Release 2.19q
2023 Level 4 changes and 2022 Announcing/ Alerting Rules

See David's 2023 summary of Level 4 2023 changes, see complete revised Blue Book.

Some changes in the EBU announcing/alerting September 2022. David drew up a summary of the 2022 changes for directors.

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MEMBERS’ WELFARE

If you know of any member of the club who is unwell please let either Pat Martin or a member of the committee know so that appropriate wishes can be sent on behalf of all members.
The quickest response will be to tell either Pat Martin or any member of the committee at the bridge session then a card can be signed & posted immediately. Alternatively, you can email the secretary.

Membership Info
New Arrangements for Club Sessions

Easing of Covid regulations

In the light of the Prime Minister's surprise announcement that he hoped to bring forward by a month the planned easing of Covid restrictions, your Committee has made the following decisions:

  • Provided the easing of restrictions is confirmed, the Club will no longer require any wearing of masks, from March 1st. However, individual members may wear masks if they wish.
  • Members are requested to continue using hand sanitisers at the Club.
  • Members should not take part in face-to-face sessions if they have covid or some other harmful virus, have tested positive for the coronavirus within the last five days, or are not fully protected by vaccinations and booster(s).
  • As a general principle, members should always have the safety and wellbeing of other members as their prime concern, and should not knowingly put other members at risk by attending face-to-face sessions if they have a harmful viral infection themselves.

Best behaviour at bridge

Committee members are keen to promote a welcoming and friendly atmosphere in Club sessions, within a properly managed and well-behaved regime.   All members should take note again of the principles set out in Best Behaviour at Bridge, including:

  • ensuring that newer players and visitors are welcomed and assisted appropriately
  • avoiding noisy conversation or other disturbance while tables are still in play
  • avoiding ill-tempered exchanges between partners and "inquests" after each hand
  • ensuring as far as possible that the session is not held up by slow play
  • respecting the role of the director of the session

The Committee recognises that etiquette standards at the table may have slipped somewhat during the long period of covid restrictions and online play, and wishes now to remind members formally of what is expected of them in face-to-face bridge at the Club.

M.Metcalf 
12th Feb 2022

Website Upgrade

As of 18th July the release of BridgeWebs being used has moved from version 2.19p to to 2.19q.  Primarily this allows for the results to be shown in a different format.  There is an option to use the updated format or stay with the old.  Have your say, what do you like/dislike about the new format.  Constructive comment is so useful.

Please keep your details and chosen options updated

To get the best use of the SBC club and EBU websites please check your preferred options from time to time.  In particular the club website offers facilities to "find a partner", to contact, and be contacted by, other club members, the EBU needs to know where to post your magazine!  Both sites offer various privacy settings to restrict what other members can see.

Stafford Bridge Club EBU (My EBU)
  • Opt In to show in list of members
  • Opt In to Personal Analysis 
  • Opt In to Show Email in list
  • Opt In to Show Phone in list
  • Opt In to Show Mobile in list
  • Opt In to Show Rank etc. in list
  • Opt In to Bulk Email 
  • Show Email in "Find a Partner" 
  • Show Phone in "Find a Partner" 
  • Show Mobile in "Find a Partner" 
  • Full Contact Details
  • Anonymous option
  • Public Masterpoints 
  • Receive multiple magazines at my address 
  • Magazine/Diary Preference 
  • Receive EBU-related emails 
  • Receive EBED-related emails 
  • NGS Preference 
Any problems contact:  
webmaster, email or Stafford 822233

Does the club have your current details correctly?

EBU Membership contact  01296 317201

 

General Information for Bridge Club Live

Message from your webmaster: For the Bridge Club Live basic information.for new converts to on line bridge click here.  

Loss of Connection: If you lose your connection to BCL mid game for any reason (could be an internet connection your end, their end or somewhere between) click on “Enter” when the system lets you.  Please report any cases where you find play not in the same place as you left it to the club Captain.

Beware During seating time for the virtual club sessions if anyone leaves the table, for whatever reason, after system has placed opposition pair at the table but prior to play starting that opposition pair may not get a game when the session eventually starts. If you have to leave suddenly during the seating time please keep your oppo informed to give them a chance to get reseated themselves (they could then leave the table and re-enter the tournament). The system will not do reseat the oppo pair automatically, system may assume original player coming back and leaves a towel on their chair!  Communication, communication, communication, table chat, telephone etc!

Reminder about mis-clicked calls:  can be corrected provided that your partner has not yet called see rule 9 in league rules. BCL procedure states that to rectify immediately “Leave table” and straight away return to your seat and explain that you Mis-clicked your call. The players need to click “Ready” again and the auction should re-start as per the original auction up to the point of the mis-clicked call.  If partner has already called not only can you not correct your call but also mustn’t give unauthorised information by revealing that you had made an error.

BCL Membership: Keep an eye on when your BCL membership runs out, sad to miss a game because you have forgotten to renew. Hover over Members tab on BCL home page and click on "Membership summary" at the top of the drop down list of options.  You will also get an email reminder when the date is close.

Retrospective Charges

Charges are made for the league for the full number of matches over the season.  There is a 50p and the virtual club sessions, see 2020 and 2021 records.

Other sources of information are:  

bridge base on line (BBO has a number of existing members from SBC) the County has up a virtual SSCBA group.  Watch over the shoulder of the experts, youtube videos, pick and possibly question, your expert in real time with Zoom.  EBU, EBU Webinar 16/5/2020, Andrew Robson BridgeCast and Bernard Magee.   All ideas/messages for members etc to webmaster@staffordbridgeclub.co.uk. In the real world please look out for one another, check your regular partners on the phone for example.

 

Since the club reopened after Covid and particularly during the hot spell in July there have been some sessions where the attendance has been low so some improvised team games have been played.  The results have been posted on the website on the "Recent Competitions" page for the sake of completeness.  From mid July 2022 some experimentation with better ways to show the results, not yet perfected as of 24/7/22!   A brief ad hoc result has been posted for these sessions in the normal results calendar, this can be viewed in the "classic" style of BridgeWebs release 2.19q only.

Membership Fees Due 1st April
Membership Fees Due 1st April

Your SBC Committee has decided that as the club is now fully operational membership fees will be collected in 2022. Membership fees of £12.50 are due from 1st April 2022. How to pay;

  • Group 1; If you are back playing bridge, either at the club or online, or both, then you will receive as normal, your monthly fees bill for March at the start of April. If you are a member, we will add your membership fees to this bill so that you only have to pay one payment.
  • Group 2; If you are not yet back playing bridge with the club but wish to renew your membership then please send the £12.50 to the club treasurer by either bank transfer with your surname as the reference or by cheque made payable to Stafford Bridge Club (email Carol for details where to send the cheque).. Could we ask you to try and make this payment by April 14th? If you do not intend to re-join the club, could I ask you to either email Carol  or phone her on 07913300108 to let her know. 

Thanks Carol Kane SBC Secretary.

Members

Click link to go on to the members only area.  There are tabs at the top of the member's area for the various options open to members, for example:

Need a Partner?

PARTNER FINDER AND HOSTING

In addition, to the normal method of phoning round for a partner from the "members only" area list of members, members are encouraged to use the web page facility to find a partner. For BridgeWebs easy to follow steps click here and choose the 4.2.2 option which assumes you are starting from the Calendar Month page.  This feature is still running for online bridge.

To request a partner log on to the "members only" area and follow the instructions.  Please only select the contact details (email, landline or mobile) that you are happy for the world to see, you can opt just to have your name displayed.  If you opt just to have your name displayed then anyone interested in contacting you will need to go themselves to the "members only" page to get a contact phone number or email address for you.  Remember to go through the process again to delete your entry once you have successfully found a partner.

To see who is already looking for a partner look for "partner?" on the calendar page or list of requests.  Please note the requests page found when clicking on partner? show 2 dates, the date when the partner is needed, today or a date in the future (shown in blue above the name), and the date when the request placed on the website, normally a date in the past but could be today (shown in black with no link).  

Mike Sheriff (01889 882296) acts as partner broker on a Thursday evening if given enough time to make arrangements.

A partner is not normally needed on a Friday but watch the Calendar page to check if a "host" is listed for the particular Friday of interest.

Read the Minutes?

Check your EBU number?

Check Rankings?

Membership?

These pages are for club members only who have opted in to the system.  If you, as a member, have difficulty accessing them please contact the webmaster.  When logging in as a member the system will normally bring you into the "Find a Partner" section, the other areas can be seen by clicking the tabs across in the same way that the rankings, scorecards, matrix, travellers, hands appear on a results page.

WANTED: a new Officer and new Committee members.   (Or, Your Club needs YOU .....)

As we approach the AGM, the Club needs to find suitable people willing to serve as Officers or Committee members.   Adrienne Jones is stepping down as Club Treasurer.   Carol Kane would be willing to take on this role, provided someone else becomes Secretary.    We therefore need to elect either a new Treasurer or a new Secretary.   In addition, there are several vacancies on the Committee. The Agenda and 2020 Accounts are now available.

Members are asked as a matter of urgency to consider whether they would be willing for their own names to be put forward for any of these positions, and to cast their eyes over our Club membership to seek to identify people it would be worth approaching.   The wellbeing of our Club depends greatly on the four Officer posts being filled adequately, and on the Committee being active, up to strength, and engaged.    Over to you!

Please contact the Club Secretary if you can respond to this appeal.

Update from your Committee

A meeting of the Bridge Club Committee was held via Zoom on Wednesday 27th January, at which a number of important decisions were made, please click here to read the report which includes information on the AGM on May 5th (correction to date made 11/3/21), to be held via Zoom, in addition to much other important information.

Two BCL Virtual Club Sessions are running every week 

  • Monday afternoons, 22 boards, door opens 1:20 p.m. for 1:30 p.m. start of play (room STAFRD 1-B-2)  (see Carol's notes)

  • Friday Evenings, 18 boards, door opens 6:30 for 7 p.m. start of play (room STAFRD 5-B-3)

These sessions are proving popular with members.  To take part members:

  • must be registered with BCL as a member of Stafford Bridge Club (UK),
  • have included their EBU number in their BCL profile,
  • "turn up" with their partner in the club at the alloted session time, one partner enters the tournament and the other then joins them at the table
  • exchange SSD (submit and agree).

There is now a link on the BCL home page to take you to the club, see Face2Face Online Sessions top right and click the link Club Page then follow the BCL nstructions.  Best to get some practice at arriving at the club room before you actually plan to play.

BCL does not allow half tables and the two sessions deal with this in different ways. On Mondays last pair to exchange SSD will miss out on a game if they are on a half table. On Fridays a rota of "Hosts" will ensure that all other players who complete their SSD a good five minutes before the start of play will get a game.

The results will be uploaded to the club website when they are available, in the case of Friday possibly not until early Saturday morning.  Results will first be available on the BCL site

You can also make use of the website "find a partner" system which Carol will pick up on or the BCL "sticky" note system for contacting prospective partners. Why not add a picture to your profile add that extra friendly feel to the session. Unlike the real world Friday session you will not be assured of a game if you come without a partner however if you contact Ann with 24 hours notice she will do her best to find you one.

There will be a retrospective charge of 50p for each time that you play in this club to cover the p2p fees, probably collected from you by the club every 2 months or possibly every quarter. 

online Handicapped League 'Winter Teams of Four' Started Tuesday November 10th

8 teams have entered this. Click here for webpage translation of the timetable, all captains should have received the original and definitive copy direct from Terry. Please click here for the rules and here for general guidance.  If you finish ahead of the other table after board 4 or board 12 do not be tempted to kibitz at the other table, automated system may not allow board 5 or 13 to be played for fear that kibitzing player has seen the hands whether or not they actually have. Terry sends results weekly to all players, readers can also check out under the "results" tab on left hand side here.  Reserves are sometimes needed so please contact Terry if you are willing to be a reserve.

Message From the Chairman 9th June 2020

We are in the middle of an unprecedented situation, with the Club premises under lockdown and all normal Club activities suspended.     The purpose of this update is to sustain the Club’s links with its members, with such news and information as there is.

The AGM scheduled for May 21st has been postponed to a future date, as yet undetermined.   For the time being Officers and Committee Members will remain in post until a fair and proper election process can be mounted.     The Accounts for the financial year have been seen by the Committee and are ready for adoption and publication, with many thanks to Adrienne and Garry.    A summary of these accounts is posted here, for information.

In a normal year, we would have been collecting the Annual Subscriptions for the new membership year, from April 1st.    We are still many months away from re-opening, and members have already forfeited unusable time from the previous membership year.    It will be a considerable hassle to collect Annual Subs from when we re-open, whenever that is, and our bank balance is healthy.    The Committee has therefore agreed to waive Annual Subs for the new membership year.   Existing membership will simply carry over.  New members will pay Annual Subs in the normal way.

On the bridge front, your Officers took the decision, having explored the possibilities and consulted with others, to select Bridge Club Live (BCL) as the right option for developing a coordinated Club presence in online bridge.     To date, over 40 Club members are registered with BCL.   Club Captain Terry – with much help from Carol – has set up a weekly Teams of Four SBC League online within BCL, involving 36 Club members plus reserves, while several members are also taking part in open sessions either in social bridge or in competitive pairs sessions.    Ann Sleightholme also has established a Friday evening social event.

The Committee is conscious that normal channels of communication and social interaction via our Club have ceased to operate.    For some, this may result in serious isolation as well as in “bridge deprivation” syndrome!   Members are urged to maintain social links wherever possible, and to let Club officers know of any important news concerning Club members which they might come across.

Michael Metcalf
Club Chairman

News and Recent Results

Sixth Round of the Shelley played 12 March 2020

Corrected results (14.3.20) after 6 rounds including the handicaps are:

Pos Name Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Total HCap
1 Woodward -4 54 34 49 -20 18 131 2
2 Seymour 29 58 0 -36 41 -8 84 -62
3 Eaves 35 -1 6 -46 25 -3 16 22
4 Metcalf -26 10 -29 -15 35 22 -3 13
5 Clarke 9 -73 21 32 -15 12 -14 -26
6 Hensby 38 -61 13 24 -51 -19 -82 14
7 Sleightholme -81 13 -19 -8 -15 -22 -132 37

Holders: Team Davies

Paul retires from teaching - Friday 6th March 2020

Now that Terry is back from his cruise Paul has taken a back seat from teaching duties. The class regulars presented Paul with retirement gifts at the coffee break during his final lesson (and provided some excellent cakes). Terry will be taking over the Friday morning class but Terry has already booked a 2021 cruise, Paul may have to come out of retirement then!  Paul would like to see his pupils at club sessions, particularly Monday and Wednesday afternoons and Friday evenings where Paul and Linda play regularly. Read more.


See recent competitions page for past event reports and news page for earlier items of interest.


SSCBA Events Before LockDown

SCBA County Championship Pairs (Bearn) -  played Sunday 8th March at Wolverhampton Bridge Club

4 Stafford Bridge Club members took part in this event.  Coming second to Paul Hackett & David Debbage were Stafford members Cath & John who now qualify to play in the national Corwen event in May and will be invited to play in the Edgar Foster Cups in September.  Read more.

SSCBA No Fear Pairs -  played Thursday 27th February at Wolverhampton Bridge Club

A most enjoyable day, 4 pairs of SBC members and visitors took part in the event.  30 boards were played with a Mitchell movement.  Many thanks are due to Jeff Jones for the organisation and directing in addition to those who provided the lunch. Read more.

 

See also County News page on this site for more information and pictures.


EBU informationEBU

Please keep your contact details, including email address, up to date with the EBU.  If you do not need a printed version of English Bridge magazine please opt out to help reduce costs and waste. Go to www.ebu.co.uk/members/v2/, log-in and click 'my details'  under the "account tab" (extreme right) to update your details and preferences. Please note that by May 2020 you will need to set 'opt in' in 'my details' to continue to receive a diary.  The default value for all members has been reset to exclude the diary as of August 2019.  You may ask Carol (who may be able to do it for you at the club), email the EBU membership manager or phone (01296 317201) if you need any help with updating your details.

 

Club Management Focus

Click link for Winter 2020 edition. - Cafe Bridge, Training Course, Social Media, Club Straified Sim Pairs to name some of the topics covered.

See also EBU News page on this site for more information and pictures, the EBU home page and the EBU members area.  Some advice for bridge clubs and players on the  Coronavirus outbreak.

Committee Meetings

Committee meeting dates 19/20 scheduled for Wednesday 19th June 2019, 4th or 11th September, 13th November, 29th Jan 2020 and 22nd April following the afternoon bridge session.  If you have concerns that you wish to be brought up at a meeting please contact any member of the committee at least one week (preferably more) prior to the meeting, or email the Secretary or Chairman, so that the item may be added to the meeting Agenda.  It has been proposed to make the minutes available through the website to members only (in addition of course to the existing paper record file in the office).

Website

Following the September 2019 committee meeting the home page has been "decluttered" and members may have to use the tabs on the left hand side to view some items previously on the home page. Is this change an improvement, a step back or unimportant?  Your views matter, can you find what you were looking for?  

Please email contributions for the website, club news, hands etc to webmaster@staffordbridgeclub.co.uk.  All constructive comment welcome on style, content etc.

Duplicate Bridge Round Timer

Webmaster and son's duplicate bridge round timer available.
 

Thanks to those who have returned their questionnaires and can I encourage those who have not done so to complete and return the questionnaire.

Some returns asked questions about the planned measures taken to reopen the club and I would like to explain how the committee is approaching this issue. We have been discussing the issues of reopening and researching various ideas and now need to start to make formal plans to resume bridge at the club safely.

A) The EBU released a preliminary document this week offering support on how  clubs might proceed with this.  You may like to look at this.https://www.ebu.co.uk/article/planning-face-face-bridge-2021 . We would expect more guidance to come from the EBU as Government guidance for the last stage in the removal of restrictions (possibly June 21st) becomes available.

B) The committee has planned a single item meeting on June 9th to discuss and make plans for reopening the club. This meeting is for the committee only but you can feed into this through C) below. 

C) We would like to invite members to feed into this discussion. Please send me an email, at least a few days before the date of the meeting please, outlining for example;

  • any aspects of the clubs facilities/operations that you want to draw our attention to.
  • any ideas you may have to resolve any issues. 
  • anything that you have heard of or seen from other social or bridge clubs or societies that might be relevant and useful (just send a link/ reference to that club if easier).
  • any personal professional experience/support you may be able to give 

D) As we share the use of some of our facilities, we will need to liaise with those other groups.

Hope this helps you understand the scope of what needs to be considered & done to reopen the club safely and how you can contribute to decisions.

thanks
Carol Kane,  Club Secretary 

 

Polite Notice.

A number of members sadly have health issues effecting  their immune systems.  Members are politely asked to refrain from playing at the club when suffering from infections. Super clean hands too at all times please to prevent any infection passing via the cards.