Keith Butler's Introduction

May I introduce myself?

My name is Keith Butler and I have recently volunteered to become the Liaison and Education Officer for the Welsh Bridge Union.

I have also just been elected as Chair of Rhiwbina Bridge Club, after successfully increasing membership of the club and WBU over the past year.

My wife and I have been teaching Bridge for 4-5 years, having qualified under the E.B.U.’s teaching scheme. During that time we have taught over 150 students with 40 of them now playing in Clubs. The remainder are mostly still with us but don’t feel ready to progress.

We would like to share our experiences (and resources) built up over that time in order to help Bridge in Wales to develop, and club membership increase.

The EBU has operated a successful scheme of developing and helping teachers of Bridge and I hope to draw on their experience to develop an equivalent scheme for Wales.

My job is to liaise with all clubs in the WBU in order to promote and develop good practise in the teaching, learning and playing of Bridge.

In order to achieve this I need to plan and develop a cohesive scheme for the teaching of Bridge in Wales which will include:-

A standard syllabus (as distinct from methods), lesson plans, teachers’ and students’ notes, resource packs (presentation materials, hands to support the relevant topic, interesting homework etc.)

A method of assessing aspiring Bridge Teachers, and providing a recognised qualification, recognising other Union’s qualifications and experienced teachers of Bridge.

Courses, across Wales, to explain modern methods of teaching Bridge using these materials.

To organise Simultaneous Bridge competitions for Welsh Beginners, Improvers and Advancers.

A quarterly newsletter on these topics

I look forward to working with you to try to achieve these aims for the benefit of Bridge in Wales.

The next step is to organise a survey of who teaches, how I might contact them and what our ambitions are for our Clubs.

I would hope to be able to consult with existing teachers before committing to a scheme.

I am off to Canada for a two week holiday but I will be active when I return.

Best wishes,

Keith Butler