Following on from a questionnaire being circulated, seeking views on how the next on-line inter-club team event should be run, it was decided what best met the majority of preferences would be an arrangement of strength-ranked all-play-all “divisions” of 4-player teams, playing on the set night of Thursday, without games being submitted for ECF grading.

Details are to some extent dependent on numbers of teams entering when it comes to the crunch, but it was expected 12 teams could be rustled up. That would allow either 2 divisions of 6 teams each, or 3 divisions of 4 teams each. The latter seemed to be the preferable option.

The first round is to be on Thursday 11th March.

A fuller press release is expected from Gen. Sec. Geoff Brown in due course.

2. Association Website and Webmaster

As earlier reported by Brian Lever, both on his S&DCA website and in the Newsletter, BT will be discontinuing the free web-hosting facility, of which the S&DCA website was taking advantage, in May 2021. That necessitated some sort of change, and Brian, as earlier intimated, thought it afforded an appropriate moment for somebody else to take up the reins, a change which he had already been intimating was a desirable one from his point of view.

Accordingly, the kernel of the website you are now reading was knocked up to illustrate to members of the Executive what the present writer was prepared to offer as a follow-on to Brian’s site. The offer was accepted by the Executive, subject to ratification at the next AGM (date not currently available!!). Brian remains on the Executive, you could say as “Webmaster (retiring)”, and Steve Mann, who is already on the Executive anyway, is now, you might say, “Webmaster (acting)” – subject to ratification, or not, by the next AGM.

There are things the two webmasters need to do in connection with transference of responsibility for the associated Newsletter, primarily transference of the e-mail list for the Newsletter, which arguably raises GDPR considerations.

Brian was appointed S&DCA Webmaster at the 2014 AGM (click on “Minutes” in the left-hand panel to see links to archived AGM minutes), and so has put in 6 years and about 5 months service on the website, for which the Association will perhaps be able to thank him at the 2021 AGM – or not, as Covid dictates.