CHAIRMAN's REPORT

As the Annual General Meeting will be held in May, I shall leave most of my comments until then. All I wish to report at this stage is that your Officers and Management Committee have been constantly endeavouring to improve the involvement of members in County Competitions, to implement the resolution passed at the AGM in 1974 that the County should have a central venue for all competitions, and to ensure Staffordshire had a real contribution to Midland and E.B.U. administration. All decisions were unanimous or by large majorities.

With regard to involvement, The Teams of Four League continued to be a great success, the County Fairs Stafford proved to be a most satisfactory innovation, County Pairs Newcastle has just maintained its popularity, but unfortunately the remaining competitions have, so far, been disappointing. We have, started with our central venue operation, but there is still more to do to improve the situation. " Rome was not built in a day".

Our representative to the E.B.U. is making his voice heard at all meetings he attends and has been endeavouring to upgrade the status of the Dawes Trophy.

Finally I would like to exhort as many members as possible to attend the AGM in order to help your Management Committee by your agreement with their actions so far, and constructive criticism, coupled with suggestions for the future.

F.M. Dumbleton

FROM THE SECRETARY'S DESK

A cynical observation on Civil Service procedure has always been that if you attempt nothing enterprising you are assured of promotion. You can not this way "drop a clangor" or upset the die-hards. This season has seen 'yours truly' frantically trying to put right the disasters that have occurred due to having ignored this fundamental principle.

However I was trying to implement a resolution passed nem. con. at the 1974 A.G.M. (which was the year before I took office). The resolution was " All County events should be played at a venue central to the County" . It is one I strongly believe in myself. Also I strongly believe that the venue we now have is, POTENTIALLY better than any which we have played in the past since The Crown, which is now defunct as an hotel. I agree that at the moment it is the worst - well I not quite; I can think of two that were worse as far as I was concerned. Moreover, having given up a week of my summer holidays to canvass every hotel and hall I could locate near Stafford I do not expect anyone to be able to suggest a better.

This year's Agenda for the AGM is enclosed; it is deliberately brief. This should give members plenty of time to speak their minds under A.O.B. and hopefully still have time for some bridge.

John Hudson, Hon. County Sec.

COUNTY LEAGUE RESULTS TO DATE (9.3.77)

These results maybe modified due to possible forfeiture due to playing non SCBA members.

INTER CLUB TEAMS OF EIGHT

Results so far:

FROM THE EDITOR

Firstly, an apology for the brevity of this Bulletin. It is all I have on to hand at the moment and pressure of work makes it impossible to get more. If anyone has aspirations to edit the Bulletin, please come forward at the A.G.M.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Geoff Salwey for his work with the Team of Four League. My three weeks as Bulletin Editor has brought home to me the difficulty of contacting people when needed and I don't know how he managed to run the League so successfully. I am sure everyone connected with the League will join me in expressing our gratitude for all his work.

Don Senior

TOURNAMENT DIRECTING AND MATCHPOINTING

Most Counties have problems in obtaining Tournament Directors for their County events because there are few persons with the necessary experience and confidence, and those who qualify in this respect are often engaged in the major events. I believe that the reason for the shortage is caused by the failure to gain experience at Club level. Below I shall outline the basic principles required and I hope YOU will insist on getting your full share of directing. Apart from sharing out the directing it is a good way of learning the rules, as well as understanding the movements and the scoring which will all help your own play.

There are three sound Mitchell movements for use at Club level -

(a) For any odd number of tables, place one set of boards at each table and at the and of each round pairs move in one direction and the boards in the opposite direction.

(b) For an even number of tables, the same movement but with a share at one pole and a bystand at the opposite pole i.e. in a 12 table movement. Tables 1 and 12 share boards and the boards pass out of play into a bystand for one round between tables 6 and 7. If you have a half table make the half pair N/S at one of the sharing tables and the sharing eliminated.

(c) An alternative to (b) for an even number of tables is to play a Skip Movement. This is particularly useful then it is impossible to play all the boards in the evening; e.g. you have 10 tables and will only be able to cope with playing 27 boards. Put boards out at each table and move boards one way and the pairs the other until you have played half-way i.e. 5 rounds, then E/W move TWO tables and the boards normally for one round. This movement eliminates the need for a share and bystand with all their problems. This movement I find preferably with 8 tables where 7 rounds of 4 (28 boards) can he played as quickly as 8 rounds of 3 (24 boards).

When directing you are in charge do not be shy; speak up clearly with authority. Always read out the relevant rule from the rule book when there is a query, even if you believe you know the rule. If a situation is not covered by the rule book, give what you believe to be a fair, honest decision and stick to it. Keep the movement going, move before the last table finishes and if someone is consistently slow have a quiet word with them. Do not use fines for slow play - these only cause bad feeling as they are more often than not unjust. Players, whether expert or novice, can only improve by giving thought to their play and bidding. The director should, however discourage inquests before the play at the table until the respective round has been completed.

A few sessions of matchpointing will give you an incentive to enter the correct score and pair numbers. A few inconsiderate and careless movements by players filling in score sheets can cost the director an hour whilst doing the scoring. The scores and numbers need to be checked, especially when there has been a skip, bystand or share. When scoring the following points are important or worth consideration to quicken the operation:

(a) A top is found by taking one from the number of times the board is played and doubling the result i.e. board played 9 times, TOP = 2 x (9-1) = 2 x 8 = 16
(b) Find the top or shared top and work your way down by the following method. If 2 pairs have scored 620 which qualifies for a point score of 17 and the next 3 pairs have scored 170, then the score for 170 will be 17 - (2+3) = 12
(c) Use negative scoring i.e. instead of subtracting N/S's score from the top to find the E/W score, just record the N/S score for E/W and then the lower the score the better the result. If a positive score is preferred subtract each pairs total from the maximum at the end. <br>(d) If a board is not played or has to be averaged, then the Top is reduced by one and a bottom scores one instead of nothing. The pairs not playing the board receive an average (half a Top).

Arthur Bloxham

14.4.77.

1976/77 - Final Bulletin Editor - D. Senior