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Newsletter June 2016 Issue 2

NCBA’s AGM

In this second issue we report back on the NCBA AGM held on Wednesday 11

May. This year it was fantastic to see representatives from different clubs

attend and ensure that the meeting was quorate, unlike in 2015. In the

Chairman’s Report, John Auld thanked the Committee for their work in the

past year in trying to initiate a sea change. He said in his address: ‘This year

our priority is to connect with the membership- we are nothing without our

members’. He stressed that communication and a focus on building capacity

especially amongst young and new players are vital.

NCBA have started the change by implementing some members’ ideas that

came out of the NCBA survey: for example we have held the first of a new

annual competition for pairs under NGS 9, and have had good feedback so far

from our resurrected Newsletter.

The AGM is also a time to present prizes for the various NCBA competitions. A

summary of these are tabulated below and congratulations go to all winners

and thanks to all participants and organisers for making these competitions

such fun to attend. We hope to see more of you try these out in the coming

year.

Ian Dovey the NCBA Treasurer reported back on the audited accounts- NCBA

made a slight profit of £847 in the year to 31 March 2016 to counteract the

loss of a similar amount in the previous year. The improvement was partly due

to an increase in fees from our relatively successful Green pointed event held

in Spondon. Following on from this a lively discussion took place on the ‘pay to

play’ element of the NCBA income. You may already know that a proportion of

the table fee you pay, each time you play at an affiliated club, goes to EBU

(currently 35p) and also a small proportion goes to the County Association,

again to support their activities and events they organise on your behalf. This is

the NCBA’s only form of income other than hosting events where a table fee is

charged. Clare Batten, Secretary, provided a matrix comparing the amounts

that each County Association receive. Currently this is 4p per play in

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Nottinghamshire and compares very favourably against other Counties. For

example the highest is 15p in the Isle of Man and the lowest is Somerset, Wilts

and Staffs who waive their proportion entirely. It is in the NCBA constitution

that this amount must be voted on annually- the committee voted not to

change the figure of 4p.

The new 2016 committee was voted on and the County Captain, Keith Rodgers,

and the 2015 Team of 8 and Team of 4 convenor, Chris Clarke, gave their end

of Year summaries. The final results are tabulated below.

The final agenda item was excitingly heated! The Teams of 8 League

competition has traditionally been used as the qualifier to select which

Nottinghamshire Club team plays in the prestigious Garden Cities national

competition. However the Committee had identified that we had been playing

the League in a way that the Garden Cities’ selection rules were compromised.

Various suggestions were put forward to solve the problem, some of which

may break EBU rules. The NCBA secretary has been advised that these

suggestions would need to be referred to the EBU. The matter could not be

bottomed at the AGM due to time constraints so has been deferred to the next

NCBA committee meeting. Whatever the outcome, and whether our To8 Rules

are amended to ensure we are ‘legal’, we will have plenty of time to resolve

the matter over the summer before the To8 League recommences in the

Autumn. The Final Solution (!) will be announced in the next Newsletter- bet

you can’t wait!!

The AGM concluded with a game of Bridge (what else!!) and congratulations-

and a bottle of wine each- goes to the winning pair Keith Rodgers and Gordon

Fullerton.

Editor

Enjoy your bridge in 2016-17

Any comments on this newsletter or related issues are welcome. Please contact Editor Toni or

Secretary Clare or any Committee member.

Any articles or bridge information for inclusion in future Issues happily received. Editor:

tonitsmith@tiscali.co,uyk

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NEW ITEMS ON NCBA WEBSITE

Keith Spencer is our Website guru and

has recently added scoresheets and a

spreadsheet for use in competitions.

You may download and use these. He

has also added the amended Victory

Points (VP) conversion Chart for the

To4 as we – unknowingly- have used

the wrong one - 2 years out of

date!!

Don’t forget if you want us to

advertise Charity/social bridge

events just contact us with the

information to go on our website.

REMINDER New Format for the Summer Teams of Four

It was a suggestion from the membership to try a Summer Teams of Four (To4) League this year.

We hope that this will reduce the clash with the Winter Teams of Eight (To8) competition.

This is scheduled to start early June so you need to be getting your teams organised. The Rules

and Entry forms are on the NCBA Website.

This is a fun social way to keep up your competitive bridge over the summer so do give it a try.

For more information contact me, Keith, the T04 Convenor: keith.m.spencer@btinternet.com

Woodborough in the EBU spotlight for increasing its membership. Woodborough Club came under the beady EBU eye recently when their strategy of increasing ‘capacity in terms of numbers and standard’ was in the limelight. The EBU Club Liaison Officer asked Secretary Jane Hall to write an article on how Woodborough had successfully increased membership. The article provides useful ideas other clubs could adopt to help them increase membership. This can be found at this month's EBU Club Management Focus , a web based publication. Have a look.

http://www.ebu.co.uk/ne

wsletters/?id=33&page=19

Events

We are aware of the following forthcoming bridge events:

Retford Br. Clubs Swiss Team Event which takes place at Blyth on the 29th MAY (Sunday).

Leicester Green Point Event at Spondon on 18th June

Regional Improvers Pairs at Spondon on 3rd July

Nottingham Green point event at Spondon on 23rd and 24th July Full details of these events are on are website.

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NCBA County, Teams of Eight and Four League Results -

2015/2016

Teams of Eight League

.

Division One

Played Won Drawn Lost Total Average

Nottingham Gambit 10 8 1 1 152 15.2

Retford A 10 6 0 4 114 11.4

West Bridgford A 10 7 0 3 109 10.9

Wollaton Tigers 10 3 1 6 81 8.1

Retford B 10 4 0 6 75 7.5

Keyworth A 10 0 2 8 49 4.9

Division Two

Played Won Drawn Lost Total Average

Woodborough Red 10 8 0 2 144 14.4

Nottingham Alderclarke 10 7 0 3 130 13.0

Nottingham A 10 6 0 4 120 12.0

Mansfield A 10 6 0 4 95 9.5

Keyworth B 10 3 0 7 83 8.3

Nottingham B 10 0 0 10 23 2.3

Division Three

Played Won Drawn Lost Total Average

Phoenix Red 8 6 0 2 102 12.8

Woodborough White 8 4 0 4 99 12.4

East Bridgford 8 7 0 1 98 12.2

Newark Cavaliers 8 6 0 2 89 11.1

West Bridgford B 8 4 0 4 85 10.6

Retford C 8 2 0 6 69 8.6

Phoenix Green 8 3 0 5 64 8.0

Woodborough Blue 8 3 0 5 63 7.9

Cosmos 8 1 0 7 46 5.8

Results

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Teams of Four League

Played Won Drawn Lost Total Average

Parsons Pack 5 5 0 0 89 17.8

Four Deuces 4 2 0 2 45 11.2

Woodborough 5 3 0 2 51 10.2

Six Pack 4 2 0 2 39 9.8

Sunday Tigers 4 0 0 4 16 4.0

Ruffians 0 0 0 0 0 0

Acolites 2 0 0 2 0 0.0

NCBA Competition Winnners – 2015-2016

The Priday Cup (under NGA 9 pairs) Stephen Southorn and Brian Nowell

The Farr Cup David Burgess and Gordon Fullerton

The Black Cup Shirley Ashtari and Ian Dovey

The Journal Cup Keith Rodgers and Lloyd Eagling

Mixed Pairs Phil Ottawell and Barbara Hatfield

The Knock Out teams of four Mark Goddard&David Hodge,Sandy Fulton&William Crook, Rob Sharpe&Graham Kirby

Priday cup winners being presented with the Big Silver Cup by the Tournament Director

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SPOTLIGHT ON: RETFORD

Nottinghamshire’s most northerly EBU club is Retford.

A very successful and active club, Retford welcomes visitors and provides a great service of

lessons and improver tips along with a great website with a ‘hand for the day’. I telephone

interviewed Vice-Chair Mike Coggles who said that their club had a very wide range of

abilities and they are planning to introduce a handicap system, which would support and

provide confidence for their newer recruits. ‘We apply the rules in a friendly and sociable

way’ said Mike. Chair Sandy Fulton was unavailable for comment- because he was preparing

for his big event… Mike said that it was great a Nottinghamshire and Retford player had got

through to the 5th round (last 16) of the amazing Gold Cup, one of the biggest competitions

in Bridge. In fact the weekend 21/22 May sees Sandy pitted against Zia Mahmood no less!

We wish Sandy and his Yorkshire pals all the best in their quest for Gold!!

Editor

2016 NCBA Committee members and Officers (and their home club)

President Gordon Fullerton (Keyworth)

Chair John Auld (Nottingham)

Secretary Clare Batten (Nottingham )

Treasurer Ian Dovey (West Bridgford)

To4 convenor Keith Spencer (Woodborough)

T08 convenor Chris Clarke (East Bridgford)

County Captain Keith Rodger (Nottingham)

Communications & Publications Toni Smith (Woodborough & Nottingham)

Website Keith Spencer (Woodborough)

Events Co-ordinator Graham Brindley (Nottingham)

Other committee members: Anthony Pettengell (Phoenix & Nottingham & Woodborough), Jane

Hall (Woodborough), and Irene Auld (Nottingham)

PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE REMAINS ONE VACANCY FOR THE COMMITTEE- ANYONE INTERESTED

PLEASE CONTACT THE SECRETARY, CLARE. WE REALLY WOULD LIKE REPRESENTATION FROM SOME

OF THE OTHER CLUBS NOT CURRENTLY REPRESENTED- ITS NOT TIME CONSUMONG OR ONEROUS!

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AND FINALLY for your delectation… taking a leaf out of Retford’s

book, …here is a hand for this issue by courtesy of the famous

Willie Crook, one of Nottinghamshire’s premier players.

A few Do’s and Don’ts

Do: do describe your hand to your partner as soon as possible. If you can describe your hand

in one bid then do so. This is very important in competitive auctions.

Spades: KQ xx

Hearts: Jx

Diamonds: QJxxx over partners 1S bid, you bid 3S

Clubs: Qx don’t pussyfoot about with 2D

Don’t: don’t bid your hand twice. If you make a limit bid and the opponents compete the let

partner make the decision- he’s in the better position than you are.

For example: North East South West

1S P 3S X

P 4H ?

Don’t bid 4S here- let partner have his say- he could double for penalties, bid 4S or pass.

So: DO get your hand off your chest as soon as possible and DON’T

bid your hand twice- let partner decide