The fourth meeting of the East of England Regional Club committee took place on 10^th May 2013 in Trumpington.

The National Club Committee met on 15^th May 2013. Points arising from that meeting are covered where appropriate in this bulletin.

The next Eastern Region meeting takes place in October 2013.

If there is any matter you would like to raise please let me know on mee.hitchin@ntlworld.com

The National Grading System went live in March 2012. It has generally been well received, however, because it is updated daily, this leads to some volatility. It is the hope of the EBU that such volatility should lessen because the grading will be assessed over 2000 boards rather than the 1000 originally envisaged. The extension of NGS to cover performance within teams has not yet been included in the system.

The EBU website has now been comprehensively updated. Some internal links remain to be completed but those who use the site will hopefully agree it is considerably more user friendly than before.

The Club Management Handbook is accessible from the site and contains a wealth of information of value to affiliated clubs.

The EBU continue to manage SIMS events throughout the year. Some individuals have observed that there seems to be an increasing number of events. However, the volume of events has not changed from before. What has changed is that each event runs over more days than was formerly the case, thus allowing clubs who meet on the days not formerly covered by events to run sessions. Now that these events are run in-house all profits go back to the EBU which enables the EBU to keep overall costs lower.

The introduction of Blue points has been covered in editions of English Bridge and on the EBU website. Blue points are now awarded for appropriate National and County events. There are still questions around the 2 session rule and the need for unrestricted competition for such events. The rules for blue pointed events will continue to be reviewed as examples of anomalies are reported to the tournament committee.

A continuing complaint voiced by most bridge clubs and associations is the complexity of the Orange Book. An attempt was made to simplify this and introduce a Tangerine Book which made better use of Plain English. However this has had limited success. Jeremy Dhondy has therefore been given the task of further simplifying the rule book. The result will be published in August 2013. The Orange and Tangerine books will be consigned to the archives and, in their place, will rise the Blue book. Jeremy has promised no more than 35 pages of comprehensible English which will gladden the hearts of Tournament Directors the length of the Country.

The EBU Bridge shop caters for the stationery needs of affiliated clubs. Discounts are available to EBU members and affiliated Clubs. 10% for individuals and 12% for Clubs. A suggestion has been made by the NCC that the Shop should print the discounted prices in their literature. That message has been fed back to the Shop. Also, where possible, they will try to match any prices quoted by non EBU suppliers. Please remember all profits from the Bridge Shop go back to help EBU members.

As well as their publicised services, the EBU will go the extra mile to help specific club issues, as we were reminded by Margaret Eddleston. Hertfordshire Bridge Association ran a charity SIMS event and were trying to prepare a commentary template for participants to take away from the event. A telephone call to Gill Pain at the EBU resulted in the supply of a template plus an offer to create a header page for the booklets. Remember, the EBU is run for the benefit of all affiliated clubs and will always help where they can.

Finally, a reminder that the Brighton Congress, the EBU flagship event, takes place between 9^th and 18^th August 2013. The next copy of English Bridge will feature further details and booking for any, or all, of the sessions can be made on the EBU website

Essex County Bridge Association have started sessions teaching Minibridge to Scout groups. These sessions are subsidised by the County. They have also identified potentially talented players within the County and developed tailored mentoring activities for those individuals.

Brian Keable in Bedfordshire runs a series of sessions aimed at club players wishing to improve their competitiveness in evening sessions. This can be found on the Milton Keynes Bridge Club website.

https://www.bridgewebs.com/miltonkeynes/

Norfolk reported they are running competitions for inexperienced players, which has led to increased overall attendance at county events. The relocation of their congress from Kings Lynn to Norwich has also helped numbers.

Hertfordshire have arranged a teacher training weekend in September to encourage their clubs to invest in teaching classes. Most Hertfordshire Clubs are entitled to a free place and the county will pay for a second attendee. If the course is not full clubs outside Herts. are welcome to send potential teachers. Details available from EBU or HBA.

This topic was first raised in Issue 3. Since then, a number of counties have reported increased activity in daytime Bridge. Norfolk say growth in afternoon bridge is particularly noticeable in their county.

Essex report a daytime pairs league that takes place on the same day at the same venue each month. This has proved popular. It runs for 3 months in the Autumn and 3 months in Spring. The format is 7 board matches and there are prizes on offer. Contact Dennis Valtisiaris at dvaxion@yahoo.co.uk if you want further details and he will put you in touch with the organizer.