My term as President of District 6 ends on September 1, so my final letter provides the chance to look back over the last three years and see the changes that have occurred here in District 6 and also across much of bridge in this country.
We have so many hardworking people in D6 and I appreciate them all – Tournament Chairs who work so hard to put on wonderful regionals; Bill Cole and his Grass Roots Committee members, who do such fine job running our GNT and NAP events which remain some of the largest and well organized in the country; our rock solid Treasurer, Ron Spieker, who has steadfastly overseen our finances; Lucy McCoy, our Tournament Coordinator, who has the unenviable job of scheduling events in a very crowded calendar with ever moving pieces; Don Berman for his work on the D6 website, particularly after our server crashed last year; the corps of volunteers too numerous to mention, whose efforts are critical to all of our events. I am especially grateful for the friendship and support of Margot Hennings who has served as a valuable sounding board and reliable interface with ACBL during some tumultuous times, allowing me to focus solely on our district.
The D6 Board, including all of the individual Unit Presidents, has fully supported my vision of inventorying, cleaning and upgrading our equipment. We have worked thousands of hours in these endeavors. Every D6 bid box has been run through my dishwasher. We have stripped off and replaced worn out felt from over 1200 metal boards, and repainted numbers and vulnerability – and still have another 1000 to be done. We have replaced board cases that dated from WWII. We are still trying to find new tables that will fit into our playing sites and that effort will continue. We have searched for years for 30-inch tables but most manufacturers now produce only 34-inch or larger. We constantly search for playing sites that will fit our spaces requirements and appeal to our players.
This will be the final issue of TableTALK after 16 years of publication. We have surveyed D6 members and learned that the vast majority no longer needed a printed publication as more and more players get event information from websites. All tournament information and flyers, plus results, will continue to be available through ACBL, D6 and Unit websites. Thanks to Donna Rogall for her work in producing the magazine, Bill Cole, who served as publisher and occasionally contributor for these many years, and Lucy McCoy, Managing Editor, as well as our regular columnists – Steve Robinson, Ron Kral, Alan Schwartz, Vince Wilmot, and the other contributors whose articles have improved the games of many bridge players.
In September, District 6 will be in the capable hands of Jane Farthing, who has twice chaired the Williamsburg Regional plus Unit 110 sectionals. I support Jane fully and trust that the player sin District 6 will continue to step up to make our organization and our events strong.
Shawn
Stringer
D6 President