ALTRINCHAM BRIDGE CLUB
NEWSLETTER ISSUE
28 April 2006
Now that we have settled so nicely into St Peter’s
Assembly Rooms, there has been a dearth
of fresh news and it is over two years since I wrote the last newsletter. However,
“all of a sudden” , several things have happened and I thought that this
warranted our 28th newsletter.
APPLICATION
FOR CLUB MEMBERSHIP.
Over the last few months, there have been 30
applications for membership, which has raised the membership to a record total
of 258 members. Along with all these new
members has come the obvious increase in table numbers on all three evenings
and we have had 16 and 17 tables only a week ago. Our bridge hall can, at a pinch, accommodate
17/18 tables maximum but it is then extremely crowded, with little space to
move and your committee do not wish to have more than 15 tables on an evening.
The situation has been added to because of two other
factors. First, one club who meet nearby
on two evenings in the week has just closed.
Another club, not too far away is having problems with either a new
lease or finding new premises and until this is resolved there could be some of
their members playing at our club.
At a committee meeting on 3rd April, your committee
very reluctantly, introduced a new bye-law forming a waiting list for all new
applications and restricting guests to a maximum of six visits in any period of
twelve months. This bye-law will be reviewed
after six months.
BRIDGEMATE.
Two months ago, your committee discussed the
Bridgemate scoring system and decided to introduce it at our Club. We have bought the necessary supplies, held
several training sessions for the steering group and hope to have it up and
running by the start of May. Some of you
will have blank faces by now, so let me say a little about the system.
Basically, there is a small unit kept on every table
and instead of filling in a traveller, North inputs the results into this small
unit. Every time a result is placed
into a unit it transfers the result by radio waves to one server (about the
size of a reading book). This server,
in turn, inputs the results into a computer and at the end of the evening, the
final results’ sheet is available for all to see within a few seconds.
The final results from this computer are extremely
easy to place on the web site and far
more information than you would imagine is then visible on our web pages.
SMALL SIDE TABLES.
The Club has also purchased 14 small tables which go
at the side of the bridge table and between two players. There were several reasons for getting these
tables, We have had about six full coffee mugs knocked over in the last 6
months and two of them have been over a player’s arms and clothes. Fortunately the mild scolds went after
running cold water over the arm for ten minutes, but it could have been
serious. Also, the tops of tables are
quite crowded and the new Bridgemate units and mugs etc may now be placed on
the side tables. Please use the tables,
but do not leave your empty mugs on them – return them to the kitchen !!
TUESDAY EVENINGS.
The attendance and enthusiasm at Tuesday evenings
has really taken off. The number of
application forms for players intending to play virtually always on a Tuesday
has increased dramatically. This, in
turn, has led to a large increase in the number of tables and it is not unusual
to have 14 tables in use.
Two
“Tuesday” evening players have
agreed to be co-opted onto the Club committee and we now also have three
players who are able to share the scoring.
There are also four players who are willing to organise and run the
movement. All this has come about in the
last year and it augurs well for our Tuesday evening bridge.
There is obviously an untapped market of players who
wish to play duplicate bridge in a more informal, relaxed way and playing 18 to
20 boards in the evening.
A NEW SYSTEM OF ANNOUNCING AND ALERTING.
The English Bridge Union, to whom we are affiliated,
has a book of Laws (100 pages), an Orange
book explaining the Laws in more detail (55 pages) and a White book Guide for
Directors, explaining the Laws even further ( this is a mere 159 pages! ).
Every few years, the Orange book, which is mainly
about bidding and permitted conventions (the four system levels) is revised and
we are told that it is to “make life
easier for all bridge players…. and will help the less experienced players “ We
are also asked to have an open mind and
“ I am sure you will find them beneficial “ So speaks the Chairman of the EBU Laws
committee. The revision is due out in
a few months and the EBU is hoping that the counties will hold seminars to
explain the changes and expects that club directors will be able to explain the
changes to club members!!
Without going into detail, the main change is that
during the bidding there will be some alerts as at present, but there will also
be announcements by the player’s partner of the meaning of some bids as they
are made. All the information will be in
leaflets from the EBU available to all Clubs (but not yet published). There is to be no change in the use of
bidding boxes.
Speaking from a personal point of view, the older I
get the more I look with derision at the way we are regulated at bridge, not
just with a Law book, but with countless rules and regulations and changes
every four years or so. If you look at
page 11 in the EBU April magazine, you will see that I am not alone in my
views.
COURSE FOR NEW DIRECTORS.
If this is held, it will be an in-house course on
four consecutive Wednesday evenings from
8pm to 9.30pm.
The object of this course is to provide simple
knowledge of Directing and it is not meant in any way to cover all the material
that is in an EBU course.
At the end of the course, you should be able run a
movement and be able to rule on the five or so most common errors that occur at
our Club bridge evenings. Scoring will
not be considered.
There is an information sheet on the notice board
and spaces for names
For those of you who wish to take Directing further,
do not forget that the Club will pay your fees for every EBU course you go
on. All you will have to pay is the
travelling expenses and these need not be much if you chose a local venue.
CAR ONE WAY SYSTEM.
No matter how many times I put a comment in a
newsletter about the one way system in operation in the car park, I still see
players driving out the wrong way and ignoring the one way signs. I just cannot understand why this happens.
If you have any sort of accident on the pavement or
the road, driving out at the wrong entrance, I imagine that your car insurance
will certainly not be valid. I leave
you with the thought that pedestrian claims can be reckoned in hundreds of
thousands of pounds!
SIMULTANEOUS PAIRS.
We continue to hold a heat four times each
year. The two heats on Wednesdays have,
in five years, been viable so far ( with one exception) but could do with more
players participating. Please make
every effort to support a Wednesday evening heat – surely out of 258 members we
can get more than 24 turning up.
The next heat will be held on Monday evening, 24th
July.
Your committee is going to discuss the idea of
starting duplicate bridge on a regular basis on a Wednesday evening. It may well be that we will put a sheet on
the notice board and see what support there is for it by the number of attached
names.
With the large increase in our membership, the
introduction of a waiting list, and other possible sources of members, the time
could be ripe for us to expand to another evening.
I am a firm believer that you should never stand
still and make no progress! The crux of
the matter is just how and in what way, you try to progress. We are bringing in Bridgemate scoring
(already in use at over 1,000 clubs and National events); we have a quantity of
side tables for the convenience of members; a short Directors’ course is
envisaged; help has gone into Tuesday night bridge in training three scorers
and four directors of movements; and now we are looking at the possible
introduction of Wednesday evening bridge.
PLACINGS IN RECENT COMPETITIONS.
Ann Edwards and Anna Drysdale came third in the Open
Pairs of the Simultaneous Pairs at
Ian Kane, David Olliver, Ken Hassell, Mike Asher,
Raymond Semp, Barry Davies combined in
different ways have had a series of top class results. Between them they came 2nd in the Pairs &
3rd in the Teams at the N. Wales Congress; 3rd in the Manchester Congress
Teams; 4th in the Risley Teams; 4th round in the Crockford/Silver Plate/Nicko
National; 1st in the MCBA Higson Plate
& 2nd in the Gazette Cup (with Ann Jordan, Elise Ford, Eric Rose, Ken
Hughes). Again, well done to all of
them.
LILIAN DRINKWATER.
Lilian died in January 2006. At 97 years old, she was the oldest member
of our Club & had been a member since the start of the Club.
Lilian was never happier than when she was helping
the Club in some way. I remember her,
back in the days when the Club started & had a very tight budget, running
up & making about 15 cloths for the bridge tables. Among her many other good deeds, she also ran
the bridge on a Tuesday evening for many years.
Space does not permit me to do justice to her
helpful, pleasant & enthustiastic nature.
All I can say is: “Lilian, you
will be missed.”
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