As the Devonshire Park complex in Eastbourne is undergoing extensive refurbishment, they will not have space to accommodate us for the Summer Meeting in 2018. We will therefore instead be holding a one-off Summer Festival in 2018 between 3rd and 19th August at a mixture of venues. We intend returning to Eastbourne in 2019.
The competitions will not be held in a single block, but will instead be over two long weekends. This is due to the availability of suitable venues, however we hope that it will have the benefit of giving players a chance to recharge their batteries and be at peak performance levels for the second weekend of bridge.
This year they will each be held as multi-venue competitions, with the same hands played at a few venues around the country, and then scored across the whole field.
These dates are the two days following the Swiss Pairs, and the two days preceding the Four Stars Teams - thus making two long weekends of bridge (see below for more details).
We are inviting clubs to apply to hold a heat of one (or more) of these competitions. We hope that there will be heats in most regions of the country. The expectation would be that your members could play for not much more than your usual table money and non-members would enter at a higher rate. We would provide the hands and the hand records, as well as a TD if needed (especially for the technically challenging Mixed Pivot and PWTE events). Your members would have the opportunity to play in a national event with Blue Points commensurate with the size of the overall event, without leaving their regular club or paying much more than their usual club night.
What we would like at this stage is just a non-binding indication of whether your club might be interested in hosting one (or more) of these events. It would probably be best to do it on a night when you have a successful game where players would be happy to try something a bit different for the night. The other information that would be useful is the maximum capacity of the club.
If you would be interested then please get in touch with nick@ebu.co.uk.
Both of these competitions have been extended by an extra match this year. There will also be an option of two start times on the Friday to accommodate both those who work on Friday’s and those who want to commute so need an earlier finish.
Entry to these competitions is free to those playing in the weekend Swiss events.
The University of London Union is just a five minute walk from the Royal National Hotel, so it will be easy to meet before and after play with friends and family who are playing in the Four Stars Teams.
Seniors competitions: There won’t be a Seniors Congress, or any specific Seniors competitions, held during the Summer Festival fortnight, but the Scarborough Summer Congress, which will take place 25th-29th July, will now include the Northern Seniors Pairs Championship, and there will be additional prizes for Seniors in the multiple teams competition at that congress. The Summer Seniors Congress will take place in Eastbourne in July as usual.
Really Easy Congress: We are currently reviewing all the competitions we provide for less experienced players. We will hold an event for less experienced players during the summer of 2018, but its dates and format are not known at present.
Under 26 Championship Pairs: The details for this competition are currently being considered, though we anticipate it will take place in the third quarter of 2018.