Blog 9 - 18th May 2010

Well, Congress has come and gone and after the dust has settled, I am pleased to report that criticisms were few and far between, and in fact only related to the air-conditioning and the venue, which the general consensus was, that it was well past it’s sell-by-date.

We played a lot of bridge and there were 3 session held at night. In order to accommodate as many pairs and teams as we did in the future, we would perhaps have to consider starting the event a day earlier, that is Thursday and finish on the following Friday. Unfortunately, due to the expense of a venue over a weekend we would be forced to use only one weekend, preventing us playing from Friday to the following Saturday. I would love feedback on this matter.

Heidi and her committee ran the events with military precision and we always started on time and stuck to our programme without any hitches.
Having Dr Magdy as our Chief T.D certainly contributed to a very calm and efficient congress.
Sid took wonderful photos that are on the SABF website and I thank him for the timeous results that were available for all to see.

The one disappointment for me was the very poor attendance at the A.G.M., where I must say all the decisions are made and ratified and after the event everybody has something to say. Obviously all are very happy with the way things are run! But on a more serious note, we need to think about when we should actually hold an A.G.M. as bridge players certainly don’t have the time or inclination to attend a meeting when all they are thinking about is the previous sessions' play and results.

It was decided that membership fees would be increased from R60 per annum to R100 per annum which is still under R10 per month! Obviously clubs should take into account players that are unable to meet this extra expense and should probably try to subsidise the shortfall.

A very successful T.D. course was run in Johannesburg after congess by Dr Magdy and we had members from all over the country taking advantage of this event. We would hope to continue with it perhaps next year so that our T.D.’s could get accreditation as there was not enough time this weekend.

A reminder that the World-Wide Simultaneous Pairs Contest takes place during the first week-end in June and hope that you have all entered this red point event.

Wishing you all great bridge,

Helen

Blog 8 - 3rd May 2010

Well Congress is almost upon us and we have had an incredible entry of 54 teams and 148 pairs!


Just a few pointers:
  • Due to a race meeting on Friday 7th May, parking will only be available in the centre of the racecourse, the entrance is via The Royal Durban Golf Course. Thereafter there will be no problem and the entrance to use is Gate 8 from Avondale Road.
  • Greyville will provide meals between sessions, lunch and dinner, but you will have to book your meal on lists that will be provided to avoid unnecessary catering.
  • Remember the seminar on laws and conventions to be held on the Monday night by Dr Mesdary at Greyville.
  • The interprovincial and the head-to-head teams final will be shown on BBO and there will be vugraph facilities at the venue.

See you there!
Helen