P2P Club Help

We've put together a help page and some tutorial videos for club administrators who are looking for a bit of help in using our online Club Management System. As time goes by we'll add common questions to this page and hope it will provide a useful resource.

• P2P Club Help

Eileen Retires

Eileen Maunder will be leaving the EBU after over 36 years of service on 31 March 2010. We asked her a few questions:

1. What have your roles been at the EBU? I have worked at the EBU for 36 years and 8 months. I was originally ‘head-hunted’ for the job of Membership Secretary in 1972 but turned it down. A year later I came as a temp for a month while I looked for another job, was again offered the job, which I don’t ever remember accepting, but have been here ever since. Although it is the same job it has changed so much over the years so it has not been boring. Back in 1973 all the records were kept on index cards - some even filed in shoe boxes under the stairs. It now seems hard to believe there was always excitement when the one phone rang occasionally! We had out first computer system in 1981 and things have just progressed from there. In 1973 the annual subscription was 25p, for the 2009/10 year it was £18, the same amount I was paid per week in 1973! I was employed as the Membership Secretary and to be in charge of the office when Anne and Stuart Staveley were away. Additionally over the years I have been involved with Master Points, hand dealing, making up boards, washing table cloths and in the early days of the computer being responsible for daily/weekly back-ups etc. In 1984 I got involved with our National Events as a computer scoring operator, which I enjoyed for 25 years until the arrival of Bridgemates.
2. Do you play bridge? No I do not play Bridge - having started working at bridge events I thought I ought to learn something about the game, so I did have a some lessons, played a few times before deciding it was not for me. The high point of my bridge career was winning 1 Green Point at Portsmouth Guildhall in 1987. The fact that I don’t play bridge has not really affected my work as it has been purely administration.
3. What do you do outside the EBU? I am a Church Warden and Lay Chairman of the P.C.C. which keeps me busy. This may sound grand but it really means I have the privilege of putting out the wheelie bin and sweeping the path! I have organised the odd Safari Supper, Barn Dance, Beetle Drive etc., besides making sure each week we have readers and coffee makers for Sunday morning. I belong to the W.I. and have been the Treasurer for many years also I am a Trustee of both a local Charity and the Village Hall. My life revolves around the village - I know the kitchens in the Village Hall and Church very well!
4. What are you going to do once you retire? I have not yet made any great plans for retirement, I intend to spend some time relaxing and catching up with things like decorating my cottage and spending more time in the garden but eventually would like to do some kind voluntary work.
5. What will you miss about the EBU? The thing I will miss most about the EBU is the people – colleagues past and present, all the county membership secretaries that I have
   worked with over the years, the T.D.’s that I have worked with at events and all the members I have got to know. Thank you all for your friendship – I will really miss you.

Staff Bowling

For Colin's last day, we all went to the local bowling alley at lunch and had a couple of games of bowling. It may have been for Colin's retirement but that doesn't mean we were going to let him win!

We drew lots for teams and the rivalry was high even before we left the office. This is how the players lined up:

Team 1: Colin G, Clare, Barry and Michael
Team 2: Colin P, Lisa, Ian and Gail
Team 3: Karen, Kay, Sue, Eileen and Peter

Team 2 looked the strongest on paper - featuring Ian Mitchell, the winner of the last staff bowling outing - but would Team 3's extra player prove to be too big an advantage?

The first game started poorly for a certain webmaster as Michael sent two balls straight down the gutter. In fact, all of the pre-match favourites - Barry, Colin P and Ian - were having a tough time and had to sit back and watch as Gail stormed to a first-half lead with a score of 130. She had a lead of 11 points over Colin but would that be enough?

Colin's response was impressive as he started off game two with three strikes in a row - a turkey in pro-bowler parlance. Barry was also firing as he knocked off a couple of strikes. Gail was less spectacular but was very consistent and kept the spares coming to stay in touch.

Colin's great start petered out a little towards the end but his final score of 153 would be very tough to beat. Barry needed 166 to overtake him but could only manage 135. Gail needed 143: she got the much needed strike in the 9th frame and followed it up with a spare to tie game two on 153. With the advantage from game one, Gail had won!

Pos		Game One	Game Two	Total
1	Gail	130	153	283
2	Colin P	119	153	272
3	Barry	107	135	242
4	Karen	104	113	217
=	Michael	99	118	217
6	Ian	108	101	209
7	Lisa	72	122	194
8	Colin G	92	90	182
9	Clare	72	107	179
10	Sue	77	94	171
11	Peter	101	69	170
12	Kay	59	108	167
13	Eileen	51	66	117

In the team stakes, Team 2 were victorious with 858 points, 16 ahead of Team 3.

Colin Retires

Today Colin Porch is leaving the EBU after over 15 years of service. We asked him a few questions:

1. What have you done at the EBU? Your various jobs, etc! Before coming to work full time at the EBU, I ran the "beginners" events at the Brighton meeting each weekend. I was also heavily involved in writing a computer program for "Current Assignment" Swiss Pairs which was used for the "Great Northern" event for many years. My first job as a full time employee was as Bridge Shop Manager. After some stressful years in that job, I moved on to the Master Points department in 2001.
2. How long have you worked at the EBU? I joined the full time staff in May 1994.
3. Any funny stories of your time here? During the first of my "Beginner's Weekends" at the Brighton meeting, a few expected players had failed to arrive by the appointed time, and my assistant went off to see if she could find them. We were not in the most accessible part of the Grand Hotel, and it was quite likely that they had gone astray. She eventually found a gentleman who appeared to be lost, and enquired if he was, in fact, looking for the beginner's event. Upon being told that he was, and sensing a certain nervousness, she attempted to put him at his ease and assured him that he would enjoy the experience. I was suitably embarrassed when she brought him in, and asked where he should sit. It was actually Gerard Faulkner, the then EBU Chairman, who had simply wanted to see the beginners settled in and enjoying themselves, although, bless him, he laughed along with everybody else.
4. Do you play bridge? Whilst not the total addict that I used to be, I still play regularly, and thoroughly enjoy it.
5. What do you do outside the EBU? I play golf (badly) and have just accepted the vice-captaincy of my local club. I still keep my hand in writing computer programs, usually on behalf of the same golf club to score events like their Charity Day, etc.
6. What are you going to do once you retire? Former colleagues have pressed me to complete a computer game that I started nearly 20 years ago, and, if I can still remember how to use the equipment, (currently gathering dust in the attic) I shall give that a go.
7. How would you encourage more people to take up bridge?
   It has always been a mystery to me why those who take up bridge don’t make the effort to become really good players. Most are quite happy with whatever standard they happen to be, and display little interest in improving themselves. Trying to explain the "buzz" they would get if they planned, and executed, a double squeeze seems to fall on deaf ears. I have always equated Bridge with Chess. If you like Chess then you will like Bridge. Both are easy games to play, but both are extremely difficult to play WELL.
8. What are your other hobbies/interests? I am a self-taught organist, and can spend hours at a time playing. Luckily, I can use ear-phones so the neighbours don’t tend to complain. I usually start practicing Christmas Carols about September of each year. I enjoy reading, (thrillers mostly) and Agatha Christie and Desmond Bagley are among my favourite authors. I tackle the Times Crossword and Sudoku every day, play Bridge usually twice a week and represent the County against other counties.
9. What is your favourite CD/music/band of the moment? I’m afraid that my music tastes are fixed in the 60s and 70s. Today’s music leaves me cold. Favourites include The Hollies, Abba, Simon and Garfunkle and Queen.
10. What are your favourite films? Top place has to go to The Sting with Capricorn One close behind. I enjoyed the Indiana Jones movies, but don’t feel the urge to keep watching them.
11. What are you reading? The Money Changers by Arthur Hailey. I’ve read it several times before, but I do tend to re-read books that I like.

Tournament Focus - Issue III

The third issue of Tournament Focus, written especially for our tournament player, is now available to read on-line.In each issue, we hope to provide you with information on our future events, updates from the Tournament Committee, and articles of interest to our many tournament players.

Since the past two editions, members have commented that the newsletter was very hard to read as a PDF, so we have worked on creating a new on-line version for you to enjoy. We hope you enjoy the new look!

We look forward to your feedback and ideas for future contributions and articles in our next newsletter which will be hitting your inboxes in February 2010.

Read here

Minibridge in Norwich

The EBU Minibridge initiative has started very well in the North West of England (particularly in Manchester), and it was now time to work on other areas in England. After some initial contact in East Anglia, Mr Tony O’Rourke, Deputy Head Teacher of Tuckswood Community Primary School in Norwich was very interested in the Minibridge initiative and asked if the EBU could come along and introduce the game to his teachers. He also opened up the day to any other primary school teachers in the area.

We started the day with an interview on Radio Norfolk (not Radio Norwich, which was Alan Partidge’s old stomping ground). Two of Tuckswood’s children: Katelin and Lewis joined Tony O’Rourke and myself in the interview, and were brilliant – true naturals.

Tuckswood Community Primary School planned the whole day around various card games, which meant that the pupils were psyched up to the new game that we were introducing. We had allotted two hour long sessions for the teachers to learn about the game and the interactive CD from David Adelman. At first the teachers were a little confused about the it all, but they soon picked up the details. After the lunch break, the teachers tried out some Minibridge and enjoyed it thoroughly.

From 2pm we invited twenty pupils from the school to try their hand at the game with a teacher on each table, and David overseeing. The teachers really enjoyed this part of the day, because they were able to utilise what they had learnt previously. The importance of this work was to give the teachers a chance to interact and learn the game with their pupils.

It was a really great day and one that will see the beginning of Minibridge at local Norwich primary schools.

Matt Betts

Improvements to the Knockout Pages

If you've looked at the Knockout Draw pages on the website in the last couple of days, you'll notice some cosmetic and navigation changes which we hope will make those pages look and feel better. As always, if you disagree or have any suggestions then leave a comment or email me.

One addition which I especially want to highlight is the introduction of an RSS feed. If you look at the top of the right-hand menu you'll see an orange icon.



This is a link to an RSS feed containing all the knockout draws. If you open this in your feed reader (see this blog if you don't know what I'm talking about) you'll initially have over a hundred draws appear, but in future you'll receive prompt updates whenever we make a new one. Doing this means you won't have to check back continually for any new draws; you can instead sit back and wait to be notified automatically!

As this is a relatively new feature, there may be some teething problems so I'd be interested to hear if anybody has any difficulties getting it to work.