Remembering David Schmidt

David Schmidt, July 14, 1950 – November 20, 2023

David George Schmidt was born in Abbotsford, British Columbia and grew up on a farm in the Fraser Valley.  He earned a BA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia.  David was a past president of the BC Farm Writers Association and a past director and president of the Canadian Farm Writers Federation and is editor emeritus of Country Life in BC.  He was named BC’s Agriculturist of the Year in 2000 and received the Canadian Farm Writers Federation’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.

His business provided personal and small business tax services in British Columbia.

David loved duplicate bridge.  He joined the ACBL in 1978 and was a Sapphire Life Master.  He gave back to the game he enjoyed ― for more than two decades as a board member and treasurer for District 19.

David is remembered by duplicate players throughout the northwest for his intense play, good humor, and willingness to help.

National Directors Report Fall 2021

On January 1, 2022, Tim White officially became Regional Director for ACBL Region 13, which comprises Districts 18 and 19.

He sends us a very comprehensive report from the National Board Meeting in Austin which you can download as a pdf here
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Two items may be of particular interest to clubs and players:

1) Improvements in information technology, including:

  • Completing the tournament event pre-registration system.
  • Moving Trax application to cloud-based application.
  • Moving ACBLScore to a web-based application.

2) A revamped convention card, debuting mid 2022 and featuring these changes:

  • Seldom-used conventions have been removed and commonly-used conventions added.
  • Recent changes in alerts and announcements are reflected.
  • The One Club and One Diamond open bid sections have been expanded, providing more room to address different minor suit openings.
  • The right side of the card has been reorganized, with bids shown in ascending order of strain

The new card can be downloaded here.

Tim White wins Region 13 election!

Tim White, currently a board member of D19, as well as District Director will be assuming new duties on January 1, 2022 as Regional Director for Region 13, which comprises Districts 18 and 19.

Last year, ACBL announced it was revising its governance structure, with the board of directors being downsized to 13 positions from the current 25.

The Board of Directors is the governing body of the ACBL, by 2024 consisting of a Regional Director elected from each of 13 regions. During 2020, the 25 districts were reorganized into 13 regions (district boundaries remain unchanged). In 2021, one Regional Director from each of eight regions (one of them being Region 13) was elected for a three-year or four-year term. The Board of Directors holds three regular meetings each year and makes policy decisions for the ACBL. Between meetings, committee activities and constant intercommunication among Board members and ACBL management keep the Board up to date on important matters.