English Bridge Union
Welcome to the Autumn edition of Club Management Focus.
This is the final Club Management Focus which I will be collating, as I leave the EBU on 7th December. It has been a pleasure to work for the organisation, and I thank all of those who work so hard in the clubs and counties for your contribution and for the assistance you have given in sharing information with your members. My successor, Sam Kelly, has started this week and you will get to know her in the weeks and months to come.
One of the EBU’s key initiatives in 2019 is the Membership Development Campaign. This originally started in Yorkshire, where they have enjoyed significant positive results, and is now being rolled out to other parts of the country. Tim Anderson, the (relatively) new Membership Development Officer, has written to introduce the Campaign. We hope that your county will be involved and in turn that this is something with which your club will engage and your membership will grow. There are also articles from clubs which have run events to highlight their activities and bring new players through their doors – we hope these might give you some ideas.
There are also a number of upcoming opportunities for players of ‘club level’ to take part in major competitions. The Jack High Swiss Pairs at the Year End Festival in London is aimed at those wanting to take their first steps in ‘congress bridge’ and is limited to those no higher than the rank of Jack on the NGS. The Masters Pairs is a national competition for those ranked lower down the Master Point scale, and your club can host a heat to enable your members to take part. And of course, the Sim Pairs in 2019 enables your members to take part in nationwide competitions from the comfort of their home venue. Please have a look at the articles on these competitions, and host a heat and/or encourage your members to take part.
I hope you all have a great Christmas, and I look forward to seeing some of you at a bridge table in 2019.
Peter Stockdale
Outgoing Communications Officer
November 2018
