Sally Bugden: Vice Chairman EBU &
Chairman of Editorial Board - English Bridge

I was born in 1958 in Shepherds Bush, West London where I lived happily with my family and several dozen pet animals until I left grammar school in 1976.  I didn't want to go to university and started working at the BBC, our local employer, until I raised enough money to go to Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and train as a stage manager.  I had the great pleasure of stage managing my fellow students including Jenny Seagrove, Amanda Redman and Daniel Day Lewis. The great thing about theatre is that everyone works together as a team, you are all dependent on each other for the success of the show - I have emulated this method of working ever since.

I met my first husband in 1980 and had twin daughters. The marriage was short-lived and before I knew it I was a single mum with the responsibilities of bringing up babies and earning a living.  I went to City University and did a few postgraduate courses on marketing the arts and then found myself a job as the public relations officer for the British Theatre Association - home of the nation's theatre library, publisher of Drama magazine and a theatre training organisation with a membership that ranged from all the television companies to many small amateur theatres, individual actors, directors, academics and students.  I became director of the organisation after a few years and I fought the then Conservative government when it removed all our funding. 

During this period  I was approached by the recently merged firm of chartered accountants Baker Tilly who asked me to join them as their  director of marketing, they made a single mother an offer she couldn't refuse and I took up my post!

At Baker Tilly I was in at the beginning and had the great job of constructing a national marketing department, with all the staffing and services it required.  It was the late 1980s when marketing for professional practices of both chartered accountants and lawyers was developing rapidly and I became a founder member of the Professional Services Marketing Group.  And then I met Jim and after I married him I gave up my work at Baker Tilly. 

Since 1991, we have lived in Sussex with our children from our previous marriages. During my early years with my newly extended family I became a volunteer for a parents' telephone help line and, as well as being a trained listener, I also became involved with the management of the organisation and registered it as a charity. 

In 1995 I started taking bridge lessons, so that I could play bridge with Jim. My first teacher, May Langmaid - a winner of the Dimmie Fleming in 2006 - persuaded me and my fellow students to go to the West Sussex Bridge Club and play, initially outside of the main movement so we could get used to the ambience of the club. I still remember the fear and excitement and I want to remove the fear element from players new to clubs, hence my work with best behaviour and support of Focus on Value.

In 1998 I began an MA in Information Studies at Brighton University. 

In 2000, I was invited to join the university's academic team and lecture in information seeking, information sources and marketing to both under and post graduates. I am also a business mentor for the Prince's Trust and an occasional marketing and information consultant.

My career in bridge admin started very recently in April 2004 when I was asked to join Sussex's management committee and then a few months later to stand for the EBU board.  I have been on the board for three years now and look forward to continuing to develop an effective, accessible and transparent EBU with my fellow officers, our general manager Barry Capal and his extremely hard working staff.

Apart from bridge, I love the cinema, enjoy reading and adore my two dogs and long walks in the Sussex countryside.