Below is your monthly update from the EBU. Please note there are a number of important topics covered in the below. This email is also available on the EBU website, along with all past EBU Updates, here.
AGM Details
The AGM was held on Wednesday 30th November at the Royal National Hotel in London. Details from the day can be found on the news section of the EBU website.
UMS Fees
At the EBU AGM, the Shareholder agreed for the forthcoming year, Universal Membership fees will increase by 2p to 44p from 1st April 2023. The Club Annual Subscription will increase to £28 from 1st April 2023. County fees will be confirmed in February 2023.
Clubs Celebrating Anniversaries this month
We would like to congratulate the following clubs who celebrate anniversaries this month:
- Lymington Bridge Club – Celebrated their 150th Anniversary, further details can be found on the EBU Blog.
- Bury Athenaeum – The Athenaeum in Bury will celebrate the inauguration of their first President in December 1852. The club is still a charitable organisation with the building gifted to the trustees. Bridge has been played at the Athenaeum for over 50 years taking over from whist and snooker.
If your club is celebrating an anniversary, let us know, email sam@ebu.co.uk.
Update from the Competitions Working Group
- The plans for the National Pairs in 2023 are crystalizing. As announced, the right to play is given to those achieving 55% or more in any Affiliated Club open game in the week of 6th or 13th February, and pairs formed from two qualifying individuals will be given the option of a number of regional finals (all on Sunday 26th March, some BBO and some RealBridge) based on the County of Allegiance of the two players. County Associations are being polled to find out which counties in each region will manage the Regional Finals.
- The timetable for the planned series of Online One Day Green Point (OODGP) events, which will run from 1st April 2023 until March 2024, is currently being inserted into the EBU calendar. There will be five Swiss Pairs events and five Swiss Teams event. Individuals competing will be awarded ranking points (rising from 1 for bottom place in pairs, rising in steps of 2 from bottom place in teams) and a ladder will be maintained through the year. There will be cash prizes for the best performing individuals across the series, in a number of Master-Points-determined categories.
- In addition to the traditional prizes for the in-year Master Points race, the EBU will now also give a prize of a free entry to a OODGP event in the following season to the leading in-year score from each county in four categories – total points, local points, Blue Points and Green Points. The existing prize structure whereby the leading local point scorers in every club enter a draw for a cash prize will be augmented for 2022 by a free OODGP entry for each club winner in the 2023-24 season. Players just behind any leading scorer might care to note that the last month of play allows the leading scorers in any county or club to change.
- The National (Online) Teams League has completed its first cycle with 35 teams playing in three divisions. The structure makes it natural for any team to find itself in a division with its peers and the chance to fight for promotion in any cycle. Please encourage your members to join in when the next cycle starts in January.
Bridge Warehouse Last Posting Dates for Christmas
The last posting dates for Christmas will be:
- 2nd Class – midday Monday 12th December
- 1st Class – midday Tuesday 13th December
- Courier – midday Wednesday 21st December
It you haven't seen them, check our our new items in The Bridge Warehouse for Christmas 2022!
* Silk Ties – Card design
* Novelty playing card socks
* Caspari playing cards & scorecards
* Jigsaws
We also sell Crossword Books, Diaries, Bridge Games, Notepad and Pens and Learn Bridge DVDs. The Bridge Warehouse now has an updated price list. Full product info can be found on the Bridge Warehouse website.
Orders will be sent out Monday to Thursday between 9am and 2pm.
Club Director Training
EBED has announced new 2023 dates for the Club Director Training course. See our director training calendar for details. We are expecting to announce further 2023 courses soon, these will be in Devon, Cheshire and Kent, plus a few more.
New Online Directing Courses!!! - There is now an online option available for those wishing to gain an introduction to directing at their club. Our “How to run a club duplicate” session is being delivered over Zoom with sessions announced for December and February.
Also, you can be trained to use the EBUScore scoring program via an online session on 27th February, details of EBUScore Training.
More online training offers are to come, including “Judgement rulings for online bridge”, and “how to direct on BBO”.
For any queries related to director training courses, please contact Mark on 01296 317 218 (mark@ebedcio.org.uk). All our current dates are listed on the TD Course Calendar and are bookable through My EBU, or by phone.
Train to become a bridge teacher
Dates for 2023 have been announced for EBED’s popular Club Teaching Training Course. See our teacher training calendar for details. The course runs over 2 days giving the aspiring bridge teacher the skills to teach bridge effectively. There’s also an online course aimed at teachers who want to learn to use online platforms to teach bridge, this starts in January. Subsidised places, courtesy of the EBU, are available. If you are interested, please contact Mark on 01296 317 218 (mark@ebedcio.org.uk).
EBU Year End Congress
There a little less than three weeks until the start of the Year End Congress, taking place at the ILEC in London. If you have not already done so, please consider adding the EBU advert for the congress to your website, which should be linked to https://www.ebu.co.uk/competitions/year-end. If you need help with this, please call 01296 317215 or email sam@ebu.co.uk. We would like to match the success of the EBU Summer Meeting held in Eastbourne, which was aided by clubs and counties promoting this event to their members.
System Enhancements
You may have noticed that we have updated our systems so that you can now see your balance at a glance when logging into your My EBU account. EBTA teachers also now have the facility to order Bridge for All books online while retaining their teacher discount. We hope these upgrades will benefit all our members.
Sharing experiences of clubs teaching
Thank you to all those who attended the seminar on 16 November, we hope you found the details useful. Details of the presentations used in the session and the full recording are now available on the EBU website.
BridgeComposer Training Sessions
Ray Spalding of Bridge Composer is providing two training sessions, to be hosted on Zoom by RealBridge. Many club managers, TDs and teachers use BridgeComposer (or applications like it). This will be a great opportunity to learn from the developer, and to ask questions.
So that you can get the most out of the live training, please watch the below tutorial videos in advance. Even if the topic is familiar to you, it helps to know about the various menu options that will be covered by the course:
Tutorial 1: Create and print a bridge lesson handout using BridgeComposer
Tutorial 2: Multiple boards in a single document
Tutorial 3: Double Dummy Bridge Analysis
More information. To join please complete the sign-up form.
Social Media and Blogs
Please let us know if you would like to suggest a blog article that can then be shared across social media. There is no cost for this, and we welcome your ideas.
If you would like to write a blog, please email sam@ebu.co.uk.
Join us on social media:
EBU Facebook; 
EBU Twitter; 
EBU LinkedIn; 
EBU Instagram
Youth
Youth Bridge Facebook; Youth Bridge Instagram
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all at the EBU!