After the Philippine disaster the ABF Management Committee considered a number of requests for fund raising efforts. Having just approved no charges for NSW Fire events it was not possible to accede to these requests. The WBF is using the annual Charity Simultaneous Pairs in January to raise money for the Disaster Appeal. The attached email from Anna Gudge explains how the event is conducted. I urge all clubs to assist the WBF in helping the Philippines.

I take this opportunity to wish all players a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. The WBF event is a wonderful way of showing Australian generosity.

All the best,
Keith McDonald
President (ABF)

——– Original Message ——–

Dear Keith

As you know we run a Charity Simultaneous Pairs at the end of January each year. The dates for 2014 are:

Monday 20^th; Tuesday 21^st; Wednesday 22^nd; Thursday 23^rd; Friday 24^th and Saturday 25^th January with different hands available for each day.

We will be sending the files out by email during January, but we would love clubs in your country to enter and help us raise funds for relief in the Philippines following this horrendous typhoon. All the players need to do is to email me with their club name, the country, the organiser and the email address to send the file to.  The zip file will contain instructions, including how to send us any funds raised, travellers with the hands on that you can print, the commentary and the dealing files if you have a dealing machine.

There are no master points, no prizes, not even an entry fee – we just ask  the players to enjoy an evening’s bridge, with a commentary to read afterwards, and send us as much as they possibly can for the disaster relief effort. So they can just play some fun bridge scored across the field as usual to raise money that we hope will do some real good.

Help … please help ! Let your clubs know, advertise it on your website. Maybe as it is just for fun you have students who would like to join in – let your bridge teachers know. There will be a booklet with the hands that they could enjoy reading afterwards and if they don’t play many of the boards, well, it really doesn’t matter. It is just for enjoyment, a bit of competition and to raise as much money as we can.

I am sending this out to as many people in your NBO as I have email addresses for, so I apologise in advance if I have sent it to too many, but I am sure you will agree that we should do all we can to get people playing and helping the Philippines. Bridge is renowned for its generosity and helpfulness to those in need.

All the best
Anna & Mark
The ECatsBridge Team

bridge.ecats.co.uk/sims/wbfcharity/