EBU Club and County Webinars

Since July 2021 the EBU has run a a series of webinars on topics relevant to EBU Clubs and Counties. Recordings of these webinars can be found below. Agendas are included so you can easily skip to the subjects that are of most interest to you. 

More webinars are being planned and we would welcome ideas on topics you would like to see covered - contact jonathan@ebu.co.uk.

Webinar: What makes bridge fun? (November 2025)

Agenda:

  • Welcome and Introductions
  • What are grassroots bridge players and what do they want?
  • Cafe bridge - great fun for the bridge community, good for outreach, good for engaging with non-affiliated members, great for visuals
  • Accommodating all standards of players in club activities - Nine & Jack highs, how counties can help
  • Christmas ideas - individual event, Visuals for Christmas, Strictly come teaching
  • A younger perspective - engagement, time of day, easy transport (pick them up), other young people, etc. Club support for university bridge club
  • Tell us about your classes and open days in the New Year
  • Open discussion on social aspects of bridge

Webinar: Teamwork (October 2025)

Agenda:

  • Welcome and Introduction
  • Support for Club Committees
  • Case study of what can be achieved through teamwork, Tunbridge Wells BC
  • Engaging the whole membership - new members new committee members
  • Discussion of examples of best practice for teamwork
  • Getting the whole club membership involved in membership drives
  • Autumn class promotion update & next phase
  • Q&A/Discussion

Webinar: Teaching as a Club Activity (August 2025)

Agenda:

Webinar: Club and County Membership Development (July 2025)

Agenda:

  1. Welcome and Introduction
  2. Overview of ideas for promoting bridge classes and expanding club and county audiences (Mary Cousins)
  3. Brief introduction to Canva and tips for taking photos (Sam Kelly) (links to Canva templates and additional info)
  4. Exploration of free software available for clubs (Harry Watson)
  5. Simple steps to make your websites look more attractive to new-to-bridge audiences (Jonathan Lillycrop)
  6. Q&A Moderated by Jonathan Lillycrop

Club Seminar: Running Handicap Pairs (November 2024)

Agenda:

  1. Welcome by Jonathan Lillycrop
  2. Demonstration of how to run a Handicap Pairs
  3. Q&A

Classroom to Clubroom (July 2024)

Agenda:

  1. Welcome by Jonathan Lillycrop
  2. Case Study 1: Northallerton Bridge Club presented by Steve Wilson
  3. Case Study 2: Nottingham Bridge Club presented by David Dunford
  4. Case Study 3: Gloucester Bridge Club presented by Alan Stanfield
  5. Q&A

Transition course details

Club Seminar - EBU Scoring Programs (May 2024)

This Club Seminar discusses EBU scoring programs other than EBUScore Pairs and demonstrate how they work.

Directing Club Sessions (November 2023)

Agenda:

  1. Welcome
  2. Recent regulation changes from a club perspective
  3. Interview with Chief TD
  4. Electronic scoring and Bridgemates – what to do when something goes wrong
  5. Directing in a friendly manner while still following bridge law
  6. Open Q&A including discussion of how to handle one or two slow players

Gentle Duplicate (September 2023)

Agenda:

  1. Welcome
  2. Introduction: why Gentle Duplicate is of key importance for retaining novices and helping a club to thrive
  3. Gentle duplicate in Leicestershire: Social bridge with lunch at the Rothley Centre and how that ties in with bridge teaching and migration to other club sessions
  4. The EBU and Gentle Duplicate: Do these sessions have to be submitted to the EBU? What about master points? What about NGS? Should club members who play only in gentle duplicate be EBU members? All your questions answered!
  5. Growing through more social bridge: Nottingham Bridge Club has made its Gentle ACOL one of its most popular sessions. Learn how it was done and tips for success
  6. Bridging the gap at Tunbridge Wells: supervised play to enable novices to progress to club sessions
  7. Open Q&A

Club Charitable Status (June 2023)

Agenda:

  1. Introduction: Jonathan Lillycrop
  2. Presentation from Anthea Burn from Leicestershire CBA: Charitable Status - CIO
  3. Discussion

Making the Most of a Bridge Club Website (April 2023)

Agenda:

  1. Getting the message across: identifying the key things to communicate on a club web site and how to present them
  2. Secrets of Bridgewebs: how to make your club stand out and take advantage of advanced options
  3. Pianola: we hear from Pianola about a different approach to club web sites that can be used alongside or in place of Bridgewebs
  4. Social media: Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? The role of these platforms in bringing more people to your club
  5. Club web sites and teaching: those enquiring about learning bridge in your area may land on your site. What to tell them?

Running a Teaching Programme (February 2023)

Agenda:

  1. Welcome from Gordon Rainsford (EBU CEO)
  2. Tim Anderson (EBU Club Development Officer) - Introduction and teaching survey results
  3. David Lewis and John Fairhurst (Basingstoke bridge club): Basingstoke experience, including working with other clubs, online and face to face
  4. Nicola Renshaw (Cheltenham bridge club): Teaching tips, Cheltenham experience
  5. Tony Russ (EBU Board): New EBU resources for bridge teaching pages
  6. Steve Knight (Ripon City bridge club): Teaching at a small club, Ripon experience
  7. EBED: Resources for teachers, what’s available, what’s new
  8. All: Open discussion

Sharing experiences of club teaching (November 2022)

Agenda:

  1. Introduction and welcome (Gordon Rainsford, EBU Chief Executive)
  2. Teaching in a club: the big picture, resources (Tim Anderson, Membership Development)
  3. Better together? David Adams (Keyworth BC) on clubs teaching together
  4. The student perspective (interview with 3 recent bridge students now new players)
  5. EBED: Teacher training including online options (Mark Humphris, EBED)
  6. Chris Green (Ipswich and Kesgrave) Working with the community
  7. Teaching online (Jane Somervell, Bewdley
  8. Charlie Bucknell (Bucknell Bridge) Keeping it fun: how to make teaching engaging
  9. Future EBU plans (Tony Russ, EBU Board)
  10. Open discussion
     

Building your club membership (July 2022)

Agenda:

  1. Introduction and Welcome (Gordon Rainsford, EBU Chief Executive)
  2. News and demo of our forthcoming improved online club directory and other initiatives to help enquirers discover your club (Tim Anderson, EBU Membership Development Officer)
  3. Love your members: Bakewell bridge club and the journey to online and back to face to face (Barbara Rogers, Secretary Bakewell Bridge Club)
  4. Success stories from both large and small clubs and lessons learned about how to increase engagement with club members (Ian Sidgwick, Chair Gloucestershire CBA)
  5. EBED update on training teachers and directors for your club (Mark Humphris, EBED)
  6. Teaching new bridge players in Yorkshire but where do they go once taught? Survey results (David Guild, Membership Secretary Yorkshire CBA)
  7. Open Q&A

Face to Face and Online Bridge following lockdown (April 2022)

Agenda

  1. Welcome from Gordon Rainsford, EBU chief executive and chief TD and introduction by Tim Anderson (EBU Membership Development)
  2. David Dunford: With a swift restart online following lockdown, Nottingham Bridge Club built up online sessions to the point where more bridge was played than before. Now mainly face to face again, what are the challenges of winning people back to the physical club?
  3. Mark Humphris (EBED): With high demand for TD and teacher training, Mark will explain what is on offer and planned, and what clubs and counties can do to take advantage of it
  4. Oliver Cowan: The Oliver Cowan Bridge Club was born as online-only but Oliver is also an enthusiast for face-to-face bridge. How can clubs adapt for changing patterns of play?
  5. Tony Russ (EBU Board, Somerset chair): New marketing initiatives from the EBU to build up your club
  6. Nicky Bainbridge: Rugby Village Bridge Club: prior to lockdown in March 2020, this beginner-friendly club was running 6 thriving sessions every week. Now there are two face-to-face and two online, but the club has managed better than many to adapt and restart. What has worked and how does the future look?

7. Open discussion and Q&A 

Restarting face to face bridge after lockdown Repeat seminar (August 2021)

Agenda - see next video below 

Restarting face to face bridge after lockdown (July 2021)

Agenda

  1. Welcome (Ian Payn) and Introduction (Gordon Rainsford)
  2. Best practice, social distancing, risk assessment (Nicky Bainbridge)
  3. Hybrid play – general introduction with options (Jonathan Lillycrop)
  4. Pianola/Bridgemate solution (James Ward)
  5. TD refresher courses (Jacks Morcombe)
  6. Marketing and recruiting new members (Tim Anderson)
  7. Club restart recruitment (Douglas Wright)
  8. Online payments (Jonathan Lillycrop)
  9. Open Q&A