A marketing seminar was conducted on 3 June at the North Shore Bridge Club in Sydney. Twenty-one attendees from clubs in the area exchanged ideas and suggestions and identified approaches to help grow their club. 

Thanks to Cath Widdon, Wing Roberts and John McIlrath for organising this event on behalf of the NSWBA.  Extra thanks go to John for his hard work in setting up the room and for his fabulous hospitality!

An information session was also provided to the NSWBA's Regional Representatives' meeting on Saturday 4 June.  Thanks to Julian Foster for organising this session and for his hospitality.  It was good to have an opportunity to meet the regional representatives and provide an overview of what the marketing seminars are about. 

Need ideas for expanding your club?  Lets discuss ideas, projects, problems and opportunities for 'growing' your club.  Free, interactive seminars (which run for approximately 3 hours) are scheduled for:

1. 9.30 am Sunday 19 June at the Surfers Paradise Bridge Club, 1 Carrara Street, Benowa.  Registrations can be made at marketing@abf.com.au .  Free lunch for attendees generously provided by the Surfers Paradise Bridge Club.
2. 9.30 am Saturday 6 August at the Queensland Contract Bridge Club, 67 Ipswich Road, Wooloongabba, Brisbane.  Registrations can be made at manager@qldbridge.com by 29 July.

The Gambling Community Benefit Fund in Queensland recently awarded bridge clubs in the State in excess of $100,000. 

Individual grants ranged from $2,800 - $32,000 for items that included a defibrillator, solar panels, a kitchen refit, air conditioning units and bridge accessories. 

Successful clubs were Airlie Beach, Brisbane Bridge Centre, Coolum, Dalby, Northern Suburbs, Surfers Paradise, Toowong and Toowoomba.  Congratulations to all!

There may be opportunities in other States/Territories for grant funding - from foundations, corporations or Local/State/Federal Government bodies.

Clubs should check with their local MP or council representative for any opportunities or surf the web. A couple of sites which may help are:

• Grant Guru  and
• Epic's Community Grant Program - offers opening 1 July 2016.

To assist you, an ABF guide on how to author grant applications can be accessed by clicking here (thanks to the Victorian Bridge Association).

Joan Butts, the ABF National Teaching Coordinator, will be facilitating the following workshops for teachers:

Teacher Training Program

QCBC, Brisbane - Saturday 19 November

Continuing Professional Development - Defence

VIC: Melbourne VBA - Tuesday 14 June

QLD: Redlands Bridge Club - Sunday 26 June

NSW: Maitland Bridge Club - Tuesday 5 July

SA: Adelaide SABA - Sunday 11 September

NSW: Sydney Peninsula Bridge Club - Sunday 16 October

Continuing Professional Development - Modern Competitive Bidding

QLD: QCBC, Brisbane - Sunday 20 November

To register for any of these sessions, email teaching@abf.com.au and include your name, contact details and the session you wish to attend.

USB sticks with all 20 ABF videos are now available for clubs to purchase.  These are a great option for clubs where internet connections aren't good enough for streaming videos.

The sticks are $35 each and can be purchased by contacting Alana Mowbray at alanamowb@hotmail.com .

Mollymook Bridge Club (NSW) members were recently interviewed by 702AM Radio on their views about the current Federal election campaign.

They certainly didn't hold back with their comments.  Politicians should take note!

Check it out by clicking here.

Remember to report all media activity to me so that I can monitor and manage the ABF brand in Australia - send email to marketing@abf.com.au .