry's Blog 2

2006-08-01T16:00:00.000+01:00

Aylesbury felt like the hottest place in the world during July. Office temperatures soared while the staff were kept busy by a variety of seasonal events. It was the end of the Master Point season, we were preparing for the largest competition that we run, the annual Brighton Congress, and we need to chase up members who have overlooked payment of their annual subs. All of this going on, plus many other competitions and all of the other day to day stuff, all in sauna like temperatures!

Funny thing – no matter how much I check things, mistakes still happen – suppose it is human nature. It seems I passed on slightly inaccurate information in my last blog regarding the trial of bracketed knock outs. We ARE going to do this in 2007, but the venue for it is to be the 41st Brighton Congress, which will give players yet another reason to spend ten happy days in Brighton in August 2007.

What we are trialling in Kent is a bracketed Swiss teams event. In this case teams will only play against their peers in a “round robin” format. Talking to Max, we may be trying out a world first in this format – if anyone can work it out he can!

We have a group of volunteers meeting regularly addressing membership issues, and I am pleased to say that a number of development initiatives are about to hit the publicity button. I am going to my first of these meetings shortly, and I am looking forward to it.

Members have asked us a variety of questions regarding the preparation of the new Orange Book. One of the main questions is “How much does it cost”? I asked Martin Pool, the chairman of the Laws and Ethics Committee and he advised me that the cost was around 3 three pence per member. That doesn’t seem much for a book which provides all of the guidance that will ever be needed for playing in EBU competitions – especially as it does not get changed every year, in fact the last was in 1998. Worth noting that the OB and the two simple guides are on this web site and can be downloaded as desired.

Come to think of it, doesn’t 40p per week seem negligible for EBU membership? It is such a shame that more bridge players do not perceive they get value for such a small amount. In many other countries, bridge organisation membership is compulsory; in England other sports and activities (such as Golf), require that all club members automatically belong to the activities governing body. Perhaps it is about time we considered such a scheme? It would certainly result in investment into the development of the game for the benefit of all. Your comments are welcome.

Master points are a seasonal issue. The Board have determined that we will change the master point “year” to allow us to be more efficient in handling the year end. More details to come later…

Colin Porch, our master points Secretary, and many other members of staff, take many calls from members every week. The vast majority of our members are polite and appreciate the help and guidance that our professionals attempt to provide. Just occasionally a member may stray into behaviour that is unpleasant for us to manage. You will read in the August edition of English Bridge that we have implemented the Best Behaviour at Bridge - BB@B - policy at our playing tables – I would ask all of our callers to follow a similar code when dealing with our small and dedicated group of staff.

We have had a huge number of comments from members (and non members) regarding the new Alert and Announcement procedures. I have noted from various sources that many clubs started using the new procedures before August 1st and most people seem to be very happy with them. I am pretty confident that in six months people will wonder what all of the fuss was about, but changes always generate a lot of comments.

OK, ten days until Brighton starts – if you have not already entered do so now and support the largest congress of its type in Europe. If you do not support us it will not stay that way for much longer!

If I see you at the table in Brighton, please go easy on me…..I need the green points!

Barry

P.S. Definitely no errors this time – OK probably no errors!

Barry's Blog 1

2006-07-17T16:00:00.000+01:00

Been here six weeks – and I have to say that getting to grips with an organisation almost 70 years old is not an overnight affair. I now know most people’s names – as to exactly what they all do, still not 100% there, but nearly!

I look after a staff of around 22 people. However, the EBU is made up of literally hundreds of people who give of their time voluntarily and do jobs that are vital. In fact, some of their expertise is so special that we would find it hard to do without their help. So when I need to know something, I am generally directed to one or more of them who can help me.

I am pretty sure that most members do not appreciate what an effort these volunteers make. The entire Board of the EBU are unpaid volunteers, some of whom almost work full time, or so it would seem. The County Associations who are the share holders of the EBU have another tranche of long serving volunteers. We all come together three times a year so that the Board and organisation can be held to account for all the things we have done, or want to do!

These days the questions I am asked most are “What are the EBU doing to modernise themselves”? “Why should I belong to the EBU – what is in it for me”?

Well, a lot of things are going on behind the scenes which will start to emerge very soon. For example, we are trialling a new tournament, a “Bracketed Knock Out”, which is the most popular format for team bridge in tournaments in the USA. With this format entrants are arranged into “brackets” or ranges of master points and then the members of these brackets play their matches to result in a winner for each Masterpoint range. These ranges are dynamic, dependent upon entry levels, but it does mean that each team is competing with people from within their “peer group”. This trial is to take place in Kent in 2007, and is necessary to that we can get any bugs out of the necessary software that will be used to score the tournament.

What else? We are considering a variety of innovations to encourage participation in our events from the less experienced in the ranking list and from those outside of it. I hope this encouragement will reach into EBU affiliated clubs as well, making it more fun for players to participate.

It is very encouraging for the future of bridge in England that the number of students on our “Bridge for All” courses, run by our many certified teachers, is very much on the rise. We will be announcing plans to further encourage the newly trained entrants to competitive bridge to participate in and fully enjoy our clubs and events in the near future.

As for the answer to “What’s in it for me?” Everyone will have different views of what the subscription price is worth to them. For around £20 per year - of which the EBU gets £16 (less VAT) , the rest going to your County of residence - the EBU provides a huge range of services, all of which can be checked out on this web site. For the price of a round or two of drinks in the pub, members can compete for masterpoints in our many tournaments, read our magazine and get access to the services of one of the largest bridge organisations in the world, with world class advice and guidance for their bridge queries. But it isn’t just the here and now, it is also about ensuring that bridge continues in the future with top-quality training for teachers, their students and tournament and club directors. I suspect that the EBU is one of those organisations that people feel they would not miss – until it is not there! Please don’t let that happen.

The competition staff are presently getting into their seasonal frenzy as the Brighton Congress fast approaches. This series of events over a ten day period is the largest of its type in Europe. There is something for EVERYONE, including novices and the less experienced. Please come along the Brighton Metropole and see what we can do for you.

That’s all for now. I intend to keep this little column up to date as things happen. If anyone has anything they would like to discuss with me, please feel free to contact me by email (barry@ebu.co.uk) or by phone at the EBU office 01296 317200. I am always happy to do what I can to help our members, of which I am one! I will also be playing a bit at the Brighton congress. If you are going to be there and you have a question, feel free to ask!

Enjoy your bridge.

Barry