Chairman’s May 2020 Update
Dear Yorkshire Bridge Players,
First, I hope that you are all keeping well, not struggling too hard with isolation and enjoying some form of bridge. There is no great surprise that, in these unprecedented times, the YCBA have decided to cancel all competitions till the end of the season because even when lockdown gradually ends it will be unlikely that gatherings at bridge clubs will be allowed straight away. To this end, we have been investigating ways of encouraging players to get on- line (a lot of players have done this for themselves successfully) and have come up with idea of holding our first ever on- line county competition. The plan is to hold this sometime towards the end of May and make it a swiss pairs event lasting a month. There will be a small charge to cover the organisers time and administration, but I really hope you will make the effort to enter. It will be held on the BBO platform, which for some of you I know may be scary but there will be some clear instructions on what to do and also there is a plethora of information on how to join BBO (free) both on the EBU website and various club websites.
If you are daunted by this do not hesitate to contact anyone on the Board and they will be able to help you. Greater details of this new event will appear on the website later, so keep watching. Within this time, of course, we were due to have our congress and AGM at the beginning of June. This has now been put back until 18th July and the plan is to try and hold the AGM on a video platform (e.g Zoom) but again details will come out later. We may well ask for questions to be written in before the meeting to help facilitate it on the day but as this is of course as new to you as it is to me, final details have to be ironed out. However, it is also our plan to hold an on-line event after the AGM. At the moment this is looking like a one day teams’ event but again we would really encourage all of you to think about entering, even if you feel uncomfortable playing on- line. Again, more details to follow but put it in your diary!
The YCBA secretary will shortly be sending out a letter to all club secretaries for distribution to the club players, highlighting some of the details from above and what else the YCBA is trying to do to help clubs in these difficult times. When this is finally over and we can get back to playing what I call ‘real bridge’, it will be a very different environment and some clubs may struggle to get the numbers they once had. I hope not and that as a member of your club and indeed your county, you will go back to supporting your club to help them get over this crisis. Lastly, I hope you all remain safe and look forward to the future as a chance to renew old rivalries across the bridge table. Do not be afraid of trying on-line bridge in any of its guises and whilst it is no substitute for the real thing, it’s not that bad!
Best Wishes,
Nick Woolven (YCBA Chair)
7 May 2020
