... for not having posted for a while - quite a good reason actually, as I have had a problem with my eye, and have been struggling to keep my work at the screen to a minimum ! Turned out to be a very large cyst on the bottom lid and five cysts on the top lid ! Easily dealt with once the hospital appointment came through, and much much better now. Makes you realise just how precious sight is though - one friend of ours, an IT journalist, suddenly lost the sight of one eye and is threatened with losing the sight in the other, and that really is terrible. I have been slightly incapacitated no more than that, but I now have some inkling of what he is going through and my heart goes out to him.
What with that and trying to sell the house ... very depressing that we can't seem to manage it but then again, worse things happen at sea, as they say ! But spring is springing, the daffodils are out, the little birds are singing their hearts out and the sun is shining. It's lovely to have the office door open again, despite the kittens rocketing in and out and sending papers in all directions or landing on my keyboard and deleting things accidentally !
What news in the bridge world ? Well quite a lot actually ! Despite no longer being involved with the EBU or BGB Sims, which the EBU have taken over in their entirity, including writing their own scoring program, I seem to be very busy which is good (pays the bills anyway !!). We have just finished the Charity Challenge - I am keying in the last of the results for clubs who can't do it themselves, then we will give it a day or two and finalise that one. We had to run it as two sessions as the EBU won't permit non-affiliated English clubs to play in a licenced event, so we divided it into affiliated and non and were very pleased to have 26 non affiliated clubs taking part just for the fun of it and to raise funds for the Prostate Cancer Charity. Thank you to all who took part and especially to many of you who generously donated extra funds for the Charity over and above the entry fee. We will be sending the Charity a good sum after expenses have been deducted, which is great news.
I am now starting work on publicity for the World Wide Bridge Contest - again unfortunately the EBU won't permit non-affiliated English Clubs to participate, so players wishing to take part will need to find an affiliated club in England to play at, or go to Wales or Scotland ! It's a good event, and we do hope lots of clubs will join us.
We will still be running the WBU Simultaneous Pairs (March and September). These are Green Pointed, and the entry fee is £2.50 per player and we send out the normal organiser pack just as we always have done, so do join us for those if you can. Our own Children in Need event is in November as usual of course - the EBU allows non affiliated clubs to play in that one which is great and again, we will be sending out booklets as normal.
We are rapidly approaching the WBF online womens' bridge Festival - full details of that are at: http://www.wbfwomensbridgeclub.org/ so if you are a woman player or know of any who would like to join in, do have a look at the site and register if you have not already done so. It is running from 16th - 22nd April and promises to be good fun.
The 2012 World University Teams Championships
organised by FISU will be held from 9th - 15th July 2012 ... read more . Do let any bridge playing / university attending youngsters you know about this as it is going to be a great event.
And of course - the World Championships ! The date and venue for these has now been confirmed as Lille - at the Grand Palais - a really good venue. It is the 2nd World Mind Sport Games, so as well as the 14th World Bridge Series there will be Chess, Draughts and Go Championships and, by invitation, Xianqi - Chinese Chess. The dates are 9th - 23rd August. The event is for National, Open, Women's and Seniors Teams, but there is also a Transnational Mixed Teams Championship, open to players who are members in good standing of their NBO which probably means that you could play ! In a World Championship ! How cool is that. A Mixed Team must be made up of two Mixed Partnerships, so - have a think about it and book the dates. The Transnational will actually start on 17th August ... click here for more information and do keep coming back as we will be posting more details on the site as soon as they become available.
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Did anyone notice ...
... what happened to January ... normally it seems quite a slow month but this one has whizzed past without me noticing !
It's been a bit of a sad one really - my last ever BGB Simultaneous after more years than I care to remember. As you will probably know by know, the EBU has decided to take it over, calling it the British Simultaneous Pairs, I think, and running it themselves. And of course they are doing the EBU Simultaneous pairs as well - we will do the Bridge England one on 7th February, and it seems the Stratified ones in March and then that's it. Mind you, when we first started doing Sims, the EBU thought it would never catch on and didn't start using us for quite a while!
BUT - ECatsBridge will still be running plenty of events so you won't lose usthat easily ! We have all the Charity Pairs and will still run the World Wide and the European so watch this space for news of all those won't you ?
The Charity Challenge is the next one which will be on Thursday 8th March. It is in aid of the Prostate Cancer Charity this year which I am sure you will agree is a very very worthwhile cause ... did you know that it is the most common cancer in men ? I didn't.
Because the terms of the EBU licence for English clubs state that, in order to receive overall master points, only affiliated EBU clubs may participate, we are running two separate sessions for this event.
One will be for the EBU affiliated clubs, plus all the Scottish and Welsh clubs and any overseas clubs wishing to join us.
The other will be for the non-affiliated clubs, but we will also display an overall ranking list so people can see where they came in the whole event. That way the non-affiliated clubs are not left out in the cold !
Because of all this we have offered to reduce the entry fee from the normal £3.50 per player to £3.20 per player, as the EBU members will all still have to pay the P2P charge, and we don't see why the non affiliated clubs should have to pay extra to cover licence fees etc. We are DELIGHTED to have had a lot of clubs email us though, and say that they will still collect the £3.50 per player so that the Charity is not disadvantaged. Isn't that lovely of them ? And we are hoping that some clubs will run raffles etc to help raise additional funds. Please, if you can, go along and play in the event - I will put up a list of participating clubs around mid-February so you can try and find a club near you.
I am constantly being asked about the 2012 World Mind Sport Games - where and when will they be held ? I am sorry but I don't have an answer yet, but I will announce any decision as soon as I hear about it, and send out press releases, newsletters etc as well as putting it onto the website. Incidentally if you want to register for our newsletters, please click here and just follow the on-screen instructions.
Mark and I are both looking for additional work to fill the gap left by the loss of the BGB and EBU Sims and hope to be working with some different websites soon. And we will be adding to the information on the ECatsBridge site in our spare moments, so do watch for that, as hopefully you will find things there to interest you.
So ... the world (well the UK) is our oyster and we may yet head to the far North ! Watch this space for news ...
It's been a bit of a sad one really - my last ever BGB Simultaneous after more years than I care to remember. As you will probably know by know, the EBU has decided to take it over, calling it the British Simultaneous Pairs, I think, and running it themselves. And of course they are doing the EBU Simultaneous pairs as well - we will do the Bridge England one on 7th February, and it seems the Stratified ones in March and then that's it. Mind you, when we first started doing Sims, the EBU thought it would never catch on and didn't start using us for quite a while!
BUT - ECatsBridge will still be running plenty of events so you won't lose usthat easily ! We have all the Charity Pairs and will still run the World Wide and the European so watch this space for news of all those won't you ?
The Charity Challenge is the next one which will be on Thursday 8th March. It is in aid of the Prostate Cancer Charity this year which I am sure you will agree is a very very worthwhile cause ... did you know that it is the most common cancer in men ? I didn't.
Because the terms of the EBU licence for English clubs state that, in order to receive overall master points, only affiliated EBU clubs may participate, we are running two separate sessions for this event.
One will be for the EBU affiliated clubs, plus all the Scottish and Welsh clubs and any overseas clubs wishing to join us.
The other will be for the non-affiliated clubs, but we will also display an overall ranking list so people can see where they came in the whole event. That way the non-affiliated clubs are not left out in the cold !
Because of all this we have offered to reduce the entry fee from the normal £3.50 per player to £3.20 per player, as the EBU members will all still have to pay the P2P charge, and we don't see why the non affiliated clubs should have to pay extra to cover licence fees etc. We are DELIGHTED to have had a lot of clubs email us though, and say that they will still collect the £3.50 per player so that the Charity is not disadvantaged. Isn't that lovely of them ? And we are hoping that some clubs will run raffles etc to help raise additional funds. Please, if you can, go along and play in the event - I will put up a list of participating clubs around mid-February so you can try and find a club near you.
I am constantly being asked about the 2012 World Mind Sport Games - where and when will they be held ? I am sorry but I don't have an answer yet, but I will announce any decision as soon as I hear about it, and send out press releases, newsletters etc as well as putting it onto the website. Incidentally if you want to register for our newsletters, please click here and just follow the on-screen instructions.
Mark and I are both looking for additional work to fill the gap left by the loss of the BGB and EBU Sims and hope to be working with some different websites soon. And we will be adding to the information on the ECatsBridge site in our spare moments, so do watch for that, as hopefully you will find things there to interest you.
We are really hoping to move this year - we have been here 17 years (yes really !) and both want a change. So please keep your fingers crossed that we can sell the Station ... because of the nature of our work, being 99% internet based, we can work wherever we are on the planet as long as we have a good Broadband connection and with the modern developments in satellite broadband even if the landlines don't support it, we can make it happen wherever we go !
So ... the world (well the UK) is our oyster and we may yet head to the far North ! Watch this space for news ...
Monday, 19 December 2011
So this is Christmas ...
... or very nearly - presents are all bought and some of them wrapped up. Tree is up and looking very festive. And I am very excited as all the family are coming here for Christmas - My daughters, Vickie and Catherine, my granddaughter, Jasmine (she's Vickie's daughter), Catherine's husband Mark and their baby son, Sammy who I haven't seen since September when he was 2 days old; Mark's sons (that's "my" Mark - Mark Newton) are both coming, Tim and Oliver and then throw into the mix my 10 year old cat Phercad, the new Cloud kittens and it's going to be gloriously chaotic. And wonderful. And I can't wait!
On the work front, all the "have to" jobs have been done so anything I do this week is a bonus for next year. Everything is in place for the BGB Simultaneous Pairs in January - the last BGG event I will be doing, and I am ready for the WBF/ECats Charity pairs at the end of January.
Admittedly there is quite a long list of "New Year" jobs, but I will come back refreshed after the break and really look forward to tackling them with zest !! I hope !!
So really what remains is to wish any of you reading this a very very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and (dare I wish it) Prosperous New Year.
love to you all
anna
On the work front, all the "have to" jobs have been done so anything I do this week is a bonus for next year. Everything is in place for the BGB Simultaneous Pairs in January - the last BGG event I will be doing, and I am ready for the WBF/ECats Charity pairs at the end of January.
Admittedly there is quite a long list of "New Year" jobs, but I will come back refreshed after the break and really look forward to tackling them with zest !! I hope !!
So really what remains is to wish any of you reading this a very very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and (dare I wish it) Prosperous New Year.
love to you all
anna
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
CiN, Kittens & bridge
So - we have been back from the Championships for AGES and I haven't caught up with my blog at all. Sorry about that, but what with coming home with two small kittens (Nimbus and Cirrus - two Chocolate Burmese boys), with the Children in Need Sims on top of us, it was all just a bit much !
So - Children in Need - well, what a dream We - well - all you wonderful bridge players - have now raised over half a million for Children in Need over the past 10 years. How cool is that ! And it looks as though this year is going to be at least as good as last year ! We are still getting cheques in, and a lot of clubs haven't actually emailed to tell me how much they raised, so there are lots of nice suprises in the post. I am still staggered by some of the clubs - the Ace of Clubs for raising over £1,800, Adur Valley with over £1,600 and Summertown with over £1,100. But somehow singling those out seems a bit off, given how magnificently some of the other clubs rose to the challenge of fund raising - I just can thank you all enough.
We were fortunate enough to be sent tickets for the BBC show, which was enormous fun. They didn't present any of the cheques this year, which was a bit sad, but I am told that the ticker tape thanked the bridge players at one point. The show was great - we were a bit worried as there weren't any seats left, but in the end we stood very close to the stage and the four hours just flew past ... though I do admit that my feet were getting a little tired about 20 minutes from the end! Then we drove home in thick fog which wasn't so good - Mark insisted on doing all the driving which was magnificent of him, especially as we had to go via Felixstowe, adding an hour to the journey, to drop my daughter, Vickie back home, as she had to teach exam classes (ballet, tap and modern) at 10 on Saturday morning. She said her feet have only just recovered, but it was worth it as all her students passed their exam the following Monday :-).
Just waiting for a couple of queries on the scores to be answered then I will finalise it, do the master points and ... start looking forward to next year !
In quick succession that was followed by the European Sims, which is now over (master points to be sorted there too !) and now I am starting to gird my loins for the BGB Winter Pairs - the last BGB we will ever do !
The kittens settled in very quickly and are fun, naughty, affectionate and playful. the purrs start the moment they are picked up and they are deliberately naughty running into rooms they are not allowed in - the hall is one - and then lying down waiting to be picked up and cuddled. They have learnt that they are not allowed on the kitchen work surfaces which at least means they jump down in a hurry when we walk into the room :-). Our Maine Coon, Phercad, looks ENORMOUS beside them and they are still a bit wary, in an inquisitive way, when he is around. But his tail is a source of endless fascination. When he feels they are getting a bit uppity he hisses and they back off, but he is being very good with them, and just retreating with dignity when it all gets too much. Nimbus is the adventurous one, doesn't look before he leaps, which results in some embarrassing tumbles. Cirrus is far more serious, carefully judging the distance before jumping on something, and giving careful consideration to the world around him. They have their last injections on Thursday and then can be introduced to the big wide world outside the windows.Luckily we have a very safe back garden where they can explore to their hearts content ! And then we can get the litter tray out of the sitting room ... hurrah !!
so that's about it for now - hope you like the piccies of the kitties :-)
anna
So - Children in Need - well, what a dream We - well - all you wonderful bridge players - have now raised over half a million for Children in Need over the past 10 years. How cool is that ! And it looks as though this year is going to be at least as good as last year ! We are still getting cheques in, and a lot of clubs haven't actually emailed to tell me how much they raised, so there are lots of nice suprises in the post. I am still staggered by some of the clubs - the Ace of Clubs for raising over £1,800, Adur Valley with over £1,600 and Summertown with over £1,100. But somehow singling those out seems a bit off, given how magnificently some of the other clubs rose to the challenge of fund raising - I just can thank you all enough.
We were fortunate enough to be sent tickets for the BBC show, which was enormous fun. They didn't present any of the cheques this year, which was a bit sad, but I am told that the ticker tape thanked the bridge players at one point. The show was great - we were a bit worried as there weren't any seats left, but in the end we stood very close to the stage and the four hours just flew past ... though I do admit that my feet were getting a little tired about 20 minutes from the end! Then we drove home in thick fog which wasn't so good - Mark insisted on doing all the driving which was magnificent of him, especially as we had to go via Felixstowe, adding an hour to the journey, to drop my daughter, Vickie back home, as she had to teach exam classes (ballet, tap and modern) at 10 on Saturday morning. She said her feet have only just recovered, but it was worth it as all her students passed their exam the following Monday :-).
Just waiting for a couple of queries on the scores to be answered then I will finalise it, do the master points and ... start looking forward to next year !
In quick succession that was followed by the European Sims, which is now over (master points to be sorted there too !) and now I am starting to gird my loins for the BGB Winter Pairs - the last BGB we will ever do !
The kittens settled in very quickly and are fun, naughty, affectionate and playful. the purrs start the moment they are picked up and they are deliberately naughty running into rooms they are not allowed in - the hall is one - and then lying down waiting to be picked up and cuddled. They have learnt that they are not allowed on the kitchen work surfaces which at least means they jump down in a hurry when we walk into the room :-). Our Maine Coon, Phercad, looks ENORMOUS beside them and they are still a bit wary, in an inquisitive way, when he is around. But his tail is a source of endless fascination. When he feels they are getting a bit uppity he hisses and they back off, but he is being very good with them, and just retreating with dignity when it all gets too much. Nimbus is the adventurous one, doesn't look before he leaps, which results in some embarrassing tumbles. Cirrus is far more serious, carefully judging the distance before jumping on something, and giving careful consideration to the world around him. They have their last injections on Thursday and then can be introduced to the big wide world outside the windows.Luckily we have a very safe back garden where they can explore to their hearts content ! And then we can get the litter tray out of the sitting room ... hurrah !!
so that's about it for now - hope you like the piccies of the kitties :-)
anna
Friday, 28 October 2011
Nearly there ... wherever "there" is !!
These have been brilliant championships ! Lots of work, but you expect that, but also lots of socialising which has been really good fun ... we had the Staff Dinner last night where we were all presented with plaques to remember the event by; the night before was the sponsor's dinner, but sadly I couldn't go to that because I had to be here for the Anti Doping tests, but I understand it was - fabulous!!
Tonight we are off out with friends from the Bulletin and Press Room for dinner at a local curry house - something of a tradition at these events.
We escaped for a brief while this morning - Marina (PA to the WBF President), Carol (Secretary to the WBF Executive Council), Sevinc (Member of the Executive Council) and I - to go to a shop in Veldhoven - a really amazing Garden Centre but the real reason for going there was their Christmas department which was just gorgeous. We all spent too much money on new decorations ready to be squirreled away for a month when we get home, before putting on our trees !
As for the bridge - well, it got pretty exciting yesterday with the semi finals, to the point where even I was watching the results coming through and I confess that is a rarity ! One of the matches was won by 0.3 IMP ... talk about close ! And a lot of the other matches were close as well. Now we just hope that the finals will be as good - it is quite sad when you have good semi finals and then the final turns out to be a big disappointment.
The duplication of the boards is done and dusted - can you believe, the team duplicated 50,052 boards over the two weeks!
The trophies are all here and polished, and looking splendid and ready for presentation on Saturday. Speeches are being written (oh I DO hope they keep them short !) and, of course, all the last minute things are being remembered that haven't been done during the week !
I am going home with a number of joyous tasks, like re-sectioning all the Conditions of Contest, setting up World Simultaneous Pairs to raise money for Junior Bridge (well that will be quite fun actually!), setting up contact lists for Junior Administrators, Tournament Directors and things like that. All interesting but time consuming.
And of course very soon after we get home we have the Children in Need Sims - fingers crossed lots of people come and play in that. I will get the club lists up as soon as I can once I get back !
Tonight we are off out with friends from the Bulletin and Press Room for dinner at a local curry house - something of a tradition at these events.
We escaped for a brief while this morning - Marina (PA to the WBF President), Carol (Secretary to the WBF Executive Council), Sevinc (Member of the Executive Council) and I - to go to a shop in Veldhoven - a really amazing Garden Centre but the real reason for going there was their Christmas department which was just gorgeous. We all spent too much money on new decorations ready to be squirreled away for a month when we get home, before putting on our trees !
As for the bridge - well, it got pretty exciting yesterday with the semi finals, to the point where even I was watching the results coming through and I confess that is a rarity ! One of the matches was won by 0.3 IMP ... talk about close ! And a lot of the other matches were close as well. Now we just hope that the finals will be as good - it is quite sad when you have good semi finals and then the final turns out to be a big disappointment.
The duplication of the boards is done and dusted - can you believe, the team duplicated 50,052 boards over the two weeks!
The trophies are all here and polished, and looking splendid and ready for presentation on Saturday. Speeches are being written (oh I DO hope they keep them short !) and, of course, all the last minute things are being remembered that haven't been done during the week !
I am going home with a number of joyous tasks, like re-sectioning all the Conditions of Contest, setting up World Simultaneous Pairs to raise money for Junior Bridge (well that will be quite fun actually!), setting up contact lists for Junior Administrators, Tournament Directors and things like that. All interesting but time consuming.
And of course very soon after we get home we have the Children in Need Sims - fingers crossed lots of people come and play in that. I will get the club lists up as soon as I can once I get back !
Monday, 24 October 2011
Tiring ...
It has reached the stage where everyone is getting tired ... the quarter finals are coming to an end and even I am watching the results on the screens ...but that is more becuase I am too tired to do much else !! For some reason we didn't sleep last night - not sure why but it was one of those nights when you watch the clock as it ticks the hours away ... and 04.00 wasn't a time I wanted to see!
Tonight I have a meeting with the Anti Doping Commission at 7.20 then we are going out for dinner with Marina and Carol, which is going to be good fun. Nice to get out and escape. The weather has been amazing - cold and sunny with over night frosts, but we have been able to wander down to the lake where there are enormous carp who come to be fed and a heron that watches all the time ... the autumn colours are just lovely so it has been a good way to relax after our brief lunch - a nice walk round the building to get some fresh air!
The venue has been buzzing today with the transnational teams flooding in - we are hoping for a record entry. That starts at 8.30 tonight after the end of the quarter finals. I bet the Tournament Directors aren't looking forward to getting it going but I am sure they will do a great job.
Now I need to go to the meeting so ...more another day. And I will try and take some pictures !!
Tonight I have a meeting with the Anti Doping Commission at 7.20 then we are going out for dinner with Marina and Carol, which is going to be good fun. Nice to get out and escape. The weather has been amazing - cold and sunny with over night frosts, but we have been able to wander down to the lake where there are enormous carp who come to be fed and a heron that watches all the time ... the autumn colours are just lovely so it has been a good way to relax after our brief lunch - a nice walk round the building to get some fresh air!
The venue has been buzzing today with the transnational teams flooding in - we are hoping for a record entry. That starts at 8.30 tonight after the end of the quarter finals. I bet the Tournament Directors aren't looking forward to getting it going but I am sure they will do a great job.
Now I need to go to the meeting so ...more another day. And I will try and take some pictures !!
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
One week in ...
I can't believe we have been here a week already - time has seriously flown by ! Yesterday was a day of meetings for me - WBF Women's Committee first, followed by Systems Committee followed by a Technical Committee Meeting. All interesting and worthwhile ...
Then last night Mark and I were invited by the President to the Executive Dinner; sadly Mark wasn't well but I went along and it was a brilliant evening. I sat with Carol and Joan Gerard and Patrick Choy, and we had a DEEEEEEEEEElicious Italian dinner. Cippi Rona, the President's wife had selected the menu and wow was it good. Some lovely red wine made an evening to remember.
Today has been a day of bits and bobs, sorting out the Minutes from the Meetings of yesterday, writing a report for the Bulletin about one of them, sending out the duplimate files for the Children in Need Sims (well, starting to anyway ...). I had a long meeting with PO Sundelin about the WBF Convention Card and the layout of supplementary sheets, the Guide to Completion and things like that. And now Mark and Federica are editing the picture of the five Presidents so that it can be printed and framed for each of them to have a copy as Gianarrigo (the current WBF President) wants to give them as a present at tonight's Gala Dinner (which we are going to later). So now I must go and change ... more anon !
anna
Then last night Mark and I were invited by the President to the Executive Dinner; sadly Mark wasn't well but I went along and it was a brilliant evening. I sat with Carol and Joan Gerard and Patrick Choy, and we had a DEEEEEEEEEElicious Italian dinner. Cippi Rona, the President's wife had selected the menu and wow was it good. Some lovely red wine made an evening to remember.
Today has been a day of bits and bobs, sorting out the Minutes from the Meetings of yesterday, writing a report for the Bulletin about one of them, sending out the duplimate files for the Children in Need Sims (well, starting to anyway ...). I had a long meeting with PO Sundelin about the WBF Convention Card and the layout of supplementary sheets, the Guide to Completion and things like that. And now Mark and Federica are editing the picture of the five Presidents so that it can be printed and framed for each of them to have a copy as Gianarrigo (the current WBF President) wants to give them as a present at tonight's Gala Dinner (which we are going to later). So now I must go and change ... more anon !
anna
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