BPS Newsletter June 2021

There are a number of issues that the BPS organising committee would like to draw to your attention.

1) Undos in play

BPS has decided to re-adopt the EBU’s online practice of NOT allowing requests for carding Undos.  IBEx will be requested to put this into effect from Monday 28 June.  BPS sessions will start with an announcement that carding Undos are not allowed, and we would be grateful if players did not request them in the future. This does NOT apply to Bolton duplicates where Undos should always be allowed!

2) Numbers of tables

To ensure that players enjoy a proper duplicate session, we have asked IBEx, our TD provider, to try and avoid running any sessions with fewer than 4 tables.  We do apologise if a session you want to play in does get cancelled, but we will keep an eye on this issue and if a session regularly doesn’t run, then we will consider removing it from the schedule over the summer months.

3) Summer schedule

A number of players have suggested that an extra evening session would be helpful during the summer months, while people are more often out during the day.  Therefore, as a trial, there will be an extra BPS open session each week on a Friday evening at 7pm, starting Friday 2 July.

4) Regulations

We have deliberately set out to be as light touch as possible regarding regulations, so it is important that we all respect the few regulations that we have.  We would therefore be grateful if everyone would try to remember the following:

1. Please don’t request carding Undos;
2. For our restricted sessions, please make sure before you play, that both players meet the defined NGS restrictions;
3. BPS is a community and it’s nice to know who you are playing against, so please can everyone make sure their first name and surname are completed on their BBO profile;
4. Robots are meant for occasional use – not as regular partners;
5. Please explain what bids mean rather than just giving them a name e.g.
   1. Multi – weak 2 in a major or 19-20 balanced;
   2. Landy – both majors usually 5/4;
   3. Michaels – spades and a minor;
   4. Etc

Re-Opening of the Club for Face to Face Bridge

It has been a long time coming but hopefully it will not be much longer before we can meet up together to play face to face bridge again.

Of course it is still not certain that all the restrictions will be lifted in the next step of the Government’s Roadmap on 21^st June.  Every day brings new theories in the press, may be some form of social distancing, face masks still being worn,  even local restrictions.    However the Committee has and will continue to press ahead with planning to re-open the Club as soon as we can feasibly do so.

We do not at this stage know how many of you will want to come back to the Club.  Some may want to do so immediately, others may want to wait to see how things go.  We are sure though that, certainly initially, we will not be returning to how things were before we were forced to close.

From feedback we have been receiving it is clear that many of you want the online bridge to stay and so we have taken that into account in our planning.   We also know that the Bolton only sessions have been extremely popular and so we have decided to avoid the timing of those sessions for play in the Club.    The sessions we are proposing for face to face bridge are as follows:-

            Monday evening         7.30 pm start time

            Tuesday afternoon      1.00 pm start time

            Wednesday evening    7.30 pm start time

Up to 24 boards in each session, with a break for refreshments.   Tea/coffee/biscuits will be available for all three sessions and the bar will be open for the two evenings.

The first 2 weeks of opening will be free of charge.

All sessions will be open to everyone who wants to play with no restrictions on ability.  In other words they are not simply a reinstatement of the previous sessions on those dates/times.

At first we think that we may have to limit the number of tables in play and if that is the case then pre-booking would be required, as too will the usual pre-booking of any stationary seats.

There will not be a Host available and therefore you will need a partner.

As said above we do not know what the Government guidance will be after 21^st June.  Whilst there has been a lot of discussion in the press that this disease is not passed on via surfaces we appreciate that many will not be comfortable in handling items used by others.   Whilst we can take some steps to mitigate this, East/West using the same bidding boxes for the entire session for example, it is not practical when playing duplicate to only use each set of cards once.  Sanitisers will be put on each table and of course people can choose to wear gloves if they so wish.  Windows will be open to provide good ventilation. Face masks may well have to be worn.  The Club will be thoroughly cleaned between each session.

So in outline that is our plan, but in the end it is all dependent not only on the Government, but also you too, our Members.    We plan to hold three mornings where members can drop in for a coffee and let us have their views.   These are planned for Tuesday 22^nd,  Wednesday 23^rd and Thursday 24^th June from 10.30 to 12.00.  The planned opening day of the Club for bridge is Monday 5^th July which will give us time to make any necessary adjustments to our planning.

To help us know what might happen we would welcome your input and below you will find a short questionnaire.  If you could take the time to give us your feedback it would be very much appreciated.   You can do that by email to boltonbridgeclub@gmail.com,  by mail to the Club address or by contacting a member of the committee.  They are in alphabetical order – Duncan Ault, Wendy Blyth, Heather Carr, Jay Cooper, Paul Evans, Ken Hardman, Stephen Hazlitt, Linda Hitchen, Andy Htchon, Vanessa Openshaw, Jeff Smith, Susan Squires, June Timperley or Paul Vose.

Thank you for your help in advance.

Heather Carr, President.

QUESTIONNAIRE

1.   Are you planning to return for face to face bridge?   IMMEDIATELY    LATER      NEVER

2.  If Never – please can you give your reasons why

3,  Would you come to a drop in coffee morning?                     YES                NO

4.  If you are currently playing in the online duplicate sessions will you continue to do so?

                                    YES                   NO

5  If YES which ones – please state

6.  We plan to play 24 boards but how many boards do you think we should play?

                        24                    18                    Other – please state number

7.  The sessions in the Club are initially open to players of all levels.  Do you agree with that proposal?

                                    YES                NO

8.  If NO what sessions would you want to see?   Please give details.

9. Going forward as the number of people playing increases and we understand better what our Members would like,  we obviously want to increase the number of sessions .   To help us plan please can you indicate which days/times/levels you think we should move to?  Please select days and beneath indicate time – Morning/Afternoon/Evening and the level – for example if anyone can play put All

MON             TUES          WED               THURS           FRI             SAT             SUN

10.  Please give any other suggestions or comments below.