Last year I promised that 2016 would be interesting. It turned out to be the case in more ways than could possibly have been foreseen!
Our Judicial Review regarding Sport England's non recognition of Bridge as a sport went ahead. Although we were ruled against, early in January we will be in court again for application for "leave to appeal". Should that be granted we will get a full hearing before the Court of Appeal sometime later. If the last time was anything to go by, that will generate very considerable interest from the media, and not just in England.
Our court dates with HMRC regarding the VAT status for competition bridge also went ahead. After a second hearing in the Upper Tier Tribunal, both sides agreed to refer the case to the European Court and we expect that ruling sometime in 2017.
Also, early in the New Year, we expect to implement our new membership management system. It has been a long time coming, but better we deal with issues before we implement, rather than after. We are aiming for an implementation in January.
As we are fast approaching the festive season I would like to send the best wishes of all EBU staff for a happy festive season and a healthy 2017.
Barry Capal
Tuesday, 13 December 2016
Saturday, 19 December 2015
Blog #69 - Season's Greetings
With Christmas being less than a week away all of us at the EBU in Aylesbury would like to send the best wishes of EBU staff to all of our members and many volunteers for a happy festive season and a healthy New Year.
2015 delivered its usual array of surprises. We had a massive year of media interest in our court cases with Sport England and HMRC. The latter has been referred to the European Court for a ruling as our case has international connotations that can only be resolved at that level. The former case against Sport England was resolved against us, but we have applied for leave to appeal to the Appeal Court, on advice of our Counsel. The intense media interest from all branches of the media, was very positive and appears to have generated interest from the public in learning more about how they can get involved in bridge.
Sometime in the first part of 2016 our new membership management system will be going live. This new system, which is very modern in software terms, will allow us to be more efficient and to provide a better service to all, our members, clubs and every part of the EBU. We will keep you informed as to when this will go live, but we hope to achieve this with minimal disruption.
Barry Capal
2015 delivered its usual array of surprises. We had a massive year of media interest in our court cases with Sport England and HMRC. The latter has been referred to the European Court for a ruling as our case has international connotations that can only be resolved at that level. The former case against Sport England was resolved against us, but we have applied for leave to appeal to the Appeal Court, on advice of our Counsel. The intense media interest from all branches of the media, was very positive and appears to have generated interest from the public in learning more about how they can get involved in bridge.
Sometime in the first part of 2016 our new membership management system will be going live. This new system, which is very modern in software terms, will allow us to be more efficient and to provide a better service to all, our members, clubs and every part of the EBU. We will keep you informed as to when this will go live, but we hope to achieve this with minimal disruption.
Barry Capal
Thursday, 27 August 2015
Blog #68 - The times they are a changing
The last Brighton Summer Meeting is now history. Next year’s Summer Meeting is to be at the Winter Garden in Eastbourne. During the next few months we will provide a lot of information about the new venue, the hotels that are available, the substantially cheaper (up to 90%!) car parking and many other things. We sincerely hope that the new venue will prove more attractive to those people that have stayed away from Brighton due to cost, or other personal dislikes.
The EBU is facing, as has become usual, a year of change. We have begun the process of changing our membership management system from one that is more than a decade old, and is at the end of it’s supported lifetime, to a very new and fresh system which will give us much greater flexibility in how we can serve our members. We hope that the new system will be live in early 2016; for those who are interested the new system is called “Workbooks” and their website may be found at www.workbooks.com. We have also been testing our new members area, which is being renamed as “My EBU”; the test is publicly available at www.ebu.co.uk/members/v2. Please feel free to use it instead of using the members area. We will be replacing the members area with the new link very soon. “My EBU” provides far more information, including lots of extra detail regarding grading, particularly of team events, so it is well worth trying this out and at the same time, assisting with our testing.
As has already been communicated, October sees the advent of “EBUScore”, a rebadged version of Jeff Smith’s scoring software modules, after Jeff very generously donated the software to the EBU. This will be free of any licence costs to any affiliated club that wishes to use it. Files sent to us by existing software in use by affiliated clubs will remain accepted as long as the club wishes to use it.
In the next couple of months some of our legal events are likely to get closer to a conclusion, although the legal system being what it is, we cannot be sure of how long things will take. Our appeal against the way VAT is handled for our competitions has been referred to the European Court, as the tribunal here concluded that it was for them to determine precisely what was meant by the European VAT Directive. We do not have a date fixed for that hearing at this time. The second situation is regarding our Judicial Review of the definition of “sport” used by Sport England. That hearing date is set for September 22nd/23rd. The judgement for this hearing is likely to come well after the hearing.
The EBU is facing, as has become usual, a year of change. We have begun the process of changing our membership management system from one that is more than a decade old, and is at the end of it’s supported lifetime, to a very new and fresh system which will give us much greater flexibility in how we can serve our members. We hope that the new system will be live in early 2016; for those who are interested the new system is called “Workbooks” and their website may be found at www.workbooks.com. We have also been testing our new members area, which is being renamed as “My EBU”; the test is publicly available at www.ebu.co.uk/members/v2. Please feel free to use it instead of using the members area. We will be replacing the members area with the new link very soon. “My EBU” provides far more information, including lots of extra detail regarding grading, particularly of team events, so it is well worth trying this out and at the same time, assisting with our testing.
As has already been communicated, October sees the advent of “EBUScore”, a rebadged version of Jeff Smith’s scoring software modules, after Jeff very generously donated the software to the EBU. This will be free of any licence costs to any affiliated club that wishes to use it. Files sent to us by existing software in use by affiliated clubs will remain accepted as long as the club wishes to use it.
In the next couple of months some of our legal events are likely to get closer to a conclusion, although the legal system being what it is, we cannot be sure of how long things will take. Our appeal against the way VAT is handled for our competitions has been referred to the European Court, as the tribunal here concluded that it was for them to determine precisely what was meant by the European VAT Directive. We do not have a date fixed for that hearing at this time. The second situation is regarding our Judicial Review of the definition of “sport” used by Sport England. That hearing date is set for September 22nd/23rd. The judgement for this hearing is likely to come well after the hearing.
Wednesday, 8 April 2015
Blog #67 - An update
I am fast approaching the ninth anniversary of my time with the EBU and also a similar anniversary of writing my first blog. The frequency of my blogs has diminished over time, mainly because I have felt I have less to say, or at least less that is of interest to many! However, here I am, suddenly with a lot to say that may be interesting to a wide group of our members.
Once again we are engaged in change; change that involves technology and how we use it. We are in the early stages of replacing our entire membership management system, one that has served us for around 11 years and is now being retired by the company who designed it. We believe that it will be a change that enables another substantial step forward in our efficiency and our ability to provide the very best service for our members. It is too early to be precise, but we are aiming for an implementation of our new system before the end of 2015. This will involve a lot you won't see, as there will be many changes in our Aylesbury office; but there will also be a lot you will see as the members interface to our systems is about to change as well, offering many new opportunities for members to obtain “self service” for their needs. We will explain what is happening over the next few months as things begin to finalise.
We continue to consider how we can take advantage of technology with regard to our own competitions. We now utilise Pianola to deliver our results to our members with much greater speed and detail. We are also considering importing some other ideas for “instant reporting” of results on site, once again more information will be provided when we know when we can do it.
We have felt for a long time that we as a national bridge organisation should have within our own control a scoring system that we can not only use in our own competitions but make available to any of our counties, clubs or members that wish to use it. We will be able to announce such a system in the very near future!
Our National Grading System seems to be gaining popularity not just with our members, but other bridge federations and even some non bridge membership organisations. The NGS Software is very stable and now includes the grading of many team games. One of the future developments that will come as soon as we can do it, is to improve the visibility of NGS grades for teams so that members can see more detail about how team grades are calculated – basically by showing “Cross Imp” scores.
As you may have read, we are working hard to improve the finances of the organisation. Our ongoing challenge to the VAT authorities regarding VAT charged on our competitions reaches the next stage in July, when we have a hearing before the Second Tier VAT Tribunal. Should we be successful this would lead to a substantial financial benefit that would give us a very nice problem to consider. The last time that our game made an impression in the mass media was when we went to the First Tier Tribunal and lost, so it won't be too much of a surprise if the press picks up the story again fairly soon, remembering, of course, that legal decisions have a tendency to be slow in the making! If anyone is interested in how VAT appeals can go, take a look at the following link:- httpp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/14/letuseatzeroratedcakes . It discusses two court cases, one involving Jaffa Cakes, and one Marshmallow Cakes, involving Marks and Spencers. HMRC lost both of these cases after protracted legal proceedings; in both the court cases revolved around definitions! In our case the same situation exists, except replace "what is a cake?", with "what is a sport"!
Once again we are engaged in change; change that involves technology and how we use it. We are in the early stages of replacing our entire membership management system, one that has served us for around 11 years and is now being retired by the company who designed it. We believe that it will be a change that enables another substantial step forward in our efficiency and our ability to provide the very best service for our members. It is too early to be precise, but we are aiming for an implementation of our new system before the end of 2015. This will involve a lot you won't see, as there will be many changes in our Aylesbury office; but there will also be a lot you will see as the members interface to our systems is about to change as well, offering many new opportunities for members to obtain “self service” for their needs. We will explain what is happening over the next few months as things begin to finalise.
We continue to consider how we can take advantage of technology with regard to our own competitions. We now utilise Pianola to deliver our results to our members with much greater speed and detail. We are also considering importing some other ideas for “instant reporting” of results on site, once again more information will be provided when we know when we can do it.
We have felt for a long time that we as a national bridge organisation should have within our own control a scoring system that we can not only use in our own competitions but make available to any of our counties, clubs or members that wish to use it. We will be able to announce such a system in the very near future!
Our National Grading System seems to be gaining popularity not just with our members, but other bridge federations and even some non bridge membership organisations. The NGS Software is very stable and now includes the grading of many team games. One of the future developments that will come as soon as we can do it, is to improve the visibility of NGS grades for teams so that members can see more detail about how team grades are calculated – basically by showing “Cross Imp” scores.
As you may have read, we are working hard to improve the finances of the organisation. Our ongoing challenge to the VAT authorities regarding VAT charged on our competitions reaches the next stage in July, when we have a hearing before the Second Tier VAT Tribunal. Should we be successful this would lead to a substantial financial benefit that would give us a very nice problem to consider. The last time that our game made an impression in the mass media was when we went to the First Tier Tribunal and lost, so it won't be too much of a surprise if the press picks up the story again fairly soon, remembering, of course, that legal decisions have a tendency to be slow in the making! If anyone is interested in how VAT appeals can go, take a look at the following link:- httpp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/14/letuseatzeroratedcakes . It discusses two court cases, one involving Jaffa Cakes, and one Marshmallow Cakes, involving Marks and Spencers. HMRC lost both of these cases after protracted legal proceedings; in both the court cases revolved around definitions! In our case the same situation exists, except replace "what is a cake?", with "what is a sport"!
Sunday, 14 December 2014
Blog #66 -2015 fast approaching - Interesting times?
As we are fast approaching the festive season I would like to send the best wishes of all EBU staff for a happy festive season and a healthy New Year.
2015 has the promise of being interesting for the EBU; in July (yes, it takes ages) our appeal against VAT on competition bridge goes before the "Second Tier" Tribunal. While we have no guarantee of success, we are confident that we have a good case to put in front of this tribunal. The benefit to us, and thus our members, should we win, would be substantial.
At the same time we are pursuing an appeal with UK Sport, regarding the definition of Sport that they choose to use which is very different to other parts of officialdom. Once again, should we eventually meet with success in this area it could be of serious benefit to us.
We will keep you informed during 2015!
Barry Capal
2015 has the promise of being interesting for the EBU; in July (yes, it takes ages) our appeal against VAT on competition bridge goes before the "Second Tier" Tribunal. While we have no guarantee of success, we are confident that we have a good case to put in front of this tribunal. The benefit to us, and thus our members, should we win, would be substantial.
At the same time we are pursuing an appeal with UK Sport, regarding the definition of Sport that they choose to use which is very different to other parts of officialdom. Once again, should we eventually meet with success in this area it could be of serious benefit to us.
We will keep you informed during 2015!
Barry Capal
Thursday, 6 November 2014
Blog 65 - NGS (again) plus a couple of other things
We have now reached the point where the changes to NGS to allow team games to be graded have settled down. Users of the scoring software, Scorebridge, can now submit multiple teams events using the latest version, and it will be graded by NGS. However, it remains the case that if a club desires to grade Swiss Teams, it will be necessary to use SwissTeamScorer, currently available from here.
We are receiving a large number of queries regarding perceived anomalies with a particular day's result. In almost every case these questions are resolved by referring people to my previous blog 63. However, another thing that people miss is that if sessions are graded out of date sequence, which happens reasonably often, the grade people end up with sometimes looks wrong, but it actually isn't! It is always right.
If you want to check the sequence of sessions as graded, go to your "Sessions" list and click on the "*" character at the top right of that frame, and your sessions will then be shown in order of grading date, rather than playing date.
We will be improving the enquiry facilities for NGS during the next 6 months or so, which should improve member's abilities to solve their own problems.
Some of this work will be included in some important changes we need to make in our core computer systems over the next year or so, forced upon us by the need to keep up with constant changes in information technology. We are in the process of deciding what system we will use going forward and hope to have it live within a year from making that decision. We are also introducing changes to the "Member's Area" of the EBU website, to provide more and better information.
In other news, our associated charity, English Bridge Education and Development, has its own website, www.ebedcio.org.uk and it should be your first stop for anything about bridge education.
Finally, we have begun running a Really Easy Pairs event alongside some of our regular tournaments, and participation is growing nicely. At a recent event we had two clubs running the event alongside the one at the main tournament and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We will be running a Really Easy event at the "Year End" event in London. Why not try it?
We are receiving a large number of queries regarding perceived anomalies with a particular day's result. In almost every case these questions are resolved by referring people to my previous blog 63. However, another thing that people miss is that if sessions are graded out of date sequence, which happens reasonably often, the grade people end up with sometimes looks wrong, but it actually isn't! It is always right.
If you want to check the sequence of sessions as graded, go to your "Sessions" list and click on the "*" character at the top right of that frame, and your sessions will then be shown in order of grading date, rather than playing date.
We will be improving the enquiry facilities for NGS during the next 6 months or so, which should improve member's abilities to solve their own problems.
Some of this work will be included in some important changes we need to make in our core computer systems over the next year or so, forced upon us by the need to keep up with constant changes in information technology. We are in the process of deciding what system we will use going forward and hope to have it live within a year from making that decision. We are also introducing changes to the "Member's Area" of the EBU website, to provide more and better information.
In other news, our associated charity, English Bridge Education and Development, has its own website, www.ebedcio.org.uk and it should be your first stop for anything about bridge education.
Finally, we have begun running a Really Easy Pairs event alongside some of our regular tournaments, and participation is growing nicely. At a recent event we had two clubs running the event alongside the one at the main tournament and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We will be running a Really Easy event at the "Year End" event in London. Why not try it?
Friday, 13 June 2014
Blog #64 - More NGS news..
In the very near future we are going to be able to grade some team games for NGS. Swiss Teams and Multiple Teams will be graded and will be done by looking at the cross-imps (or butler imps) that the scoring program produces for the individual pairs. There will be some discipline necessary in Swiss Teams, such that if the orientation of a pair changes the TD will have to make some changes before the round is scored. The first team game graded will be the Scarborough teams event.
In order to accommodate the grading of teams we have had to specify an upgrade to the XML file format, which we call USEBIO XML - which stands for "Universal Standard for Exchange of Bridge Information Over XML", but we use USEBIO for ease. In any organisation technical advancement usually means that some existing standards need to change. In this case the XML file we need requires extra information from scoring programs. If your club does not wish to make team games acceptable to NGS then nothing has to be done as your existing scoring program will continue to have their files accepted by the EBU in what has become "the usual" way. However, it is worth reminding you that if you remain on what we now call version 1.0 you will be excluded from this advance and other technical advances as time goes by.
If you wish to move forward you will need to ensure that your scoring software provider produces files to the USEBIO 1.1 specification. They can contact our office for more detail as required (michael@ebu.co.uk).
At the time of writing only the JS suite of programs from Jeff Smith comply with USEBIO 1.1. If you wish to have team games graded or use other software that complies with USEBIO 1.1 you may need to switch to JS Software or ask your current supplier to upgrade their offering. Details of Jeff's software are available at this link - http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~jasmith
I hope this helps - please call or write to us if it is not clear enough for you.
In order to accommodate the grading of teams we have had to specify an upgrade to the XML file format, which we call USEBIO XML - which stands for "Universal Standard for Exchange of Bridge Information Over XML", but we use USEBIO for ease. In any organisation technical advancement usually means that some existing standards need to change. In this case the XML file we need requires extra information from scoring programs. If your club does not wish to make team games acceptable to NGS then nothing has to be done as your existing scoring program will continue to have their files accepted by the EBU in what has become "the usual" way. However, it is worth reminding you that if you remain on what we now call version 1.0 you will be excluded from this advance and other technical advances as time goes by.
If you wish to move forward you will need to ensure that your scoring software provider produces files to the USEBIO 1.1 specification. They can contact our office for more detail as required (michael@ebu.co.uk).
At the time of writing only the JS suite of programs from Jeff Smith comply with USEBIO 1.1. If you wish to have team games graded or use other software that complies with USEBIO 1.1 you may need to switch to JS Software or ask your current supplier to upgrade their offering. Details of Jeff's software are available at this link - http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~jasmith
I hope this helps - please call or write to us if it is not clear enough for you.
Monday, 17 March 2014
Blog 63 - How to avoid some common NGS problems
Judging by the number of queries we are getting and the number of times the NGS page on the website is accessed, the grading system is very popular. We are finding that there are a lot of problems arising that could be reduced if clubs and members take a little extra care.
The most general query we received is along the lines of “ I played at XYZ club three days ago, got a good score but it hasn't been graded”.
Invariably the answer is for one of these reasons:-
1. Your partner was not an EBU member, or their EBU number was not supplied; both members of a partnership must be EBU members for a session to count for them in the NGS.
2. The session was not available for grading (perhaps a teams game). See below though for information about teams games.
3. There were insufficient EBU members playing in that session.
..and the latest fairly regular problem…
4. A player visits a club and is already an EBU member, but the club submits the session with them down as a “Visitor”, which they are to the club, but not to us! The session, as in 1 above, is not graded.
Members; please remember to quote your EBU number every time you play, wherever that may be. Check your results have been graded fairly soon after the event. The results are processed for grading as soon as we get them now, so often that is the day after the session was played. If there is an error it can be corrected only by the club submitting a revised result file. If you wait too long to get the corrections made it may be too late to get the session correctly graded.
Clubs; when you have a visitor to your club, please make sure to ask if they are an EBU member and obtain and use that number in your results submission if they are a member of the EBU, even if not a member of your club. Also, if you use electronic scoring devices, use the EBU number for registration, rather than an "In house" number; this will make it easier for visiting EBU members to register correctly. Please submit your file as soon as possible after the session, preferably at the same time as you update your website.
Mentors and Hosts; please remember that only one person is allowed to be omitted from grading per session and then, only if that is agreed before the session is played; please remember that both players in the partnership will have results will be excluded.
We are awaiting some changes in Bridgemate software before we are able to implement the inclusion of team events into NGS; this will hopefully happen in the next couple of months and will include multiple teams events and Swiss Teams.
Sunday, 8 December 2013
Blog 62: Another year older...
This year has been one of change as has become usual over the last few years. We said goodbye to Sally Bugden as Chairman for the past five years and hello to our new Chairman, Jeremy Dhondy. Earlier in 2013 we implemented our new web site, based upon a very comprehensive content management system, which seems to be working very well. We don't believe it is perfect (yet), but it is a great improvement on what we had before, and we will continue to tweak it during the forthcoming year.
One major change just implemented is the way we deal with members' passwords. When we started the "members area", we chose to maintain members' passwords in a form that we can all understand. This was a "follow-on" from the way our previous computer system did things and also so we could provide as much help as humanly possible to people who are not very computer literate. However, as the cyber world seems totally obsessed with obtaining personal information via the internet we have decided that we need to "hash" our passwords so that they cannot be intercepted. (N.B. "Hashing" is like encryption, but is one way only). We do understand that the average cyber crook is not hugely concerned whether or not you got more than 50% in last night's game or whether you earned twenty or thirty master points. What they want is your password, as many people (wrongly) use the same password for many different web sites. This change means that we will no longer be able to assist members who forget or lose their passwords. Instead, there is an email mechanism which automates the password replacement process. If you do not wish to divulge your email address to us you must use an anonymous email facility (we will provide guidance) or a friends email; otherwise your members area will not be accessible to you. For those that worry about these things, if you provide us with your email address but do not want to receive emails from us, you can set an appropriate indicator in your own members area. It is worth noting that your current password, as far as you are concerned, remains unchanged.
Another change coming soon, is an addition to NGS that will allow us to grade some team games, Multiple Teams to start, and Swiss Teams when we get the changes we need to Bridgemate software. Full details of the changes will be made available when we are ready to launch.
Those of you who play in EBU events will know that we have started to use Pianola to report our own tournament results. We will be deepening our integration with Pianola during the next twelve months to improve our results service further.
One of the most gratifying things that we have seen in 2013 is the relatively high growth of new and returning clubs. We have a net growth of 14 clubs so far this year, with another starting their re-affiliation to us in January, and with more clubs working through the process as well and likely to join next year.
During this year we have also increased our online presence, with new EBU licensed games taking place on BBO and full master point awards. We have also been running a trial "online" knockout competition to get people used to that way of playing and we hope that this may encourage teams in the more remote parts of the country to participate in knockout events, which they may not do now because of the expense and time required in travelling. Full details of these games may be found on our web site.
This year has also seen us publish English Bridge online, which is slowly being used by our members. During the next year we hope to extend the online presence of the magazine by making it available on various tablet devices. We have also started archiving some of our oldest papers and magazines, so that we can save these items for posterity, and at the same time make them accessible in a manner that has not previously been the case. The eagle eyed among you may have seen a few of our oldest available magazines are now available to be read online - more will come in the next twelve months.
With the holiday season almost upon us, on behalf of all of my staff, I would like to wish you a great holiday season and a Happy New Year!
One major change just implemented is the way we deal with members' passwords. When we started the "members area", we chose to maintain members' passwords in a form that we can all understand. This was a "follow-on" from the way our previous computer system did things and also so we could provide as much help as humanly possible to people who are not very computer literate. However, as the cyber world seems totally obsessed with obtaining personal information via the internet we have decided that we need to "hash" our passwords so that they cannot be intercepted. (N.B. "Hashing" is like encryption, but is one way only). We do understand that the average cyber crook is not hugely concerned whether or not you got more than 50% in last night's game or whether you earned twenty or thirty master points. What they want is your password, as many people (wrongly) use the same password for many different web sites. This change means that we will no longer be able to assist members who forget or lose their passwords. Instead, there is an email mechanism which automates the password replacement process. If you do not wish to divulge your email address to us you must use an anonymous email facility (we will provide guidance) or a friends email; otherwise your members area will not be accessible to you. For those that worry about these things, if you provide us with your email address but do not want to receive emails from us, you can set an appropriate indicator in your own members area. It is worth noting that your current password, as far as you are concerned, remains unchanged.
Another change coming soon, is an addition to NGS that will allow us to grade some team games, Multiple Teams to start, and Swiss Teams when we get the changes we need to Bridgemate software. Full details of the changes will be made available when we are ready to launch.
Those of you who play in EBU events will know that we have started to use Pianola to report our own tournament results. We will be deepening our integration with Pianola during the next twelve months to improve our results service further.
One of the most gratifying things that we have seen in 2013 is the relatively high growth of new and returning clubs. We have a net growth of 14 clubs so far this year, with another starting their re-affiliation to us in January, and with more clubs working through the process as well and likely to join next year.
During this year we have also increased our online presence, with new EBU licensed games taking place on BBO and full master point awards. We have also been running a trial "online" knockout competition to get people used to that way of playing and we hope that this may encourage teams in the more remote parts of the country to participate in knockout events, which they may not do now because of the expense and time required in travelling. Full details of these games may be found on our web site.
This year has also seen us publish English Bridge online, which is slowly being used by our members. During the next year we hope to extend the online presence of the magazine by making it available on various tablet devices. We have also started archiving some of our oldest papers and magazines, so that we can save these items for posterity, and at the same time make them accessible in a manner that has not previously been the case. The eagle eyed among you may have seen a few of our oldest available magazines are now available to be read online - more will come in the next twelve months.
With the holiday season almost upon us, on behalf of all of my staff, I would like to wish you a great holiday season and a Happy New Year!
Monday, 28 October 2013
Blog 61 - Not been on for a while...
Like most organisations, changes happen from time to time. In ours, we have just gone through a change of Chairman and Vice Chairman and we in Aylesbury are getting used to a different set of “bosses”. All pretty well known to us though, so not too difficult for either side, I hope!
I would like to address the very unfortunate delay in the delivery of our diaries. We ordered our diaries in very good time for delivery with the October magazine, at roughly the middle of September. During the journey from China the ship had an on board fire – something that no person can predict. Fortunately, no one on the ship nor our diaries were hurt or damaged, and after repairs the ship arrived in the UK in early October, well after the magazines were delivered. Clearly, this was an unwanted problem for us, and very unsatisfactory for those of our members who use the EBU diary heavily. We considered sending the diaries out directly to members, but the cost would have been hugely prohibitive. Each diary, packed in an envelope that would prevent damage to the diary, would have cost £1.10 per diary, plus staff costs. With well over 40,000 being delivered it is easy arithmetic to see why this was a non starter. Although lightning rarely strikes twice, we are taking action to attempt to prevent any delays next year. The diaries will be delivered to us a month earlier.
As a footnote, we purchased our diaries from Collins-Debden, one of the largest providers of diaries in the UK. They have their own company in China and the vast majority of their diaries are printed there.
We have just about reached the point where we will be switching off our old website for good. We are also working on ensuring that we have an electronic archive of our results, as far back as we can. Alert members will have noted that we have added more very old EBU publications to the web site, something that we will be continuing to do into the future. As many of you will be aware, we are now providing access to the latest magazines as well, but only via your member’s area. We are also investigating allowing the magazine to be downloaded to tablets, such as the IPAD and Nexus 7.
We have some good news on the affiliation front; this year has seen a number of clubs join for the first time or rejoin since they left prior to Universal Membership. We are hoping for a few more in the near future as well.
Peter Stockdale, our new Communications Officer started a few weeks ago and he is always anxious to help with publicity if it is in our power to do so. He can be contacted by email at peter.stockdale@ebu.co.uk.
I would like to address the very unfortunate delay in the delivery of our diaries. We ordered our diaries in very good time for delivery with the October magazine, at roughly the middle of September. During the journey from China the ship had an on board fire – something that no person can predict. Fortunately, no one on the ship nor our diaries were hurt or damaged, and after repairs the ship arrived in the UK in early October, well after the magazines were delivered. Clearly, this was an unwanted problem for us, and very unsatisfactory for those of our members who use the EBU diary heavily. We considered sending the diaries out directly to members, but the cost would have been hugely prohibitive. Each diary, packed in an envelope that would prevent damage to the diary, would have cost £1.10 per diary, plus staff costs. With well over 40,000 being delivered it is easy arithmetic to see why this was a non starter. Although lightning rarely strikes twice, we are taking action to attempt to prevent any delays next year. The diaries will be delivered to us a month earlier.
As a footnote, we purchased our diaries from Collins-Debden, one of the largest providers of diaries in the UK. They have their own company in China and the vast majority of their diaries are printed there.
We have just about reached the point where we will be switching off our old website for good. We are also working on ensuring that we have an electronic archive of our results, as far back as we can. Alert members will have noted that we have added more very old EBU publications to the web site, something that we will be continuing to do into the future. As many of you will be aware, we are now providing access to the latest magazines as well, but only via your member’s area. We are also investigating allowing the magazine to be downloaded to tablets, such as the IPAD and Nexus 7.
We have some good news on the affiliation front; this year has seen a number of clubs join for the first time or rejoin since they left prior to Universal Membership. We are hoping for a few more in the near future as well.
Peter Stockdale, our new Communications Officer started a few weeks ago and he is always anxious to help with publicity if it is in our power to do so. He can be contacted by email at peter.stockdale@ebu.co.uk.
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
Blog 60 - A new website (yes, at last)
I am pleased to say that after a long wait, and a lot of work, our new website will be hitting the streets fairly soon.
The new site has been designed using a content management system, called DRUPAL (www.drupal.org) for those that want to know. This type of facility places updating more in the hands of the people that are best able to deal with the detail.
You will notice quite a lot of changes, especially in how the screen is organised. We have carried across some of the more modern aspects, including the members area, but there are many other very welcome changes, especially with searching, which will actually deliver meaningful search results now!
Once the new web pages are made live the full migration will still take a considerable time, as we have very many pages of information to migrate from our current web site, and even a previous iteration. We will provide links direct from our new website to the old one, but access will continue to be via the usual URL - www.ebu.co.uk.
It is likely that we will have some errors, particularly with broken links; if you find any please let us know, NOT by telephone, but by sending an email to webmaster@ebu.co.uk. If a link is broken and your enquiry is urgent, I would suggest that you simply link to the old website from the link on the home page of the new one.
Please be patient, migrating a website is a very long winded process, which we will do as quickly and efficiently as possible. Keep a look out on this website (the old one) for notice of the exact date we will change over!
The new site has been designed using a content management system, called DRUPAL (www.drupal.org) for those that want to know. This type of facility places updating more in the hands of the people that are best able to deal with the detail.
You will notice quite a lot of changes, especially in how the screen is organised. We have carried across some of the more modern aspects, including the members area, but there are many other very welcome changes, especially with searching, which will actually deliver meaningful search results now!
Once the new web pages are made live the full migration will still take a considerable time, as we have very many pages of information to migrate from our current web site, and even a previous iteration. We will provide links direct from our new website to the old one, but access will continue to be via the usual URL - www.ebu.co.uk.
It is likely that we will have some errors, particularly with broken links; if you find any please let us know, NOT by telephone, but by sending an email to webmaster@ebu.co.uk. If a link is broken and your enquiry is urgent, I would suggest that you simply link to the old website from the link on the home page of the new one.
Please be patient, migrating a website is a very long winded process, which we will do as quickly and efficiently as possible. Keep a look out on this website (the old one) for notice of the exact date we will change over!
Monday, 11 March 2013
Blog 59 - Another NGS Update
A while ago I updated you on some changes that we were going to make. As the time is now approaching a further update is worthwhile, especially as we have added something additional. After three years of grading sessions for the National Grading System, a number of changes are being introduced at the beginning of April this year.
The most significant is that the maximum number of boards used to calculate your grade will increase from 1000 to 2000 (around 80 typical sessions). This will reduce the effect that any single session has on your grade and will mean that your grade will have smaller fluctuations.
Green pointed events, and other EBU or national events, currently are weighted triple compared to other events of the same number of boards. Since these events typically mix players from different clubs and areas, the extra weight helps the standardization of grades across the whole of the EBU, very important in the early years of NGS. It is now appropriate to reduce this extra weight from triple to double. All other events will have the normal single weighting.
The NGS has always intended to include only events that took place within the last three years in calculating your grade. Since the first graded events were in April 2010, these old events will start to be excluded from your grade from April 2013 even if you have played less than 2000 boards in the last three years.
Your grade will continue to be regarded as "Mature" if you have played over 1000 boards in the last three years and "Evolving" if you have played between 300 and 999 boards in the period. If you have played fewer than 300 graded boards in the last three years, your tentative grade is not published.
The additional change mentioned above concerns the 15% of EBU members who play as a pair nearly all their graded games with each other. We are adding a mechanism to pull the grades of such pairs closer to each other. This is a gradual mechanism which will take typically another 2000 boards to have a significant effect, so don't expect any sudden change. It will have no effect on you unless you and your regular partner have both played over 85% of the boards contributing to your grades with each other.
For more details on these changes, we will add to the NGS FAQ on the website and to the 'further reading' document in the next few weeks.
The most significant is that the maximum number of boards used to calculate your grade will increase from 1000 to 2000 (around 80 typical sessions). This will reduce the effect that any single session has on your grade and will mean that your grade will have smaller fluctuations.
Green pointed events, and other EBU or national events, currently are weighted triple compared to other events of the same number of boards. Since these events typically mix players from different clubs and areas, the extra weight helps the standardization of grades across the whole of the EBU, very important in the early years of NGS. It is now appropriate to reduce this extra weight from triple to double. All other events will have the normal single weighting.
The NGS has always intended to include only events that took place within the last three years in calculating your grade. Since the first graded events were in April 2010, these old events will start to be excluded from your grade from April 2013 even if you have played less than 2000 boards in the last three years.
Your grade will continue to be regarded as "Mature" if you have played over 1000 boards in the last three years and "Evolving" if you have played between 300 and 999 boards in the period. If you have played fewer than 300 graded boards in the last three years, your tentative grade is not published.
The additional change mentioned above concerns the 15% of EBU members who play as a pair nearly all their graded games with each other. We are adding a mechanism to pull the grades of such pairs closer to each other. This is a gradual mechanism which will take typically another 2000 boards to have a significant effect, so don't expect any sudden change. It will have no effect on you unless you and your regular partner have both played over 85% of the boards contributing to your grades with each other.
For more details on these changes, we will add to the NGS FAQ on the website and to the 'further reading' document in the next few weeks.
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
Blog 58 - Good things are happening!
It is almost three years since Universal Membership for EBU clubs came into force - April 1st 2010 will forever be etched into my brain...
One of the principal reasons for UM was to reinvigorate our bridge clubs and this, by all accounts, is happening in many places. There are more people playing club bridge than there were in the year 2010-2011; indeed the numbers have gone up each year. This we know for sure, as we now have a growing and comprehensive database of all games played at our clubs and our various events, whether at county or national level. We will soon have details about league games as well, especially when the results are submitted using our League Management System, which came into use for the current "league season".
This past few months has seen a number clubs either return to affiliation or become affiliated for the first time and we are delighted to welcome the following clubs -
During the past couple of years we have trained well over 200 club based teachers and loads of club tournament directors, taking advantage of the development schemes we have in place for our affiliated clubs.
Our regional and national club committees are now firmly established and they are getting involved and consulted about the policies and development of our clubs.
So please make the most of your affiliation, and if you are reading this and your club isn't affiliated, please get in touch with Andrew Urbanski our Club Liaison Officer (andrew@ebu.co.uk) who will be able to take you through all the benefits including security for your club players through our regulation and mediation services, corporate governance assistance through our model club constitution and many great offers and discounts at the EBU shop – providing all you need to play bridge and more.
A lot has changed since this all started!
One of the principal reasons for UM was to reinvigorate our bridge clubs and this, by all accounts, is happening in many places. There are more people playing club bridge than there were in the year 2010-2011; indeed the numbers have gone up each year. This we know for sure, as we now have a growing and comprehensive database of all games played at our clubs and our various events, whether at county or national level. We will soon have details about league games as well, especially when the results are submitted using our League Management System, which came into use for the current "league season".
This past few months has seen a number clubs either return to affiliation or become affiliated for the first time and we are delighted to welcome the following clubs -
- Manchester University affiliated 25/09/1012
- Thistleworth Lawn Tennis BC 11/10/2012
- Rugby BC 16/11/2012
- 10CC BC 18/12/2012
- Haslemere and Grayswood 01/04/2013 ( i.e. in the new year commencing from April 1st)
During the past couple of years we have trained well over 200 club based teachers and loads of club tournament directors, taking advantage of the development schemes we have in place for our affiliated clubs.
Our regional and national club committees are now firmly established and they are getting involved and consulted about the policies and development of our clubs.
So please make the most of your affiliation, and if you are reading this and your club isn't affiliated, please get in touch with Andrew Urbanski our Club Liaison Officer (andrew@ebu.co.uk) who will be able to take you through all the benefits including security for your club players through our regulation and mediation services, corporate governance assistance through our model club constitution and many great offers and discounts at the EBU shop – providing all you need to play bridge and more.
A lot has changed since this all started!
Saturday, 1 December 2012
Blog 57– Catch up…and Seasons Greetings
After nine months of the “live” National Grading System, we will be making some changes in 2013. A number of people had commented that the NGS grades were “too volatile”. In fact, the volatility is there for a reason – that is to help even out the grades across the whole EBU, using a process we call “diffusion”.
The NGS team have now discussed how things are going and have decided that from April 2013 we will make changes to the NGS calculations as follows:-
1. We will increase the maximum boards used in the calculation of a grade to 2000 and leave the NGS “gain factor” at 2 for the time being, so that we can see the effect of these reductions to variability before committing to gain = 1.5. This will roughly halve the effect one session has on a player’s current grade, and decreases the rate at which older results are discounted.
2. There will be a one-off effect for all players, when NGS first recalculates a grade based on the new maximum number of boards. This effect should be relatively small and may be either up or down. Sessions over three years old will be excluded from the calculations, as has been planned from the outset of NGS. Players’ grades will continue to be regarded as mature once they have played 1000 graded boards. These changes will also be applied to partnership grades.
3. We will reduce the weighting of Green Pointed and other EBU events even if not Green Pointed from triple weight to double weight. All other events will be weighted normally. This will not affect events which have been already graded. NGS will of course continue to take account of the (usually high) strength of opponents in such events.
4. New players’ grades will be set at 42 – this has already been implemented.
We are still considering how we can include some team games within the NGS grading structure and hopefully we can do something about this during the next year.
I am also pleased to say that Scorebridge and PairsScorer, our two most commonly used club scoring programs, are now just about ready to utilise up to date NGS grades for handicapping. If you want to use this new facility I suggest you contact them as you will need to update your software. If you use any other scoring program and the author wishes to include the same facilities, please contact our office for details.
Other matters; many of you will be as pleased to hear (as we are) that we have started work on a brand new website. We are using a well known “content management system” to build the new facility and this will make many things much easier, including searching the site. It will be at least March 2013 before this sees the light of day, and even then it will not be complete as we have tens of thousands of pages of data to consider importing to the new site, which is a far from trivial exercise.
We are delighted that we have recently welcomed back Rugby Bridge Club into the ranks of our club affiliates and that there are two or three more in various stages of rejoining the EBU. During the last couple of years we have trained over 800 club tournament directors and well over 200 club teachers and the number of “player sessions” being played in our clubs is continuing to increase, which is a very healthy sign for the future of our game. Our club “re-invigoration” programme seems to be working!
With Christmas and the New Year bearing down upon us fast I would like to wish everybody the very best seasons greeting and a Happy New Year. At the same time I would like to thank all of our volunteers for the amazing amount of work that they put into our game at all levels and especially thank my staff for another very hard years work.
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Blog 56 - 75th Anniversary Simultaneous Event
As you have hopefully seen on our home page and through our social media channels, we are celebrating our 75th year in one final flourish with a special set of Simultaneous Pairs events next month. So that everyone can have a go, we will be playing on the weekdays of Tuesday 8th to Friday 11th May and Monday 14th May 2012.
I am really looking forward to taking part in the Simultaneous Pairs, because I’ve seen all the work that the team have put in to it (although only at a glance, or otherwise I would not be able to play!), and it sounds very interesting. It will be fun seeing how we do compared to how things were done 75 years ago - it was a pretty "convention free" environment I would think. For this reason we have produced special 75th anniversary booklets which will be available at your club after the game.
It has been an interesting 75th year especially with our brand new National Grading System kicking in a couple of months ago. I am very proud to have been involved in so many aspects of this great celebratory year.
Please sign up your club today, and help us to celebrate our anniversary in style! Sign up as your club here: https://www.ebu.co.uk/members/
PS - While you are at it, clubs can sign up for our future SIMS at any time. If you are not sure how, please call our office and someone will guide you through it!
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Blog 55 - Simultaneous events - SIMS now "in house"
After two successful trial runs, the last with 114 clubs playing, from April 1st 2012 the English Bridge Union is administering its own Sim Pairs events and the British Simultaneous Pairs (formerly known as BGB Sim Pairs).
For the Sims to be more accessible, we will be making most of them available on five days of the week with a different set of hands on each day. So clubs can offer one session each day in either the morning, afternoon or evening – but not all three! If your club plays just once a week, you won’t have to miss out due to the Sims being on the wrong days.
In order to streamline the process and save on postage and printing, we are moving as much administration as possible online. If you have seen the latest price increases coming from Royal Mail, you will understand why this is a good idea! Once you have indicated that you wish to play, all necessary files and documentation will be available for clubs to download from the EBU website. The entry fee has been reduced to £2.50 per player (except for the Stratified EBU Sims where the fee is £2). This is for provision of electronic commentary, booklets, travellers and hand records. Paper commentary booklets can be provided by post on request at £8 per pack of 20 booklets. Normal P2P rates apply as well.
These events are open to all EBU affiliated clubs, but club heats must be of at least three tables, and each player must play at least 18 boards. Affiliated clubs that wish to participate should register online via their EBU Members Area.
Why not look at your Club Calendar of Events now to see if you wish to take part in any additional events. Club players looking to improve their game really appreciate the commentaries and, if they do well, they benefit from the enhanced Master Points available to the top third of the field, which include Green Points if you do REALLY well.
• Full Instructions and Sims Calendar for Clubs
Contact Ian Mitchell on Ian@ebu.co.uk for more information.
For the Sims to be more accessible, we will be making most of them available on five days of the week with a different set of hands on each day. So clubs can offer one session each day in either the morning, afternoon or evening – but not all three! If your club plays just once a week, you won’t have to miss out due to the Sims being on the wrong days.
In order to streamline the process and save on postage and printing, we are moving as much administration as possible online. If you have seen the latest price increases coming from Royal Mail, you will understand why this is a good idea! Once you have indicated that you wish to play, all necessary files and documentation will be available for clubs to download from the EBU website. The entry fee has been reduced to £2.50 per player (except for the Stratified EBU Sims where the fee is £2). This is for provision of electronic commentary, booklets, travellers and hand records. Paper commentary booklets can be provided by post on request at £8 per pack of 20 booklets. Normal P2P rates apply as well.
These events are open to all EBU affiliated clubs, but club heats must be of at least three tables, and each player must play at least 18 boards. Affiliated clubs that wish to participate should register online via their EBU Members Area.
Why not look at your Club Calendar of Events now to see if you wish to take part in any additional events. Club players looking to improve their game really appreciate the commentaries and, if they do well, they benefit from the enhanced Master Points available to the top third of the field, which include Green Points if you do REALLY well.
• Full Instructions and Sims Calendar for Clubs
Contact Ian Mitchell on Ian@ebu.co.uk for more information.
Friday, 2 March 2012
Blog 54 - NGS Takes off
I am delighted and proud to announce that the EBU's long awaited National Grading System is now ready for the world to see! Having said that, it has all happened in something of a rush, so we are not quite as ready on the web site as we would have liked, but we are not waiting any longer.
If you go to your members area, and clear your browser cache (check with your browser's help to see how), you will see new information about your NGS grade. There is much more navigation information available at this link.
which will hopefully answer all of your navigational questions. Club administrators have extra information available in the Club's members area.
The point we have reached is the culmination of more than three years work, mainly by our volunteers, and I am delighted to say that this new grading system puts us in the forefront of the world's bridge federations, few of which have such a facility but most of which would like one! I have been continually thanking our volunteers for the huge efforts they have made in getting us where we are today, but I must once again thank Mike Christie who has developed the software and the associated database using the technology base that was put in place by our own Michael Clark for the universal membership development. Thanks also to the scoring system software providers who have helped us along the way.
It is quite possible, indeed almost certain, that some of our members will find little gremlins; if that happens please send your comments or questions to ngsqueries@ebu.co.uk.
Finally, the project suffered some body blows during its development with the passing of Dr John Carter who was Chairman of the Working Group and the serious illness of John Probst, who provided large amounts of technical input before he was unable to continue.
I am quite sure that John is looking down on us with a big beaming smile today...
If you go to your members area, and clear your browser cache (check with your browser's help to see how), you will see new information about your NGS grade. There is much more navigation information available at this link.
which will hopefully answer all of your navigational questions. Club administrators have extra information available in the Club's members area.
The point we have reached is the culmination of more than three years work, mainly by our volunteers, and I am delighted to say that this new grading system puts us in the forefront of the world's bridge federations, few of which have such a facility but most of which would like one! I have been continually thanking our volunteers for the huge efforts they have made in getting us where we are today, but I must once again thank Mike Christie who has developed the software and the associated database using the technology base that was put in place by our own Michael Clark for the universal membership development. Thanks also to the scoring system software providers who have helped us along the way.
It is quite possible, indeed almost certain, that some of our members will find little gremlins; if that happens please send your comments or questions to ngsqueries@ebu.co.uk.
Finally, the project suffered some body blows during its development with the passing of Dr John Carter who was Chairman of the Working Group and the serious illness of John Probst, who provided large amounts of technical input before he was unable to continue.
I am quite sure that John is looking down on us with a big beaming smile today...
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Blog 53 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
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.
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
BLOG 52 Sims 2012; Price Reduction confirmed at £2.50
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.
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.
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Blog 51 - Simultaneous Pairs
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 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.
Please note that by "free" we mean free of a Sim Pairs charge. The sessions will still incur a regular P2P charge.
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.
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