New EBU General Manager Gordon Rainsford has written his first blog:
Gordon's blog #1
I’ve now been in my new job for just over a month and the time has passed very quickly. The transition seems to have been quite smooth, primarily because I’m already familiar with the organisation so it’s just the new role that I have to get to grips with. I’m currently doing so by getting to know more about the various jobs performed by our staff in Aylesbury, as well as the roles fulfilled by volunteers on committees, for counties and for clubs across the country. I’m intending to try to visit as many of them as possible in conjunction with Bev Purvis our Club Liaison Officer, who has already covered a large part of the country meeting, and listening to, our members. At the same time as I started as General Manager, Donna Wright became the CEO of the bridge charity, English Bridge Education and Development (EBED) and I’m also looking forward to working closely with her and the rest of the EBED staff.
One thing that I do notice when I hear EBU members talking is how often they talk about “the EBU” as though it were a separate organisation from them, whereas it seems to me we are all “stakeholders” in it, with its continued survival and success being in all of our interests. So, whether you are a club player, a committee member, a seasoned tournament attendee, a teacher, or belong to several of these groups, I hope to persuade you all to think of it as “our EBU” and for us all to be working in one direction, even if we don’t always have the same perspectives and insights.
Another subject that has been occupying me a bit and will continue to do so even more is the General Data Protection Regulation, which will be introduced in May next year. Its purpose is to give individuals more protection and a greater say in how their personal information is used. The effect of this is that we, in common with all other organisations, are likely to have to contact you to ask you to give us permission to use in specific ways the information we hold about you – we will no longer be able to simply rely on you telling us if you don’t want us to use it.
This is a rather dry subject and I’m sure many of our members will be inclined just to ignore it, but please don’t: if we contact you about this, either by email or post, do please answer fully, otherwise you may find that we are no longer able to contact you even if it’s necessary to provide you with the services you expect as a member.
August 15, 2017