YOUR COMMITTEE HAVE BEEN BUSY WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES TO KEEP ST. LAURENCES BRIDGE CLUB ACTIVE.  THE NEWS ON THE STRONG POSSIBILITY OF A VACCINE IS REALLY HOPEFUL BUT IT WILL PROBABLY BE MANY MONTHS YET BEFORE WE CAN SIT DOWN TOGETHER AGAIN TO PLAY BRIDGE.  WE ARE STAYING CONNECTED ONLINE WITH OUR VIRTUAL SLBC KILMACUD CLUB ON BBO.

OUR VIRTUAL CLUB HAS NOW OVER 80 MEMBERS SIGNED UP AND WE HAVE WELCOMED SOME NEW MEMBERS AND VISITORS.  THE COMMITTEE ARE READY TO HELP ANYONE TO GET STARTED ON BBO

OUR WEBSITE HAS PROVED INVALUABLE AS A RESOURCE AND WE ENCOURAGE EVERYBODY TO EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITIES.  WE HAVE UPDATED OUR MEMBERS DATABASE AND HAVE TRIED TO ENSURE THAT ALL DETAILS ARE UP TO DATE.  ON OUR WEBSITE https://www.bridgewebs.com/stlaurences/  YOU CAN VIEW THE LATEST RESULTS AND ANALYSIS, VIEW THE CALENDAR FOR UPCOMING EVENTS, CHECK THAT YOUR PERSONAL DETAILS ARE CORRECT AND FIND A PARTNER.

WITH REGARD TO ROBOTS AND BBO - ROBOTS ARE AVAILABLE ON BBO.  OUR TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR, EAMON, USES THEM AS A PAIR WHERE THERE IS A HALF TABLE AS BBO SOFTWARE DOES NOT ALLOW HALF TABLES.  THE TD ALSO SUBSTITUTES THEM WHEN A PLAYER LOSES CONNECTION TEMPORARILY AND THEN RE-JOINS.  ROBOTS CAN BE USED AS A PARTNER FOR THE EVENING IF A PLAYER IS UNABLE TO FIND A PARTNER.  CABI HAS ADVISED THAT WHERE A ROBOT IS USED FOR MORE THAN 75% OF THE TIME IN AN EVENT THEN NO MATCH POINTS CAN BE AWARDED.

TO FIND A PARTNER:  WE ARE ENCOURAGING ANYONE WHO NEEDS A PARTNER TO USE THE " FIND A PARTNER" FACILITY ON OUR WEBSITE.  WE ARE RECOMMENDING THIS  AS THE EASIEST AND MOST SECURE WAY TO FIND A PARTNER.   IN ORDER TO USE THIS FACILITY,  YOU SHOULD CLICK ON THE "FIND A PARTNER" LINK IN THE BLUE MENU ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE WEBSITE.  YOU WILL NEED TO BE ABLE TO ACCESS THE "MEMBERS ONLY" SECTION TO REGISTER.  PLEASE CONTACT A MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE IF YOU HAVE ANY DIFFICULTY IN THIS REGARD.

THERE WILL BE NO VIRTUAL BRIDGE ON CHRISTMAS EVE OR NEW YEARS EVE. AND WE HOPE TO HOLD OUR LONG POSTPONED AGM IN THE NEW YEAR ON ZOOM.

WE WISH EVERYONE GOOD HEALTH AND STAY SAFE

KIND REGARDS,

THE COMMITEE, ST LAURENCES BRIDGE CLUB, KILMACUD, CO. DUBLIN 

Assuming you have registered with BBO and lodged some money to your account (if you need help there is a good You Tube video "Buying BBO dollars with EBU TD Nicole" or there is a link on CBAI - see 2nd July post by Dermot)

To join a competition

You will be looking for a competition under the abbreviated name of the club which is SLBC.

You can sign in 2 hours before the game is due to start.  Do this in plenty of time and make sure you are logged in well ahead of the start time of the competition.  If you go offline just before or at the start of the game you maybe left out.  If you go offline during the competition due to a lost connection - just log in again and it should bring you back to the game.

Log in to BBO with your user name and password (You can keep yourself logged in permanently which makes life easier)

Under the banner "Play or Watch bridge" choose Competitive

Go to All tournaments.  Up on the right you will see  Search.  Enter  SLBC here and the competition will appear in a list.  Click on the competition and see a prompt to Invite Partner.  Enter partner's BBO user name and invite.  Partner will need to be online at this stage.  Accept the invitation.

Usually each person pays for themselves  You will need to have funds in your BBO account.

Wait for the competiton to start and then ENJOY.

You will be able to review your performance afterwards

FOLLOWING A MEETING OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE COMMUNITY CENTRE ON 10TH SEPTEMBER, WE HAVE BEEN INFORMED THAT THE CENTRE WILL NOT BE RE-OPENING UNTIL 2021 AT THE EARLIEST.  IN VIEW OF THIS, THE COMMITTEE PROPOSES TO START A VIRTUAL ST LAURENCE'S BRIDGE CLUB ON THURSDAY NIGHTS.

AN EMAIL HAS BEEN SENT TO ALL MEMBERS WHO HAVE SUPPLIED AN EMAIL ADDRESS GIVING DETAILS OF THIS PROPOSAL AND WE WOULD BE GRATEFUL IF YOU WOULD INDICATE YOUR INTEREST IN SAME AT YOUR EARLIEST CONVENIENCE.  WE WOULD ALSO BE GRATEFUL IF YOU WOULD INFORM ANY MEMBERS YOU KNOW WHO MAY NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THE INTERNET

WITH REGARD TO YOUR ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION,  THE COMMITTEE HAS AGREED TO COVER THE COST OF RE-AFFILIATING ALL OUR CURRENT MEMEBRS TO THE CBAI FOR THE YEAR 2020/2021.  THERE WILL NOT BE ANY MEMBERSHIP CHARGE THIS YEAR.  IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO CONTINUE YOUR MEMBERSHIP OF ST LAURENCES BRIDGE CLUB,  PLEASE LET US KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

WE WOULD LIKE TO ASK ALL MEMBERS TO GIVE SERIOUS CONSIDERATION TO JOINING THE COMMITTEE OF ST LAURENCES BRIDGE CLUB.

IT HAS BEEN A CHALLENGING TWO YEARS FOR THE CLUB BUT WITH OUR EXTREMELY COMPETENT TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR NATHAN NOW PERMANENTLY APPOINTED, OUR MEMBERSHIP STABLE AND SOME ORGANISATIONAL CHANGES BEING REVIEWED AND IMPLEMENTED, WE WOULD HOPE THE CLUB WILL CONTINUE TO GROW.  

YOUR COMMITMENT TO THE CLUB WILL ENSURE ITS SUCCESS INTO THE FUTURE.

FOR ANY FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT ANY OF THE COMMITTEE

Your committee has reviewed the situation regarding numbers and grades of players in the different sections and plans to introduce a new organisation of the sections on January 9th 2020. This follows requests from some members and considerations of the problems in the size and make-up of sections.  We would like to thank those members for sharing their concerns.

We hope the proposed change, set out below, will help and that members will support us in this effort.

The current situation 

Our membership numbers have decreased and it is difficult sometimes to run a satisfactory competition in one section, especially in the summer months.  There are often just two prizes, sometimes only one, and while winning is not the be-all, people still love to get a prize.  We also have players classified by CBAI as A players in all sections of the club.

We have consulted with the CBAI and the rules are quite clear - players may play up a grade but not down a grade.  A lot of us probably feel that we no longer play to the grade we have had historically. However the CBAI is quite clear on this also - players should play to the grade given by the CBAI.

What we are doing

Following a review of grading, we find that the membership is divided almost equally between Master/A players and B players/Novice players so a division into two sections is suitable.

The committee therefore propose to split our club into two sections, starting on 9th January 2020.

Section 1 - For masters and A players (inclduing partnerships where one partner is an A Player)

Section 2 - For all B players and Novice players

You will find your grade on your CBAI membership card.

We also propose to introduce a handicap system based on advice from CBAI and our Tournament Director.  The new sections would play without any handicap for 4 weeks in January and handicaps would then be calculated and used for the following months.  Handicaps will be re-calculated at given intervals which will be decided by the TD and committee.

Why are we doing this

For equity and fairness

To give each of our members a game against players of a similar level

For a sense of collegiality among members

In the case of members playing with those of higher ability, it will help them to develop their skills as players,  In the case of newer or lower graded players, it will give them a fair shot at doing well.

What will it mean for me

As an individual members, you will still be able to play with your partner, you will play with many of your friends and make some new ones.  You may even have a better chance of winning a prize on occasion.

Please note that the handicap system does not affect your gross points sent in to the CBAI

What does it mean for the club

The committee feel that this is absolutely essential if the club is to be sustainable long term.  We cannot continue as we are.  Our aim is to make people feel part of St Laurences Bridge Club, Kilmacud and not just part of a sub-section.  As it happens, the Current A section is too small and moving people willy-nilly into it on the night is unfair and does not work.

We are appealing for your help in addressing the issues in the club and to your sense of fairness.  We feel that this proposal is the fairest system we could make work but we need your support to make this a great club again.

PLEASE NOTE THAT TABLE MONEY FOR WEEKLY COMPETITIONS WILL INCREASE FROM 7EURO TO 8 EURO WITH EFFECT FROM THURSDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER 2019

Please check your details and let us know if they need to be amended.

If you have any suggestions for the website, please let us know.

To access the members' section for the first time, if you have already given us your email address, this is what you need to do:

1. Click on the members only link at the top right of the screen.
2. Enter your email address.  
3. Click "forgotten password".  
4. Another screen will pop up allowing you to enter a password of your choice.
5. You should then be able to log in to the members only section.  

If you can't access the members only section, it means that either we haven't got your email address or we have listed it incorrectly.  Please send your correct email address to fedelma@martinco.ie and we will update your details.

You will find your player ID number in the membership area.