Author Archives: ITSupport

SBU has told us about this project, which was launched last year for 11-16 year olds, and now returns with a focus on the 7-13 range. Despite the USA glitz, the process is completely under British control with a qualified and accredited EBU teacher.

SBU believes that the project is free, safe, and designed to be easy; and something that grandparents can get involved with, and hold their own! Good for numerical and problem-solving skills development. A worthwhile legacy that costs … nothing … except your time.

Use the following link: https://bridgewhiz.org/
There is also info on the SBU/Education website. 

In case of questions or difficulties, email Douglas Wright: 3countiesbridge @ gmail.com

Notice is hereby given that an Extraordinary General Meeting of The Bridge Club, Aberdeen (SCIO) SC048843, will be held in the club premises at 1.30pm on Sunday 29^th January 2023, the purpose of which is to adopt a new Governing Document/Constitution for the club.  

The reasons for this were discussed at the 2021 AGM and details circulated at the 2022 AGM.  Sadly due to the passing of Prof Pete Duff, the amended constitution was not able to be accessed, so we were unable to adopt it at the 2022 AGM.  Luckily, Carole and Neil’s son Connor, a solicitor, has kindly rewritten the constitution and this will be proposed for adoption at the EGM.

Further information and a copy of the amended constitution will be circulated the week beginning 9^th January and a Zoom link will be provided for those who cannot make the meeting in person and who have intimated that they wish to attend in this manner.

After the EGM the Board are arranging a Robert Burns themed social event followed by an 18 board Bridge Tournament.  Further details will follow, including how to sign up for this event as the event will be catered.  There will be a small charge towards the cost of the food and the bar will be open for drinks.  Please note there will be no table money charged that day, as the club is subsidizing the event.

The Board has decided that the following will apply to all sessions starting in the New Year.

1. A decision to cancel a session (if the minimum number of pairs has not been reached) will be made 2 HOURS before the start of the session (rather than 5). This means, for example, that you should check the status of a 7 pm session after 5 pm.
2. A session will be closed to new entrants 2 HOURS before it starts (rather than 60 minutes). This means, for example, that you must sign up no later than 5 pm for a 7 pm session.

These changes were necessary to deal with the following situation, which has arisen in the past, where the cancellation deadline was set to be some hours before the closure deadline. At the cancellation deadline there were at least the minimum number of pairs signed up for the tournament. Some time after that deadline had passed, one or more pairs had to withdraw, to the extent that the number signed up fell below the minimum number; the tournament was no longer viable and had therefore to be cancelled. Players checking the status of the tournament before the withdrawal would have thought that it was going ahead, whereas those checking afterwards would have seen that it had been cancelled.

The club will be closed for the Festive Season from Friday 23rd December. It will re-open on Wednesday 4th January.

Starting from Thursday January 12th, there will be an evening tournament, open to all, starting at 7pm.

To save time in paying table monies, members are encouraged to buy pre-paid cards at £20 for five sessions and £40 for 10. These are presented to the person collecting the table money, and stamped to show that a session has been attended. Note that they can be used as and when you want.

We are very sad to report that Pete Duff passed away a few weeks ago. Click here to see his obituary.

Aberdeen Bridge Club is pleased to announce the launch of a mentoring scheme to encourage the development of its members. The scheme partners beginners / improvers with more experienced players with a view to improving confidence, etiquette and skill. There are more details below.

If you feel that you would benefit from mentoring or are willing to volunteer as a mentor, please contact the Education Convenor (Mike Hodder) at education@aberdeenbridgeclub.co.uk. Please say which Bridge Club tournaments you normally play in.

MENTORING – MORE DETAILS
Q1: What is mentoring?
A1: Mentoring involves playing a session with a more experienced player to help develop your bridge

Q2: Who can benefit?
A2: Most mentoring is aimed at beginners or improvers but more experienced players who wish to improve their game can also benefit

Q3: How does it work?
A3: Players wishing to join up are assigned a mentor and you play a session together. This can be either Face-to-Face or on-line. It’s up to the mentor and mentee to agree when and how often to play. We suggest once a month to start with. There is no obligation on either side and you can withdraw or take a break at any time.

If you have a regular partner, it’s best if he or she is also assigned a mentor and that you each play with your respective mentor in the same event

Q4: What does the mentor do?
A4: Mentoring isn’t teaching, but obviously there will be an element of this. There is no need to discuss every hand in detail and indeed you should avoid extensive post mortems. By all means meet in the bar after the event to discuss the hands further if both parties wish. The idea is for the mentee to gain confidence, pick up the essentials of etiquette (especially when playing face to face) and pick up a few tips on bidding and card play.

You don’t have to be an expert to act as a mentor. If you have been playing for more than 5 years, chances are you will make a good mentor.  You will be expected to play a system that your mentee is comfortable with. Don’t try to teach them your favourite conventions too early!

Q5: Are there any sessions where mentoring is inappropriate?
A5: Yes – if it’s a major club or district competition where there is a trophy or qualification at stake, then mentoring should not take place nor should it take place in any national competition (such as the Bronze League) without the express permission of the convenor.

The following Bridge Club sessions are suggested:

For Beginners / Improvers:
Monday night pairs 18-board event (face-to-face, targeted at Bronze 1)
Thursday afternoon event (2-4pm)
Friday evening RealBridge session (7-9pm)

For more advanced players:
Tuesday Pairs on BBO
Wednesday evening event (face-to-face)

Dear friends,

It’s been good to see the club beginning to fill up again during the past few weeks.  There has, of course been a mixed uptake of the various sessions, but the Board are confident that numbers will settle down next month and that most sessions will be full – but more of that later.

On Sunday the Board held a Planning Meeting to review where we’ve been, where we are, and where we hope to be going over the rest of this season and beyond.  We recognized that we are still in what can only be termed a state of flux, given the ongoing Covid situation and the economic problems we all currently face, thus it is difficult to make any long term plans, however, in response to your feedback, we have made a couple of changes to the programme which comes into effect next week.

October Programme

From Monday 3^rd October, the current Bronze 1 & 2 Tournament will be limited to Bronze 1 – those members who are ranked Novice or Club Master.  If you aren’t sure, you can check your ranking via your SBU Mempad account; for instructions click HERE.

Bronze 2 and above are welcome to join the Open Tournament at 7pm on Mondays.  However, if you are still unsure if that tournament is for you, we have an 18 board Tournament scheduled for Tuesday afternoons at 2pm.  This was set up as a result of feedback from members, but sadly, so far there has not been much interest, so I would urge members to sign up for this because if there is no demand, we will drop it from the schedule.  Plus our 18 board online tournament continues every Tuesday at 7pm on BBO.

Wednesday evening is also a friendly tournament.  If we have an even number of pairs we play teams and if not we play a Howell Movement with a sitout round for each pair.  This is a good opportunity for you to try teams and to experience a movement different from the standard Mitchell Movement.

Thursday Afternoon is our Relaxed Bridge Session.  An opportunity for a catch up over a cuppy and as many or few hands as you wish.  This is a good way to get back into the Bridge Club after some time away, to fine tune your system or just enjoy meeting your Bridge friends.  You don’t need a partner to come along, just sign up online.

In addition, the Friday evening sessions for improvers continues on RealBridge.  They don’t run every week at present, so for further details please contact Loraine Findlay: treasurer@aberdeenbridgeclub.co.uk

Our friends at the Phoenix Bridge Club will be returning to F2F Bridge from next Thursday and are inviting Bridge Club members along to try their club.  Next Thursday is their welcome back party and you need to book for catering purposes by Friday 30th, however for the rest of October, table money is free and you can turn up to play, but please either contact their secretary Sandra Schwitz, or ensure that you arrive early to start play at 7pm.

Bon Accord Chess Club have returned and play upstairs on a Wednesday night, so if you see someone looking lost, direct them upstairs.  From next Wednesday, Steve will also be running the beginners classes in the side cardroom upstairs.  We have around 20 potential students, but there is still room for more, so if you know anyone who might be interested please have them email education@aberdeenbridgeclub.co.uk for further details.

Also returning soon will be the Scrabble Club who meet upstairs on Tuesday evenings.  They are holding an Open Day on Sunday 16^th October, so again if you know anyone who might be interested, please have them go along to try Scrabble.

Social Events

We held a very successful Welcome Back Party on Sunday 11^th.  We had a light lunch plus drinks, caught up with old and new friends and played some Bridge.  Everyone enjoyed the afternoon, so we hope to hold a Christmas Party in early December. It will have a similar format and possibly include some party games.  More details in my next update.

AGM- Please save the date!

Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of The Bridge Club, Aberdeen (SCIO) SC048843, will be held in the club premises at 6.30pm on Friday 25th November 2022.  Further information will be circulated 4 weeks before the meeting and a Zoom link will be provided for those who cannot make the meeting in person.

Board Matters

As some of you will have heard, Nuala Booth, President Emeritus and Loraine Findlay, treasurer, will be standing down at the AGM.  With John Usher resigning a few months ago, we already have a vacancy for a Trustee, so have been looking for at least two Trustees to strengthen the Board.  I am happy to announce that one of our new members, David Hunter, has agreed to join the Board as a Trustee and was co-opted at our meeting on Sunday.

David comes to us with both Trusteeship experience and that of setting up and running tournaments in his former home, South Africa.  We welcome both him and his wife Estelle to the club, and look forward to his input at Board meetings.  David will be, I hope, formally elected at the AGM.

We are currently talking with two other likely Trustees, and I hope to be able to tell you more in my next update.  In the meantime, I want to record my gratitude for the work that Nuala put in as last Chairman of the old club and first President of the Charity.  Nuala had the unenviable task of steering us through a very difficult few months and did so with grace and humour.

What can I say about Loraine? She took on the Treasurer’s job at a difficult time and dragged the accounting system kicking and screaming into the computer age.  She oversaw the transfer of the old club’s assets to the Charity, and with first Ian Parkinson and then Carole Lovie, our former and current Finance Convenors, ensured that we now conform to Charity rules.  Thank you seems very inadequate for all she has done for the club.

We wish them both well and hope they enjoy their rest, but not for long as they have both volunteered to help with our 90^th birthday celebrations in 2023!

Help needed

The club doesn’t run itself.  As well as the Trustees, we have non-Trustee Officers of the club, tournament directors, people setting up tournaments, tending the bar and checking people in, as well as others helping to set out the refreshments, fill up the dishwasher and tidy up at the end of the night.  We are currently setting up a rota to ensure the smooth running of the club as it gets busier again.  If you think you could help with any of these tasks, see Steve about tournament related duties, Neil about helping with the bar, and Carole for everything else!

With Loraine stepping down, we also need a PVG Officer to be in charge of safeguarding within the club.  For further details, please see Loraine.  It has also been suggested that we have a Social Convenor. This is a position which could be filled by either a Trustee or a non-Trustee, so please see me if you think you could help.

We are also hoping to resurrect the Newsletter and need help with Social Media.  This might be of interest to one of our younger members, or indeed a family member who could offer us their expertise in return for gaining experience.  For further details, contact myself.

Jim Hunter, who is currently our IT Support, when he agreed to help, intimated that he would only help us for a short period so in the interests of succession planning, we are looking for someone to help and then replace Jim in due course. Anyone with experience of using WordPress would be especially welcome. For further details contact itsupport@aberdeenbridgeclub.co.uk

Finally, thanks for embracing the new sign-up arrangements and the new cashless regime and for supporting the club over the past two and half years. As ever, if you have any feedback on the running of the club or anything else please contact either myself or Brian Willox, Club Secretary.

Kindest regards,

Margaret