Such fun ...

Lots of things happening at the moment and most of them are fun stuff ! We are about to have the ceiling raised in our hallway (it was “dropped” by the previous people and looks rather odd for a railway station entrance). So … mess and chaos will ensue no doubt, but it won’t be the first time.

 

Tim (Mark’s son) and his girlfriend have found a place to rent and will be moving out – we are so pleased for them, it will be so much nicer for them than the “bed-sit” we were able to provide on Platform 2. They will be able to stretch out a bit and spread their wings! They will be taking some of the furniture from the spare room, so poor Mark is going to get nagged to build me a lovely big cupboard. Railway stations tend to lack things like the “cupboard under the stairs” for the vacuum cleaner and things like that, so it will be great if we can make a hidden space for those instead of having them lurking!

 

On the work front … well, the Welsh Sim Pairs is at the beginning of September, so not long now … not too late for clubs to enter if they want to though! Just email me and let me know. And the English Sims are in the second week – the Monday and Tuesday. Again, entries are still welcome!

 

Philadelphia and the World Bridge Series Championships loom large of course. I am currently working on the Youth system cards and they will go up on the web site ere long. It’s going to be an AMAZING event – and another one that it isn’t too late to enter! All the details are on my site, and of course on the WBF Site at www.worldbridge.or and the USBF site at www.usbf.org  . Why not come along and enjoy the experience of playing in the Championship events – so exciting and such fun!

 

We are planning to go to the NATS (=car show with hot rods!) this weekend, and take Sally, Mark’s beloved 1966 Mustang Convertible so we are hoping for good weather, not like yesterday when we had torrential rain ! So keep your fingers crossed for us.

 

More anon …

 

Oh dear it's been AGES

I am sorry, but what with going to Scotland (yes, my beloved Orkney again ... and Islay as well so that Mark could enjoy the distilleries) then coming back to a load of work for Sims and World Championships and things, I am afraid my blog has taken a bit of a back seat ! And I haven’t even put up any photographs from our trips yet, but when I do I will let you know !

 

So, what have I been doing? Well, the BGB Summer Pairs has been and gone, and I have sent the file of master points in to the EBU – the lists are on the website as normal, just click here to find them. And the pens etc will be sent out to the clubs this afternoon or tomorrow depending on when I actually get up to the post office.

 

Then there have been lots of bits and pieces to do for the World Championships of course – I hope lots of you are coming to Philadelphia because it is going to be amazing !

 

The material for the Welsh Bridge Union Simultaneous Pairs at the beginning of September has been posted, as have the packs for the EBU one on 13^th & 14^th – they should be reaching their destinations in the next few days. I will get the club lists onto the site for all of these as soon as I can. The EBU one will come up in the Forthcoming events in the next few days. Now I need to turn my attention to the BGB Autumn Pairs and then the Children in Need event of course – it’s non stop isn’t it !

 

Another job that comes my way is the Diamond Bridge Website – and hasn’t Mike Swanson got some fantastic holidays and cruises coming up ! Wow ! I think being pampered on the Queen Mary 2 sounds just amazing. I can dream can’t I ??

 

There is a new Facebook bridge site, by the way, for university bridge players so – if you know anyone at University who plays bridge, do send them along to Uni Bridge – a quick search will soon find it.

 

And that’s about it for now – hopefully I have made up for the long silence, and I will try and do better in future I promise J

2010 Philadelphia, 2011, Eindhoven in the Netherlands .. and the inevitable Simultaneous Pairs of course !

The 2010 World Bridge Series is heading towards us apace ... not long now so do go to www.worldbridge.org and register: registering and paying in advance will save you queuing for hours when you get the venue which means you can do more interesting things with the spare time like going to see the Liberty Bell or drinking coffee with friends you haven’t seen since the last Bridge championship!

 

It is going to be such a great event and I am looking forward to meeting up with lots of friends there myself !

 

And now I hear that 2011 will be in the Netherlands – I just send out a Press release about it, which says:

 

The 2011 World Teams Championships, comprising the Bermuda Bowl, the Venice Cup Seniors Bowl and the World Transnational Open Teams Championships will be held at the NH Conference Centre  Koningshof in Veldhoven, Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

 

The Opening Ceremony will be on 15^th October, and the official awards ceremony will be on 29^th October 2011.

 

There is other information (like the cost of rooms at the Conference centre) and things like that, which you can email me for if you want, and information about the area can be found at : www.vvveindhoven.nl/en

 

It looks like a great venue and should be an excellent event, so do join us for the World Open Teams Championships if you can ...

 

Next Monday and Tuesday sees the BGB Summer Pairs – to find a club near you, click here for the usual maps and lists of clubs. Hope you enjoy it if you do manage to play !

 

 

 

long silence ...

Sorry but I have been away. Not as many of you may think, at the European Championships, but on holiday on Orkney with my younger daughter and her husband ... having a wonderful time with extremely good weather which was a blessing J

 

In the meantime the European Championships have come and gone – all the bulletins and results can be found on the EBL Website at www.eurobridge.org of course, and good reading they make as well !

 

And we are steadily working our way towards Philadelphia and the World Championships ... I recently sent out a Press release from the organisers which said:

 

This year, The World Bridge Series Championships (WBSC) will be held in the USA 1-16 October 2010!  It is the first such event to be held in the United States since 1994 and approximately 100 nations are expected to participate in the world series, represented by thousands of the world’s best play­ers competing for world titles.  Along with the WBSC, the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) District 4 will be hosting a two week World Bridge Federation Regional tournament, which will enable bridge players of all abilities to share in the excitement!  The World Youth Team Championships (Pre-qualification  required) will also take place in Philadelphia at this time.  WBF Master Points will be given out for these events.  Our sincerest thanks to the United States Bridge Federation (USBF) and the ACBL for their support and sponsorship.   For WBSC schedules, housing, and additional information please click on the following links:

 

WBF- www.worldbridge.org/tourn/Philadelphia.10/Philadelphia.htm

 

USBF - http://www.usbf.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=627&Itemid=282

 

Brochure - http://www.usbf.org/docs/2010wc/Philadelphia2010.pdf

 

So now you know – do join us in Philadelphia if you can – it is going to be so much fun !!

 

European Championships and Sims (again !)

We have packed and posted the UK results from the World Wide Simultaneous Pairs ... and the list of English overall master points has been sent to the EBU for registration.

 

We have also packed and posted the material for the BGB Simultaneous Pairs at the end of July ... I wanted to get that out before people started going on holiday.

 

Both these went 2^nd class yesterday so should be dropping through letter boxes towards the end of the week.

 

The European Teams Championships is kicking off this week (makes a change from football !) Details of the BBO matches, where to find the results and bulletins and – if you find it interesting – all the convention cards for the teams are linked from :

 

http://www.ecatsbridge.com/Events/ebl/2010ostend/default.asp

 

So do watch and “cheer” your teams on !

 

 

me and dates

I don’t know what it is about me and dates ... I just keep getting them wrong ! For those of you I emailed yesterday, I have already emailed again to confirm that the Kidney Research pairs is actually on THURSDAY 8^TH July, and not 7^th as I stated.

 

But having grown three grey hairs as a result of that one, it was then pointed out that I had put the dates of the EBU event wrongly as well – it is on Monday 13^th and Tuesday 14^th September ... I put the day right but got the dates wrong, as 12^th & 13^th !

 

One day I will learn a) to triple check and b) not to do these emails at the end of a long and tiring day.

 

So apologies if I confused you – hopefully this will put the record straight!

 

Forthcoming Sims ...

Great news : The EBU has agreed that non affiliated English clubs can be included in the Kidney Research and Charity Challenge Simultaneous pairs as well as in the Children in Need event! See www.ebu.co.uk for their statement which is on the front page and has all the details.

 

The Kidney Research Pairs is on 7^th July ... and Mike Rogerson would love to hear from new clubs who want to join in! You can email me and I will pass it on if you would like to take part.

 

All clubs are welcome – the entry fee is just £2.00 per player and it is such a worthwhile cause.

 

We will soon be sending the booklets to the printers for the Welsh Sim Pairs in September – they are running it over five days this time, with different hands each night ... The dates are Monday 6^th, Tuesday 7^th, Wednesday 8^th, Thursday 9^th and Friday 10^th September.

 

The WBU is a very small NBO, and really does need supporting by as many clubs as possible, so if you fancy playing in it, do see if your club would join them. The funds go to support the Welsh Air Ambulance, as well as development of bridge in Wales.

 

English clubs must be affiliated, but it is Green Pointed, and the entry fee is just £2.50 per player (P2P charges still apply for English clubs); do get in touch if you want to play – just email me – anna@ecats.co.uk . Clubs from other countries are, of course, very welcome J

 

I was at my computer all weekend with the World Wide Bridge Contest running – it went very well and has now been finalised ... and people certainly appeared to enjoy it. The booklets are really good, thanks to Eric Kokish. So it was a good opportunity for me to get ahead with some tasks in between answering the queries and so forth. My task for tomorrow is to do all the master point stuff – a complex one this, so bear with me for a day or two while I sort it out.