On Saturday 30th January 2021, start time 2pm, Glasgow Bridge Centre will be running a single session MP pairs event for all Bronze players in Scotland in memory of Steve Bailey. As many of you will know Steve was an excellent mentor to a whole host of Bronze players, encouraging them to enter leagues and improve their game.

Register on BBO on the day from 12 noon (search for GBC in Competitive/All Tournaments) Entry Fee is BBO$4. We will be playing around 24 boards.

The Steve Bailey Trophy (donated by his sister) will be awarded to the winners with prizes in BBO$ for the first three pairs and also the best in each Bronze category. Masterpoints will be awarded.

The following is a summary of known online BBO events in Central District where the SBU club platform is used. Should you be interested in participating in any of these, please go to the relevant club's website and use the Contact Us function to enquire about playing. Each club will have its own rules on eligibility. On some sites the Contact Us button is a sub entry to the Information tab.

Monday evening - St Andrews.

Tuesday evening - Dundee, Montrose, Perth.

Wednesday afternoon - Dundee.

Wednesday evening - Arbroath, Leven/Glenrothes/Kirkcaldy combined, Montrose/Letham.

Thursday afternoon - Montrose.

Thursday evening - Annandale.

Friday afternoon - Dundee, Montrose Ladies.

Saturday "Brunch" 29th August 11:45

The SBU is to trial a weekend event for Bronze Players.

12 Boards Bronze Pairs  $1.50 on BBO. Registration opens 2 hours before. 

Login to BBO. Click Competitive, All Tournaments and search for host SBU_N_Dist (SBU North District) on list of events.

The SBU is in the process of setting up a Pay Club on BBO.

If you are interested in playing in these online tournaments your BBO username, and no other personal data, needs to be pre-entered into BBO.  Please provide your details using this form.  This will enable the significant task of entering usernames to get  head start.

In addition, you must also enter your BBO Username into the appropriate field in Mempad. Log in and then click on My Contacts > Edit. You will find the BBO Username field just below half way down. Remember to save once you have entered your information.

The SBU has been looking at ways in which more on-line bridge can be played during the Coronavirus Lockdown. 

To this end, the SBU is proposing to run a Bronze League for SBU Members over the coming weeks. This event will be open to all Bronze members and limited Silver members, as of 1 April 2020.  Teams may have up to six members, including up to 1 Silver..

The event will be run on BBO.

There may be several divisions, depending on how many teams would like to play in the league. Placement of teams in a particular division will be based on the number of masterpoints acquired cumulatively by the members of the team.  For those teams with more than 4 members this will be calculated as 4 times the average of all members of the team. 

The matches will take place on Wednesday evening starting around 6:30pm. Each match will be 16 boards.

The first round of matches will take place on Wednesday 20^th May, and each League will run for 5 or 7 Wednesday evenings, depending on how many teams and divisions there are. 

Local Masterpoints will be awarded as per the normal SBU scales for District Leagues. 

If you are interested, then please complete the attached Excel Spreadsheet to provide details of the team members, and more importantly, the BBO name of each of your team members. Please can you appoint a team captain who is familiar with setting up a team of 4 match on BBO. Please submit your completed registration to Howard Greenwell. See form for details. 

The Conditions of Contest provide links to excellent videos by Paul Gipson on YouTube describing the process. The website for all the arrangements for the league can be found at: https://sites.google.com/view/sbu-bronze-league 

Please respond no later than 10pm on Saturday 17^th May if you wish to be included in the first league. Registrations after this time will be taken on a space available basis or held over to the next league. 

The 2020 CD Congress has been cancelled due to Covid 19 restrictions.

A provisional date of August 13th-15th has been agreed with The Park Hotel for 2021

It will come as no surprise to you that the Central District committee has decided to suspend operations until the UK government advises us that the suggested restrictions on travel and social interaction are no longer required.

Best estimates appear to suggest that we will face a minimum of 12 weeks before the pandemic reaches its peak and indeed, I have seen worst case scenario predictions where preventative measures will be in place for a minimum of 18 months. Who knows what is in store for us?

In the short term, all CD events from now until July are cancelled. If possible, we will re-schedule the CD Pairs Final, the Charity Pairs and the AGM for the autumn, however there will be no CD Leagues or KAS Cup in 2020. If you have sold tickets for the Charity Pairs or raffle tickets, please inform the purchaser that they will be valid for the re-scheduled date once that has been fixed. If they are unable to attend on the new date, a full refund will be give. 

I wish you good health and a safe passage through these troubled times.

Alan

All SBU events have been cancelled until further notice. See the SBU website for more detailed information.

Congratulations to the winning team from Annandale Bridge Club.

Winners (Left) are  Earl McGregor, Mairi Shiels, Shiena Lang and Sylvia Peterson.

Please note that the Rayne result has  been amended following the correction of a major scoring error.

Congress Pairs Winners 2019 Liam O'Brien and Jake Milne.

Montrose Congress 2019 Teams and Pre-Congress Teams winners Sandy Duncan, Bob McPaul, Jim Mason and Eddie McGeough.

Chloe, Joan and John. Knockout teams winners along with Muriel Blake and Pam Leith.

Copies of the 2017 publication The Laws of Duplicate Bridge are availble for purchase from either Joan Forsyth or Alan Kennedy. Cost £5.00.

SBU playing cards can also be purchased from Alan. Cost £1.00 per pack.

All those attending the SBU AGM were captivated by the four smiling girls from Grange Primary School Monifieth who had travelled to Stirling with their tutors and parents to receive the Scottish schools minibridge shield.

Our three proud CD Tutors, Jan Ross, Valerie Downie and lead Margaret Knight are photographed with the pupils.

THE SBU had agreed to hold the presentation before the AGM proper started. The children were given SBU playing cards and the CD contributed to a slap up meal in Stirling before the event!

After completing the accounts and receiving a further donation, the total raised for our nominated charity, Tayside Mountain Rescue in 2018/19 is £1450.00.

Thanks to all who supported the district's fundraising drive, and a special round of applause goes to our Charity Convenor, Joan, who did an amazing job.