New Melville Bridge Club's annual Christmas Congress is being held on-line again this year and you can now start registering for this popular event on their website. The details are as follows:
Swiss Pairs on Wednesday 29 December starting at 2.00 pm and a Swiss Teams on Thursday 30 December also starting at 2.00 pm. Both tournaments will be held on RealBridge with an expected finishing time of around 5.00 pm. The entry fee will be £5 per person, payable on the day, each day. The tournaments are stand alone, so you can choose to play in just the pairs or just the teams or both!
As usual they will be giving out very generous cash prizes and SBU Master Points will be awarded with there being 15 points for a win and 8 points for a draw. In . . .
New £25 million package targets high risk settings.
Business premises will be able to access a £25 million package to improve ventilation and reduce the risk of coronavirus (COVID-19) transmission.
Grants will target a wide range of high risk settings where people come into close proximity, including restaurants, bars and gyms, with support available to help companies undertake work such as the installation of carbon dioxide monitors and altering windows and vents.
An expert advice group, chaired by Professor Tim Sharpe from the University of Strathclyde, unanimously recommended that businesses should be supported to improve ventilation. The Group was established in August to advise how enhanced ventilation can help reduce transmission of the virus.
The First Minister said:
“As we step away from other mitigations, improved ventilation will play a significant role in reducing transmission . . .
The Allan Flitch took place on Saturday 13th February and we had 2 pairs at the top of the leader board who couldnt be separated so the trophy will be shared.
The prize winners are as follows
1st : Gill and David Simmons and Jane and Andrew Carnegie
Silver : Peter and Heather Braid
B3/4: Jenni and Stewart Morris
B1/2: Murray Forgie and Stewart Simpson
They will all find BBO$ prizes have been placed in their BBO accounts. Well done to all of them
If you're not quite sure how playing on Bridgebase Online works, here are a few tips:
Before you begin!
In order to make sure you are "recognised" as a member of SBU East District on BBO it is essential that you add your BBO ID into your Mempad account.
How do you do that?
- Sign on to MEMPAD
- Select "MY CONTACTS" on the tab towards the top your screen
- Select "EDIT", scroll about two thirds the way down the page, and type your BBO name in the labelled box
- While you are on this "EDIT" page please check all your other contact details are up to date.
Once you're all registered, here's what to do:
- No earlier than 2 hours before the start time of the event — LOG ON to BBO using their app or at bridgebase.com — do . . .
The land of Oz has featured in books and films, but not until Alex Adamson & Harry Smith started investigating did it become clear that most of the population are bridge players. Focusing their attention on the Over the Rainbow Bridge Club in Munchkinland in the land of Oz, they have found a bridge club full of characters with so many of the features of players to be seen in all the bridge clubs in Scotland, and, doubtless, elsewhere.
In Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, the third and final volume, the Over the Rainbow Bridge Club is threatened by dark forces. Can Dorothy and her friends come to the rescue? Will the Lion have the courage to stand up to them? Will the Scarecrow understand what is happening? Will the Tin Man even care?
In . . .
The East District would like to encourage members to play bridge online using BBO while the ability to play Face to Face during the Covid pandemic is not possible and we are looking to run regular events that will be publicised here.
Our first event was an open match-pointed event Friday 4th September - results are here and linked from the 'Results' tab.
Amidst all the pandemic chaos, we welcome you to our new district website. Some of its new features will get limited use until we are able to gather around tables again, but we will soon see some of our events moving online. Committee members will be able to add, update and remove their own content as and when they wish, and my trusty text code editor can retire.
The general and bronze home pages are listed in order of publication (newest first), with the facility to 'feature' a small number of articles to keep them prominent for a limited time. You also get a jump list of recently updated articles (as distinct from recently added) and a pinboard of stuff which needs to hang around for a while.
The league pages have had major enhancement and one day we'll . . .
- Berwick | Tue 2pm, Thu 2pm, Thu 2pm, Sat 11am
- Carlton | Mon 10am, Tue pm (beginners), Wed 2pm, Thu 10am, Sun 6.45pm
- Colinton Castle | Tue 7pm, Saturday 2.30pm
- Dunbar | Mon 7pm
- Kelso | Wed 6.30pm, Thu 6.30pm
- Longniddry | Thu 7pm
- Marmion | Tue 6.45pm, Fri 6.45pm
- New Melville | Mon 1.30 & 7pm, Tue 7pm, Wed 1.30 & 7pm, Thu 11am & 7pm, Fri 1.15pm
- Peebles | Mon 7pm, Tue 2pm, Thu 7pm
- Tryst | Mon
Terms of entry, pre registration and types of event vary, all of the websites carry full details - please consult those directly!
The SBU has confirmed the appointment of Scott MacDonald to the position of Treasurer. Scott has previously undertaken a similar role for the New Melville Bridge Club and his experience makes him ideally suited for the post. George Plant, the outgoing Treasurer, has kindly offered to provide assistance during a handover period and this process has already started. The SBU would like to thank George for his service over the last 5 years and welcomes Scott to the team.
Undoubtedly this is the item that has generated the most correspondence since Lockdown commenced. I know that there is a body of opinion that we should be completing the league season by playing online matches. However the Committee is of the unanimous view that this is very unfair to teams that have players who have not – and have no wish - to play online. Given that it seems highly unlikely that we shall be back playing face-to-face bridge before the end of the year, we are proposing that we simply extend the 2019/20 season to become 2019/21. Outstanding matches – or at least those that the Committee deem to be important for promotion and relegation issues - will be played hopefully in the new year between January and the summer at which point master points will be issued.
(an extract . . .
Since my last newsletter in May, we have had another Committee meeting and there are a few items to share with you and members of your Club/League team.
WebsiteAfter many years in the same format, Alan Officer has been busy upgrading our website and shortly you will find a new layout with some nice new features. It will be much easier for the committee to add news items. Once we have events to book that will now we done within the East site itself so according to Alan everything should be smooth! Our website address remains the same.
Committee mattersBill Whyte stepped down as Vice Chairman and I’m pleased to announce that Katharine Bailey (our Bronze Convener) has taken on this role. We have also split our Education Convener post into two with Sarah . . .
NEBA won the A match online on 5th July 2020. ED won the B match - full results at the foot of the Berwick BC results page.
The Berwick Club is the traditional host of the SBU East District against the North East Bridge Association (NEBA) match. Due to the coronavirus pandemic a shortened event was held on Bridge Base Online on Sunday 5 July.
NEBA A 60-32 East District A (scorecard, travellers, cross imping)
NEBA B 36-64 East District B (scorecard, travellers, cross imping)
These useful documents are now fixed to the top of the SBU web site home page. Please note they'll probably be updated from time to time so keep an eye on them.
1. SBU Online: Instructions for players new & old.pdf
2. SBU Online: Etiquette & Conditions of Contest
3. SBU Online: Instructions for downloading results and masterpoints files .
This document will be revised to include advice on Swiss Pairs tournaments.
The final of the Atholl Plate took place on 24th April 2020 on BBO between team Smith (Harry Smith, Glen Falconer, Bob McPaul, Roy Bennett) and team Goodman (Alan Goodman, Brian Short, Anne Symons, Paul Gipson). 36 boards were played – lots of interesting hands – and team Goodman emerged winners by 78 – 45.
The finalists of the Atholl Cup are now known as team Freimanis beat team McKinnon in the second semi final last Sunday. The final will therefore be between Freimanis and McKay but not sure when as one of the McKay team doesn’t play online.
In line with Government and SBU guidelines, the East District is cancelling all events due to take place in the remainder of the season. This includes all outstanding league matches, the Summer League and our AGM. I hope all our members manage to keep well. Remember to stay in contact with those in our community who are vulnerable to loneliness and would usually rely on their bridge club for social interactions.
Anne Perkins (ED Chairman)
To the best of our knowledge all affiliated bridge clubs are now closed until further notice. All East District congresses have been cancelled.
In due course the SBU East District Committee will discuss how to handle the truncated league season, possibly involving an earlier start to next season with matches which are critical to titles, promotion and relegation.
Here's how - Paul Gipson has assembled all you need to know to use Bridge Base Online. Find out all about Playing on BBO at the Berwick BC website.
You do not have to land yourself in some random ACBL expert tournament (unless you want to!), you can set up a table with friends or even your own little tournament. This is the time to figure it out!
Married Couple pairs at the New Melville on 15 February 2020.
David & Wendy Chambers - Flitch winners 2020 Heather & Peter Braid - Silver winners
Sunday 24th October 2019, Carlton.
National & Heat Winners - David and Wendy Chambers 2nd - David and Gill Simmons Best placed B2 - Julia Campbell and Robert Hickling
