Mar20 Newsletter - Junior Bridge Report
Our Schools Cup was held once again at Roehampton Club last month, attracting 108 students from 12 schools, up from 89 and 11 last year. Roehampton is an excellent venue, and they have supported our event generously, in terms both of cost and of members' help. We were particularly pleased to welcome Tormead School, Guildford, who sent a magnificent five pairs despite their BC starting only the previous term. KCS Wimbledon retained the Cup, once again beating two of the country's top bridge schools, Habs Boys and Westminster. You can see the full results by clicking here.
With the sterling efforts of Douglas Wright and Julia Davies in various new schools, both with pupils and teachers, we look forward to the Cup continuing to expand next year. It will be on Fri 5 Feb 2021, once again at Roehampton.
You can read of Bookham’s wonderful charity fund-raising elsewhere in this newsletter. Over £800 was earmarked for beginners’ and junior bridge, and we used some of this to fund enhanced personal trophies for the winners at the Cup, and special certificates for all attendees.
The number of opportunities for youngsters to play around the country is increasing. Two particular events coming up are:
- Wessex Weekend - Junior Teach-In, 4-5 April 2020, Cheltenham Bridge Club (now cancelled)
- Sussex Weekend – Junior Teach-In, 11-12 July 2020, Bowles Activity Centre, Tunbridge Wells
If you have youngsters who play, or wish to learn, and would like more details about any of the above, please let me know.
Dec19 Newsletter - Junior Bridge Report
An excellent total of 25 youngsters came to our second Junior Teach-In at Wimbledon BC on Sun 24 Nov, with teaching sessions in the morning and a tournament in the afternoon. Thank you to the magnificent team of volunteers, led by June Middleton, who made the day such a success, and to Wimbledon BC itself for hosting it. The event was part of our collaboration with Kent and Sussex to improve bridge opportunities for youngsters in the south-east counties.
As a result of the excellent efforts of Julia Davies and Douglas Wright, a remarkable seven new BCs have started this term in schools around south-west London, Staines and Guildford. However, we're still seeking a bridge teacher for Claremont Fan Court School in Esher - if you can help with this, I'd love to hear from you on TimjgWarren@gmail.com.
Coming up in Feb, we have our famous (well, famousish) Surrey Schools Cup, once again at Roehampton Club.
Sep19 Newsletter - Junior Bridge Report
We'll be running our second South-East Counties Junior Teach-In at Wimbledon BC on Sun 24 Nov. Thanks to the generosity of the club and its members, it will as last year cost just £10 for refreshments. It's open to anyone aged 8-21 who already plays bridge or MiniBridge - see the SCBA website for details or email Tim Warren.
We're still in need of teachers and helpers to run bridge clubs in various schools in south-west London and elsewhere. If you can help us, please let me know.
Jun19 Newsletter - Youth Bridge Report
URGENT NEED FOR HELP
Thanks to the sterling efforts of Julia Davies, six schools to the south-west of London have said they'd be interested in setting up a BC:
- St Stephens, Twickenham
- Kingston Community School
- The Hythe, Staines
- Staines Prep School
- Harrodian School (a new teacher's arrived who's keen to restart the club)
- Teddington School (secondary, all others are primary)
If you can help Julia run a MiniBridge taster session at any of these schools, or teach/help at the school once a club gets going, please let me know.
There's lots happening over the summer, for everyone from beginners to experts:
South East Counties Junior Bridge Camp at Bowles Rocks leisure centre, Tunbridge Wells, over the weekend of 6-7 Jul. Lots of information and an entry form via the Sussex website – go to http://www.sccba.co.uk/ and click on the JBC 2019 link on the left-hand side.
EBU Junior Teach-In, at Kings Park Conference Centre, Northampton, 30 Aug - 1 Sep. Discount for bookings before 7 Jun.
Richmond and Wimbledon BCs are putting on youngsters' sessions each week:
Mar19 Newsletter - Youth Bridge Report
Our flagship event for youngsters, the Surrey Schools Cup, has been running since 1969, and this year took place at Roehampton Club on 1st Feb. Roehampton Club is a wonderful place to play bridge, and we were really pleased that their generous support of our event, in terms both of cost and of members' help, enabled us to return for a second year.
We welcomed four new schools this year: Haberdashers' Aske's, Elstree; Ryde School, Isle of Wight; Latymer, Edmonton; and George Abbot, Guildford. 89 students from 11 schools came along, braving the freezing temperatures, and making a record turn-out, at least for recent years. Given that the overnight snow meant some schools had to drop out on the day, this was a remarkable figure, up from 84 last year, which itself was 60% up on 2017.
Habs' Boys have won the national Schools Cup most years since 2010, so were a formidable new entrant. But KCS Wimbledon beat them and Habs' arch-rivals Westminster and St Paul's Boys Senior, amongst others, to win our main event.
Epsom College's victory in the Surrey Schools Salver brings a new name to our Honours Board, with their team including a pair who only last year were competing in the MiniBridge.
George Abbot, Guildford, are also a new name for us, and their achievement in winning the David Garfit Clowes MiniBridge trophy was all the more impressive for the fact that their first-ever bridge club started only last term. Claremont Fan Court School, Esher, were runners-up, winning the EW section.
The South East Counties Junior Bridge Camp will be taking place in Bowles Rocks leisure centre, Tunbridge Wells, over the weekend of 6-7 July 2019. You can find lots of information and an entry form via the Sussex website – go to http://www.sccba.co.uk/ and click on the JBC 2019 link on the left-hand side.
Dec18 Newsletter - Youth Bridge Report
On Sun 25 Nov, we ran our first South East Counties junior event, part of Surrey's collaboration with Kent and Sussex. Wimbledon BC generously hosted us free of charge, and everyone - teachers, TD, helpers - gave their time free, too, so we were able to put it on at a remarkable £10 per head for refreshments. We had teaching in the morning and competitions in the afternoon.
33 youngsters registered, and the club was buzzing.
We were fortunate to have a top-class teaching line-up, including the U21 and U16 national squad leaders Michael Byrne and Giorgio Provenza. The pic below [now removed] is of the Advanced group enjoying Michael's teaching.
David Emerson of EBED TD'd separate bridge and MiniBridge competitions and achieved the feat of keeping both groups to time. June Middleton did a superb job, not only helping tirelessly on the day, including making all the food happen, but also setting up the whole Wimbledon end of the event. We had too many helpers to name here, but they made the whole process, from registration to close-down via a delicious lunch, run like clockwork. Look for a report in the EBU magazine, too.
Next year, the SE Counties team will be putting on a Junior Bridge Camp over the weekend of 6 & 7 July at Bowles Rocks, Tunbridge Wells. Let me know if you'd like details.
Our flagship event, the Surrey Schools Cup, takes place at Roehampton Club on Fri 1 Feb. For the first time we're due to have a full team from Farnborough Sixth Form College, and, having opened it up to schools well beyond our boundaries, we're expecting to welcome Haberdashers' Aske's Boys', who regularly win the national schools' event, and Ryde School (yes, from the Isle of Wight!).
Sep18 Newsletter - Youth Bridge Report
Amid beautiful weather and a stunning setting, July's Junior Bridge Camp at Ardingly welcomed 90 youngsters, from complete beginners to our international squads. August's Farnham Festival of Bridge also attracted a number of juniors, with several beginners as well as established players. Wimbledon and Richmond BCs also put on various youngsters' tournaments over the summer, with, for instance, a total of 22 coming along to sessions at Wimbledon.
With my counterparts in Kent and Sussex, we're seeking to expand what's on offer in youth bridge in an integrated way across the region. We're putting on a one-day event at Wimbledon BC on Sun 25 Nov, for youngsters who can already play bridge or MiniBridge. There'll be teaching in the morning, competitions after lunch, and an afternoon finish. Wimbledon are generously providing the premises FoC, and the only cost to entrants will be £10 to cover refreshments. The Surrey website will have more information, or please contact me.
The Guildford/Farnham corner of the county is seeing a lot of activity in junior bridge. As well of course as one of our flagship schools, Weydon, our two new school clubs at Boxgrove and Broadwater are due to restart in September, and we have interest from George Abbott and Amesbury schools. Many people are involved in making all this happen, but the efforts from Douglas Wright and Mike O'Donnell in particular have been tireless.
Our article about the introduction of bridge as a curriculum subject at Claremont Fan Court Prep School, Esher, appeared in August's EBU Mag. The EBU has honoured Deb Casey, the teacher at Claremont who has led Claremont's bridge for 14 years, with this year's Alec Salisbury Award. We add our congratulations, too.
You may have noticed the suggestion by the Head at Claremont about developing material for schools' INSET Days. If you have any relevant experience, or would just like to help us take it further, please contact me on TimjgWarren@gmail.com.
Jun18 Newsletter - Youth Bridge Report
The new Head of the Prep School at Claremont Fan Court School, Esher, introduced bridge as a curriculum subject from autumn term last year. I met her recently and have written an article that’s due to appear in the August edition of the EBU Mag. We're aiming to get it in various other outlets, such as First News (a newspaper for schoolchildren), GetSurrey.co.uk, and Attain, the magazine of Independent Association of Prep Schools.
Our two new school clubs, at Boxgrove and Broadwater, had successful terms with, for instance, a regular four tables at Broadwater. Both are closing down for the summer, but we hope they will restart in September.
Over the weekend of 7-8 July, Surrey, Sussex and Kent are jointly promoting the Southern Counties Junior Bridge Camp at Ardingly in Sussex. It'll be a fun weekend for 8-21 year-olds, whether looking to improve or learn from scratch. We're offering sponsorship for Surrey juniors, which makes it just £15 with accommodation and all meals, or free for non-residents. For more information, including adult and non-Surrey junior rates, see www.sccba.co.uk or contact Tim Warren.
Richmond are also running a Junior Bridge Camp, on Mon-Thu mornings in the first couple of weeks of August. For more details, see www.RichmondBridgeClub.com.
If you'd like to learn how to teach your children or grandchildren to play MiniBridge, or maybe help teach bridge at a local school, sign up for our MiniBridge Teach-the-Teacher course at Wimbledon BC on Sun 24 June. If you'd like to help at the Ardingly Junior Bridge Camp, this course might be ideal preparation. Unfortunately, no-one signed up for our course at Horsham BC on Thu 31 May, so we've had to cancel it.
We've revised SCBA's safeguarding policy slightly from the version adopted in Jan; see www.bridgewebs.com/cgi-bin/bwoo/bw.cgi?club=surrey&pid=display_page10&sessid=263692504067009.
Mar18 Newsletter - Youth Bridge Report
Our Surrey Schools Cup took place on 2 Feb. With 84 players, 60% up on last year, our new venue, Roehampton Club, was buzzing. Thank you to Roehampton for their efforts; with nothing but positive feedback we're hoping to return there next year. Winners of our Cup, Salver and MiniBridge competitions were Westminster, Hampton and Weydon Schools (full results in the Youth section of the SCBA website). Whilst they didn’t win this time, a special mention to Claremont Fan Court School for a magnificent entry of a dozen 9-10 year-olds in the MiniBridge competition. There'll be a full article in the next EBU Magazine, with lots of pictures on the EBU website version.
Over the weekend of 7-8 July, Surrey, Sussex and Kent are jointly promoting the Southern Counties Junior Bridge Camp at Ardingly in Sussex. It'll be a fun weekend for 8-21 year-olds, whether looking to improve or learn from scratch. £60 with accommodation and all meals, or £30 for non-residents (for adults, £90 and £30 respectively). For more information, see www.sccba.co.uk or contact Tim Warren. We may be able to help with costs; again, contact Tim.
If you'd like to learn how to teach your children or grandchildren to play MiniBridge, or maybe help teach bridge at a local school, sign up for one of our MiniBridge Teach-the-Teacher courses - either Horsham BC on Thu 31 May, or Wimbledon BC on Sun 24 June. If you'd like to help at the Ardingly Junior Bridge Camp, one of these courses might be ideal preparation.
Dec17 Newsletter - Youth Bridge Report
Our flagship junior event, the Surrey Schools Cup, takes place on 2 Feb, and we expect some new schools to join us this year. Roehampton Club are kindly hosting us. We've opened it up to schools from nearby areas, too, so if you know of a bridge-playing school within range, please contact them asap, or let me know and I'll do so.
Teams representing England have qualified for all four sections of the Junior World Championships, to take place in China in 2018. We're the only country in the world to qualify in all four.
Somewhat more locally:
- The club at Harrodian, Barnes, restarted in October, this time in the senior school
- A club has just started at Broadwater School, Farncombe, with several of the school's teachers joining in to learn, too
- Following a whole school day of taster sessions at Boxgrove Primary, Guildford, we're hoping a club will start there next term - many thanks to all the people who helped Douglas Wright run such an extensive programme
- Unfortunately, our explorations with St John the Baptist School, Woking, and Charterhouse, Godalming, didn't come to fruition
The EBU have drafted a new Safeguarding Policy, designed to help protect children and vulnerable people. In the light of this, we're aiming to agree a Surrey policy in January, and will be forwarding that policy to clubs in case they need to review or set their own.
Sep17 Newsletter - Youth Bridge Report
Some great news from Claremont Fan Court School, where a bridge club will be part of the curriculum for 9-10 year-olds from the coming term. More on this next time.
In other news:
- Harrodian, Barnes: This ran in Autumn term 2016, for 9-11 yr olds in the Middle School; however, in conjunction with the school we decided to refocus it, and we expect that to restart in the Senior School this coming term
- Our MiniBridge taster session at St John the Baptist School in Woking went well, and we're hoping a club will start there from the autumn term
- We're exploring with Charterhouse, a school with a rich bridge history, restarting a club: with both Charterhouse and SJB, it's you, our Surrey members, who have generated the links
- The club at Harrodian is due to restart in October, this time in the senior school
- Unfortunately, despite its earlier success the club at Greenfield will not be continuing into next term: the Deputy Head remains keen, though, and it might resume later
Many BCs are making a big effort to encourage youngsters to learn bridge. Wimbledon, for instance, ran 13 sessions over the summer for beginners upwards, with 35 kids taking part, of which 16 played in a tournament at the end. They’ve had spin-off benefits in attracting students for their adult courses, too. If you'd like to do something similar, please get in touch as we can help you (not least by sharing the lessons of those who've already got the T-shirts).
Our MiniBridge train-the-trainer courses in June at The Bourne in Farnham attracted a remarkable 44 people, and some very positive post-course feedback.
Jul17 Newsletter - Youth Bridge Report
New school BCs
Harrodian, Barnes: This is due to restart next term. A key difference from last year is that a teacher will be taking ownership of the club.
Greenfield, Woking: Disappointingly, to say the least, only three pupils signed up for the Autumn term, so it's had to be cancelled. The Deputy Head remains keen, and has suggested we rerun a taster session in November.
Rokeby Prep School, Kingston: We ran some introductory sessions for the scholarship boys in May, and are hoping to start a full club next term.
Prospecting
St John the Baptist, Woking: An end-of-term taster session went very well and SJB seems keen to go ahead with a club. I am exploring with two local BCs whether they might 'adopt' the school.
Train-the-trainer sessions
44 people attended our two MiniBridge sessions at The Bourne in mid-June. The feedback from attendees was highly positive, so I think it's fair to say they're ready and rarin' to go. I had no response to my 'cold marketing' messages to local Farnham schools, but my view has always been that we're much more likely to generate interest via local people's own efforts anyway; viz. the taster session at SJB, which came about in this way.
The initiative in the Farnham area between Farnham BC, The Bourne BC, 3 Counties BC and other smaller clubs will focus on cooperation for youth and bridge development activities.
Surrey Schools Cup 2018
As major building work will prevent St Paul's Boys from hosting the 2018 event, Roehampton BC have offered to host it. There is likely to be an increase in cost to SCBA, as we will need to fund refreshments, previously provided without charge by St Paul's.
EBU & EBED
I've volunteered to help EBED draw up a guide for Youth Officers and others seeking to promote junior bridge in schools and clubs, coordinating input particularly from Stamford BC and Oxfordshire.
Jul17 Youth Bridge Report for AGM
Our youth programme covers three main areas: running MiniBridge teach-the-teacher sessions; encouraging schools to set up bridge clubs; and supporting, if needed, bridge clubs in their own youth efforts.
We ran three MiniBridge teach-the-teacher sessions this year, training over 50 people to help youngsters, whether in schools or in their own families, learn via MiniBridge. As last year, these sessions were generously sponsored by what used to be the Cutler Trust, now called the Makers of Playing Cards Charity.
In terms of schools, it’s been a year of good steps forward but unfortunately a few back. During the year, clubs started in:
- Harrodian, Barnes: This ran in Autumn term 2016, for 9-11 yr olds in the Middle School; however, in conjunction with the school we decided to refocus it, and we expect that to restart in the Senior School this coming term.
- Greenfield, Woking: This started in Spring term 2017, again for 9-11 yr olds, and continued successfully into the Summer, with 14 pupils coming along each week
- City of London Freemen’s, Ashtead: We helped a recently-arrived Maths teacher get a new club up and running
- Rokeby, Kingston: We ran sessions to teach MiniBridge to scholarship pupils, prior to them joining other schools with existing bridge clubs
However, the clubs at Danes Hill School, Carshalton High School for Girls, and the University of Surrey folded, and the discussions at Teddington and Hinchley Wood didn’t come to fruition.
Thanks to the efforts of various people around the county, we are following up expressions of interest from Charterhouse School, Godalming, and St John the Baptist School, Woking, and are also seeking to find a new teacher for an existing MiniBridge club at Orchard House School, Chiswick.
The annual Surrey Schools competition continued to be successful, with St Paul’s Boys’ – who entered a magnificent four teams – wresting the main Cup back from KCS Wimbledon. We introduced a new event, the Surrey Schools Salver, for those new to full bridge, and this encouraged several schools to come along who had never previously taken part. Weydon won the Salver, rounding off a memorable year in which they also visited the Houses of Parliament: as their bridge teacher told us, the pupils were enthralled by their own behind-the-scenes tour of both Houses, they really enjoyed the bridge, and they demolished all the chocolate cake in the House of Lords cafeteria. Efforts are being made to help the Weydon pupils continue to develop their bridge as they move on to other places.
Wimbledon, Roehampton and The Bourne clubs put on important initiatives to encourage youngsters to play, with for instance free membership and special junior sessions in the holidays.
Looking ahead, we will continue to seek opportunities at schools in Surrey (which, with the agreement of others, we tend to interpret loosely). We very much depend on the efforts of local players, both to run school clubs and to find ways in to new schools. Thank you to all who provide such valuable help, without which we can achieve nothing.
Apr17 - Youth Bridge Report - Tim Warren
Surrey Schools Cup
This took place on Fri 3 Feb (full report below). The new teams event for those relatively new to full bridge, the Surrey Schools Salver, was successful in getting two schools who have never entered before to come along. I'm sure it's the (misplaced) fear of not being good enough that holds other schools back, so I'll be trying hard to get more to join in next year. Unfortunately, it's likely that major building work will prevent St Paul's Boys from hosting the 2018 event; to be pursued - Roehampton BC have offered to help if necessary.
New school BCs
Harrodian, Barnes: In conjunction with the school, we've decided to restart this next Sep as a free-to-join club, running as an offshoot of the school's 'Card Sharks' club.
Greenfield, Woking, has regularly been getting up to 19 pupils, and pleasingly 14 have signed up to continue next term. As a result, we've needed rapidly to recruit more helpers (I addressed a session at Woking BC and, whilst they are not looking to adopt the school as a club, a number of members have expressed interest). The Head told me they now regard the bridge club as an important attraction for parents.
City of London Freemen's, Ashtead: We've helped a recently-arrived teacher, Zara Field, set up a club here.
Prospecting
It's early days, but Anne Hereward has generated interest from Charterhouse in setting up a club from Sep. In line with my general approach of looking for 'ways in' to schools via local people, we've also sent prospecting messages to Marist; St John the Baptist, Woking; Salesian College; Hampton High (in conjunction with Richard Millard); and Halstead Prep. Though it's not Surrey, I'll pursue the possible link with Long Sutton Primary, near Hook, in the next few weeks.
Existing schools
The remaining bridge teacher at KCS is due to retire this summer, and apparently no other teacher wishes to take over. I'm working with WBC about how we might keep the club running.
Train-the-trainer sessions
To increase our pool of potential teachers in the south-west of the county, we've set up two further training sessions in mid-June, and already have approaching 20 attendees at each. We will contact schools in the area with a view to holding taster sessions in early summer and, we hope, setting up clubs in Sep.
EBU & EBED
EBED continue to be of great help. Unfortunately, there was no interest from the EBU's youth squad leaders about using our Sep 17 Green Point venue for training sessions or mini-competitions.
Feb17 - Youth Bridge Report - Tim Warren
Here’s my report on this year’s Surrey Schools Cup, which took place on Fri 3 Feb. It was excellently hosted, as it has been since 2013, by St Paul’s Boys Senior School, Barnes, and their bridge teacher, Tom Lyster.
The Event
Overall it went smoothly and well. There were a few things that I’ll seek to improve next year – for instance, we’ll have available some rubber holders to help those with little fingers to handle the cards – but judging from the reaction of both youngsters and adults, it appeared to be a success.
This year we introduced a second teams event, the Surrey Schools Salver, for those relatively new to full bridge. The use of Bridgemates for the first time was successful, though we had to score the MiniBridge pairs manually when we discovered that, whilst we could run two separate teams events in parallel, we couldn’t do the pairs as well on a single laptop; next year, I’ll try to get two of them.
Richard Banbury, who has taken over responsibility for youth bridge at EBU/EBED, kindly agreed to direct. Douglas Wright ran the MiniBridge, and coped well with being asked to do so at no notice whatsoever. As well as adults from the various schools, several others turned up to help, including Chris Duckworth, London’s youth rep, and Ron Wood and Shirley Lee from Roehampton BC.
St Paul’s Senior (SPS) entered a magnificent four teams of 4 in the Cup, one of which won, thereby regaining the trophy from KCS Wimbledon. Weydon won the Salver in their first year of full bridge, and an ad hoc pairing of pupils, one each from Godolphin & Latymer and Weydon, won the MiniBridge.
Attendance
54 pupils took part, up slightly from last year’s 52, from seven schools; until a couple of days before, we were due to get 64, but illness and that ever-present bugbear ‘last-minute mandatory drama rehearsals’ intervened. Two schools from last year, Carshalton HSG and St Paul’s Girls, dropped out this time: Carshalton because the bridge club had folded shortly after last year’s event, but I'm hopeful St Paul’s Girls will be back next time. We also welcomed two new schools, Epsom College and Godolphin & Latymer.
SSC History
Our website now lists all the winners going back to what I presume is the Cup’s inception in 1969, the first year engraved on the trophy itself. You can see these by clicking on ‘Honours Board’ on the above page.
Next Year
I'm hopeful we’ll be able to get more schools to enter next year. But there are a couple of potential difficulties we’ll need to address:
- Tom Lyster warned me that, owing to major building work that’s due to take place, SPS are unlikely to be able to host it in 2018. Ron Wood said Roehampton BC might be able to do so, and of course there are other possible schools. I've been kicking around with Richard Banbury and others the possibility of opening up the Cup to other London schools, such as Westminster
- The bridge teacher at KCS Wimbledon has retired, and the teacher who took over is retiring this year. They tell me there's no obvious successor. Not least because KCS is the only school presently able to compete with SPS, we cannot let them fold. This is a good opportunity to get Wimbledon and/or Richmond BCs involved, and I will get in touch with them about this urgently.
Nov16 - Houses of Parliament Visit
On 22 November, six pupils from Weydon School's bridge club, together with teacher Mrs Annabel Sommerfelt and bridge coach Mike O'Donnell, had a truly memorable experience when they visited the Houses of Parliament. The visit was organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Bridge, hosted by Baroness Henig, & funded by EBED.
Together with pupils from The Weald Community Primary School, Kent, they played duplicate bridge with several Peers. All the pupils were presented with commemorative trophies, and Michael Fallon, Secretary of State for Defence, dropped in to add his congratulations.
Mike tells us that the pupils were enthralled by their own behind-the-scenes tour of both Houses, they really enjoyed the bridge, and they demolished all the chocolate cake in the House of Lords cafeteria.
SCBA and Surrey bridge clubs have played a major role in supporting Weydon, with Douglas Wright helping to get the club set up, Anna Holmes of the Bourne BC teaching MiniBridge, and now Mike O'Donnell of Farnham BC helping them learn full bridge.
We held a MiniBridge taster session recently at Greenfield School, Woking. The Deputy Head told us "it was a fabulous success ... thoroughly enjoyed by all", so we're hoping a club will start up there in near future.
If you have links to a local school, and would like to help them set up a club (and maybe visit the Houses of Parliament in future years?) please contact Tim Warren.
Oct16 - Youth Bridge Report - Tim Warren
We held our second MiniBridge Train-the-trainers course in Sep, once again at Wimbledon BC. This time, Laura Porro, who had attended our first one in Jan, gave the course, and we trained up a further eight people to go into schools. The Makers of Playing Cards Charity (what used to be the Cutler Trust) generously sponsored us again, so the course was free to attend.
Two of our attendees are already working at Harrodian School, where we now have a MiniBridge Club operating each week, with about six pupils coming along. We hope the numbers will build next term as news gets out of how good it is.
Four others are lined up to help at Greenfield School in Woking, where the deputy head is very keen. We’re aiming to hold a taster session in Nov, with a view to starting in the Spring term.
Our flagship youth event, the Surrey Schools’ Cup, is set to be hosted again at St Paul’s Boys School on Fri 3 Feb next year. I'm hoping that publicising the date well in advance will enable more schools to plan ahead and be there. Simon Stocken tells me he’s got a club running at Putney High School for Girls, so I've asked him if they might be ready to enter, too.
We now have a page on our website setting out the history of who’s won our Schools’ Cup, plus a few other notable Surrey youth bridge results. We’re still working on a few aspects, including some of the earlier results.
Whilst we've moved on in some areas, a few other things have been disappointing. The taster session we held at Hinchley Wood in June, where Douglas performed heroically in leading two x two-hour sessions for 64 (!) pupils each time, didn’t result in a club. In fact, we haven’t heard from them at all, even to say no. In addition, the club at Danes Hill hasn’t yet materialised, though we may be able to resurrect this next term. And the club at Surrey Uni has had an unfortunate start to the new academic year after failing to secure a stall at the Freshers’ Fayre, but we will see how this affects things.
I've agreed to join the EBU’s Youth Advisory Group, and its first meeting is due to be held at the end of Oct. The YAG’s terms of reference are to:
- Advise on what Youth events should be run by EBED and the details of such events
- Communicate with Youth Officers and other volunteers throughout the country
- Advise the Trustees on aspects of the charity’s Youth strategy
- Disseminate best practice and advice
- Recommend priorities for grant funding
|