July 2017

Young bridge players visit House of Lords

The All Party Parliamentary Group for Bridge welcomed another group of young bridge players to the House of Lords this week. The visit was by players from the Bridge4Schools programme in Berks, Bucks & Oxon, and started with a tour of the Palace of Westminster. They then played bridge with six Peers from the APPG - all of whom were all delighted with the enthusiasm the young players had for the game, and impressed by how well they played.

Many thanks to Baroness Henig and the members of the APPG for hosting the event, and to Joan Bennett for making the arrangements with the schools/parents.

Welcome to Donna Wright, our new Chief Executive Officer

English Bridge Education and Development are pleased to announce the appointment of Donna Wright as Chief Executive Officer, effective 10th July 2017.

Donna is a qualified Project Manager, Trainer and HR Professional.

During her career she has held several Senior Management positions, the most recent being Senior Strategy and Business Consultant for a charity, Hector’s House. Donna is also one of the founders of the charity.

Over 70 youngsters attend Stamford Inter-Schools Card Play day

On 30th June 2017 Stamford Bridge Academy hosted an Inter Schools Card Play day. Over seventy young players from seven schools took part, competing in either minibridge or bridge. The leading pairs from each school received a small trophy, and the top schools each received major trophies presented by Alan Shillitoe, manager of the England Under 26 squad and a driving force in the creation of the Junior Award Scheme.

This was part of Stamford's rapidly growing junior bridge programme, led by Liz Dale, Jenny Harding, Sandra Curran and Marlene Jones. Thirty-four members of the bridge club have received “buddy” training, and have gone on to create the chance for students to learn in sixteen schools so far - and that figure is set to grow.

Stamford is one of the clubs which will be holding bridge and minibridge sessions over the summer holidays. See here for more details of the other sessions which are taking place.